Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
For the Fédération des femmes du Québec, the next federal budget should give priority to measures to promote women's equality particularly for women who are victims of double discrimination in Quebec and Canada.
Our first recommendation more concerns our foreign policy. We propose a reduction in military spending and an increase in investments in development assistance programs, particularly programs that will help women and children. CIDA's programs should give priority to poverty reduction. That would be consistent with the commitments Canada has made to eliminate discrimination against women.
Among the measures that should promote fairness for immigrant women, there is one important measure: greater investment in integration programs, in particular for French-language instruction and occupational training programs.
As for the measures for Aboriginal women, we are very concerned by health care in the areas of the isolated communities in northern Quebec and northern Canada. The federal government has responsibilities. It must take the necessary measures to provide care that is comparable to that offered in southern Canada.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the shelters for Aboriginal women who are victims of violence on Aboriginal lands in Quebec—there are some 10 of them—receive 45% less funding than the other shelters in Quebec because the Quebec and federal governments pass the buck as a result of jurisdictions. It's quite shameful that Aboriginal women who need shelters where they live do not have the same services as other Quebec women. For us, this is an urgent priority.
Now let's consider the issue of women with a functional limitation. There should be more programs to support their full integration into society. They need services and equipment. However, we must also look at programs and services to protect them from physical, mental, sexual and other forms of abuse.
As regards other fairness measures for all Quebec women, I would like to draw your attention to the importance of reinstituting the Court Challenges Program, which enables women's groups to bring important cases before the courts.
We should also eliminate those provisions of the employment insurance scheme that discriminate against women, particularly the setting of eligibility requirements expressed in hours. These are criteria—the statistics prove it—that discriminate against people who work part time. As women are unfortunately the champions of nonstandard and part-time work, they have much more limited access to the employment insurance program than men. The employment insurance system should also be significantly improved so that unemployed persons can maintain a decent standard of living.
The Fédération des femmes du Québec and many social movements have one very important concern. That is to give priority to social programs. Let us remember that Canada differs from the United States in its commitment to provide certain services and a basic income to all its citizens. For women who, on average, have incomes below those of women and who continue to be primarily responsible for children, these programs guarantee a certain security, particularly with regard to health, child care services, children's allowances and retirement incomes. However, we emphasize that Canada has previously done better in this regard and could do even more to improve the situation of all citizens.
I have a lot of things to say, so I'm going to say them very quickly.
In social programs, the agreement on child care must be complied with. It's quite embarrassing to think that most women in Canada do not have a child care service. We have one in Quebec. Under that agreement, we must continue to respect Quebec's independence, independence in a number of social programs which have proven themselves in terms of leadership, but as you will understand, we support all Canadian women and demand that they be able to enjoy child care programs as good as those of Quebec. That should be a priority in the next budget.
We should also look at improved “compassionate” care benefits. We must invest more in health; we must invest more in social assistance programs. We also have an entire series of measures to improve the tax system.
I therefore hope that you will ask me questions. I know I am out of time, but I hope to be able to talk with you during the question period. Thank you.