First of all, with regard to the broader government policy framework outside of trade, this is something that.... There's the example of child care. This has been very well noted. Canada's often a world leader in promoting women in trade and women in the economy. At one of the recent events I was attended, OWIT UK—actually, it was the U.K. Department for Business & Trade, I think—they mentioned that child care is something that they are really pushing forward, and this is coming from a Conservative government.
Other countries have also understood the importance of national programs such as child care. They also look at other types of government policies and industry initiatives that can move things forward. In other countries, gender-based violence is a big issue, and there are all sorts of issues, so these government policies....
It's interesting, because foreign trade negotiations that have a progressive chapter—a gender and trade chapter or an inclusive trade chapter, broadly—often lead to progressive reforms taking place in other parts of the government policy framework generally. That's just a quick overview of that aspect.
In terms of NTBs affecting women primarily at the small side of the spectrum, in terms of working with the women entrepreneurship strategy, a key part is trade. It's such a wonderful strategy and it covers so much. Again, other countries look enviously at Canada and what we've accomplished here.
Non-tariff barriers encompass so many different areas, and one of them is intellectual property. In the field of textiles, for example, in traditional areas like in indigenous groups, women are the owners. They are the creators of intellectual property, of the designs, the textile designs, and there are even the genetic resources—medical herbs and that kind of thing. There's understanding that they need to be helped, so WIPO—the World Intellectual Property Organization—has set up programs to assist women indigenous groups to assist them to become more entrepreneurial, to understand the value of their intellectual property and to set up training. WIPO does things for women in these countries.
I don't know to what extent in Canada we assist women owners. I don't know if the indigenous peoples of Canada can benefit from WIPO. I think it's strictly for developing countries. This is an example to show that maybe developed countries, if they don't have their own strategies, may be not be at a disadvantage, but they can't also benefit, so there's the idea of replicating some of the programs at the UN level.
Another one would be SheTrades, which is a combination between UNCTAD and the International Trade Centre for developing countries to teach women entrepreneurs from these places how to engage. They are also also finding them mentors, teaching them programs, teaching them confidence building and assertiveness training so that when they're with a bank, they don't sound like a huge risk because they don't sound as if they don't believe in their products or in their strategies. It's that kind of thing.
Working on these things requires a combination of government policies, industry initiatives and support from international organizations. We have to work together to move forward and to—