Status of Women Committee on May 26th, 2009

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

And we did.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

But no, you didn't.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

We did.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

No, you did not, Ms. Neville.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

I'm not getting into a political argument with you, Minister.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

And the third, having a memorandum to cabinet—

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

I would like you to be positive, please.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

—was our direction, again, as a government.

So we have made significant progress in less than three years, far more than your government did.

Do we still have more to do? Yes, we acknowledge that, and we accept that, and we appreciate the work of the Auditor General. And you can rest assured, because of my own knowledge, background, and experience in gender-based analysis, I will continue to work on it and see us succeed.

And keep in mind, as I go through my action plan wrap-up, that I do include that as part of my consultation process on how we can improve that.

Remind me again what your third question was.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

I was asking about the provincial meeting.

I also want to know, before you finish on the recommendations on CEDAW, what you have been doing as it relates....

Do I have time?

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

No, I'm sorry. Perhaps the minister could come back and answer that.

Now it's time for Madame Demers.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Good morning, Minister. Thank you for being here this morning. I know that it is never a walk in the park, because we are always looking for as many answers as possible in a short amount of time. That is not always easy. I will begin with a positive remark, Minister, you know me, I am a positive woman.

Last week, we unanimously adopted a motion calling on Status of Women Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to mandate Statistics Canada to evaluate and calculate unpaid work, or invisible work, as it did in its general social survey in 1992. I was happy to see that everyone supported the motion and thought it was a good idea.

When do you intend to ask Statistics Canada to undertake this survey, so that we can identify invisible work done by women and determine what it is worth, so that we can have an idea of the real value of the work women do and what proportion of our GDP that represents? This includes men as well, because some of them also do invisible work. There are male colleagues with us here this morning; I will not leave them out.

Minister, the last time that you appeared before us, I talked about a specific issue: the CIAFT. That organization was asking for funding to be able to help women who wanted to do non-traditional work. The project had been proposed under Status of Women Canada programs, and you had kindly agreed to review the matter. That is why we sent it on to your office. I assume that it has been looked at by your deputy ministers and the people in charge of such studies.

Since March 5, it has gone back to your office for approval. Unfortunately, despite several calls, considerable follow-up, a response has not yet been provided. The people in charge of the organization are in despair and wonder if they will ever benefit from the funding, which is very important for women. I want to clarify that my action will not win me any votes. The organization is not in my riding. I am taking action in accordance with my convictions: we must help as many women as possible.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

With reference to your second question, I can assure you that the project did receive the attention that was required by our officials.

It was submitted under the partnership fund, and my understanding is that they no longer wanted to pursue it under the partnership fund. I explained earlier how sometimes it takes a long time to find the partners and to leverage the resources that are needed. Sometimes it can take six months to develop the partnership.

They actually pulled away and decided not to pursue it under the partnership fund, but they had indicated that they would present the proposal under the women's community fund when our call for proposals comes out.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

I think that the bid you are referring to should come out within the next few weeks.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

They took away their partnership. They pulled it back and decided not to proceed.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

They already had all the partners they needed to support the project. The Government of Quebec and several other partners had agreed to support the project if Status of Women Canada supported it as well.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

The group indicated to us that they no longer wished to pursue funding through the partnership. They don't want to do it through the partnership. That's their decision to make, but they said they will present it under the community fund. That's their decision to make, and I look forward to receiving it through the community fund.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Thank you.

What about the first question, Minister?

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

It talked about the motion that was passed unanimously around the table on--

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

May 6, Minister.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Was it unpaid work?

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

My question dealt with invisible work.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Yes, that's right. We all do it, and so much of it, don't we?

Data on unpaid work and the consequences of caregiving on caregivers, as I think you know, were collected and examined in the 2005 and 2007 general social surveys by Statistics Canada. As well, in recognition of women's broader role in Canadian society, the government had decided to put in place a number of initiatives and programs to support women, including the universal child care benefit and increases to the national child benefit supplement and the compassionate care benefit.

In the 2009 budget the government also committed to establishing an expert panel to consult Canadians on how best to provide maternity and parental benefits for the self-employed. I recognize there is much more to do. I know all of us around the table, all parties, had supported the motion, but we will work with our federal partners, with Minister Finley at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, and with Statistics Canada to develop an action plan that will address the remaining challenges to see what we can do going forward.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

It is not really about seeing what we can do, but obtaining real statistics. What you are talking about does not give us the real statistics we need to fully understand the impacts and the value of invisible work carried out by women and men.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Statistics Canada has been doing a lot of data-gathering. They look at the social trends, including unpaid work. They've been doing that since 1985, and I will continue to work with Minister Finley to see that we can continue to have them do that.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

The last time that Statistics Canada undertook an in-depth study on invisible work was in 1992. A similar study had been done in 1985, following the request from Nairobi. Another study was conducted in 1992, but it has not been repeated since.