Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to begin by acknowledging that we are on the traditional territory of the Algonquin people. To them, I say meegwetch.
Ideally, this response to the honourable Minister for Women and Gender Equality on behalf of the Green Party would be given by the honourable member for Fredericton, but I am on parliamentary duty today for the Green Party caucus, and I will humbly do my best to speak to this issue.
Honourable members in the House may have noticed that I wear a moosehide square on my jacket. The Moose Hide Campaign is a grassroots movement of indigenous and non-indigenous men and boys who are standing against violence toward women and children. The campaign was started in 2011 by Paul Lacerte, a member of the Carrier first nation, and his daughter, Raven. The idea came to them during a hunting trip on the traditional territory along the Highway of Tears, a stretch of highway in northern B.C. where many indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing.
Since the day Paul and Raven were inspired to start the Moose Hide Campaign, more than a million moosehide squares have been distributed. The moosehide square is meant to be a conversation starter, a way to engage men and to speak out against violence. As men, we have a responsibility to address the issue of violence towards women and children. It is up to us to promote peer-to-peer accountability and do the work required to end the cycle of violence.
Some Canadian households have managed to turn the social isolation experience into meaningful, positive family time with board games, craft projects, family cooking, adventures and more, but for many women and children, home is not a safe place at the best of times. Social isolation, financial difficulties and alcohol consumption have all contributed to an increase in violence against women and children.
In Nanaimo—Ladysmith, organizations like Haven Society, Island Crisis Care Society, and the Society for Equity, Inclusion, and Advocacy are on the front line of this crisis. I want to thank the people at the centres for their work helping women and children escape violence and abuse, and supporting families on their healing journey.
The increase in gender-based violence is one example of the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women. In the time I have today, I will highlight some other examples.
The pandemic has laid bare the inequalities in our society. It has laid bare our blind spots, because the things that are most deeply entrenched are often the most difficult to see.
As a nation, we watched Italy run out of ventilators and the world turn soccer fields into makeshift hospitals. Struck by the images of doctors and nurses struggling to keep pace, we quickly saw what Canada's own underfunded health care system was up against. In a rush to prepare, surgeries were cancelled and dentist appointments postponed. We hung up rainbows, banged pots and pans and said goodbye to family, friends, colleagues and neighbours.
Unwilling to stand idle and allow the health care system to collapse, governments at all levels, parties of all stripes and citizens across the country committed to flattening the curve.
In a frenzy to order more ventilators and clear more hospital beds, we overlooked where we would be hit the hardest. COVID-19 left a path of devastation in long-term care facilities across the nation. The pandemic revealed gross negligence and inequality in the management and hiring practices of privately owned long-term care facilities.
Ownership changes led to contract flipping and union decertification. Workers were laid off and then rehired part time for lower wages and no benefits. These health care workers, the vast majority of them women, were compelled to work at multiple facilities to make ends meet. Allowing these workers to be devalued and exploited to increase profit margins created conditions that led to the rapid spread of COVID-19 from one long-term care facility to another.
This has been one of the harshest lessons of this crisis. Eighty-one per cent of the COVID-19-related deaths in Canada have been associated with long-term care facilities. The private, for-profit care facilities were hit the hardest. The front-line workers we bang pots and pans for every night are predominantly women. They are nurses, technicians, care aides, kitchen staff and cleaners in our health care system and long-term care facilities. They are low-wage workers in essential services. Their work is often unseen and unacknowledged. It's important that we cheer for them. It's even more important that we ensure they receive fair compensation for their work.
While the government has provided a lifeline to many Canadians who lost work as a result of COVID-19, too many are still struggling to keep their heads above water.
Last week the Canadian Women's Chamber of Commerce and the Dream Legacy Foundation released the results of a national survey of close to 350 diverse entrepreneurs, including women, visible minorities, indigenous, LGBTQ+, refugees and immigrants. They found that these business owners are experiencing greater impacts resulting from the COVID-19 crisis than other segments of the population. Fifty-three per cent of women entrepreneurs reported an additional burden of child care, compared to 12% of male entrepreneurs. Sixty-one per cent of women-owned businesses reported loss of contracts, customers and clients. In contrast, 34% of businesses across Canada reported cancellation of contracts.
In Nanaimo—Ladysmith I've heard from countless business owners who are experiencing COVID-related loss of revenue. I know that even with government assistance, many businesses will not survive this crisis. Most of the micro-business owners I've heard from are women. Many of them have reported they are unable to access government assistance. Many of the small business operators who are telling me their businesses are unlikely to survive through this year are women.
I'm thinking of a newly opened restaurant that doesn't have enough of a business track record to access help and is hanging on by a thread. I'm thinking of a day care operator who qualified for provincial assistance funding to cover her business's fixed costs, only to discover she is now ineligible for the CERB and cannot afford her personal cost of living.
As Canada recovers, we cannot afford another misstep. We must think of those who are vulnerable, those who have fallen through the cracks.
Yesterday, my colleague the honourable member for Fredericton stated that she spoke with the leadership of the Native Women's Association of Canada. They told her they did not feel heard within this government. They expressed frustration with the red tape and colonial criteria of funding applications. They told her they wrote to the Prime Minister last month to express their disappointment in being left out of critical decisions. My honourable colleague asked, in light of the approaching one-year anniversary of the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls inquiry report, and considering the recent spike in indigenous women experiencing violence due to COVID-19, would the minister commit to direct, solid core funding for the Native Women's Association of Canada?
Very few Canadians are aware that one of the top recommendations of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was to create a guaranteed annual livable income for all Canadians, taking into account diverse needs, realities and geographic locations. In two short months the idea of a guaranteed livable income has gone from a relatively obscure policy discussion to a mainstream debate. It's an idea that has gained support across the political spectrum. Spain recently announced its intention to institute such a program. A guaranteed livable income would reduce inequality in this country and alleviate many of the social issues associated with inequality. I urge the government to give it the serious consideration it deserves.
We must invest properly in the structures that hold us together, or we risk our country coming apart. I want to see our commitment to protect our health care system from being overburdened mirrored in our response to the mental health crisis, the housing crisis, the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, and the crisis of domestic violence.
Too many Canadians are falling between the cracks, and a disproportionate number of them are women. We in this Parliament can make policy choices that will flatten the curve of inequality in this country and around the world. That is the curve I want to see flattened.
Thank you.