Thank you. That's fine.
Evidence of meeting #37 for Status of Women in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was data.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #37 for Status of Women in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was data.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:20 a.m.
Liberal
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Thank you very much.
Ms. Mowbray, you've been using the data for quite some time. Can you tell us whether or not you feel the data you've been using so far has been reliable?
10:20 a.m.
Co-Chair of the Board of Directors, Canadian Women's Foundation
Yes, despite the inaccuracies we'll have to take out for your unpaid work while you're reading.
10:20 a.m.
Voices
Oh!
10:20 a.m.
Co-Chair of the Board of Directors, Canadian Women's Foundation
At the same time, we're not saying that it's perfect. I mean, we work in an imperfect world. We collect data. We have research reports written. We analyze our own results over time.
Every time we do a granting round...we grant millions of dollars every year. We go back and assess how we granted it. Every time, we look for learning opportunities. So we look at our own processes. We look at the data our work produces.
It's never perfect, but--
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
I'm going to interrupt there, simply because I know my time is limited. I want to put something in here.
When I was doing my own research, simply looking at reliability of statistics, I came across a quote from Britain. I'm not saying this has anything to do with Canada, but I am saying that in 2001, the ONS has admitted that it had to impute information for 6.1% of households who failed to fill in the forms--more than 1.5 million families. One in three forms was not filled in completely, leaving large blanks that are filled in by ONS staff who use average answers, using responses from neighbours.
As much as we want to say that we all have reliable data, other jurisdictions are saying that there are still problems. My point is that we're moving to a voluntary form. I'm not sure that the data we're going to get will be any less reliable since it has been voluntary. No one has been prosecuted. No one has gone to jail in the 40 years that we've been using this data. Effectively, the corollary is that it has already always been a voluntary form.
If that is reliable data—
10:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Ms. Brown, I'm sorry, we can't have an answer to that question. You've gone over two minutes.
Now we'll go to Monsieur Desnoyers for the Bloc.
10:20 a.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My question deals with the World Conference on Women that was held in Beijing. An agreement was reached under which Canada decided to propose an action plan to quantify and put a value on unpaid work. Ms. Smith, I am quoting from your brief.
Does this mean that Canada will no longer be a party to this agreement?
10:20 a.m.
Professor, Faculty of Law, Queen's University, As an Individual
It does not mean that. It means that Canada is in violation of very serious international obligations. As a signatory to the optional protocol to CEDAW, one can file a complaint with the committee on the status of women in addition to going to domestic courts. It's a very serious violation.
10:20 a.m.
Editor, Recent Research on Caregiving, As an Individual
Are there documents that are binding and others that are not? I don't know what is the status of that document.
10:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you.
Any other questions, Monsieur Desnoyers? You have a little under a minute.
10:20 a.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Oh, I see.
Someone said earlier that Canada has just lost a significant statistical advantage. How would you assess this loss? Has Canada just fallen in the bottom third of countries that had significant statistics?
10:20 a.m.
Editor, Recent Research on Caregiving, As an Individual
This is not a competition, but the difference is that other countries are taking more action in favour of women. In Australia and in Singapore, for example, some money is given to mothers. Recently, Sweden has increased the financial assistance for fathers. These countries are basing their action on statistics that they have at their disposal. We do not have such statistics.
10:20 a.m.
Bloc
10:20 a.m.
Liberal
10:20 a.m.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
In a recent interview, former New Zealand Conservative MP Marilyn Waring commented on the elimination of the census by stating, “I see this mirrored in so many conservative governments in the post-recession period. They want to rule according to ideology not according to evidence. So one of the most important things they can do is to obliterate evidence so they can operate on the basis of propaganda”.
I'd like to open the floor for you to respond to Ms. Waring's assertions.
10:25 a.m.
Professor and Chair, Economics Department, Saint Mary's University, As an Individual
I want to say that professional economists across the country are united in the opinion that doing away with the mandatory census is a bad move. Limiting statistical analysis compromises political debate and undermines evidence-based policy-making. I just wanted to contribute that.