Status of Women Committee on May 5th, 2010

[Robert Fox]

I'd like to respond to her second question, if I may, or make one comment on it.

We're in a situation where it's not yet clear what the consequences are for the other parts of the aid package from the government having identified maternal and child health as a priority. We welcome this priority and think it's an absolutely legitimate priority, and we're absolutely clear that the government has the right to set priorities for Canada's aid.

But at a moment where it isn't clear that the envelope for aid is increasing into the future—we've been told, to the contrary, that it will be frozen—we don't yet know what will be crowded out as a result of this priority. So while it's an absolutely legitimate priority and we support it, we don't yet know what it might mean for other important initiatives, such as initiatives around health, and food security, children's education, and water and sanitation, which we know are integral to the success of this initiative and to the success of the whole package. Right?

If the amount of aid we had were growing significantly, then you would have confidence that this increased investment in maternal health would not perversely undermine some other elements of our vision and commitment as a country. That's an open question for us right now, and we know that in the coming weeks and months, the government will be clearer about the amount of money that's been committed and what it means for other areas of our current aid program.

It would obviously be a tragedy if we were to pull money away from something like the WHO's program on polio in order to fund more midwives. That's a zero-sum game, and we want to ensure that we're not robbing Peter to pay Paul in this situation. So we're hoping that this actually represents new and additional money going forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Madame Deschamps, you have another 20 seconds, if you choose, for a question and answer.

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

Someone said that if we really wanted to see concrete results, all of the initiatives had to be included, including abortion, contraception, family planning, etc. Earlier I was listening to the comments of my Conservative colleagues. Let's take the example of this woman who has 10 kids to feed and finds herself pregnant once again. Will it change something in her life if she is close to a field or sitting on a sac of grain, if she does not have the sexual and reproductive health services she needs to get out of this situation of human misery?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I would like one person to please answer that, if they can.

Does anyone wish to tackle that?

Ms. McTeer.

[Maureen McTeer]

That is the reason, why as Robert said, we absolutely have to agree on the way to move forward since the millennium objectives for development form a whole. An educated woman has better control over her life. A woman who can plan her pregnancies has more possibilities. It must be said that it is the women who deal with the farm. We must not kid ourselves, women are the ones who do the work in Africa.

We now have the opportunity to do something. This has to form a whole. Regarding maternal health, however, there is no progress. We have to wonder why and how we can improve the situation. Whenever I think that a woman dies from an abortion every eight minutes or that every minute a woman dies trying to give a birth, I tell myself that something is not working. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

As Ms. Camp said, if we have the opportunity to progress we should at least try to do so. Let's stop this ideological debate which is always forcing us to go backwards, rather than asking ourselves as women and as a society how we can find a solution to save the life of that woman with those 10 children, or of women who have been raped, and so on.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Ms. McTeer.

I will now go to Ms. Mathyssen for the NDP.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thanks again for your very candid and clear answers.

On Monday, Jill Sheffield from Women Deliver was here. We asked her if there were one thing that we should do to improve maternal and child health, what would it be? She said the number one, most significant thing was family planning. Of course, that has to include all the parts of family planning, and certainly abortion is one of them. She implored the federal government to send a representative to the meetings in Washington in June, where there's going to be a summit. We haven't heard anything from the government in that regard.

How important is it that Canada be at the table in June? Do you have any thoughts on that?

[Katherine McDonald]

The Women Deliver conference is bringing together 3,500 experts and professionals from around the world, including many development cooperation ministers. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is likely to open the conference. There are 80 parliamentarians from all over the world, from every G-20 country and beyond, attending that conference.

It's a few weeks before the G-8 meeting here in Canada. It's an opportunity for our Prime Minister, I believe, to go and show leadership and talk with people who care deeply on these issues, to listen and learn and exchange views that will help him prepare for the summit a couple of weeks later.

It would also be an opportunity for Canada to show its leadership role and regain some of the tarnished reputation that we have suffered over the last several years in terms of our leadership role at the international level. It's a wonderful opportunity to move the agenda forward and build on the momentum that has been growing.

So I think it would be extremely important.... I understand Minister Oda said yesterday that she would attend. But I think it would be really important for him, especially in this year, to attend and talk with President Obama.

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

Any others? No.

I want to ask a concrete question in regard to the human face. We've talked a great deal about the statistics. We say a woman dies every eight minutes from the complications of abortion or childbirth. Twenty million women have unsafe abortions each year, three million of the estimated 8.5 million will need care for subsequent health complications. Rich women, no matter where they live, have always had access to safe abortions. They have always had access.

What we're talking about are poor women. I want to know, what happens to these women? What are the consequences of these unsafe abortions? Can you give me a sense of the human being and what we're saying to this human being when we say, no, you will not have access to Canadian development funds, no abortions for you?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

We have two minutes to answer this. If anyone feels they want to start this, would you please put your hand up.

Ms. Camp.

[Dr. Sharon Camp]

It's not only the woman who suffers as a result of the complications of unsafe abortion; it's her entire household.

We have just done some work attempting to estimate the social and economic costs of unsafe abortion in countries like Uganda, Rwanda, and other parts of the developing world. We think the experience of unsafe abortion may be one of those things that helps to tip a low-income household into poverty. These costs represent huge expenditures for the family. They have to be borne by the family.

If the woman lives through those complications, it's likely that her productivity, at least in the short term, will be greatly compromised and her children's health and nutrition are likely to be compromised. We think the costs of unsafe abortion are huge, both in human terms and in terms of economic development.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

That ends that round.

We will now move to Ms. Wong from the Conservatives.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond, BC]

Thank you very much for coming.

I want to bring to your attention that all the G-8 ministers and senior officials responsible for the developmental cooperation met in Halifax, actually not long ago, April 27 and April 28. They laid the foundation for the developmental issues for the G-8 leaders summit. Also, the Minister of Health of Mali, as well as senior representatives from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, that is the OECD, United Nations agencies and so on, were there.

The reason I listed all of these is that in summary of what they say, they are very much related to what we've been talking about: saving the lives of mothers and children. One of the things they mentioned is accountability and effectiveness in international assistance. We keep saying we want to pour in more and more money, but at the same time, I think these G-8 ministers agree that more determined political action is needed to deliver on existing aid effectiveness commitments, including greater predictability and transparency of aid, reducing transaction costs, and fragmentation. Also, they emphasize the importance of accountability.

That is my first question. I have only two.

The other one is that in all of the panel today, nobody seems to have mentioned anything about children. Nobody seems to have mentioned the importance of nutrition for children. I came from a very humble family in Hong Kong, way back when Hong Kong was needing foreign aid. At that time, my family was able to get some good food for me. Otherwise, I would have died; I wouldn't have lived until now. Also, my mother was able to get good food so that she gave birth to the only son in my parents' family. So in my family history, food, nutrition, and clean water have been very important in raising a family. I'm really disappointed that nobody in our panel actually mentioned anything about that.

Again, the minister has stressed that action is required on factors contributing to improving the health of women and children, such as access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and gender equity. I would like the panel to comment on these few things that have not been mentioned today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Mr. Fox and then Ms. Camp.

[Robert Fox]

Certainly, what I tried to do, but perhaps not specifically enough, is make very clear that the women on the front line in the story we are telling today are caught in the eye of a storm. It is the global financial crisis, the global food crisis, the global fuel crisis, the global climate crisis, and the global care crisis. They are being faced with an onslaught from all sides, and they are juggling huge challenges and contradictions in doing that.

The point you make around food and nutrition is absolutely central, and we're absolutely clear about that. It makes a huge contribution and it is an important part of the bigger picture.

I also, though, point out that both in your quote and in Mr. Calandra's quote, there was reference to aid fragmentation. That's what I've been talking about. When different countries are putting different conditions on an aid package.... When they say aid fragmentation, that's exactly what they're talking about: the lack of a coherent, concerted, international response. Canada has committed itself consistently to promoting that, and that's why we're concerned about ensuring that that not be in jeopardy, or that we don't find ourselves starting to put all sorts of conditions on Canadian aid.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Ms. Camp.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond, BC]

Did I see you hand this out?

[Dr. Sharon Camp]

Yes, you did.

One of the reasons we are so focused on maternal and newborn health is that those are two areas where we haven't made much progress compared to the progress we've made on other millennium development goals. Prior to the global recession, there was very substantial progress on child mortality reductions, poverty alleviation, hunger, education—including education for girls--but the area in which we have made the least progress is in maternal mortality and morbidity and that of newborns. Although child mortality has come down very significantly, newborn mortality has not, because it's so closely linked to maternal health.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond, BC]

Can I share my time to allow Sylvie to ask a question?

If you don't want to, it's okay.

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

I've just arrived. I'm so sorry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

We've finished that round, Ms. Wong.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond, BC]

But, Madam Chair, how come mine ran shorter?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

It isn't shorter. You're over five minutes.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond, BC]

The other peoples' five minutes are longer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Maybe you have perceived that, but we have a stopwatch here, Ms. Wong.