Status of Women Committee on Oct. 8th, 2009

[Martin Green]

The sector council program, the trades and apprenticeship program, and our EI programs all have facets of that. One of the things I guess that's sort of problematic is that we don't have a removing barriers program, but certainly facets to all of them—and built into all of our federal-provincial agreements—are the indications that we should be monitoring what is going on, what is the uptake by women, etc., and why. And those are all parts of annual reports that we get on these.

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

You mentioned a red seal. I'm not familiar with it. Would you explain it to me, please?

[Martin Green]

Yes, Amy can.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Mifflin-Sills, I'm going to let you have 20 seconds.

[Amy Mifflin-Sills, Director, Trades and Apprenticeship Division, Department of Human Resources and Social Development Canada]

Okay, I'll try to be fast.

It is an interprovincial program with provinces, territories, and the federal government to develop standards for certification and qualification of individuals in the 50 red seal trades—trades like carpentry, plumbing, electricity, and so forth.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

That was efficient, thank you.

Madame Demers.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Mifflin-Sills, could you send us the list of those 50 trades, the red seal trades?

[Amy Mifflin-Sills]

Yes, of course. We have a website.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Mr. Parisien, I can already tell you some of the report's conclusions. The Le Chantier training centre is located in my constituency. They work hard to train young women who have chosen to work in the construction trades. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of sexual harassment, ridicule and disrespect from their male colleagues. Young women who choose to remain in this area are creating their own businesses because they cannot find places where their employer respects them. That will probably be one of the conclusions.

Mr. Green, I would like to know whether, in your work, you collaborate with the Minister responsible for the status of women, particularly with regard to the women's program. Part of this program deals more specifically with what the minister had intended this year, meaning non-traditional skilled trades for women.

Have you had the opportunity to work together in order to determine which of those skilled trades would be the most promising for young women?

[Amy Mifflin-Sills]

Are you talking about trades and professions, or just the trades?

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

I am referring to non-traditional skilled trades and professions for women.

[Amy Mifflin-Sills]

We do not have a partnership program for trades and professions. It only includes the trades.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

That was not what I asked, Ms. Mifflin-Sills. I wanted to know whether your department works in collaboration with the minister responsible for the status of women. One of her programs gives priority to non-traditional skilled trades and occupations for women. You seem to know where women are and where they are not. So I would have been very happy to learn that you were working together. I am sad to learn that you are not.

This year, 5,000 people received a grant under your student assistance program. Of those 5,000 individuals, how many were women?

[Martin Green]

Amy has the numbers. I can start by telling you they are quite low—they reflect the numbers of women.

To round off on your previous question, it is probably a great idea that we speak to the status of women. We do a fair bit of work with them, because they are leading a federal government-wide exercise on gender-based analysis. But we were not aware of this program that you spoke of. That's a great idea.

With respect to the take-up on the grants, I'll ask Amy to explain.

[Amy Mifflin-Sills]

For the AIG, the apprenticeship incentive grant, the take-up for women is approximately 6%. For the apprenticeship completion grant, it is approximately 7%. We need to keep in mind that gender reporting is not a mandatory field. We cannot request it. Approximately 25% of applicants do not respond to the gender question, so there is a margin of error.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Mr. Green, you mentioned a program with an aboriginal human resources development strategy. You said that some services in the program were extremely important because they enabled aboriginal women to have access to education.

We were talking about child care. What kind of child care are we talking about?

[Martin Green]

I honestly don't know the specifics—it's not a program that I deliver. But I can certainly find out. I know a lot of the money is used for the artists and the ASIP program. The communities that use them will take some of the money and put different portions of it toward child care. But I can't be more specific than that.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Could you send us the information on the child care services, Mr. Green?

When it talks about an economic stimulus plan, your department receives many requests, I imagine, for its help in developing a program to provide jobs for as many people as possible, be they men or women.

Do you believe that the current economic stimulus plan, which targets infrastructure, allows as many women as men to have access to quality employment?

[Martin Green]

I can't really comment on the infrastructure. With respect to the skills and workplace initiatives, I think it probably does do that. As I mentioned during this recession, like other recessions, we're seeing that the more negative impacts are on the male side than the female side. There are a whole bunch of statistics on that, but men tend to be more adversely affected.

With respect to the programs on the workplace skills side, they're equally accessible, and there has been gender-based analysis on that.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Did your department help to determine what kinds of jobs should be targeted?

[Martin Green]

In terms of the non-traditional trades and apprenticeships, no.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

I am talking about all kinds of jobs.

[Martin Green]

No, we haven't. At a federal level, the economic action plan doesn't specifically say that we're going to promote X occupation for women. It doesn't do that at all. It does the transfer payments to the provinces, which are delivering most of the training, etc.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Once again, I am astonished to learn that partnering departments are not asked to become involved with the economic stimulus package. We are not being told how as many people as possible can get jobs. I see departments working in isolation. It might perhaps be beneficial to work more openly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Green, if you're going to respond, you have about 20 seconds.