Status of Women Committee on Jan. 18th, 2011

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

No, to the members. Now, Anita.

We're going to begin with Ms. Neville for the Liberals.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

And thank you to the four of you for coming here today.

I have three particular questions that I want to ask you, and you can decide how you want to answer them.

You are all service providers. My first question relates to funding, what advice you would have specifically for the federal government, your own funding challenges, because they're significant, and we've heard about it. We've heard increasingly—and I don't know whether you were in here for the previous panel—about the challenges that aboriginal women have in working with government agencies, with the police, with the justice system. I'd like to know what roles your organizations take on in working with women as they work through some of their challenges with institutions, however you want to describe them.

I think one of you, maybe two, mentioned Sisters in Spirit. You're all undoubtedly aware that Sisters in Spirit have not had their dollars renewed for the larger study into the missing and murdered aboriginal women. I'd like to know your views on the role of Sisters in Spirit. I know my own thoughts, but I'd like to know what you think, in terms of the importance—or not—of Sisters in Spirit being able to continue the work they're doing.

So there are three questions, and I don't know whether they're succinct, but if someone wants to have a go....

[Hilla Kerner]

I'll start with the funding challenge. There are two rape crisis centres in Vancouver, WAVAW and Vancouver Rape Relief, and Battered Women's Support Services offer, in spirit, similar services. None of us receive core funding at all for the rape crisis centres. WAVAW and BWSS receive some money for individual workers, but definitely not to the overall operation of women's services, and Rape Relief receives nothing.

So the political leadership of British Columbia does not think that rape crisis centres are worth existing for women victims of male violence and aboriginal victims of male violence. The only funding—and it's a political decision—comes for individual victims service workers, which completely dismantles the understanding of violence against women in relation to equality and the importance of women's services in changing the world and making it a better place for women.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Darla.

[Darla Laughlin]

I have to agree that the core funding issue is probably the most important. I know that WAVAW has applied eight years consecutively to the Status of Women for funding and have been denied eight years consecutively.

Literally, we're doing work off the side of our desks. The amount of need surpasses what we're able to offer. We need more workers. Hilla is absolutely right, the funding that we do have is not core funding. Our positions are funded individually through various funders. We don't have the sustainability, I guess you could say. We have to apply every single year for our funding, and we don't know whether or not that funding is going to be there year to year.

[Hilla Kerner]

Ironically, Status of Women—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Hilla, excuse me.

Did either of the other two persons want to respond?

[Nancy Cameron]

I'd like to respond.

As I said, we have one position at Crabtree, and it took a long time to get the funding for that, even though all the staff are working on this issue. They may be funded to do something else--maybe work on FASD or something--but because this is so prevalent in the lives of our clients, they're all doing it.

It's not only the moneys for the position; it's also that the staff themselves need support. So it's money to provide that so they can keep doing this work, because they're at real risk of compassion fatigue--if they haven't already experienced it. I think we're losing key people in this field, key women in this field, because of that.

I also think they need to keep it in order to continually be trained. Even to come to an event like this takes us away from our work and from a large number of clients we're not able to provide services for at this particular time. So definitely funding is an issue.

As I said, I've been working with funders for a very long time, talking about women and violence every which way there is to talk about it. I don't know what it takes to convince those who will fund us that we need the funding. I think it's been said every which way it can possibly be said.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Lisa.

[Lisa Yellow-Quill]

What I know and understand about the funding for the organizations I work for is that we rely mostly on donations, on private funders. We all have to scramble for the funding out there that is available for aboriginal programming around preventing violence, and that creates division in our system.

That's what I'd say about that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have about 30 seconds. Is there any one of you who would like to speak to the question on Sisters in Spirit that Ms. Neville asked?

[Hilla Kerner]

I think there is consensus among women's groups all over Canada about the importance of the project. There was a breach of trust when the Minister for Status of Women allocated the money to the RCMP instead of giving it to NWAC. There is consensus all over the country among feminists and women's groups.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Darla, did you want to say something about that?

[Darla Laughlin]

I think there was a question put out there on how we can better assist women to approach institutions. I think one of the key responsibilities being missed here is that we need to understand that there isn't a very good track record, first of all. There needs to be some type of liaison work that is absolutely and completely clear about what the role of those institutions is when they see aboriginal women.

We have young aboriginal women who are single parents, who are really unable to speak to their social workers because they fear the worst, especially our teen moms who are constantly being diagnosed--misdiagnosed, I might add--with FAS and ADD and various mental illnesses. They might be suffering from the effects of the legacy of residential schools, and they are misdiagnosed as having mental illness and their children are removed. So I think having some sort of liaison in a traditional aboriginal values-based--

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

So you're suggesting liaison workers of some kind?

Thank you.

Now we go to Madam Demers from the Bloc Québécois.

Merci. Welcome.

Nicole, begin.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Ladies, thank you for joining us this afternoon.

First, I would like to tell you that your document was very powerful, Lisa. At times, while you were reading it, I felt embarrassed. At other times, I felt very concerned, as, for instance, when you said that we talk a lot, but we do little. That's true. You are completely right. Darla, you said the same thing, and it's the truth.

Why are we touring the country again? Why are we asking questions about the living situation of aboriginal women when we are very familiar with it already? We know what kind of violence is committed against women. We wanted to go on this Canada-wide tour because we did not want only two or three groups to come to Ottawa to talk to us about the situation, and then to be told that those two or three important groups spoke on behalf of many aboriginal women, but did not represent all of them. We wanted to go on site, so that people like you, who represent smaller groups, could talk to us about the situation. Having done this, we will be able to return to Ottawa and show that all these women testified and said that this is indeed the situation Canadian aboriginal women find themselves in.

We wanted to make sure that it was not only the Native Women's Association of Canada, Femmes Autochtones du Québec and aboriginal leaders that described the situation to us. All aboriginal women have spoken to us about this situation and asked us to do something about it. Your voice is the most important one because it is the voice of all aboriginal women. That is why we are here today.

Ms. Cameron, you say that there have been no changes in the last 30 years. Why do you think that is?

I also wanted to ask you whether you think that Canada's signing of the UN's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and officially asking forgiveness for the events surrounding the Indian residential schools will change anything. We have not seen any changes over the last two years, and I am wondering why.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Nancy.

[Nancy Cameron]

I think there are many reasons why things have.... I wouldn't say entirely that they have not changed, but they have changed very little. I still see an existing attitude towards women that has not changed, an attitude towards aboriginal women that has not changed, systemic beliefs about how to treat women that have not changed, and policies and practices that have not changed. There are many things. What I see is that there have been attempts to make those changes, and then other things happen that pull us back.

Because the numbers of women who are being abused are still enormous and unacceptable, because women continue to live in poverty--if not more poverty and more extensive poverty--because there are still difficulties in the justice system, and because there still are children being removed just because of systemic beliefs or oppression of women as I see.... I mean, some things have improved, yes. Back when I started doing this work 30 years ago, there were different views on child care, and there weren't as many transition houses. We have more shelters now. Maybe we have more treatment centres. Maybe it's more common to have more women who have post-secondary education. Some of those things, though, still exist, and they exist in large numbers within the aboriginal community, and I think that absolutely has to improve, as the women have spoken to here.

Even though those things are improving, there is still abuse of women. There still is.

[Darla Laughlin]

I'd just like to speak to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. One of the important things that's going to have to happen in order for that declaration to do aboriginal women any justice and to be helpful is that committees such as yours have to refer to it when you're speaking on our behalf, and you have to use that document. Although it's not a legal document, it should be.

As an aboriginal woman, I think about the so-called apology we received. Yes, we received an apology that many horrific things happened through the colonization process and the residential schools, but the reasons why were negated. No one said in that apology, “We did this because we wanted to steal your land.” That was negated. Those are the things that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is going to bring forward. And until Canada airs its dirty laundry about what's really happening in this country, it's going to be very difficult. We're here to fight that fight and we're not going to go away. We have young people who are coming right behind us who are going to continue this work.

So I implore you to use that document for our women in a good way.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Darla.

We have 30 seconds, if someone wants to make a quick....

Hilla.

[Hilla Kerner]

Yes, I want to say that I don't have much hope. I'm joining Darla's call, because the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in November 2008, in an unprecedented step, called on Canada, within a year, to conduct a national public inquiry about the missing and murdered aboriginal women, and to raise the welfare rate. Nothing has happened. It's been almost two and a half years since then.

Unless there is strong pressure from Parliament and members of the public, those UN convention calls are useless.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Hilla.

That's it.

Now we move on to Ms. Grewal for the Conservatives.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

The funding issue came up, so I would just like to let you know that since 2007, through Status of Women Canada, the government has funded about 150 projects, totalling almost $28.7 million, for work to eliminate violence against women. We are also supporting prevention, providing shelters on reserves, and funding victim services.

We want to ensure that the justice system meets the needs of aboriginal women and their families. Are there any legal reforms, legislative changes, that you can recommend to this committee?

[Hilla Kerner]

I'm sorry, I want to correct you. It's true that all the services--