Status of Women Committee on March 22nd, 2010

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

I never would do that.

We've applied to the INAC folks, but unfortunately they can only fund us if we have a major funder because they can only fund a portion. They can't be the big funder. And we've applied to Status of Women Canada.

The federal minister, Helena Guergis, came to Hay River for our big opening. Maybe I'm being too boastful, but I feel she was impressed with the work we had done there, in seeing all of the community there for the opening of the course and all of the equipment there ready for the women. She had at that point urged me to apply for the funding for the corporate proposal. So we're just waiting to hear on that funding.

But if we don't get it, we're not going to stop. We're going to apply...you know, other funders will fund us. There is a labour market territorial fund, but it's very regional, so the communities would go in and we would probably have to apply for the money, and we could maybe help them implement the project and help them with the paperwork.

So it all depends on how the funding flows. It would be better if it just came to us, and then we can just help the communities when they need help.

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

But there is no indication from the Status of Women when you'll get this funding, or if you'll get this funding? You haven't had a date given?

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

No.

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

As soon as you hear, will you let the committee know? I'd really like to hear.

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

I will.

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

There's been some discussion about post-secondary education and young women who have obtained secondary diplomas, but it seemed to me that from your discussion you were talking about young women who had really much more basic needs. It would sound like basic literacy and numeracy skills were missing.

Do you have any idea why? What was that gap caused by? How could it be addressed so that women aren't starting at such a disadvantaged spot? It's tough getting up to a post-secondary--

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

Sorry, I did't mean to interrupt you.

I don't know why. I do know that the Native Women's Association of the Northwest Territories is now working on a math tool and a kind of holistic tool to give to the adult educators in the Northwest Territories to help them get to that level. That is actually a project that's going on as we speak.

So we're very hopeful that this might actually engage some of the women, because there was a fair amount of women who would have wanted to take the upgrading, and even some who did take it but just couldn't succeed.

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

Yes, it's hard.

Yes, Madam Thomas.

[Denise Thomas]

If I may, there is also a problem in some of the communities, in Manitoba, especially. In our northern communities we have a division that's called Frontier School Division. Even if a lot of the women coming out of there have a higher level, grade 11 or 12, it's a low level of education. When we try to get them into the trades, we have to upgrade them first. If we don't have the funding to do that, then those women are stuck in the muck, I would say. So that is a really crucial problem, the education system.

We also had a partnership with Manitoba Hydro in our province. We did have a partnership where we did a lot of upgrading.

Also, too, what happens is the cultural shock in leaving their communities, so that's another problem we face. We do a lot of upgrading, as much as we can, if we can get the people to come out of those communities. We have to put support systems in place so that they don't have to deal with this cultural shock. All that costs a lot of money, and our funding has stayed the same for 10 years, as we mentioned in our submission.

We're making a lot of groundwork with the Métis women as a whole. We just don't want to lose that now. We want to continue doing the good work that we're trying to do for the women.

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

Okay.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Ms. Thomas, and thank you, Irene.

Madame Zarac, this round is for five minutes, including questions and answers.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Okay, thank you.

My question is to Ms. Phaneuf.

I can understand why you're so enthusiastic about this project even though the number who got jobs was low, but you said they got other jobs. I would give you this warning: be careful when you make your...the sum of this project, because we can interpret numbers differently. I believe it is a success, even if the objective wasn't quite met. With all of the barriers you had, I believe it is a very good subject.

I have a question. You mentioned that most of the people who followed the program wanted additional training. What additional training were they seeking?

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

Depending on the women, they sometimes wanted training around budgeting for their homes or forklift training. We brought some women into that. There are bears in the Northwest Territories and so we had bear training, and sound-blast training. Those are all trainings that were not available through the college at that time. We also did a cultural camp because most of our women were aboriginal, due to demographics. It's not that we really planned it that way, but just because of where we live. We also tried to bring in a few cultural programs, but I wouldn't say there was an emphasis on that. If they asked for something, we would try to find it.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

So you delivered what they wanted. Their needs were answered.

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

We tried to within the parameters of the project. We have tweaked our method a little bit. I haven't, but our very talented evaluator has tried to grab those kinds of successes. So it's not only in terms of women working at De Beers, and I think you'll see that in the summative evaluation. That will come out loud and clear.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Would you say they were asking for the basic needs that they thought would give them an opportunity to find a well-paying job?

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

Yes.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

You said that some of the programs you included, but would there be a reality in making new programs to answer these needs?

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

It would depend on what the training is, I guess. For the training we did, honestly, we couldn't think of anything else to help those ladies. We felt we did the best job we could.

Sometimes unintended things come out when you're doing work. The one thing we found, and I think this will come out in the evaluation, is that they had a whole list of boxes to tick off for what they felt were barriers to being successful. Women with children sometimes did not tick off child care. Their children had been left in the community where they live, and they came to the city to take their training. But it's still an issue, because they miss those kids.

In hindsight, we might have sent them home in the middle of the training and let them come back, not just March break or Christmas. That might be something we'd do differently.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

You mentioned lots of funding partners. If you don't get those partnerships in the future, will you still be able to continue the work you're doing?

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

Not to the extent.... The only thing we could commit to is if women needed advocacy while they're working in the trades they could come to our organization. But if we don't have funding, we don't have wage subsidy or work clothing or teachers or courses.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

You said it was a three-year funding, right? So your funding is finished now.

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

On February 26.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

What would the ideal program be? How long would you need to be funded? Ms. Thomas also mentioned that long-term funding helps to better the programs.

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

I think it would have to be in there long enough to see significant changes in how many women enter into trades or maintain...because the last statistics in the Northwest Territories indicated that only 3% of women are in the trades. Now, that was in 2006. They haven't upgraded their apprenticeship report yet.

Until we see a significant change in the direction of where women are actually working in the Northwest Territories, I could almost see it as being indeterminate. I'm sure funders would not be happy, but at a minimum, it would be five years.