Human Resources Committee on Feb. 15th, 2017

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

When we speak about credentials and indigenous people and newcomers, would you say that the link between racism and poverty is that they also have fewer job opportunities based on their ethnicity—i.e., they won't get the job they applied for even if their credentials are better than others'?

[Kate Gunn]

I think so. Certainly there are challenges for newcomers to just learn the systems. I mean, some of the systems are the barriers themselves. These are the systems of red tape and of having to go from one agency to another. They can find their way through that maze if they have support, if they have a cultural navigator. Some of our newcomer organizations have worked with this concept of a cultural navigator to work one on one with families and individuals, a wraparound, as Wayne talked about, that helps them get through the maze when they have credentials but then have to find their way through. That's hard for everyone, let alone those encountering discrimination along with the issue of accreditation.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Okay, so it's systemic and it's based on race.

How can we guarantee equality and non-discrimination? It is up to governments to prevent marginalization. What I'm hearing is that it's cyclical. It goes from generation to generation. If the parents start in poverty, or have lack of opportunity just because of the way they look, this is a shame on our society. It's our shame. How do we as a government prevent marginalization? How do we guarantee equality and non-discrimination?

That's for anyone who wants to answer it.

[Allan Wise]

I'll add something based on what Jino said earlier: education. I can put a personal spin on it. I came to Canada in 1989. I was a 19-year-old man, a refugee from Iran. I put myself through school and racked up a huge loan. When I graduated, I was one of the top three in a class of 12, with a grade point average of over 4.0. I applied for nearly 100 jobs at the time, and I did not even get a call back. The minute I changed my name and anglicized it, I started getting letters.

Does that mean it was a success? I had the opportunity of being born to a family with an Iranian dad and a Russian mom, and I look white, just to say it simply. That helped me. This is not to say that sneaky, hidden discrimination is something that can be quantified or felt by the aggregate population, and that's not to say that the aggregate population is exercising that.

What I can say is that education engagement, that's the role.... It's guaranteed to us under the charter. The right is guaranteed. I think the role of the federal government should be education.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Mr. Long.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, again, to our witnesses.

Mr. Distasio, would you say that the single best way to end poverty long term would be a comprehensive national early learning concept?

[Dr. Jino Distasio]

I wouldn't disagree with you.

I think that early childhood interventions are critical for two- to four-year-olds. My office has looked at Scandinavian countries, and there seems to be a lot of success there, even with respect to Germany. You have two-year-olds in the program.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

So you would agree with me.

One of the single biggest things the federal government could do long term would be to come up with a national early learning program, obviously in conjunction with each province.

[Dr. Jino Distasio]

Agreed. I think that has to go hand in hand with supporting families and supporting families living in quality housing. Yes, you have my full support.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thank you.

[Dr. Jino Distasio]

Just quickly, though, we did publish a paper—I know it's about academics—looking at ACE scores, adverse childhood events. We think we added one of the first papers that definitively linked adverse childhood events with a greater likelihood of becoming homeless later in life.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

There's no question. I agree with you, and thank you for that.

Ms. Gunn or Mr. Bisanz, how many people are on the wait-list for affordable housing in your city?

[Kate Gunn]

I'm not sure if I can give you that figure offhand. I think it certainly is something that's increasing. I could follow up and provide that to you.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

I'd like to know.

Just for an example, in New Brunswick in September, we announced an additional $56.8 million in affordable housing, the IAH, that is going to go to housing repairs, enhancements, builds, shelters, and so on. I'm assuming there were also additional monies from the budget announced in Edmonton.

Who advocates for that money? Where has it gone? Can you share with me how that trickles down? Obviously, it's a federal-provincial announcement, but then it goes into the municipalities, too. How do you advocate for that money to make sure Edmontonians get their share?

[Kate Gunn]

It's not something I have a lot of detail on, but I would say that our key lead agency in Edmonton is Homeward Trust. Certainly they advocate and are the recipient of a lot of funds that are then disbursed to projects. Of course, the municipality is a huge advocate—

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

But on a municipal level, does your group advocate for housing? We all know we need housing. There was additional money in the budget for housing. How does that work? How do you...?

[Kate Gunn]

Raise that up?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Yes.

[Kate Gunn]

In Edmonton, our EndPovertyEdmonton organization is a collective. It really just got off the ground this fall. One of its key roles is to advocate, but it's a very new kid on the block in terms of launching. We see that it will be a key. It's identified in our road map as one of our game-changers, affordable housing. It definitely will be one that, with the municipality and other key community players, EndPovertyEdmonton will advocate.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thank you.

Mr. Brownlee and Ms. Pearce, I want to ask you basically the same line of questioning. Again, where I'm going with this is that at times it's frustrating.

As the federal government, we seem to come out with things, and then it goes to the provinces. The provinces have their own mandates and their own agendas. It goes out and then the municipalities are saying, “How about us?” It's one of those things where, in my opinion, if I could wave my magic wand on it, I would have more, if you will, strings attached to some of the federal money that goes out through the provinces.

Can you share with me your knowledge, if you don't mind? In Winnipeg, how many people are on an affordable housing wait-list?

[Clark Brownlee]

I wish I could. We can't get good information from Manitoba Housing. In Manitoba, the provincial government has basically taken over 99% of the public housing responsibility from the municipalities.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Is that not a public number, though, the number of people on the wait-list for affordable housing?

[Clark Brownlee]

No, it's not. It sounds like it should be quite easy to find, but we can't get a good number. I would say it would probably be in the thousands.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

For example, in Saint John there are 1,400 people on the wait-list for affordable housing.