Status of Women Committee on Feb. 26th, 2008

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

You've worked with a group and you plan to submit this project to the interdepartmental committee. What we have here is very much a summary. Is it possible that the government might ask you to go back and do your homework because it disagrees with certain things or because the project is not in line with its current priorities? Or do you wield enough influence to say that this is the definitive gender-based analysis?

[Hélène Dwyer-Renaud]

This committee is composed of senior officials working in the research field. The feedback that they will provide is not what you think. They will focus in particular on the technical aspects of the indicators and on supporting statistical information. It is a technical committee.

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

It is not a political committee.

[Hélène Dwyer-Renaud]

No.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Merci.

Ms. Mathyssen is next for five minutes.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to go back to the plan for gender equality. It also cited that the federal government is committed to supporting work undertaken by women's organizations to address the root causes of violence and develop strategies that result in long-term systemic change.

We know that half of Canadian women will experience violence, whether it's in the home, the workplace, the broader community, or at school. Is there a continued commitment to address the root causes of violence? How is the women's program at SWC helping to address those root causes?

[Hélène Dwyer-Renaud]

Those are questions I recommend you ask my coordinator, Clare Beckton.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

How important is the voluntary sector in improving the status of women in Canada? What role does that sector play in the progress toward women's equality?

[Hélène Dwyer-Renaud]

Again, that is a question you could ask our coordinator.

I'll just open a parenthesis, because my expertise is in gender-based analysis.

It's interesting to see the interest of the NGOs in gender-based analysis. I believe we mentioned the last time we were here that some of the NGOs are looking for training. While we thought they would have created their own training for different purposes, they are very much interested in receiving the training Status of Women Canada has developed to assist them in interacting with government officials. I think that's an interesting aspect from a GBA perspective. But I would ask that you forward the other questions to Madame Beckton.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Are you able to provide that training to the NGOs as part of your mandate? Okay. That's very interesting.

You said that in January--and I assume that's January 2008--the Department of Finance opened up the GBA; it was more broadly undertaken. Is there a sense that we will see some concrete results from that? Is there hope that we will see them in this budget?

[Michèle Bougie]

I think for them the expectation is that because they're learning how to apply GBA, they will continue to apply it to the elements of the budget as they develop it. But it's best that you talk to them directly about anything further than that. There are many different areas they can go into, and they need to make choices as they go through the budget process themselves. So see what they tell you.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

We have a long way to go, don't we? It has really just begun. If it started to be more broad in January 2008, we have miles to go before we sleep.

[Michèle Bougie]

I think the sense for them was to first get it embedded solidly in one area and then start expanding it out. I'd be hesitant to use terms like “there's a long way to go or there isn't”, because it's quite relative.

As far as what other countries are doing, you'd have to see how they compare with different approaches. I think the message might have been clearly delivered the last time you heard from experts on gender budgets that there is no magic bullet and no one approach works well for everybody. Even some countries that were doing it in the early 1980s stopped and are now picking up different approaches again.

Not to belabour the point, but it really would be good for Finance to talk to you at that level.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

We've been at this a very long time. It feels like a very slow process. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

You have two minutes, Mrs. Boucher.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

When we first started to look at gender-based budgeting, we discovered that some countries had opted for this approach, only to discard it later. Why was that? How can we, as government decision-makers, put an end to these questions and ensure that gender-based budgeting at all levels becomes automatic? Is there anything you would recommend?

[Michèle Bougie]

There's that magic bullet again.

Seriously though, we could send you a document listing those countries that adopted gender-based budgeting and then discarded this approach and explaining what led to that decision. Again, different countries opt for different approaches. For example, Australia ended its experiment with gender-based budgeting for political reasons. South Africa made some changes because it had changed its definition of a budget respectful of the principles of equality.

The only conclusion that can be drawn from this document is that the situation is really not conclusive.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Some countries adopted this approach, while others chose to let it go. As decision-makers, what kind of parameters can we set? Can we have gender-based budgeting without having to go the fiscal route?

[Michèle Bougie]

This ties in with a suggestion we made in our presentation last December about the theoretical contextualization of budgets. We had suggested that all departments incorporate gender-based analysis into their activities. Ultimately, this approach would have an impact on the budget.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you. Your question is very valid. We had asked for legislation in 2006. If there were legislation, nobody would--

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

In fact, we were about to introduce legislation in the fall.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

I have a couple of things that I was given to ask. Will Status of Women Canada be analyzing the current budget, when it comes, under a gender lens, and did you do an analysis of the previous one? We just need to know what we are dealing with. How do we intelligently address this issue? You have manuals, you have tools, and you have various things, so you start off with a base of trained people. You start off with the premise that they have implemented certain things, and then we come to do the checks and balances and ask if they have done it. If we could have that type of analysis, it would be a discussion rather than blaming anybody. It's a discussion as to how to move forward, because nobody seems to have an answer for it.

After March 13--hopefully we'll still be around--if we could ask you to come back and train us on your manual, then we could have a better understanding and we wouldn't be talking out of both sides of our mouth. We would have some focus. I think it will be important. So we'd love to have you back, and perhaps you could bring the person who was doing the indicators as well, and perhaps we could combine that, but we'll see what the logistics are.

Thank you very much for being here, and you're more than welcome to come back. Thanks.

We will suspend for one minute.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

I think we have about nine minutes, and I'd like to go through the work plan that's in your binder.

Before I go over the work plan, I'd like to make an announcement that the Parliamentary Centre has invited, in celebration of International Women's Day, a delegation of seven women from Afghanistan to take part in a discourse on Tuesday, March 4, 2008--an interesting date--after QP, question period. The meeting room is not confirmed, so as soon as the meeting room is confirmed we will let you know. If you're interested, please advise the clerk.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

The second thing I'd like to do is this. If we look at the work plan, I'll come to the Status of Women Canada as well. If we go to the work plan...today is February 26.

Does everybody now have a work plan in front of them?

[Some hon. members]

Yes.