Women's organizations often get caught in this catch-22. They're being asked to present the rationale for funding and they don't have funding to do research or to track the success or failures of their programs. Then they end up in front of municipalities and provinces and federal governments, and they don't even have staff to do that, let's be honest. They don't have the staff to even get to Ottawa. Particularly for women's organizations in the north, it's very expensive. So we're losing all that insight because we're not supporting them to do research in the first place on their work.
I think we also have to have an honest conversation about what doesn't work, which is very hard when you're asking for funding. When you're responding to a funder, you want to have good news. You don't want to say this program didn't work, and yet we need to know when things don't work. So, in terms of ongoing funding, absolutely I think it is essential. Stable funding, funding for core costs, keeping the lights on, paying the telephone bill, and that kind of stuff is crucial.
I was really excited this morning to hear Minister Duclos. It was at the anti-poverty conference today. He talked about failing, and failing forward, and said that part of innovation is about accepting failure as part of that process because it means you're taking risks. I know we don't always think of innovation and women's organizations together and there are some dangers there, “We know it worked last year, but we want you to submit a proposal for something different because we already funded that,” but you're saying, “No, and that really worked.” On the other hand, I think we need to have an honest conversation about funding women's organizations, taking some risks, and let's hear what's not working. That doesn't mean you're never going to get funding again, it's just, “Now we know that didn't work. I bet you have ideas for things that would work better.”