Thank you, Minister, for appearing here today and thank you for agreeing to meet with me prior to this, as well as Ms. Beckton. I appreciated the opportunities to meet with both of you before this.
I only have seven minutes, and I probably have seventy minutes' worth of questions, so I'm going to try to ask some questions. You raised a number of interesting comments in your remarks.
My first question we raised it earlier with Ms. Beckton. I'm interested in knowing what kind of gender-based analysis was done of the budget, and if one was done, whether we could have it. That would be my first question.
My second question relates to the criteria of the various funds. When we met with Ms. Beckton, I think it was on the community fund particularly that she indicated that the criteria for each proposal call have changed, nuanced somewhat. I don't know whether it's the minister's directive, whether it's advice from whom, but I'm interested in knowing what the changes are. I had asked for them; I haven't received them yet. How have the different criteria for each proposal call changed?
In your comments you talked about leadership. You talked about jobs, economic security. You talked about violence against women. One of the questions I asked Ms. Beckton when we met was whether we could have a list of those projects that were denied funding, and I was told there are privacy law concerns about that.
I am interested in getting a list of those that were granted funding, but I have received a number of representations from people who have been denied funding. I want to ask specifically about two at the moment, and I suspect my colleagues may have others.
My first one is particularly related to the Assembly of First Nations. They have put in a number of requests for funding, one under the community and partnership fund, one for the Aboriginal Women's Summit. It was submitted in December 2007. Another one is called “Restoring Balance”, and I have the brief description on the culturally relevant, gender-based analysis, capacity-building, which certainly ties in with your comments.
Another one is entitled “Women's Wisdom and Well-Being in a First Nations Context: Walking the Way of our Ancestors”, which also speaks to leadership issues, and another one that was recently submitted is “Women's Wisdom and Well-Being in a First Nations Context”, which also speaks to both leadership and health, none of which have received a response.
I'm trying to be quick so I can get a response from you.
The one that's giving me the greatest concern is CAIFT. On December 2 they submitted a proposal to improve the representation of women in predominantly male sectors of employment in Quebec and to optimize the potential of the female workforce in a sustainable manner to help women achieve better economic security.
I'm advised that the negotiations were going on very well. They had every expectation that they would have a partner, in that they met the program requirements in every regard--economic prosperity, women's leadership. When they put out a press release criticizing the pay equity initiative brought in in the economic stimulus, they abruptly had a response indicating that their project would not be dealt with as initially expected and that there was no more money.
I'm advised that both the organization and the officer in charge, who has now left the organization, were in shock.
It's a lot of questions, and there's not a lot of time, but I'd appreciate whatever answers you could give me in the time.