Status of Women Committee on Dec. 14th, 2010

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Welcome, ladies.

My understanding is that the Foundation has been one of the most important tools. It has helped advance the cause of students who lived at residential schools and who, together with their families, have been traumatized. As you mentioned in your documents, the families have also been impacted.

It has been said that an agreement will resolve some things, but that the scars will remain forever. As my colleague mentioned earlier, we visited a number of these communities. We saw first hand that there are still scars. The impact will be felt as long as these problems are not addressed.

You say that everything that was in place up to now will be set aside and that you will return to traditional programs—I am not sure if I am using the right term—to white man's programs. They will be implemented on aboriginal reserves, in your way, with existing budgets, rather than with budgets approved to deal with this specific problem.

How will you resolve the problems of the future?

Violence against women is more prevalent than ever before. We know it stems from that period. How will we solve these problems by using tools that are completely different than those used in the past?

Ms. Langlois, you pointed out the large increase in demand and the health needs. What is the specific budget for dealing with violence against women within that context? Apart from the 412,000 brochures that you mailed out—which surely cost a fortune—is there something that will truly guarantee continuity after 2012?

[Kathy Langlois]

Thank you very much for the question.

As I mentioned, we spend $200 million per year on our other mental health and addiction programs. These programs will continue to be available in the future.

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

The $200 million is for the existing program. That is separate from what was allocated to the Foundation, which will no longer exist.

[Kathy Langlois]

Exactly.

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Therefore, you are going with an existing budget when you know that important problems still remain.

Do you think that the $200 million will be enough?

[Kathy Langlois]

That is the money we have to deal with the situation.

I should mention that the aboriginal youth suicide prevention program was renewed this year. This program was to have ended in 2010, but it was renewed.

Our addiction and addiction treatment centre program, as well as our community addiction prevention program, are being renewed. We received $30 million over five years and an additional $9 million will be allocated to this program in future.

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Will that be enough for women's issues? What is your budget for fighting violence against women?

[Kathy Langlois]

Our programs deal with mental health and addiction.

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Is part of this budget allocated to this problem, in some form or another?

[Kathy Langlois]

The funds are not explicitly allocated to fighting violence against women, but we know that a great deal of violence occurs when people are intoxicated.

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

How much money is allocated to fighting violence against women? We do not have any figures.

[Kathy Langlois]

We have not calculated the amount, but we could.

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Our soldiers who return from all parts of the world are particularly affected by post-traumatic stress syndrome. Everyone agrees that it takes years to get better.

Even today, women are impacted by the legacy of these residential schools, through family ties, but there is no specific budget to help them fight violence against women.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Cathy McLeod]

Could we have just a short response, please?

[Kathy Langlois]

There are programs specifically for women funded under the annual $200,000 budget. These programs address the shock you mentioned and fund treatment centres designed specifically for women.

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Cathy McLeod]

Thank you.

We have Ms. Mathyssen now, please.

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

Thank you.

I want to get back to your presentation. I have a question in regard to youth suicide prevention. You talked about the prevention strategy being available in 200 communities. Are there not more than 600 communities across the country? That means there's a whole lot of catch-up to do. One of the things we heard was that the suicide rate among aboriginal youth is 10 times the national average, and for young men between the ages of 15 and 25, it's 28 times.

Are there plans to bridge that gap? It seems to be a horrendous gap in terms of what has to happen.

[Kathy Langlois]

Just on the matter of statistics related to suicides, first of all, the overall national averages I'm working with are not on the same scale as has just been described.

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

That might be the north.

[Kathy Langlois]

Nonetheless, amongst both first nations and Inuit, the rates are significantly greater than they are for the mainstream population. One thing to remember is that what's hidden within the national number is the fact that in some communities there are absolutely no suicides and there have never been suicides, and in other communities the rate is much more significant, hundreds of times greater. There's been research done at the University of British Columbia, using British Columbia data for the last 30 years, that demonstrates that and talks about what is going on within communities where there are high rates of suicide.

Our program is being delivered in 200 communities. Not all communities require a suicide prevention strategy, so that would be part of the reason we're not in 600. I can talk more, if you are interested, about some of the factors that contribute to there being no suicides in communities.

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

That was my question. What is it in these communities, where youth are managing fine, that we should perhaps be looking at?

[Kathy Langlois]

Well, certainly the research that's been done in British Columbia by Dr. Chandler and Dr. Lalonde from the University of British Columbia has identified four key factors that are present in a community where there are no suicides. Those are the presence of a land claim; self-government; control of local services such as police, fire, and health services; and lastly, the presence of cultural facilities. Their theory is that those things demonstrate that a community understands its identity, embraces its identity, and sees itself moving forward in the future. That applies to the youth in the community. They see a future for themselves; they have hope; and as a result, there is no suicide in their communities. There are a lot of issues here around hopelessness.

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

Thank you. I appreciate that.

I want to get back to housing. On Friday, in the city of London, we were blessed with the opening of 16 units of affordable housing for urban aboriginal families. Like every community, we have violence, drug abuse, all kinds of difficulties, and the hopelessness that you referenced just now. Unfortunately, the only reason that housing was put in place was because a local developer donated $1.5 million. Otherwise we would still be struggling. Even at that, 16 units are not nearly enough.

I'm wondering if funding has been allocated in regard to the need for housing. Are there any projects under way that would provide housing both on reserve and in urban centres?

[Kathy Langlois]

I can answer on that from the health perspective, and will do so.

The significant funding that I'm aware of is that when the Mental Health Commission of Canada was created in 2007, I believe the following year they received $10 million. Perhaps it was more than that, and I shouldn't be quoted on that number. I apologize, I don't have it at my fingertips. But they received a significant amount of money to undertake five projects in urban settings around mental health and homelessness, and a key part of that funding is indeed to develop housing. I'm familiar with a significant investment through the Mental Health Commission of Canada in five cities to look at this issue of mental health and homelessness.