Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today concerning the concurrence motion on the first report of the Standing Committee on Status of Women, which recommends that the federal government take real action to support women and denounce their abuse both in Canada and abroad.
This government supports the report. We have a strong record on addressing violence against women both at home and abroad. This report will build on our government's accomplishments.
According to Statistics Canada figures, women are considerably more likely than men to be victims of violent crimes, such as sexual assault and criminal harassment. For example, in 2004 there were over six times as many female victims of sexual assault as male victims. For Aboriginal women, the situation is even worse. Aboriginal women in Canada face a heightened risk of racialized and sexualized violence; that is violence perpetuated against them because of their gender and Aboriginal identity.
These challenges did not arise in the last three years. They festered and grew in scope, due to the superficial attention given to these matters during the previous governments. Amid this tough reality of violence against women, the good news is the Government of Canada is committed to action on violence to achieve real results for women and their communities.
Since taking office, our government has clearly demonstrated its commitment through a range of results focused action. We are humbled by the severity of this situation, but equal to the task of reducing the level of violence against women. It was on that basis that we embarked on a reorganization of the women's program.
The women's program of Status of Women Canada is important in achieving results for women. We have created two new components, the women's community fund and the women's partnership fund. Through these funds, we can better support the work of women's and other Canadian organizations.
Now more money is available than ever before for achieving these results. Thanks to our government the women's community fund grants and contributions budget increased, allowing more groups than ever before to have access to funding. In 2007-08 alone, 100,000 women benefited directly from community fund programs, and 1 million women benefited indirectly.
Just last week the government continued to fund groups that address violence against women. We announced funding to Family Service Regina for its project, “Domestic Violence Stalking Project”, to the Saskatchewan Association of Sexual Assault Services for its project, “Increasing Access to Direct Healing Services to Women Survivors of Sexual Assault in Saskatchewan” and Tamara's House - Services for Sexual Abuse Survivors for its project, “Improving Services for Women who have experienced Childhood Sexual Abuse”.
Partnerships are key to achieving results. The newly established women's partnership fund will support collaborative projects that involve matching funds from other partners, including other levels of government.
The Minister of State for Status of Women, over the last few weeks, has approved numerous projects funded from the women's community fund. These initiatives will advance equality for women and their full participation in the economic, social and democratic life of our country. These projects will yield concrete results for Canadian women by helping them find jobs, increasing financial literacy skills and supporting them in leaving the sex trade and in exigent situations involving violence and abuse.
Through the women's partnership fund of Status of Women Canada, we have been successful in creating partnerships and leveraging financial and in kind contributions from partners across society, partnering with WEConnect Canada to open doors to corporate markets for women ready to seize new business and employment opportunities through education, training, coaching and mentoring programs. We also joined with Equal Voice to support young girls leadership development and their engagement in civic and political life.
The response has been overwhelming. The projects are providing much needed services and support to women from coast to coast to coast. Since we formed the government in 2006, we have undertaken numerous initiatives to advance equality for women. These include but are not limited to the universal child care benefit, putting more money into the hands of older women by increasing the pension income credit and changing the guaranteed income supplement.
We are improving living standards among Canadians seniors. We are improving employment opportunities for vulnerable groups of women, including older women, women leaving abusive relationships, women with intellectual disabilities and aboriginal women living on and off reserves.
We are supporting women's work and family choices through a variety of measures, including creating the working income tax benefit. We are modernizing federal labour laws and standards and expanding business opportunities for women. We are creating special initiatives for women entrepreneurs, providing affordable housing and helping to reduce incidences of low income. We are increasing crime prevention, justice and security measures to protect children from sexual exploitation.
Our economic action plan continues to work. It takes action in these areas by making changes to employment insurance, including a plan to extend maternal and paternal benefits to self-employed Canadians, 47% of whom are women.
The budget allocates more funding for social housing and more resources for northern communities and aboriginal Canadians, including aboriginal women. The budget provides more resources for health care for women, including the addition of $554 million through targeted support for the implementation of wait time guarantees and HPV immunization programs to protect women and girls against cervical cancer.
Our government has responded to the needs of women on a wide range of issues by developing supportive policies and measures to address critical changes and by providing the resources to help deal with them.
We will continue to create the conditions for women's success by encouraging and supporting women in such areas as leadership, economic security and prosperity and by addressing the crucial issue of violence against women.
Our government is deeply concerned about the challenges facing first nations, Inuit and Métis women. My hon. colleague alluded and spoke to that earlier. We have taken concrete actions to increase aboriginal women's participation in the economic, social and democratic life of Canada and to eliminate systemic violence to which they are particularly vulnerable.
In the summers of 2007 and 2008, our government partnered in two national aboriginal women's summits. These important gatherings brought aboriginal women together with federal, provincial and territorial partners to discuss the issues, identify solutions and plan for future action. There was remarkable consensus on the need for action on the issues facing aboriginal women, including addressing poverty, protecting and advancing human rights and addressing violence against aboriginal women.
Our government is achieving results for aboriginal Canadians, including the repeal of section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act and addressing family violence, the adaptation of police training to target the treatment of aboriginal women and girls and adapting youth training for girls in violence prevention.
Status of Women also maintains its ongoing commitment to the sisters in spirit initiative, administering the funds to the Native Women's Association of Canada through to 2010. Sisters in spirit is a research, education and policy initiative to increase public knowledge and understanding at a national level of the impact of racialized and sexualized violence against aboriginal women.
Our economic action plan also recognizes the importance of addressing violence within the general aboriginal community. We have committed to providing $515 million over two years to accelerate ready-to-go first nations projects in three priority areas: schools, water and critical community services. Since taking office, our government has taken action to make our streets and communities safer through legislation to restrict conditional sentences such as house arrest for serious crime. We have increased mandatory penalties for serious gun-related crimes.
We have raised the age of consent from 14 to 16 years to protect youth, including girls and young women, from adult sexual predators. This applies to sexual activity, including prostitution and pornography or where there is a relationship of trust, authority, dependency or any other situation that is otherwise exploitive of a young person. The issue of trafficking in persons remains a serious and growing concern for women and girls both in Canada and internationally.
Budget 2007 allocated $6 million to combat child exploitation and trafficking, and, with the Vancouver 2010 Olympics on the horizon, we recognize that international sporting events can create opportunities for trafficking, particularly into the sex trade.
As a result, our government is examining measures to avert trafficking from the Vancouver event. Toward that end, the RCMP is leading federal partners on training for law enforcement and other front line officials to teach investigative tools and enhance knowledge of laws surrounding trafficking and the services the victims require.
Under the guidelines, trafficking victims also will be eligible to receive a tax-free, temporary residence permit that allows them to stay in Canada for up to 180 days and apply for a work permit. This initiative is yet another reflection of the Government of Canada's ongoing commitment to strengthening overall efforts to combat human trafficking through prevention, prosecution and protection.
Status of Women Canada has a long and proud tradition of representing Canada at the United Nations and other international forums, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Canada is a proud supporter of international endeavours to address violence against women internationally. We are a world leader in the fight to end gender discrimination and we take this role very seriously.
The Government of Canada is taking leadership to bring about equality for women because we want nothing less than women's full and equal participation in the economic, social and democratic life of the country. Our government is achieving concrete results for women and in the end this makes a difference for all of us, as we strive to improve the lives of women aiming for real results and creating lasting and positive change.
This government remains firmly committed to strengthening women's participation in all aspects of Canadian society. That is why I am proud to support a report that will add to our government's strong record on addressing violence against women.
