Status of Women Committee on Oct. 19th, 2006

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We are convening meeting 17 of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. We will commence our meeting now.

Could we just go over what you should have in front of you as information that you need for this meeting? You should have a copy of the agenda; the briefing documents from the Library of Parliament for our witnesses; and an article by Mr. Poulin, from the University of Ottawa, who is going to speak to us.

I just want to make sure everybody has what they're supposed to have, because it seems to create a bit of a kerfuffle as we go through.

You should also have the committee calendar, which is updated with confirmed witnesses. Those we have confirmed are in bold, so we have our two witnesses.

You also have a notice of motion from Ms. Mathyssen. She gave us that at our last meeting, and she has asked to speak to that before the witnesses proceed, as she has indicated that she is not sure if she can stay for the full meeting.

Did you want to speak to that briefly, Ms. Mathyssen?

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

Yes, Madam Chair, but I have a question about the calendar before I do. I note that the Minister of Northern Development and Indian Affairs is supposed to be with us on Tuesday of next week, and that he's only here for one hour. Is that true?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Yes. First, I'm very glad that he accepted so quickly to come, and he is giving us an hour. He will be here from noon until one o'clock. The clerk has been unable to confirm any other witnesses for that morning, and we don't have any other outstanding committee business with which we could fill in that hour. Unless someone from the committee has a suggestion, we would be meeting from twelve until one to hear the minister.

Ms. Minna.

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

Just as a bit of a reminder, we have a motion suggesting that we have some deputy ministers from various departments come and talk about gender-based analysis. We also said we would try to find time as we went along. If there are gaps, then that might be one way of starting to do that work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We do have a meeting set up on Monday, November 6, specifically with the deputy ministers who are coming. Otherwise, I would have tried to ask the clerk to schedule them in.

Ms. Smith.

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

For the 23rd, I know there are witnesses who want to come. Can we somehow assist those witnesses in getting here, and then wait a couple of days to see if they can be confirmed? I would like to not throw us off the agenda, but I know there are a lot of people who have actually called my office and who are looking forward to being witnesses here. Sometimes, if you can't talk to a real person, it's hard to confirm with the telephone tag. Perhaps we could help in that, because I do think we could get witnesses for that day.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

The clerk has indicated that she has attempted to fill that hour and was unable to.

Would you like to speak to that, Ms. Tittley?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Michelle Tittley]

I can comment on all of the names you see here on the calendar. If they're listed on the calendar, it's because they've been requested to be present. As you can see, the ones who are in bold are the ones who are confirmed.

As of right now, it's difficult. I have not been able to find anyone for the one-hour slot before Minister Prentice. Perhaps the committee has additional suggestions of local representatives whom they may wish to have. It would be much easier to contact them than someone who is further away from Ottawa.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Ms. Smith.

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

Could we just have a day or two before we change the agenda? There are a couple of people I would like to phone, just to see if they could be here for the 24th.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I would suggest, Ms. Smith, that you give those names to the clerk. She will immediately try to get hold of them as soon as possible. It would be great if we could fill that other hour as well, so just give her the names as soon as possible and she will attempt to get hold of them.

Ms. Mourani.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I also would like to suggest a group that we could perhaps fit in somewhere in one of the seven one-hour slots. There is a specific group whose name I don't see here and that I would like to have included. Perhaps I could send you the name by e-mail.

The meeting on Monday to talk about gender-based analysis doesn't work for me, because I won't be in Ottawa; I will only be here from Tuesday to Friday.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We put that together on that Monday. If any of the members are not going to be able to make it to the November 6 meeting, it is important for us to know in advance. I realize it's an extra one and it creates a problem for many of us. But please confirm your attendance for that day so that we know if we'll have enough people. Otherwise, we'll have to look at doing it on a different day.

Mr. Mourani, if you would like to resubmit to the clerk any names that you have, we will attempt to get them on the list.

We'll now come back to Ms. Mathyssen and her motion.

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

I appreciate your allowing me to speak to it at this time, because I think I may have to leave a bit early, as much as I regret it.

At any rate, the two motions are before us. Shall I read them into the record?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Yes, please.

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

The first motion reads:

That, in consideration of the funding cuts announced September 25, 2006, the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status on Women recommends the government continue funding all activities of Status of Women Canada at the 2005-2006 level or higher and that the chair report the adoption of this motion to the House forthwith.

The fact that the staff from SWC were unable to clarify where the $5 million in savings would come from leads me to be very concerned. Clearly, there hasn't been a lot of consideration given to how the department will operate without those funds. It would seem that if they are to carry out their mandate, they need staff. What really concerned me was the question from Ms. Mourani in regard to possible layoffs among the 131 staff members. This would seriously handicap the department in its ability to do their important work.

So that's the first motion. Did you want me to continue with the second?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Yes, please.

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

My second motion reads:

That, in consideration of the new mandate of the Women’s Program of Status of Women effective September 27, 2006, the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status on Women recommends the government reinstate the previous mandate for the five years and that the chair report the adoption of this motion to the House forthwith.

I have serious concerns about the new mandate and the way it will prevent the kind of advocacy and research that all the groups in our communities depend on. I'm not clear about the implications of that mandate or its ultimate effects. I'd like to hear some expert information about it, so that we could have a better sense of the effects of these changes. They're quite significant changes, and I think it's important that we be cognizant of them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Is there a desire by the committee to discuss or debate these motions?

Ms. Smith.

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

I'll have to clarify, first of all, whether you want to discuss or debate it now or just table it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

The member tabled it last week. Normally, we would have dealt with it at the end of the meeting. But because Ms. Mathyssen indicated that she may not be able to stay, she asked if we could deal with it.

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

I cannot support either one of these motions. A new mandate is out there for Status of Women. Human trafficking was difficult to get on this committee, and I'm happy that we have it and that we're studying it. We have had years of gender-based analysis studies, and we have a lot of valuable information that can be used.

This is a big surprise to the committee. We discussed this whole thing at the beginning, and we set a plan for the Status of Women so that we could get things done. In the first semester, until Christmas, we were going to study human trafficking. In the second semester, we were going to look at economic concerns. We've also put in extra meetings to address other issues we're dealing with.

I think this motion is a ploy to get us off the human trafficking issue, and I think it's unfortunate that political stripes have to come into something like this. I think we should stick to our plan, and I definitely would vote against this motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Ms. Minna.

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

Madam Chair, first of all, I want to say that I understand that the members from the government side are not going to be able to support this kind of motion because it actually goes against their own policy. However, what was just stated by Joy really has nothing whatever to do with this. What this committee has decided to do as part of its work, in terms of our priority, in terms of trafficking, has nothing to do with the government's decision to cut and to change the mandate of Status of Women Canada, which is a whole other issue.

Members of the committee do have the right to put forward motions, as we have. We give 48-hour notices to indicate to the government that we are happy or unhappy or want something different with respect to that other activity, which has nothing to do with this committee's work plan. The two are not interlinked.

The work plan is something we are doing, a study on a specific issue. The Status of Women mandate is a whole other situation altogether.

Obviously, Madam Chair, I will be supporting this, and I hope my colleagues on this side will too, because it goes to the core and to the heart of what the whole of programming for women in this country is and has been about. I will not go into details because I don't want to waste our witnesses' time, except to say that you might want to canvass to see who is for and against, Madam Chair, and then move on with it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Stanton.