Status of Women Committee on Oct. 19th, 2010

[Hélène Laurendeau]

I don't have, off the top.... I could provide you with the information as to how many cases are pending. Because there's a sequencing on the transitional measures, I could provide you in writing a summary of the cases and number of cases and how they're going to be dealt with as transitional measures.

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

Thank you. That would be helpful.

During this transitional period, will staffing resources from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal--the staff who have the expertise in pay equity, since they've been dealing with the issue for so long--be seconded to the Public Service Labour Relations Board?

[Hélène Laurendeau]

It is clear that the public service staff relations board will have to bring up its capacity with additional resources. How they're going to be staffing will belong to them as an independent agency. Presumably they will tap into expertise that exists, but I cannot speak for them as to how they're going to proceed in that direction.

In our assessment of the costs in relation to transition, we are factoring in their increased need with respect to the new functions they're going to be absorbing.

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

I hope that does indeed happen.

With regard to that, how many new staff will be needed and is there any idea of the cost of implementing PSECA? Has there been any analysis done there?

[Hélène Laurendeau]

As part of the establishment of the regulations, we also are working on an implementation plan to scout the various organizations, both in terms of the employers and also in terms of oversight bodies, to quantify the implementation cost.

As you just pointed out, we know there might be a transfer of resources between existing places and new places, but that's what we're currently quantifying in parallel to the work we're doing on developing the regulations. Right now we're not in a position to give you a complete picture of that, but we're working on it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you. That's--

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

Madam Chair, I just want assurance that the draft regulations and the discussion papers that I referenced before will indeed be available to the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Madame Laurendeau, you are aware we would like to receive those once they are ready...?

[Hélène Laurendeau]

Once we have final products, we will be happy to share them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mesdames Laurendeau and Bogden. Thank you for spending the time with us.

We have a short period of time in which to get on with business. Before we suspend, we have one motion from Madame Demers.

Nicole, shall we begin to deal with your motion?

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Yes, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I will read the notice of motion from Nicole Demers:

That the committee support all the demands of the 2010 World March of Women addressed to the Government of Canada, congratulate the organizers of this event and report back to the House.

Madame Demers, would you like to speak to this?

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Certainly, Madam Chair.

Last Sunday, the 2010 World March of Women ended in Rimouski, with more than 10,000 people marching to commemorate the 1995 march in Beijing. The march reminds us that women have not yet achieved equity, nor the things we set out to achieve in 1995 when we held the “bread and roses” march.

It is important to point out that we still have to march for our goals in 2010. The fact that women have once again showed themselves to be strong enough to take this action and that they still want to become involved, to march, to motivate and to mobilize is justification enough for us—and for Parliament as a whole—to congratulate them, to encourage them to continue to be active in this way and to recommend that their demands also be supported by Parliament. Those demands have already been embraced by several other women's groups. I feel that we support them as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Ms. Demers.

Is there any discussion on the motion?

Mrs. Simson.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much for the motion, Ms. Demers.

While I fully support the spirit of the world march and what it tries to accomplish, I do have a concern. I'm not familiar with what “all the demands” means, so it's very difficult for me to say yes to something--while in the spirit of it I would love to--I don't have a list of what the specific demands are.

By way of a question, I was wondering if my colleague, Ms. Demers, would be prepared to perhaps withdraw this particular motion and retable it, outlining what the exact demands are so that we know specifically what we're voting for, because I'd love to vote in favour of this.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

I can tell her the four main demands.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Before Madame Demers responds to that, I have two other people who want to say something—

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

—and then we can have Nicole tell us if she would like to remove this and bring it back again with the demands listed.

Madame Boucher.

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

Okay. I have the feeling that I am going to make some enemies here.

As Sylvie Boucher—and I have to thank the Fédération des femmes du Québec—I am going to vote against the motion after having thought about it for the last two weeks. The organizers have a controversial approach. We know what they said about the war in Afghanistan and the “cannon fodder”.

My daughters showed me the link to a video on YouTube. If you have not seen it, it is called Capsule #4. It was posted by the Fédération des femmes du Québec. It is worth taking a look.

This is out of respect for the mothers of those in the military. We all know that, when our children decide on a path in life, we do not always agree with their choices. But we owe those women our respect, and I am going to vote against the motion for all those reasons.

The actions in the last two weeks show me that this event set out to promote radical political activism and I am not a radical woman, not in the least. So, for those reasons, I am going to vote against Ms. Demers' motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Madame Boucher.

Ms. Mathyssen.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I am going to support this because it does support political action. If you look through the document--and I have done precisely that--there's a great deal in this document that reflects our CIDA obligations. Canada signed that document in 1982, so I think there are grounds for support there. Given the fact that many of these resolutions come directly from UN resolutions, and Canada has just very recently stated a certain level of solidarity with the UN in the efforts to secure a seat on the Security Council, I can't see why it would be problematic.

I think this is an important and progressive kind of statement, and as progressive women, there's a great deal that we can support in these demands. I think the term “demands” is interesting; I would say “requirements” of citizenship, since it talks about the need for equality of education, investment of 0.7% in regard to developing countries, economic issues, and pay equity. We've just discussed the importance of pay equity and heard from the Treasury Board witnesses that we support proactive pay equity. I think there's a lot in this. I'm very pleased to support it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Madam Mathyssen.

Before I go to Madame Demers, Madame Mendes, do you have something new, because Madame Demers may want to tell us what changes--

[Alexandra Mendes, Liberal, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

It's not new, per se, but I just want to make reference to the fact that a lot of the demands in their approach have to do with millennium development goals. Those are things that we have signed on to already anyway.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Madame Mendes.

Nicole, do you agree with Ms. Simson's suggestion--that's what we're discussing now--that we bring this back? I would like very much if we could share with every member of the committee here, prior to bringing it back, the demands of la Marche and all of the information that Irene has, so that everyone can be fully informed before they decide to vote on this.