Status of Women committee  Absolutely. Food insecurity is really big. There is also—you spoke earlier about this—inadequate and unaffordable housing, inaccessibility for transportation in the built environment as well, and there are lots of different barriers that senior women face. Certainly, if senior women are living in poverty, it's exacerbated even more.

Status of Women committee  Definitely, income and economic security is a big issue for the aging population. We've been looking at medium income, and we've been using StatsCan data to have a look at what the impact is, especially on senior women. What we've found is that senior women's medium income has risen since a historic low point in the 1990s, and that senior men's income has remained 1.5 times higher.

Status of Women committee  It's definitely something that has been discussed, but I think making that determination is a question for others.

Status of Women committee  Certainly at the Department for Women and Gender Equality, we are very focused on women's organizations, the women's movement and the sustainability of the women's movement. I know this government has also encouraged that through budget investments through the women's program. Another $100 million was provided in budget 2018.

Status of Women committee  The mandate has expanded. Earlier, when we were Status of Women Canada, the mandate was specifically focused on women. Now, in terms of the new Department for Women and Gender Equality, the mandate has expanded to sex and gender and looking at gender identity and gender expression, as well as sexual orientation.

Status of Women committee  I would say it's an evolution in some ways. We had been doing work with LGBTQ communities, to a certain extent, based on some of our programming, but we've also been doing work with girls. Girls weren't part of the original mandate of Status of Women Canada, so I think it's an evolution in that respect.

Status of Women committee  I think it's a great question. When the act was passed in December, there were a number of questions asked at that time, as the bill went through the House and the Senate. Certainly, the department would be happy to come back to this committee to provide more information and a better overview of the activities we're now conducting.

Status of Women committee  As I mentioned earlier, the Department for Women and Gender Equality does have two parts to its new mandate. One is to advance gender equality, and the other one is to promote the gender and diversity lens, which is GBA+. As part of that lens, we are looking at the different intersecting factors for women, including minority women, indigenous women, etc.

Status of Women committee  Certainly, we have a gender-based violence knowledge centre, which has also been recently launched. Most is available in English and French, but we do know that accessibility for multilingual services is an issue in local and regional contexts. At this time, English and French are the primary languages, but of course we work within regions.

Status of Women committee  There aren't currently with the Department for Women and Gender Equality. However, I may be looking to my colleague at PHAC. Perhaps there's some programming and some interventions within your organization.

Status of Women committee  Good morning. I'm Danielle Bélanger, Director of Strategic Policy with the new Department for Women and Gender Equality. Thank you very much for having me here today. I welcome the opportunity to appear before the committee to talk about senior women in Canada and how our department is working to address some of the challenges they face.