Status of Women Committee on Feb. 12th, 2009

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

She's actually going to the meeting with me next.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Beckton cannot stay.

So you only have an extra five minutes, and that means that we only have 20 minutes left.

Would you go for three minutes each?

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

No, five minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You want to go for five minutes.

We'll go to Madam Zarac.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Thank you for being here with us today, Madam Minister. As you were a founding member of the Committee on the Status of Women, I am sure that the matters that we have to deal with are close to your heart.

Turning to important values, an important value for women is surely the family. Although Employment Insurance is not directly under your department, what role could you play there? Women returning to work need daycare spaces for their children. That is where you could be involved. How would you respond to that?

You also mentioned that there was a much greater demand on your programs, 69% greater, in fact, and the supplementary estimates provide $773,000 for human resources. This funding is supposedly for women employees who are affected by restructuring in their organizations; it takes the form of salaries, training, counselling or relocation. On April 1, 2007, the staffing level at Status of Women Canada went from 131 to 70 full time equivalents. Can you tell us about the effect of this restructuring on the employees of Status of Women Canada? Can you tell us if Status of Women Canada plans to increase its number of employees and in which areas the new employees will work?

Security remains very important for women. The supplementary estimates allocate a significant amount of money to operating costs. This funding is supposed to improve women's economic security and to eliminate violence against women. Can you explain to us in detail how Status of Women Canada will go about improving women's economic security and eliminating violence against women and girls?

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

There were a lot of questions in there, and I'm trying to figure out which one I want to go with first.

With respect to the day care issue, I think you understand that it is not federal jurisdiction, it is provincial jurisdiction. Some of the areas you have touched on are not my areas as a lead minister. I am not the lead minister for them.

But back to the action plan. My responsibility is to work with all of my senior colleagues to develop an action plan, a whole-of-government approach, and to work with them to establish what in their departments we can do that can be a part of an action for advancing the equality of women.

There are two things on this. I came into this as the sole minister, and there's a minimal amount of work that's been done on the action plan. There's good and bad in that. I think that it's good because it gives me an opportunity to dedicate myself to developing an action plan and taking the time I need so that I can make my mark on it, so that I can consult with more women, which I intend to do. To Irene's point, there have been some consultations, but they are by no means even close to being where I would like it to be in order to come up with the plan that I want.

I would like to come back to this committee and actually have you be a part of the facilitation process that I have almost completed developing, and I want to talk about where we want to see women in five, ten, fifteen years. Where do we want to see Status of Women Canada in that same time? What is our vision, and what is it that we're looking for to ensure that we can achieve that equality for women? To Johanne's point, we don't have it the way we should have it right now, and we need to work harder and we need to develop a concrete action plan that we can point to, that we can measure to ensure that it's accountable, that we're actually seeing some results on the ground.

I will be coming back. I intend on being here as often as you need me. There's an open door policy that we can engage in a regular conversation with all of us at the table to ensure that we can develop this action plan together, in consultation with all of the women stakeholders groups that we have.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Thank you very much. I am very pleased that you will be meeting women. It is important to want to identify the real needs.

You mentioned earlier that you had heard a lot of talk about infrastructure. I would be curious to know what women find interesting in infrastructure. It is not really an area that benefits them.

As well, I would like to know why your department is not involved with daycare places. It is education, I believe, that is in provincial jurisdiction.

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

With respect to infrastructure, dare I say that in Canada today, in a more modern approach where women are concerned, I've heard a great deal from women who are interested in being employed in the non-traditional trade roles and are being trained to participate in that. That being said, 53% of the population being women, we benefit from infrastructure. We benefit from roads, bridges, and water and sewer mains as Canadians, and our children benefit from recreation centres. So on the non-traditional trades, women are becoming employed in that, are having great careers, and they do want them on the infrastructure side.

That is some of the--

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Minister, I would ask you to wrap it up, please, because other members are waiting to ask questions.

Ms. Davidson.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

I'll defer to Ms. McLeod.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Good.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Minister, thank you, through the chair, for coming and attending this meeting today.

As a new member on the committee, I'm particularly heartened to hear about the increase in resources, the $10 million of additional money provided to the department. The other piece is that, through the conversations you've shared, I'm also heartened. I like to talk about a coal-face approach. To me, the coal face is programs directed to women. You've articulated some very good examples of where resources are going directly to help women. I appreciate those comments.

My question is this. An important part of achieving gender equality is ensuring that women are in positions of leadership throughout society, from government to the private sector. Have you taken any initiatives to encourage leadership among girls and women?

Thank you.

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

Absolutely.

I keep getting caught on my earring.

There's Equal Voice. I know a number of you were at the announcement just last week that we have developed a partnership, with $1.2 million, to work with Equal Voice, which is an organization that wants to see more women elected. It's a multi-partisan approach with all levels of government, working to see more women elected and working with young girls at that early age where they're making decisions on what direction they may want to head in their lives. There's a mentorship side to it, and I'm very proud of it. I know that Equal Voice will be working with all of my colleagues around this table, because that's their approach: to have a speaker series and include women from all political stripes to promote that opportunity.

For our part as a government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has in fact appointed the highest number of women to cabinet in Canada's history. I think that needs to be recognized. I'm really honoured and proud to be working with a significant number of talented women from all parties in the House of Commons. I think that having 69 members there is impressive, but we have still a long way to go. I know that each of us in our own individual capacity works within our own political affiliation and party to see that we support there being more women sitting with us in the House.

There's a northern component with the Equal Voice announcement, which is something that is new as well, to work up into the north and with the francophone community to reach out to girls from across the country to give them more opportunities.

Right here in Ottawa, there's a “City For All Women” initiative in collaboration with the Lowertown Community Resource Centre. It has received a grant as well, to address equity and inclusion in the municipal decision-making process. It's a very interesting and exciting one that wants to empower and promote equity and inclusion while recognizing that there's diversity among women. This is something I thought was important: including aboriginals, women with disabilities, the visible minorities, immigrants, and marginalized groups. That program is one of the things we're doing through Status of Women Canada.

In Thunder Bay, there's the Volunteer Action Centre of Thunder Bay. It received a grant for aboriginal women and volunteer initiatives throughout the Thunder Bay area, to give participants some work experience and build a resume by volunteering at local non-profit organizations, and to see them develop leadership skills and move into some of those positions on their own as they gain more experience and more confidence.

That's just a bit of some of the things we're trying to do. We have a great deal more, though.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

I would like to share my time with Candice.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

How much time do I have?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You only have one minute.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being here. It's good to be able to ask you some specific questions.

I have very little time, but I would like you to address a little more specifically what you're doing and what Status of Women Canada is doing to address violence against women. With the economic downturn, I think we're going to see more violence against women and against children. I'm wondering what we are doing to specifically protect women and children.

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

In the short time I have.... I think most of you know my history when it comes to the violence-against-women issues. You know some of the things we've done with Joy Smith, and about her receiving international recognition on the human trafficking side. I know this committee has done a great deal of work.

Sisters in Spirit, if I can just touch on that quickly, is a program of $1 million per year over five years, so $5 million in total. It's coming to a close in 2010, and I want you all to know that I have already engaged in the process of what Sisters in Spirit 2 would look like. I'm working with the Native Women's Association—of course, this is a program that is spearheaded by them—to identify the number of women who have been victims of racialized, sexualized violence, to promote the need for us to pay more attention to it, and to develop a plan on how we'll get to the root causes, so that we can see an end to this violence.

Coming into this with the extensive experience I had had on sexual assault in working as a crisis intervention volunteer, I can't even put into words how I felt to learn and realize the violent situation that aboriginal women are dealing with—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Please wrap up, Minister.

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

--in Canada and in Canadian society. We have to do a lot better than we are. We can talk about the great initiatives we've taken, but we need to do more, and I look to you for some advice on how we can improve.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Madame Demers.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for being here, Ms. Beckton. I will not get into long thank you's, because we do not have much time.

Madam Minister, in your speech, I was very impressed when you talked about the opportunities provided to women in construction. As my colleague Ms. Neville said earlier, the Conseil d'intervention pour l’accès des femmes au travail submitted a proposal to Status of Women Canada that met the criteria perfectly and that would have been very effective for women wanting to work in non-traditional trades in Quebec. The proposal had previously almost been accepted by Status of Women Canada, but then it was rejected. I would like you to take another look at it, Madam Minister.

I would also like to ask if you are familiar with the analysis of gender budgeting published by the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action.

I also have a question about social concerns. Traditionally, in recent years—except the last two—we were invited, by the minister or by the person representing the status of women in cabinet, to take part in an important United Nations conference on what had been done for women in the past year. Do you intend to re-establish this tradition and invite members of the committee to take part in that conference?

I know that you are not the person responsible for pay equity. I also know that you are not the person responsible for Employment Insurance and health. However, I do expect that the Minister of State for the Status of Women has the leadership required to influence her cabinet colleagues and to take concrete action on the advancement of women in all areas. Even if you are not the person responsible, you are an influential woman capable of making your colleagues understand how important these matters are.

For example, Gardasil worries me greatly. We are getting reports from the United States that are more and more troubling. Girls get very sick after receiving that vaccine. I trust you, Madam Minister. As Minister of State for the Status of Women, you will provide the leadership that has been missing until now, so that the status of women will be markedly improved.

Thank you.

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

Thank you.

On the non-traditional trades, I would really love to see the committee, if it has the time, do some more significant work on that, on the jurisdictional responsibilities and where the federal government can play more of a role. If you have some recommendations, I would appreciate that.

On the UN conference, I have requested an agenda on that. I have also requested that we have a leaner team, lean and mean is what I'm calling it, and we have had in the past. But with respect to who will be attending with me in terms of political representation, it will be up to the whips to make that decision. So that conversation will be going on as to who will, through your whip.

On pay equity, EI, all the women's issues, rest assured I am extremely vocal at the table in my role. I have what I call a little big stick now around the table when I'm talking with my colleagues.

On pay equity, I have relayed what I have heard, and I do support the initiatives that Minister Toews is taking, because it does reflect what I have heard from the women I have spoken with.

With respect to EI, some women's organizations have written to me praising the budget, saying it is in the best interests, it will help small-business women weather these tough economic times and that they appreciate the extension of five weeks, they like the fact that there are going to be more training opportunities. So of course there are differing opinions out there. We're not always going to address everybody's issue, but I do support the initiatives we are going forward with. I think they are reflective of what I have heard in my consultations, and I support them.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

If I understand you correctly, Madam Minister, it is going to be up to us to convince you that the government may not necessarily be going about solving problems the right way. In the FAIA document, we really see that there are significant disparities that prevent women from benefiting fully at least from the economic stimulus that has been introduced. At the moment, they are not benefiting, with the exception of a few who would benefit anyway.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I think we have no time left.