Evidence of meeting #36 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was shelters.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:25 p.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I miscalculated my speaking time.
Mr. VanGorder, do you believe that Ottawa should increase the old age security pension back to its original level, which was a percentage of the average industrial wage?
4:25 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Policy Officer, Canadian Association of Retired Persons
A simple answer is yes.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Okay. We can leave it at that and you'll have another crack at it in a little bit, Mr. Ste-Marie.
Mr. Julian and Mr. Fast, I have you on as next.
Give me a signal if there are others.
Mr. Julian, you have six minutes.
4:25 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to all of our witnesses for coming forward during this pandemic to testify. We hope that you and your families and loved ones are staying safe and healthy during this pandemic.
I'd like to start with two questions for Ms. Kamateros and Ms. Martin.
Thank you for your work in providing supports for women who are escaping violence.
Prior to the pandemic it was estimated in Canada—and this is a deplorable fact—that over 400 women escaping violence had nowhere to go in Canada because of the negligence of the previous government and of the current government. As my first question, I would like know where you see that figure today. How many women are still not able to find resources when they need it when they're escaping family violence?
My second question is related to how we can get to there, where every woman has a place to go to when they're escaping violence. We saw at the beginning of the pandemic $750 billion going in liquidity supports to Canada's big banks. Many people have proposed a wealth tax—it wasn't in the budget—that would provide $10 billion annually in supports, for example, so that we can eliminate gender-based violence in this country.
How much do you think it would cost to actually put in place a network and supports so that every woman has a place to go to if they are escaping gender-based violence, escaping family violence?
4:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Women's Shelters Canada
If I understood correctly, you said that 400 women didn't have a place to go.
4:25 p.m.
NDP
4:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Women's Shelters Canada
That is very low, actually. The number is much higher than that, and it definitely hasn't changed. On any given day there are hundreds and hundreds of women who need to be turned away from shelters. They've been at capacity for, I'd say, at least a decade.
This was one of the reasons we advocated for the national housing strategy. The reason the shelters have to turn women away is that they have nowhere to go. It's very important that once a woman is in a shelter they be able to ensure her safety, but there is no safe and affordable housing available. That's the crux of the issue.
Again, as I said, gender-based violence is a systemic issue that requires a systemic solution. Housing is definitely part of it. Proper wages is another.
I think that with the national housing strategy the intentions are there; it's just that there have been many challenges in the rollout. I guess we're going to buckle down to try to find out a bit more about that.
I often say that in this work you have to be naive and optimistic. Part of our optimism is hooked on the national action plan. I said we will need billions, not millions. We have millions in this budget. We need billions. We have to be clear about that.
Part of that is to have housing infrastructure, but also many other systems, in place that will make it much easier for women to flee violence and to have also good prevention programs and intervention programs.
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Shield of Athena Family Services
I want to add that for all of this issue, it's not only a question of extra housing, not only a question of better laws, not only a question of more awareness. If this situation of conjugal violence is left unchecked, it provokes what we call ripple effects. We can all remember the Nova Scotia situation, in which the underlying reasons for the shootout were that there was conjugal violence. What I would like to see is a more holistic, global perspective on conjugal violence that gives it the status that is required.
If you look at the shelter system, it's younger and younger women who are being admitted. The biggest age group all over Canada is young women from their twenties to their forties. Why is this the case? It means that young men are perpetrating the violence, so it boils down not only to a question of more space and more rooms, but of more money being put into the issue of conjugal violence as a whole.
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Women's Shelters Canada
It requires better collaboration, too, between the federal government and the provinces—
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Women's Shelters Canada
—because often the federal level will fund the infrastructure, but then you have to run the thing, and that's up to the provinces.
4:30 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
May I ask whether you have any figures? The 400 women having nowhere to go came from newspaper articles just prior to the pandemic. If you have any more up-to-date figures, I think they would be very helpful.
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Shield of Athena Family Services
I have a figure right offhand. A large group of shelters in Quebec did a study, and they figure that every year it's 10,000 women who are being turned away. If we look at our shelter, every week the minimum number of women we refuse is about five. Over a year, that's 260 women in one shelter. It's vast.
As I said before, it came to light more with the pandemic, because we could really see the shortage of space at that point in time.
4:30 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thank you very much. I think those are figures we will all need to reflect upon.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
If you can send us anything in writing on this, Melpa, it would be helpful.
Turning to the five-minute round, we go first to Mr. Fast and then to Mr. Fragiskatos.
Ed.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, just for clarification, are these rounds going a little longer? Is our time a little longer than what we designated?
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
No. Annie's round went over a little more. The rest were pretty well on time. I have them down here as six minutes, pretty near eight minutes, five and a half minutes and six minutes.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
All right.
Mr. VanGorder, you mentioned in your opening remarks that there was really nothing for seniors from the government during the COVID pandemic. Could you expand on that or did I misunderstand you?
4:30 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Policy Officer, Canadian Association of Retired Persons
I said the perception was that there was very little done. The perception of most older adults was there was $300 given to them last June, and $200 more if they were particularly poor, with now another $500 announced for some of them for this year. Otherwise, they've seen large sums going to support other sectors of the community. They don't perceive that the money has gone to help them.
I also said that this perception is not completely true. We know that the government put $1.4 million through United Way and other supports. Those monies have been invisible to most seniors.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Thank you.
On the OAS, did I hear you say that many of your members are not happy at all about the fact that they've been excluded from the increased OAS benefit?
4:35 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Policy Officer, Canadian Association of Retired Persons
They are happy that the OAS benefit was increased, or will be increased, but they don't think it's enough and they don't think it's soon enough. The 10% for seniors when they turn 75 and then indexed to inflation was what had been promised, but they also wanted increases to the Canada pension plan, especially the survivors benefit, which is very low. Much of this is directed—
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
My time is short, and I have one more question for you.
Have you polled your members on whether or not they would support a home equity tax?