Foreign Affairs Committee on Nov. 17th, 2020

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Thank you so much for that question, Hedy. It's an issue that I am particularly excited and passionate about when it comes to paid and unpaid care work.

It's one issue that is incredibly important to advance gender equality. We see it here at home. We know how important it is for women's participation in the labour force, and also for their empowerment and autonomy, so integrating this into our international development work is currently under way.

We're going to have some projects to announce very soon in this area. We are looking at how we integrate this into existing projects when it comes to women's economic empowerment, and we're also having some stand-alone projects and working with some of our international partners to be more targeted and specific when it comes to care work.

There is some really exciting work going on right now within the department and within IDRC, as well as with some of our partner organizations in this space. I'm really excited about the leadership role that Canada is taking on to bring this more broadly into development work.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Actually, payment for unpaid work, which is mostly done by women, as we know, around the world, can not only help younger women and women who are at home looking after kids, etc., but also senior women as they retire. If they were able to be paid for all of the caregiving work they do within the house, which they have never been paid for, and which in wealthier countries we pay others to do, it would really make a difference to the poverty of seniors.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Absolutely. Also, in terms of productivity and the ability to have more autonomy in general, women at all ages face a heavy burden of care work, whether caring for children or family members. It is something that we recognize needs to be integrated across our development programming.

I'm very excited about this work.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Do I have any more time, Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Dr. Fry, you have two minutes.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Quickly then, I know that Canada is interested in this and has done a lot of work on it, but how are you working with countries that do not see the value of that work, or don't wish to see the value of the unpaid work that women do in caregiving?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Canada uses its voice in different fora. It raises these issues in multilateral fora at the United Nations. They could be also be raised in bilateral conversations that I have with partner governments around the world, and also with local civil society organizations. One of the best things we can do, as Canada, is to support the local civil societies around the world that are advocating for these issues to make the changes necessary within their own countries.

We try to raise our voice at every opportunity to make sure that we're supporting the people on the ground who are doing this important advocacy.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Dr. Fry, thank you very much.

Thank you, Minister.

Mr. Bergeron, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to go back to the committee's upcoming study on the effects of COVID-19 on more vulnerable populations.

The mandate letter states that international assistance for global education would be increased to 10% of our bilateral international development assistance envelope, with a special campaign for displaced and refugee children.

As we speak today, where do we stand on this objective? Are we working with displaced or refugee children? Has Canada increased this component of its international assistance to date?

I'm going back to the question I asked earlier. What is the schedule for the coming months and years?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Thank you for the question.

Currently, 9% of our international assistance budget is spent on education, and we are on track to reach 10% in the next fiscal year. This is in line with the Charlevoix Declaration on quality education for girls at primary school level. Canada has made a significant contribution to education as a member of the G7.

With respect to refugee and displaced children, we are working with the United Nations Refugee Agency and Education Cannot Wait to ensure success for our campaign.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

How much time do I have left, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

You have 15 seconds left, Mr. Bergeron.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

In that case, I will not insult the minister by asking her to give me an answer in five seconds.

Thank you so much for your patience and for agreeing to stay with us all this time. I am very grateful to you.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Thank you.

I should note that I learned that the last time the Government of Canada funded WE in Kenya was in 2008. I believe that was under Prime Minister Harper.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Bergeron.

The final set of questions, taking us to the end of our scheduled time with the minister, goes to Ms. McPherson for two and a half minutes.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

You have two and a half minutes left, Minister, and then you're free.

I do want to clarify something. I know that the WE Charity and Free the Children are not considered good development partners, so I wanted to clarify that was for Free the Children and WE. I could see that we likely wouldn't be funding them much, but thank you for that clarification.

The question I actually have for you is on climate change. At this moment in time, at the forefront of the government's mind will be a response to and a recovery from COVID-19, of course. The benefits of building resilience to shocks has been made clear during this pandemic, as so many other things have been made very clear.

As governments work to protect their citizens and recover, it is essential that climate change be addressed at the same time. This fiscal year marks the end of Canada's current climate finance package. How will the upcoming climate finance package continue Canada's leadership on gender and climate change, and support women and girls as they undertake climate action, and recognize that Canada has an important role to play and a fair share to contribute?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Absolutely, thank you for that question, Heather.

I think if there's one thing that COVID-19 has taught us, it's how interconnected the world is, and that applies to climate change as well. What we're seeing is a lot of people recognizing that the impacts we're feeling because of COVID-19 are just a microcosm of the impact that climate change will have. Absolutely, Canada will continue in its leadership role with climate change moving forward.

As you probably noted, in my mandate letter from the Prime Minister I'm tasked with working on the intersection of women's rights and climate change. We've already undertaken a couple of initiatives, particularly with IFAD, which works primarily with small-scale agriculturalists—primarily women in sub-Saharan Africa—on building climate resilience and adaptation.

We have been consulting with partners here in Canada and around the world over the past eight months who are helping to feed into and build into our next climate financing initiative.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I would encourage the minister to ensure that a significant chunk of that investment is channelled through Canadian civil society organizations.

As the minister will know, the share of Canadian civil society organizations in Canada's ODA has shrunk over the last several years. While we may be on an upward trend, it is still not back to where I feel it should be. I wonder if the minister could comment on what she feels would be an appropriate division between multilateral and civil society investment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Could you respond very briefly for a closing comment, Minister.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Okay.

I'll just say that I agree with you, Heather. I think it's very important for us to continue working with CSOs and to continue to be on an upward trajectory in terms of growth. My colleagues in the department will know that I am pushing them every day on this, and very much advocating and working with our Canadian CSO partners, because they are important and integral to Canada's ability to deliver effective assistance.

Thank you for your advocacy on their behalf, as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you, Ms. McPherson.

Minister Gould, on behalf of the committee, thank you so much, and your entire team, for being with us today, for your testimony, your time and your service. It has been a very productive and fulsome conversation.

We will let you depart.

I wonder if I can keep colleagues back for a couple of minutes, just to explore some options we have with respect to committee business.

Thank you very much. We'll let you and your team disconnect.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Colleagues, we have a couple of options.

We have about 15 minutes. We have a hard stop at 5:45 p.m. because of other committees that need to do their work.

We have a full slate on Thursday. We have three items of business, including some questions of approvals. We can do a couple of things. We can do this in public, if you agree; we can transition out quickly and come back in camera, as originally scheduled; or we can punt it.

I don't think we should punt it—that is my view; it's not your view, but you may share it—simply because of the COVID study on the slate that requires some approvals from us.

What is the sense of the committee? Should we take committee business and keep it in a public setting, or should we go in camera quickly and then see if we can get it done in the next 15 minutes?

Ms. Sahota, first.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Let's go in camera.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Oh, in camera. I was going to say to stay in public because it takes very long to transfer to an in camera meeting.