Status of Women Committee on May 8th, 2007

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

That's a good point. Okay. Thank you for that.

Sheri, I was quite intrigued by your discussion about particularly the issue of verbal abuse in hospitals. I assume that it's in the hospital setting. You say health care settings, but let's say for now that it's hospitals.

[Sheri Oliver]

It could be all of them, yes.

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

One of the lines in your text—which you didn't read out, and it made me wonder why—is: “The medical profession with whom we work most closely is still dominated by males”. Is there any reason why you didn't want to put that in the context?

[Sheri Oliver]

Do you know why? It's because verbal abuse doesn't necessarily just come from the male population, and it doesn't come just from nursing staff to nurses. We're all in this together. Therefore, I didn't feel the need to point fingers.

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Following up on that, I wonder if you feel that the professional associations—for example, the Ontario Medical Association—including nursing, are addressing this topic adequately. Is there a level of awareness that's helping to push this issue forward? Because it's real. And if in fact there isn't an environment that would allow those issues to be dealt with properly in the workplace, there should be.

[Sheri Oliver]

I fully agreed. It is an issue that all the associations—OMA, RNAO, RPNAO—are definitely aware of, and discussions are happening. As for the best strategies to address it, I don't think we're there yet.

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Okay. That's all I have, Madam Chair. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

We have a minute.

Would you like to pose a question, Ms. Smith?

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

Yes.

I'd like to thank each and every one of you for coming today with all your insightful information. It's very much appreciated.

I had one question for John and Noreen, having been a teacher for 22 years, about your comment about men and women in the teaching force. What would you say are some of the things that can help women in terms of making sure that the benefits for their pensions are not interrupted? I understood that this was a provincial jurisdiction. I was a teacher negotiator, and we used to negotiate this within our contracts.

So how does that apply to the federal level? Could you explain that?

[John Staple]

I guess the determination as to how it would apply at the federal level would be your call.

Yes, the teachers' pensions are a provincial jurisdiction, and there are provisions within contracts and provisions within those pension plans to allow for periods of time when individuals have been out for child rearing, to add those periods of time to their pension plans so they don't lose the years of service.

Where they lose is in reaching that point of annual salary that is the same as the men's. They don't get to that level. Whether that's a feature or a structure of the kinds of standards for pension legislation that are applicable at the provincial level or at the federal level is something for debate, because I think federal pension standards, federal labour standards, federal standards for everything, find their way down to the provincial level. So I think one is not impacted without the other.

Do you know what I'm saying? I think that one would have a significant impact on the other.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you.

Mr. Pearson has the last question for four minutes.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Let me just be clear at the beginning that we wrestle here in this committee with the issue of economic security for women. It's meant a lot to us that you've come here today. We greatly respect the people who do come here and inform us, and their professionalism, because we can't be everywhere.

I feel a little embarrassed too about what's happened today, but I appreciate very much that you have come and the position—

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

I have a point of order, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Mr. Chong.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you.

I'm a member of Parliament. I'm a member of this committee, and I have the right to express my viewpoints on these issues. The witness who came in front of committee started to ridicule some of our government's priorities, so I thought I'd point out some of the inconsistencies in their arguments. And I don't appreciate it when people denigrate my right to make representations in front of this committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

And they have a right to apologize on their behalf too.

[An hon. member]

It goes both ways.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Go ahead, Mr. Pearson.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

My question is actually for Ms. Oliver.

I know you said that 94% of the nurses are female. I notice also that you've talked about how in the rural regions there are some special challenges. I've just come from being in the hospital for the last five days with somebody who hit a moose, in a northern part of the province, and I've seen what those nurses have had to go through, and the difficulties. I wonder if you wouldn't mind expanding a bit—because we've heard a lot here—about rural poverty for women. I wonder if you wouldn't mind addressing that for me.

[Sheri Oliver]

It's hard for me to address from a personal perspective, or even from a professional perspective, some of the rural aspects, because I don't really live in a rural area. I live in an urban area, and I don't understand completely all of those particular things that really impact on them, except for those that our members tell us about.

What we hear from them is that being able to get to work is a challenge. It might be an hour-long commute, and I'm sure we all face perhaps a 45-minute or hour-long commute to work. Theirs is along back roads, among moose, and they're facing great challenges every day to go to work, not just in their workplace but in getting to work. They face fear in trying to drop off their children and then get to work, never knowing if they're going to encounter wildlife on the way.

I'm not sure if that actually addresses your question, but certainly it's an area that needs to be looked at for some of the other lesser-populated areas.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

That's it?

Can I give your one minute to Madam Deschamps?

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Certainly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

You have one minute.

[Johanne Deschamps, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

This is not a question, but a comment. I'm feeling somewhat uncomfortable here. During this session, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women took on the task of studying the economic security of women. All the witnesses we invited and welcomed put forward important concerns.

In my view, the concerns you put forward today were in the same vein. That was the purpose of this meeting. Unlike Mr. Chong, I perceived nothing ridiculous in what you said. I would like to express the respect I have for the work you do. We know that it includes a great deal of volunteering. So I wanted to thank you on my own behalf and on behalf of my colleague.