The reason for submitting this to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is that in CEDAW, on the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination, there are explicit provisions to guarantee and promote equal pay for work of equal value. The international instrument CEDAW recognizes it, and so does the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as does the ILO convention 100. We went to the UN because the UN explicitly recognizes the importance of pay equity, and we wanted to alert the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women to the situation in Canada.
This isn't a formal tribunal or complaints process; it's a communication. We simply inform the commission. The commission then writes to the government and asks the government to respond to the information. Then it's channelled through the processes of the UN and sent, if I understand correctly, to the economic, social and cultural rights committee, and they take this information to do the global assessment of the situation of where Canada is at.
To some extent, I think, Canada's shortfall on pay equity has been taken into account in the global assessment of Canada's performance in the international scene. I think this is why we see the results in how the international community is considering Canada right now, recognizing that Canada is no longer the human rights leader that it used to be and is no longer a champion of women's equality rights domestically.