Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to thank you for being here. I recognize that it may be uncomfortable, but I appreciate your willingness to be here, and I hope we can have a candid exchange.
I want to begin on the language shift in terms of “gender equality” to the term “equality between men and women”. We had a representative from FAFIA here. She was quite concerned, because she indicated that it signalled a “shift in the human and financial resources that are earmarked for work on gender equality”.
Now, while I realize that groups like Kairos, the millennium development goals, maternal and child health, Match, and the Canadian Federation of Teachers are funded out of CIDA, I'm very concerned about the fact that their funding has been cut. I discussed the issue with representatives from the CFT. In addition to educational work, they have done a great deal in terms of promoting gender equality when working on the ground and talking about how greater gender equality and respect for women were important in their work.
So when I see that there is a shift in human and financial resources because of this language change, it makes me very concerned. How important is gender equality in the work done by CIDA, DFAIT, or any branch of government? Can you respond to what the representative from FAFIA indicated to the committee?