Thank you, Madam Chair. I am an ex-member of the association and am not speaking on their behalf.
I'm at least the third generation of empowered females in my family. It was interesting to hear you speak of mothers and grandmothers. My grandmother on my father's side was an original Canadian pioneer, actually breaking sod as a homesteader in Saskatchewan and building a stronger Canada in the process. Before my grandparents travelled to Saskatchewan, she spent the winter sewing the tent they lived in until they built a house on their homestead. Later, when their children—my dad and his sister—became school-aged, the family moved to Manitoba and settled on the farm outside Winnipeg, where I live now.
About the same time, my grandmother on my mother's side had her own home-based business, in that she operated a boarding house in the early days of Winnipeg. Her family's favourite client was Garnet Coulter, mayor of Winnipeg. Because he boarded with the family, conversations around the dinner table were both eclectic and dynamic.
Both my mother and I were raised with a great respect for education, and we each went to university and pursued our careers. For each of us, we conscientiously left our careers to focus on raising our families and putting our best efforts forward to build a strong new generation. During that time, we each joined our respective husbands in home-based businesses. For my mother and father, they were successful farmers in what is becoming an increasingly rare accomplishment. They were able to earn a living and raise a family solely from their farm income. For myself, I joined my husband in raising our family, schooling them at home, and developing a home-based company for computer-based geographic information systems.
My mother and I re-entered our professions after the demands of raising a family became fewer. To that end, last year I attended the University of Manitoba, upgraded to a degree of physical therapy, and wrote the national physiotherapy exam, as well as winning an election for school trustee.
I said all that so that I can say this: women are at the very least equal. And I agree again with my cohort. We are pioneers. We are entrepreneurs, business owners, professionals, and nurturers. We are building strong generations and a better Canada, and we are doing it alongside women and men.
In my family, we are intelligent women. We are educated women. We are not afraid to make tough choices, not afraid of hard work. Running a home, with its budgeting, management, prioritizing, and time efficiency issues, is the equivalent of running a small business. When Status of Women is pursuing equal pay for work of equal value, should they not also place a greater value on the work that women do in our homes and with our families?
The fact is that under the Charter of Rights, all Canadians, male and female, are equal. What isn't equal are the barriers and challenges that we each individually face. What makes us who we are and sets us apart from each other is how we deal with those challenges and barriers. I support the fact that by changing the mandate for the Status of Women, we have removed at least one barrier for women and made more funding more available to more women. More front-line groups will now be eligible for funding for their efforts to support women in overcoming their day-to-day barriers. I also support making more dollars available to groups giving direct assistance to victims of violence. We have spent many years and many dollars on research. Let's get on with putting money into the hands of groups that help women overcome barriers. We've cut enough bait. Let's get on with fishing.