Status of Women committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair. We really appreciate the opportunity to dialogue with you and your committee.

Status of Women committee  I am the coordinator, or coordonnatrice, a feminine title in French.

Status of Women committee  I will ask Jackie and then Hélène to answer the first two questions.

Status of Women committee  We have a good working relationship with INAC, and we partner on some things. INAC has equipped itself with a good gender unit and does a lot of work to bring the gender perspective and women's equality to their work. We have at times worked as a network builder, for example, on Sisters in Spirit.

Status of Women committee  As well, with this problem emerging in recent years, we have seen, as you say, more women giving up some of their paid work in order to be able to look after family members and others. This is not a new issue but it is relatively new. Perhaps the department that looks at pensions and at how women and men will fare in their later years has been doing studies on this emerging issue to make sure that the programs are adapted in order to not penalize them.

Status of Women committee  As I mentioned earlier, it's clear that a number of countries around the world have committed to gender equality. Canada is one of those countries. We are lucky in that equality is enshrined in our Constitution, we have the Canadian Human Rights Act, and we have other legislation that helps us in that regard.

Status of Women committee  We have done work on that. It's clear that it's a troublesome situation. The fact is that even though education levels are at par or higher at times than men, as you say, it's not translating into income. Often women undertake other responsibilities, as we all know. They are the ones who still do most of the unpaid work in our society; although with parental benefits and other possibilities, men are taking up the challenge more than they used to.

Status of Women committee  You're asking a good question. It's a tricky question for an official to respond to, but let me take it another way. Over the last number of years, we looked not only at how Canada was working, but how a number of other countries are working to advance gender equality. When we appeared before the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 2005, it was to take stock ten years after the Beijing conference to see if countries were really progressing.

Status of Women committee  Yes. In 2005-2006, we proceeded to an evaluation of the women's program. The program was found to be efficient, to be reaching its objectives, and useful for women. The question of funding and the funding mechanisms was an issue that the committee had looked at in hearing from groups, and it's a question we are currently looking at in order to ensure that there is flexibility and that we are reaching the results we expect from the grants and contributions from the program.

Status of Women committee  I think it would be difficult for me to do so this morning, but if you would like, we could provide you with some information at a later date, and have persons who are knowledgeable about these issues and who have done some research come and tell you more about how we have worked on that, what we've noticed, and where there might be areas of solution.

Status of Women committee  The budget itself was not reduced; it's the way it was reported in the estimates. The first priority is to promote equitable public policy. Every department has been looking at new processes and ways of reporting their activities under a program activity architecture, as prescribed by the Treasury Board.

Status of Women committee  It's clear that the quality of life of aboriginal women as a whole across Canada.... You mentioned on reserve, where there's a deplorable situation, and the federal government is responsible there for their welfare and their well-being. That's why at Status of Women Canada, we were pleased that the consultations we held last year confirmed our views that focusing some of our attention on aboriginal women and particularly on violence was important.

Status of Women committee  I said that last year we partnered with INAC to develop information. Often what happens with aboriginal and other groups of women is they're not aware of their rights—and they do have rights. Although the situation with aboriginal women and matrimonial property is bigger than just sharing information, we felt that this was a good first step, at least in making sure that aboriginal women know what their rights are.

Status of Women committee  No, but in 2005, the program was ahead by $2.5 million over the 1999 budget.

Status of Women committee  It is an Aboriginal women's group that is Canada-wide, including Quebec.