Status of Women Committee on March 22nd, 2010

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

The program started with a proposal development team made up of community partners in Yellowknife and across the north. They worked with the college. We worked by doing enhancement courses to make the programs more relevant to women. We did things on budgeting, on what you do if you need child care, and on housing for single parents. They not only learned about the trades but they also learned about how to live and survive.

The intent was that we would get them all jobs. That did not happen. But as I said previously, because they got the self-esteem piece of it, and the life-long learning, it promoted their perhaps working in other areas.

We do wish to continue the program. The part that scares me the most about this project is that the women are still going to come to the council, because this project has made our organization user-friendly. So not only do the women of the project come, their friends come and their children come. We had to get crayons. And we do other kinds of programming for those women. It's not necessarily just upgrading.

Now we really have to think about a dedicated staff person in the Northwest Territories to continue that work. What happens is that sometimes people get discouraged. Because they've not worked for maybe 25 years, it's very difficult to all of a sudden leave their kids somewhere and go to a mine for two weeks.

So it's not only the working. It's the whole wraparound program that enables them to actually stay working. I think we'll probably keep that position there so that women in the Northwest Territories can just come to us.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Again, with respect to the project, what percentage do you think would be young women who had just completed high school or post-secondary education? How many would have been somewhat older, such as adults in their thirties or forties? Do you have a sense of what the number is?

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

I do. We marketed to the underrepresented women in the workforce. The assessment very much looked for women who were marginalized. They were the women we assessed. We went all over the Northwest Territories and conducted information sessions and assessments with the women in our project to see which referrals and programs would be best for them.

I had never even worked in the trades. I'd always been a paper-pusher and a do-gooder. I heard stories about women in the mines being faced with clothing that didn't fit and no washrooms. The most basic elements needed to be able to fulfill a job were not there.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

So that seemed to be their biggest objection. During your presentation, you said you were surprised at the number who were involved in the project but then subsequently dropped out. Do you have any numbers on how many ultimately dropped out? What percentage is it of the ones who enrolled?

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

We will know in about two and a half weeks. We're in the final process. Off the top of my head, I would say it's 30%.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

That's fairly significant.

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

Yes.

We do have programs in the north that, if people are in training, it's sometimes....

No, I'd better not say that.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Okay.

Is this something that you are going to follow up on with the participants in the programs, specifically the ones who dropped out, to determine the various reasons, or if there was one specific trend? Do you intend to do that?

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

Yes. I could send the final report to the standing committee.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

I'd love to see it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You can send it to the clerk.

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

We've done an extensive evaluation. It was a component of HRSDC. Not only did we learn about the trades, we also learned about evaluation. We had it right from the very beginning. Everything has been monitored.

Our project officer has called all those ladies and tracked them down to see what we can do to help them and what other programs we can get them into. One lady would love to be in the trades, but she just cannot pass the exam. We're going to help her. She's a very good photographer. We're going to help her to get the seed money to open a small business.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

What's exciting about this particular project is by virtue of the fact that it's mining, oil, and gas; you know, it seems that it's well geared.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have one minute, Ms. Simson.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Okay.

I have one final question with respect to this. You also mentioned that you worked to upgrade women to enable them to take the entrance exams. Are the majority of the upgrades to get a high school diploma or to get college or post-secondary?

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

Because of the literacy rates in the Northwest Territories, we had difficulty in finding women who could pass even the exam to get into the upgrading.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

What percentage would have been high school graduates?

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

Most were high school graduates.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

You were mostly dealing with high school graduates.

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

Yes, but they could not get into the program when they were assessed.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Madam Demers.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good day to the witnesses. Thank you for coming here today. It was fascinating listening to you. We learned a lot about the problems faced by women living outside major urban centres. The experience of living in the regions is quite different.

As Ms. Thomas stated, “non- traditional“ means different things in different communities. It's not necessarily what we here associate with “non-traditional“, but these considerations can be important for women. I recall that when I travelled to Iqaluit in Nunavut, I noticed that all positions were held by White men from the South. All jobs, whether in the hotel or restaurant industry or in some other field, were, for the most part, held by non-aboriginal men who had very lucrative contracts. I wondered why these jobs were not occupied by women, given that in Iqaluit, many women are out of work and do not have the opportunity to develop these types of skills.

Since you work with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, I was also wondering if you discuss the various situations that exist in different communities to ensure that the programs truly meet the needs of the women that you are targeting.

I would also like to know if, in your opinion, it would be important to establish more long-term funding—since you did talk about funding—instead of resorting to project-based funding. Project-based funding does not necessarily target the same people as more long-term funding.

Ms. Thomas, Ms. Phaneuf and Ms. Calder, I'd like to get your opinion on this subject.

[Denise Thomas]

I appreciate that question. You are absolutely right, it would be beneficial to have longer-term funding. We just started this work, and we're making a lot of ground, and now we have to rework our funding program.

We're afraid the flexibility will not be there to do this type of training. If we lose our flexibility, the kinds of things we are doing to help young Métis women especially, as well as Métis women as a whole, to get into these non-traditional types of jobs and skills trades and other non-traditional jobs.... So it is very crucial that we have longer-term funding.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Would you care to comment, Ms. Phaneuf?