Evidence of meeting #3 for Status of Women in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was reports.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Thank you for clarifying that.
Yes, I think it's clear that we're going to deal with the matrimonial property rights for aboriginal women. The economic security of women and the challenges that are facing them is the second issue we would be prioritizing.
Liberal
Liberal
Anita Neville Liberal Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Madam Chair, Ms. Guergis made comments about the matter of income splitting being a very complex one, and it relates to a lot of pension issues as well. Would it be possible for our researchers to map out an outline of what would be the components of a study on economic security for women?
There are many aspects to it. If we choose to do it all, we could do it all. If we choose to focus on some aspects of it, we could do that. There are many aspects to that study, and it could in fact take us many weeks to do a full and comprehensive one.
It's only a request, but I think it would be useful.
Conservative
Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON
Thank you.
I support what Ms. Neville has suggested. It takes pensions into account, and we might even want to consider having some senior folks from the finance department come and answer a few of our questions.
Maybe the researchers can separate it into looking at senior women and then looking at the entire population. To get things started, perhaps we'll end up making a recommendation for only part of the population.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Okay. Thank you.
To summarize, we have confirmed matrimonial property rights as our first issue, the economic security issues as our second issue, and violence against women as our third issue. We have concurrence on that.
Reports will be distributed in advance from Statistics Canada for the upcoming meeting. We're going to make specific mention of income splitting to HRDC and the appropriate officials to try to narrow it down on that issue as well.
Ms. Mourani.
Bloc
Maria Mourani Bloc Ahuntsic, QC
I would like to make sure I understand. On June 6, we will meet with the members of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development to address the issue of the matrimonial property rights of aboriginal women. Is that correct? Will we also be dealing with other issues that affect aboriginal women?
Then, on June 8, we will hear from officials from the Department of Justice. Will we be dealing with two very specific issues: human trafficking and sexual assault? I would like to have a detailed plan.
If I understand correctly, on June 13 and 15, we will deal with the economic security of older women. That includes several topics, including income splitting and care to be provided. Have I understood correctly?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
That is the intent. We may have to move these around, depending on departmental officials. Clearly, the intent is to focus on several issues with each one of the various departments. We're allowing two hours in which we should be able to at least get a feel for a variety of those issues and to determine from that point if additional work needs to be done.
These are joint committee discussions, one with the aboriginal committee and one with the justice committee. We will have a chance to discuss a variety of issues and exchange viewpoints on them. We've agreed to that.
Ms. Minna.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
I have a point of clarification, Madam Chair.
Given that we seem to have agreed on the workplan for the tabling of the reports and the studying of aboriginal matrimonial rights, economic security, and violence, I only want to ask if Madam Smith has other motions that were tabled prior to or during the 48 hours. Are these motions staying, or are they being withdrawn now that the committee has agreed through consensus to the rest of the workplan?
We're going to come back to motions next week on Thursday.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
I didn't hear that. I'm just asking for a point of clarification. Are the remaining motions withdrawn now, or are they still on the table?
Conservative
Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
You know, I find it curious. We've just had a big conversation about motions. It took several minutes objecting to my motion, and not less than five minutes later there was another motion from members opposite, and we agreed. We will bring motions as we see it prudent to do so, as we expect you to do.
That's why, when this motion was brought forward from the other side, we thought it was great--this is what we should be doing.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
With respect, actually that was from the chair. It was a concurrence motion; it was not a 48-hour notice on our side.
Conservative
Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Well, if members opposite brought motions, of course that's part of the process.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Okay, but all I'm asking about, though, are the motions that you, Madam Smith, had put forward last Friday. In addition to the aboriginal one, you have three others. I'm asking you if those motions are still standing.
Bloc
Maria Mourani Bloc Ahuntsic, QC
Madam Chair, I hope that when Parliament resumes in the fall, we will not forget the two meetings that we want to have with officials, since we will not have an opportunity to meet with them between now and the end of the session. On June 8, we are going to discuss human trafficking and sexual assault with the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
So, if everyone agrees, I would like us to devote the first meeting when Parliament resumes in the fall to hearing from officials from the Department of Justice and Correctional Services Canada, on, among other things, the topics that we will have addressed with the Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, in other words, sexual assault and human trafficking. I would like you to take note of that, because part of our agenda in the short and medium term is missing.
On the other hand, we will not be able to meet with officials from Foreign Affairs Canada on human trafficking. We also wanted to meet with stakeholders, but that will be impossible. So it would be important to do that on a priority basis when Parliament resumes in the fall, to complement what we will have already done on June 8.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
May I suggest that we revisit that issue after we've had our meetings with our justice committee, and so on? We can revisit those issues and come back before the House rises with a plan for the fall, based on the kinds of discussions we've had.
Clearly, when we have the justice committee and the aboriginal committee--