Evidence of meeting #97 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was volunteers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:20 a.m.
Executive Director, i2i Intergenerational Society of Canada
Thank you. I appreciate your comments.
In Quebec you do a wonderful job of dealing with these things. I don't see that across the rest of Canada so much. I think that by trying to gather together the territories and provinces and share what's going on, it gives a....
Again, I really think our focus has to be schools. We have to start with kids who are very young, and then it becomes systemic. It becomes part of the schools and the school system to work with seniors. Because of those positive experiences within the community that young people will have, I think that could then go forward to increasing our volunteer interest as those people age.
Yes, I think it's positive.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Ms. MacKenzie.
We'll go to Madam Zarrillo to conclude, for two and a half minutes.
February 1st, 2024 / 9:20 a.m.
NDP
Bonita Zarrillo NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Thank you so much. I'm so pleased to be able to get these extra couple of minutes.
I wanted to start with Ms. Cassaday and explore this gender lens a bit more. The federal government has an obligation to apply the gender lens to the work that it does.
I was wondering if you could share about volunteers.... With this being an intergenerational study, do you see a gender differentiation between the young volunteers who come and the seniors? Is there a gender differentiation?
Also, staff-wise, you already mentioned that 90% of your staff are women. I wonder if you had other experiences in this sector that you can share your view on. What should the gender lens look like in a report like this?
9:20 a.m.
Executive Director, Cyber-Seniors: Connecting Generations
Yes.
Actually, I need to correct myself. I misspoke: 80% identify as she/her, 10% identify as they/them and 10% identify as he/him in our organization. I wanted to make that correction, so thank you for bringing that up.
From a volunteer standpoint, I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but we do get a good mix of all identifying individuals at our organization.
From a seniors standpoint, our older populations do identify mainly as female, but we also try to support an initiative for the LGBTQ+2S population as well, which supports not only our younger individuals who want to learn more and understand more but also our older generation, so that they can understand what that community means, whether they're a part of it or just interested in learning more about it.
9:20 a.m.
NDP
Bonita Zarrillo NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Thank you so much.
Ms. MacKenzie, I'll ask you a similar question. If the government needs to apply a gender lens to intergenerational volunteering, then in this report, what would you like it to know?
9:25 a.m.
Executive Director, i2i Intergenerational Society of Canada
In the work we've been doing, I think there has been quite a broad acceptance of people. Again, really the only thing that connects the people within the projects we've been doing is aging. We're talking really about generational things. I think there's an awareness now within all the groups across Canada that this lens has to be applied, or should be applied, and that all people should be treated equally who are coming into the area of interest.
9:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
You're a little over, Madam Zarrillo.
That concludes the witness round for this morning's meeting. I'd like to thank the witnesses for their presentations.
Before we go in camera, I want to report back to the committee on a ruling I have made.
At the December 4 committee meeting, Madam Zarrillo raised a point of order and expressed her opinion that the motion moved by Ms. Gray on that day constituted a contempt of Parliament. She further explained her perspective that this motion asked the committee to influence, intimidate and block fellow parliamentarians.
I committed to take her point of order under advisement. I am now ready to render my decision to the committee. In terms of the timing, I wanted to do this when Ms. Zarrillo was here.
In making my decision, I was guided by a few principles. First, a motion is a resolution. This means that it is the committee's opinion and it does not require any action to be taken. As such, this motion is not binding on anyone.
Second, page 794 of House of Commons Procedure and Practice says, “The rules of one House cannot be applied to the other, nor can one House compel the other to conduct its work in a specific manner or according to a specific timetable”.
Consequently, I considered that the motion is a resolution. It expresses an opinion of the committee and is not binding on anyone. The motion in no way obliges the other House to carry out its work in a particular way or according to a specific timetable.
Finally, committee members are free to vote for or against this motion.
That is my ruling, as requested.
At this stage, we will go in camera for the business portion of the meeting.
[Proceedings continue in camera]