I think the first step, when we're looking at new policies and coming up with a road map for a strategy, is that it has to take into account the different causes of poverty. The causes are complex. It may be education. It's caregiving for many women. It may be disability-related. There may be systemic discrimination against immigrant and racialized people. I don't mean to suggest that it's easy, but I think we need to back up a step and look at what's causing people to be in poverty in the first place.
When we're looking at, for example, changes to EI parental leave, we need to make sure we're looking at changes like those at the federal level through a gendered lens. That consultation is happening absent that discussion despite the fact that 90% of the people who use those leaves are women. We don't look at the long-term effects of, for example, longer leaves and whether they contribute to women staying out of the labour force longer and therefore their long-term economic insecurity. We don't look at those things.
With respect to areas within provincial jurisdiction, I think a key is to use that big national comprehensive human rights lens and gendered lens and then to potentially look at conditional funding to support provinces to comply with human rights obligations and to design programs in a way that meaningfully meets the needs of people in poverty.