Evidence of meeting #38 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 equality.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Director, Canadian Women's Community Economic Development Council
No. I'd say that equality, for me, is about women having choices, about having access to resources that respond to their specific needs. When we're talking about women who come from a marginalized population, they're further away from those opportunities. Equality for me is that they have access to resources that will respond to those needs to give them more opportunities to become autonomous.
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Agreed.
Along this line, when we look at the terms and conditions of the women's program, the terms actually speak to, in the words of the document itself, “the full participation of women in the economic, social and cultural life of Canada”. Express in that is it's motivated by the need to break down the barriers to access. And we've heard this in extensive testimony, that the actual cases that are brought, and what's being sought by advocacy and by research and by capacity building...it's all about trying to break down those barriers so that women marginalized by circumstances, whatever they may be in Canada, have access to those.
Wouldn't you say that a program or projects that in fact seek to provide that assistance that will enable community-based groups to fund projects that will actually be directed to those core needs...? Isn't that kind of a project going to help provide that kind of access to break down those barriers?
February 14th, 2007 / 5:25 p.m.
Director, Canadian Women's Community Economic Development Council
You said that community-based groups were going to fund projects?
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
No, receive funding. Under the women's program, the idea is that community-based groups will propose projects, for example, pertaining to aboriginal women, immigrant women and visible minorities, senior women. It's all about getting dollars to those women to address those needs, the kinds of issues that they're experiencing, to enable them to break down the barrier, to get a leg up, and to move into a situation where their lives will be improved. Wouldn't that be useful in the context of this discussion?
Director, Canadian Women's Community Economic Development Council
I think funding women's organizations, which are community organizations, is very important. It's not only about accessibility to everything out there, because we're not there to marginalize women, but it's also creating solutions that come from women and women's voices. As my neighbour here said, they know what the answers are and it's not always the traditional model that answers to those needs. I think I agree with you, yes, we need to be funding those organizations.
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
I was glad to see, in terms of your discussions about research and capacity building, that in the context of these project proposals, capacity building and research and polling are in fact part of that eligibility.
Director, Canadian Women's Community Economic Development Council
Research is key, not only to know where we're going, but it's also important for groups to have access to those research pieces to go elsewhere for funding. I'm from an organization that gets funding from several sources, but research is very important.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Joy Smith
Thank you so very much for your answer.
We're running into a bit of a quandary. At 5:30 the bells are going to ring, and the members of Parliament are going to have to go into the House to prepare for a vote.
We will be saying goodbye to you at that time, and I don't want you to think that we're rude. We just have to do that.
I want to give our guests a chance to wrap up, to have their last say. We have about five minutes left. I'll give each of our guests two minutes.
So can we have the wrap-up, starting with Ms. Deschamps?
Bloc
Johanne Deschamps Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Madam Chair, without taking any time away from someone else, could I be given just 30 seconds?
Bloc
Johanne Deschamps Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I will be brief because I know that you have all travelled quite a distance to be here and that you are also probably losing a day's work.
You are among the many people who have come to tell us about the urgency of this situation and the importance of maintaining program funding and restoring the Program to its former state. As you know, the Minister's announcements have sent shock waves throughout many organizations. I will leave you on that note. I know that, ultimately, women will once again be penalized. We have been working for 30 years now to help women escape solitude, exclusion and poverty. It's your turn to speak. Please do whatever you can to convince the government to meet your expectations.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Joy Smith
Because we're close to the time the bells are going to ring, I'll ask each of you to answer and wrap up at the same time. I'll give each of you a minute, starting with Ms. Hrenchuk.
Thank you.
Coordinator, Yukon Status of Women Council
I think we need to remember that equality isn't just individual equality—I'm equal to you and you're equal to me—it's also systemic equality.
I note that in this House there are fewer women on the floor than there were in previous governments. So it's a systemic problem; it's not just an individual woman's problem.
As far as your question on how we can change things, I think that coming here to give witness to the reality of women's lives in the north is the best thing I can possibly do.
If you can bring that information to the House, about individual women who are sleeping out in the cold on the streets of Whitehorse, who don't have access to programs and have asked for our voices to speak for them, because they're too busy looking for a place to live or for food for their children.... We need to be able to speak out on their behalf.
Coordinator, Women's Health Clinic
The changes that I believe will make a difference in the long run are the interrelated issues of income, social status, and gender. There's so much work that still remains to be done for the equality rights of women.
Low-income women's lives are not equal. The barriers are very real. While services and programs are helpful, it's the systems and the policies that need to be addressed.
They know all about charity. We don't need a charity model. We need a model that's going to allow them to improve their lives, using the information and the capacities they have.
Conservative
Director, Canadian Women's Community Economic Development Council
We encourage the federal government to reinvest funds, to maintain, and to grow. That means more essential infrastructure to serve all of its citizens.
Ongoing support of the Status of Women Canada is a sound investment that will have significant, positive socio-economic consequences for all Canadians.
I call on all of you present at this committee who believe in the essential right to equality for all Canadians to take more action to reinstate and improve funding for women's groups and the Status of Women.
Thank you.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Joy Smith
Thank you, Ms. Simpson.
We want to thank all our guests today for coming out to join us. Thank you so much for all your insightful dialogue.
The meeting is adjourned.