Evidence of meeting #47 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.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:40 p.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Ms. Michelle Tittley
Honourable members, I see that there is a quorum.
We can now proceed to the election of an acting chair. I'm ready to receive motions to that effect.
3:40 p.m.
Liberal
3:40 p.m.
The Clerk
I'm proceeding to the election of an acting chair.
3:40 p.m.
The Clerk
I'm ready to receive motions to that effect.
3:40 p.m.
Bloc
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
I can't speak if I'm there. I'm not a vice-chair. We have some vice-chairs; why don't we take them?
3:40 p.m.
The Clerk
Ms. Smith.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
I thought it had been organized for Ms. Mathyssen to be the chair. I have to leave for a little while. How can we manage this, then?
3:40 p.m.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Why don't we share rather than wasting people's time? Why don't the two of us volunteer? You do part, and I'll follow up when you leave.
3:40 p.m.
The Clerk
Ms. Minna nominates Ms. Smith to be acting chair.
3:40 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
3:40 p.m.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Okay, and the chair can ask some questions sometimes. I always do when it's my turn.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Joy Smith
So if I have to leave, Ms. Minna can take over.
Welcome to the committee today. I'm so happy that you have joined us. We're very anxious to hear your presentations today. You have 10 minutes each, and then we will have two rounds of questions.
Lucya, would you like to begin?
3:40 p.m.
Lucya Spencer Former President, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
Thank you very much, Joy. I would also like to say thanks to members of the committee for granting us the opportunity to be here with you.
I am here representing the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants. This is an agency that is province-wide and is located in Toronto. I am here today to share our views regarding economic security for older immigrant and refugee women in Canada. But before I do that, I will tell you just briefly about OCASI.
OCASI came into existence in 1978 when there was a realization that immigrants were coming to this country and needed services, and so a couple of agencies got together and formed what is known today as OCASI.
OCASI has a membership of over 180 autonomous organizations across Ontario. Its mission is to ensure equal opportunities, to ensure that immigrants can achieve equality, access, and full participation in this Canadian society. The membership of OCASI provides a variety of services to immigrants and refugees who come into Ontario.
We have been asked, as you know, to speak to you about the economic security of immigrant and refugee seniors. But before we can get into that, I need to give you a broad portrait of the situation of older immigrant and refugee women in Canada. I need to do that in order to build a context regarding economic security.
First, I'll touch briefly on the immigration policy and the constraints of that particular policy.
I think all of us know that in Canada we have an aging population. It includes not only “Canadians”, but also the immigrant population, and particularly immigrant women. In 2004 we were told that more than half of the population in Canada 65 years and over were women. Of that group, 19% are foreign-born women included in the number. We know that in Canada women make up more than 50% of the population. Immigration has helped to strengthen the growth of population in Canada over the last little while.
Statistics Canada reported that one-third of immigrant women are between 45 and 65 years of age. Women who were born outside of the country are more likely than other women to be seniors. In 2001, 20% of all immigrant women were 65 years and over, compared with 12% of Canadian-born women.
Therefore, we have a growing and an aging population among immigrant women in this country. I will give you a bit more statistics. Figures show 14% of the female population are from racialized communities and live largely in Toronto and Vancouver, and I think that is no surprise to you. Most racialized women in Canada are foreign-born, and the largest share is of recent arrivals to Canada. What we have observed is that 55% of all seniors are racialized women.
Two per cent of foreign-born women cannot speak either English or French, and this is disproportionate to our men. They are mostly seniors, of whom 18% of those born outside the country cannot speak English or French. Most of these women came to Canada as sponsored immigrants or were dependants sponsored by their husbands. This, we know, is the experience of about 72% of immigrant women.
What we are seeing in our country today is that the current immigration legislation and policy, specifically the point system as applied to independent immigrants, privileges immigrants with post-secondary education and work experience in their fields. Given global conditions of inequality, many women have limited access to post-secondary education and the opportunity to work in their fields.
Because of this inequality, these individuals are very dependent upon their spouses, and because of this we have had situations where women, when problems occur in the family, cannot do anything for themselves because they have always been dependent on their partners.
I can cite just quickly an example of one woman who had lived with her husband for the last 25 or 30 years and who then, when she was asked to leave the home, did not even know how to go to the bank. She did not know how to write a cheque because she had never done that at all throughout her life.
The Canadian Council for Refugees, of which OCASI is a member, has on several occasions asked the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to address this inequality, but what we've seen is that nothing has changed. What we have is a growing population of immigrant women and racialized women who are experiencing poverty. Hence we call it the racialization of poverty.
We know when we look at immigration trends that a number of immigrants are arriving from areas like Asia, the Middle East, African countries, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. This has meant an increase in the number of racialized immigrants coming into Canada, with most of these coming from China. Over the last 10 years, that number has grown significantly. About half the female Canadian population, or approximately 49% of all immigrant women, are from racialized communities.
According to the 2001 census, the average income in Ontario was $35,185, the median being $28,027, indicating that the majority of Ontario residents were receiving less than the average income for the province. In contrast, the average income for immigrants who had arrived in Canada between 1995 and 1999 was $29,398, while the median was $20,006. The average income for Ontario residents from racialized communities was $28,978 and the median was $23,990. This shows you what is happening to racialized immigrant women in this country. What we see is that women are living in poverty, and this is of great concern to us as an organization.
We ask ourselves what has changed. A number of reports have been written on this particular subject matter. I cite two of them. One is Canada's Economic Apartheid: the Social Exclusion of Racialized Groups in the New Century, which was written by Grace-Edward Galabuzi. Another one came from the Canadian Council on Social Development: Nowhere to Turn?, written by Dr. Ekuwa Smith. These reports have looked at the racialization of poverty of immigrant women in Canada.
We know that systemic racism, discrimination, and inequality, especially in the labour market, continue be contributing factors to poverty among immigrant women in this country. Therefore, we think something needs to be done. It is true that there's not much out there on the issue surrounding senior immigrant women, and therefore we think some piece of research needs to be targeted specifically at that particular group. What we know is that recent immigrants to Canada are more likely to be employed in contingent types of work or non-standard types of work, or piece work, or temporary work, or contract work, or seasonal work. What we also know is that women from racialized communities are relatively well educated compared to others, yet we find them in low-paid jobs in our community.
Women from racialized communities earn less and have comparatively low incomes. This is consistent with the experience of all racialized residents in Canada. Four per cent of women over 65 had paying jobs. Many have never been employed, but we believe that this will change because we have a growing population and at the same time, an aging population and some--the young women--are finding employment. Therefore, we're hoping that later on their situation will not be as bad as it is for the current seniors.
When we look at what is happening in our labour market, more and more immigrant women, as I said earlier, are becoming poorer. The National Advisory Council on Aging, in its report Aging in Poverty in Canada, written in October 2005, reports that almost half of all immigrants aged 45 to 59 who arrived in Canada after 1980 said they feel they're ill-prepared for retirement. Forty-seven per cent of those do not know when they will be able to retire or do not intend to retire at all.
Generally, recently arrived old immigrants find it more difficult to enter the labour market compared to previous immigrants.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Joy Smith
I would like to tell you, Ms. Spencer, that your time is up. Perhaps you could conclude. I'm sorry about that. Time goes by so quickly.
3:50 p.m.
Former President, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
In conclusion, I would like to say that we need to ensure that seniors are given the opportunity for training, for employment. And when I say training, I also refer to language training, because many of the seniors cannot speak either English or French. Many of them live with families, and therefore they need the opportunity to equipment themselves to better help them find some level of employment in our community.
We want to make sure the economic impact of the challenges that these individuals face is somewhat reduced, which will allow them to enjoy a better life in Canada during their aging years. In the brief we submitted, we have listed more changes that we think need to take place in order to ensure that seniors have a better life in Canada.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Joy Smith
Thank you, Ms. Spencer.
Ms. Fyfe, can we hear your presentation, please?
3:50 p.m.
Karen Fyfe National Women's Vice-President, National Farmers Union
First of all, I would like to thank the committee for inviting me to attend.
As my sister Lucya mentioned, the face of poverty in this country is racialized. It's also ruralized. I'm an elected official with the National Farmers Union, and I'm representing only 2% of the current Canadian population; I work on my farm and I work off my farm full time in the summer to support the farm business. I also work to support our five children, three of whom are in university. They will graduate with huge debt loads nonetheless, because the farm that my husband and I operate....
Ours is a fifth-generation family farm--as I said to Joy, the house was built in 1829--but I'm afraid we'll probably be the last to farm this land, based on the current economic conditions and the current political climate.
I don't always speak only for farm women, I speak for rural women as well. Farming occurs in rural Canada, and we work on such issues as the economic viability of Canadian farm families and also the strengthening and nurturing of rural Canada.
I was very impressed with the Senate standing committee going across the country and soliciting input and advice as to what is happening in rural Canada right now and why rural Canadians are feeling like, and being treated like, second-class citizens in a nation that we helped build. Had it not been for rural and farm women and for the socially progressive policies we came up with, particularly our sisters in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, where would this country be? I'll leave you to answer that question. It would not be a very pretty picture.
Farm women see a strong central role for governments and their various departments. That includes the Farm Women's Bureau, with which I did many years of work. This is my second time around as an elected official with the National Farmers Union. I was the women's president in the early 1990s to the mid-1990s. That was a paid position. Now, as the women's vice-president, I am in a strictly volunteer position. I have been on the road for the last week. My farm business at home is being managed by my husband and by our two children at home. I do this vice-president's position on a volunteer basis because I am so connected to the farm community, and to the rural women, men, and youth who make up our country.
To backtrack a little bit, as I said, farm women see a strong central and progressive role for governments and their various departments, be it the Status of Women, be it the Farm Women's Bureau, or be it HRDC--or be it supporting the collective marketing agencies that farm families have built up in this country.
I will admit to you today that the attacks this government has put on the Canadian Wheat Board are scandalous. The attacks and the undermining of the supply management system in this country--two institutions that were built by farmers, controlled by farmers, for the enrichment and betterment of the farm community--are absolutely disgraceful.
We favour a two-pronged approach to government involvement--first, in reorienting government approaches toward gender inclusion, and second, in supporting farm organizations to become more gender inclusive.
I don't know how many of you good folks here actually come from a farming background. I know that Joy does, and I know that the honourable member there does. We are in a catastrophic state in the farm community right now. We have many issues that we have to deal with, not only farm issues but rural issues. That is our context. That's where we live. That's our culture and our identity.
To even start to address the financial crisis that farm communities are dealing with would take an entire day's workshop. So I'm going to assume you understand the financial crisis we're facing and get into some of the more social and cultural crises we're facing as well.
One of them is certainly that there are older women living and working on these farms. Fortunately I'm not quite as old as my mother-in-law. She has lived and worked on that farm all her life, but because she's never worked off the farm, she has no pensionable earnings. She will die in poverty, as I probably will--except I work off the farm in the summer, solely to make sure I have contributions to the Canada Pension Plan.
Income splitting for farm families will not work, because there's not enough money coming into those families to even have income splitting as a viable option.
I believe my brief will be circulated, Joy.
4 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Joy Smith
It's not translated, so if you just hand it in to the clerk's office we'll see if we can translate and distribute it. Everything in the committee has to be in both languages.
Thank you, Karen.
4 p.m.
National Women's Vice-President, National Farmers Union
Great. Thanks.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's own statistics have proven that over the last 20 years, return from the marketplace to farmers has been zero or less than zero. The money farm families are surviving on comes from off-farm employment or government support programs. That is not how farm families want to make their living. It does not give credence and ownership to what we do when 2% of this entire country's population feeds the other 98%, and we have enough to export.
I told the senators at the Senate committee looking at rural poverty that we do not have an agricultural policy; we have a trade policy. Neo-liberalized trade policies move you to the lowest common denominator in the trading game, whereas my product must be sold in the marketplace at the lowest possible price. If I see any income from that at all, I'm certainly never paid for my labour or my return on investment.
Having said that, I don't want to leave you with the understanding that nothing can be done. Part of the work of the National Farmers Union is to always offer solutions. We say yes, it's a huge, complex, overwhelming mess that we're in right now, but there are solutions.
Farm women generate wealth, nurture the next generation, and nurture the environment. So one of those solutions is for farm women to have their own private pension plan, very similar to nurses, teachers, lawyers, and anyone else who is deemed a professional.
Part of my job as a spokesperson for farm and rural women is to get across to people such as you--but also to groups we work with--that we are professionals by choice. We have a vested interest in agriculture. We have gone to agricultural colleges. We are in a lifelong learning mode. We respond to trends in the marketplace. We're professionals. We're not just sitting at home baking cookies, although we certainly do that.
I understand if you're feeling a little overwhelmed by the issues we're facing. We too are overwhelmed by the issues we're facing, and the lack of clearly defined and articulated government support policies and programs.
There's a wide range of issues. Income is one, and pension is another. There's the fact that training and education programs are very closely linked to employment insurance, for which many farm women would never qualify because they don't work off the farm. That is something that should be addressed as well.
