Status of Women Committee on Sept. 21st, 2006

[Belinda Stronach, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I'll turn it over to the clerk to deal with a vote on it.

Ms. Stronach, you mentioned earlier--and I will need this to be put down--that the committee should focus their attention on economic security and women's equality in order to prepare a report to table in the House in December.

And the other motion--I assume moved by Ms. Smith, the vice-chair--would be that the committee focus their studies on the subject of human trafficking.

Do you want us to try to get a report for December in order to prepare a report to the House by December?

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

That's moved by Ms. Smith, and Ms. Stronach is moving the motion on economic security. So we'll go on to whichever one goes first.

I will read it out. It is moved by Ms. Stronach that the committee focus their studies on the subject of economic security and women's equality in order to prepare a report to the House by December 2006.

We'll have a recorded vote on that first.

(Motion negatived: nays 7; yeas 4 )

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We now have Ms. Smith's motion on the table--a recorded vote--that the committee focus their studies on the subject of human trafficking in order to prepare a report to the House by December 2006.

Ms. Neville.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

May I have a clarification, please? Do we know what the parameters of a report on human trafficking means? Is it global, is it national, is it every part of the world? I think we have to know what we're voting on.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Can we vote on this issue first? We can clarify that after. Let's vote on this first.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Madam Chair, we should vote first and then move on to discuss possible topics for our consideration.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We will be doing that.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4)

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

If I can turn everybody's attention to page 4, we have a list of possible witnesses on that study.

Yes, Ms. Davidson.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Madam Chair, could I just ask a question? Is it understood by everybody that the economic security of senior women and women's equality will be the next item coming after this other report is done, or do we need a motion to that effect?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

It certainly has been the intent of the committee to do that study, so that's the reason that both of them are--

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Okay. I would be glad to make it a motion if anybody is concerned.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

It's already on here. We came forward with both of those issues, with wanting to study both of them. The question for us today was which we were going to focus all of our time on, because if we try to do both of them we're not going to do justice to either one of them.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

I understand that, as long as it's clear that we are going to be doing that study.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

You have a list of possible witnesses down here. At our first meeting, if we have the officials in, it would maybe help us to narrow that down a bit as to how broadly we want to look at this in our limited amount of time and what we can accomplish. So following that first meeting, it is possible that we might be able to narrow that down.

Ms. Smith.

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Might I say that if we had the officials in and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Victor Malerick, that would give the committee a strong sense of what we're facing in Canada and how this impacts on our immigrant population and our aboriginal population. That might be a good place to start. There are two RCMP officers in charge of the human trafficking stationed here in Ottawa, and Victor Malerick does live in Montreal, I believe, so he's easily accessible.

Might I also suggest the Ukrainian Congress? The Ukrainian Women's Association of the Ukrainian Congress in 2004, before the UN, put down and passed a resolution to stop human trafficking, so I would suggest that members from the Ukrainian Congress be invited.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

All right. We have a list. Is there anyone currently on this list who anyone objects to or does not feel will contribute anything significant over and above what someone else might be offering?

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Can we go back to my question of what are the parameters of this study? Are we looking at trafficking locally, are we looking at it internationally, or are we looking at it globally?

We've just heard Ms. Smith suggest the Ukrainian Women's Association. I have no problem with that, but we know that a significant amount of trafficking is from Southeast Asia. The women of those communities may want to come forward.

I've just put down a list. I'd like an opportunity to enhance this list. I don't know where this list came from, but there are some religious groups that are involved in it, and there are some community activists. I think it's important that we have a comprehensive list. I also would like to look at the economic underpinnings of trafficking, not only from a law and order perspective.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

All right. We will try to come up with some additional names.

Ms. Mourani.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Madam Chair, I hope the clerk will be giving us copies of the studies and reports that have already been completed. I'd like to have them well before we start hearing from the witnesses, to determine which areas we should delve into further at the meetings.

I'm not asking for everything in the Library of Parliament, only for those important documents that could enlighten us on the subject at hand.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I gather we will have that report from the Library of Parliament in the next week, tomorrow.

[Lyne Casavant, Committee Researcher]

There will be a report, two parts, from one of my colleagues at the Library of Parliament who's been looking at this question for some time. That report is an electronic document and has hyperlinks to many other resources.

I suggest that if members have other information requirements after they have looked at it that perhaps you can come back to the analyst who'll be working with the committee and ask for more information. But that should be a good starting place, with many links to other reports and other websites to provide members an orientation with the issues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Ms. Mourani.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

My colleague mentioned a report to me. We're not clear whether its a report or a paper on the disappearance of Aboriginal women near Vancouver some time ago. Does that ring a bell for you?