Status of Women Committee on Sept. 26th, 2006

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Is it an organization as such or does this simply mean that future groups will be added to the list? I'd just like to know.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

It's an organization that's focused on the future, evidently.

Ms. Smith, would you comment?

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

I will give you a handout that I just gave to some of our people this morning. The Future Group is a group that has worked exclusively with the human trafficking issue and the causes. They've been part of the people who have made suggestions as to how we should deal with this. They've been very hands-on.

They have a wealth of information. They did a study called Falling Short of the Mark: An International Study on the Treatment of Human Trafficking Victims. It relates to what happens after a victim is rescued, what they do to make sure that they can integrate back into society, and the medical treatment and counselling that is needed there. They are right on top of the issues. The Future Group is made up of many volunteers who are working in this area. I'd be glad to give you a couple of handouts, just to give you an idea.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

It would be great to have that, but in order for it to be distributed it needs to be done in English and French. If we could get that looked after it would be good.

Possibly one of the things that might be helpful for all these witnesses is to have a bit of a description before they come before us, not two pages but a bit of a description as to what their background is and why it is they're here, so we can all zero in more effectively with our questions.

We're moving forward on that. Is everything okay with everyone? You have this trafficking report that was done by the Library of Parliament. You also have a brief on the same issue. We have asked about the video that you suggested, Ms. Smith, and it will be ready in a couple of weeks. At this point they're reluctant to release it to us individually, so I have asked for arrangements to be made to have a screen brought in here. It's about a 15-minute video and we would see it here at one of our meetings as soon as they have it ready to share with us.

The other issue we could deal with this morning is a notice of motion that Ms. Minna put on the table at our last meeting. I believe all of you should have it in your package. Would you like to read it into the record, Ms. Minna?

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Yes, okay.

Gender Based Analysis Update. Whereas Gender Based Analysis (GBA) is a tool that is used to clarify the differences between women and men when developing policies, programs and legislation. Whereas at the fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 Canada, along with 188 other nations, committed to develop a federal plan based on GBA to advance the situation of women, both within its own borders and globally. Whereas Canada played a leading role at the Conference to secure the adoption of a strong Platform for Action that included key agreements on issues such as violence against women, unpaid work, and poverty. Whereas in 2000 the federal government approved the Agenda for Gender Equality, a five year government-wide strategy, that accelerated the implementation of GBA to strengthen government policy capacity. Whereas the Expert Panel on Accountability Mechanisms for Gender Equality in its final report (2005) recommends in the immediate term, taking administrative actions and key policy decisions and in the medium term, adopting legislation to mandate GBA. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), that the Standing Committee on the Status of Women invite the Deputy Ministers from key ministries (Finance, Justice, Human Resources, Immigration and Treasury Board) to provide an update of the implementation of GBA in their areas.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Does the committee wish to adopt this motion? Does anyone want to speak to this motion?

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Madam Chair, I can expand on it if you like.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Ms. Mathyssen.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I most certainly would like to support this motion. I want to thank the honourable member for bringing it forward, because, based on what we saw yesterday, we have some very profound concerns about what is happening to women in this country. If we take a look at the cuts, they're directed at women. Our obligation here is to protect the women of this country and advance their equality. But when I look at cuts to the Law Commission of Canada, $5 million from Status of Women of Canada, the court challenges eliminated, I become very, very concerned about the direction we're taking as a government and I feel very strongly that these ministers need to be here.

I would like to see Minister Oda in here immediately to explain to us how she is going to protect the women of this country in light of these absolutely unspeakable cuts.

Having said that, I would like in the strongest possible terms to lend my support to this motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Any further comments?

Ms. Smith.

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

I have to say that at this point in time it's not the time for this motion to be put forward. I appreciate the intent of the motion, but right now I think we should be concentrating on the human trafficking issue. At some point in time, of course, we will bring in all ministers when we get on the other topic.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

When the minister does come, on either October 5 or October 26, she will be speaking to the reports on the gender based analysis. I expect that this will be discussed at that time as well.

Any further comment?

Ms. Minna.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Madam Chair, thank you.

I didn't have a chance to expand on it earlier, but when I initially wrote this motion it was to have the deputy ministers, because I wanted the committee to have a chance to ask the deputy ministers about the procedures and processes in place in their respective ministries that actually make this a reality, rather than something we keep talking about all the time.

Since the cuts that took place yesterday, this motion becomes that much more important. Status of Women Canada is having cuts. How will that affect the program's ability to do the kind of lead work it has to do across the government, across all those sectors, to make sure this training takes place because it's the lead department on that?

Especially given the cuts, this is important for us to be able to see. The recommendations are clear from the gender equality task force, and it's been going on for a long time. This committee should be able to call to account the bureaucracy or the officials to ask what is happening in their respective departments, in finance, exactly. Given the cuts, how is Status of Women Canada impacted in its ability to lead on this issue across the government?

It's a very important, fundamental piece of work that we have to get done, which has been affected.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you.

We have a motion.... Sorry, we have some more speakers to hear.

Ms. Neville, Mr. Stanton, Ms. Smith.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm pleased the minister is coming before the committee to speak to it. Has the report from the expert panel on accountability mechanisms for gender equality been distributed to the committee? I don't recall, but that doesn't mean anything.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Say that report again.

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

Ms. Minna puts in her motion a reference to the report that was produced by the expert panel on accountability mechanisms for gender equality. The panel was established by the previous minister, and it's a three-person panel. It appeared before this committee and issued a final report on gender-based equality, and it's important that all members of this committee have that report. That's my first comment.

My second comment is that I'm sorry, and I should have caught it earlier, but Ms. Minna didn't include in her notice of motion something to the effect of whereas it was a priority of all women's groups who appeared before this committee as part of the consultation process that this committee look at the issue of gender-based equality in policy-making, both for government and crown corporations. That unequivocally is what we heard when we met with women's groups across the country, that gender-based equality mechanisms be implemented in all aspects of government policy-making.

We know that Status of Women Canada had a key role in working with other departments to ensure they had the skills, the talents, the wherewithal to review all policy development for gender equity concerns, and we need to know its status. We need to know whether the department's ability to do it is now compromised, whether there are other plans in government to look at it, or the reality of whether it is simply not going to be addressed by this government, and we at least know what the situation is.

We have many days scheduled here in this schedule of events, and I am sure we could find one day where we could bring in the representatives of the departments to speak to this issue. And I want to reiterate it again. It was unequivocally the number one choice of women's groups and individual women right across this country that gender equality be integrated into policy-making and programs in this government.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Are you moving that as an amendment, Ms. Neville?

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

No, I'm not. I'm not making it as an amendment; I'm simply speaking to it as something that might have been included in the motion. It's no criticism, trust me, but it is front and centre an issue. I have had many meetings with women's groups in my province, and the constant question, the constant refrain, is where is gender-based equality at right now in its implementation with the government.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Stanton.

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would certainly agree with Ms. Minna that the focus really needs to be on the administrative arm and the degree to which the departments are in fact incorporating this already rolled-out plan into the culture of their departments, if I can use a general term.

I note that it sort of goes back to the earlier point we talked about, which is that we did want to have a look at the reports that were tabled. Now that we have the responses from the government, it would be appropriate--I think it was report 2 that dealt specifically with this topic--that we manage to set the time aside to deal with this. I would agree with Ms. Neville that there's capacity to do that in the course of this fall session. I certainly don't see a problem with it.

We'll have the minister here, perhaps even on two occasions, to deal with other issues relating specifically to the estimates and to reports 1 and 3, which kind of speak to the cost-cutting measures that are in place. I realize there may be some interrelationship there and we'll be able to deal with that, but I think it would be good to focus on this GBA in terms of how it's being rolled out administratively...and an update, as has been mentioned, on the progress, because this is an initiative that I guess started in 2000 and should be ongoing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you.

Ms. Smith.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

From the comments and with the minister being here, clearly this is a very good motion. It's something we need to support. Having ministers in and having questions answered and clearing up misinformation is extremely important.

The only caveat I would enter is that human trafficking is something we can't lose our focus on, because we are going to continue with another topic following the Christmas break.

I would absolutely vote in support of this motion, because it's a very good one. I would only be mindful of the timing and mindful of the fact that we make sure we deal with it when the minister is actually here, so we don't lose time on any of the issues.

Those are my comments.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

In the motion it's clear that the member is indicating the deputy ministers, more so than the minister on this particular issue.

Ms. Davidson.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll be brief, because I am really only reiterating what has already been said.

I think the motion has a lot of merit. I think we do need to know where we're going and what's happening. It was announced yesterday that there are cost savings being put in place, and those cost savings need to be found in areas, hopefully, that are administrative rather than program-based. I think it behoves this committee to know what is happening and where those cost savings will come from. So I'm going to be supporting this motion.