Evidence of meeting #7 for Status of Women in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was clément.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Michelle Simson Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
That would be great.
We've heard testimony from the...and maybe this is something you're not involved in, but I would suggest you probably are. It's something the minister has been working on, promising an action plan for Canadian women, and she announced the three pillars of what would be an action plan over a year ago. Are you currently involved in that process of developing the action plan, and if so, can you tell the committee when we might expect the actual plan?
Coordinator, Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
There is a plan. On my arrival, I was informed that the action plan is moving forward and making progress on the three pillars in helping women achieve--
Liberal
Michelle Simson Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
But is there a plan, a written plan, like the economic action plan? You could read it. Is there anything in writing that this committee could look at to see if perhaps--
Coordinator, Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
Well, the RPPs, the report on plans and priorities, of the organization focus the priorities on three pillars, which are the achievement of economic security for women--
Liberal
Michelle Simson Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
But pillars aren't a plan. By definition, they're a firm, upright support for a structure. The structure in this case, I would think, would be the plan. She announced that they already had the three pillars and then was going to produce a plan. I was just curious if there was a plan in progress.
Coordinator, Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
Well, the plan is always focusing the actions of the government in the three pillars of action, if you prefer.
Liberal
Coordinator, Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
I think if you look at the recent budget there were some very concrete measures on violence against aboriginal women, and that certainly is an outcome of the work that was done in the action area of reducing violence for women. So it is informing actions of the government as we move forward.
Liberal
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Clément, ladies, thank you very much for being here today.
Ms. Clément, I do not have any doubt as to your skills or the job you have done so far. I am more interested in your convictions. Everyone knows that I tend to be quite frank and honest in our discussions here. I want to know whether we will find an ally in you or whether you stand behind most of the ideas expressed by the government.
I do not want to rehash things that have already been decided, but I would like to know what you think about the Canadian firearms registry. I want to know what you think about family planning, women's right to choose, as someone who has studied international development. I am interested in hearing your thoughts. Could you give me an answer, please?
Coordinator, Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
It would not be appropriate for me to comment on a government policy or to state my position. Senior officials are called upon to give advice and to implement government priorities in concrete terms.
I can, however, speak to the issue of maternal health and initiatives that the government is going to undertake. NGOs and officials from a number of countries, who met recently in New York, reacted very favourably to Canada's announcement that it would make maternal health a priority at the G8 and would increase funding in that area.
Bloc
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
The response was positive until these organizations found out that family planning and women's right to choose were not part of the initiative. That was when their reaction changed.
I respect your decision not to state your position on these issues. But you are well aware that Status of Women Canada no longer provides funding for core research, advocacy or lobbying for women's groups that used to receive funding from you.
Given those excluded areas, how do you plan to gather the information you talked about earlier, to ensure that gender-based analysis and gender budgeting are carried out, while ensuring that we have not come this far for nothing and that progress continues to be made? Right now, we are taking steps backwards on all fronts, whether in terms of international or global organizations or the UN. So how do you expect to make progress if these organizations are not doing the core research, which can give us the tools to go farther.
Coordinator, Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
A number of organizations do research. Within the federal public service, Statistics Canada is constantly doing research. We have a number of organizations...
Bloc
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
I am sorry to interrupt you, Ms. Clément, but Statistics Canada does not do research for Status of Women Canada unless Status of Women Canada asks it to. No research has been done in the past ten years because Status of Women Canada has not asked for any. I hope that you will take a different approach and that you will ask for research to be done. Regardless, it has to be done in cooperation with another department. Do not rely on Statistics Canada: it does not do core research that specifically targets women.
Coordinator, Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
It does the research with financial support from the departments. I have just started meeting with people from certain departments in Ottawa in order to round up the funds needed to update the Women in Canada publication. The last version is from 2005. I looked through it and was impressed.
It is really important to have sets of data that are comparable. Currently, it is difficult to discuss issues related to women because, for one thing, the data are from various researchers, various sources. And that makes it difficult to do a comparative analysis. We want to be able to publish an updated version within the next year. The response I got from the departments was favourable. They see it as a worthwhile tool, which will be instrumental in the gender-based analysis of the departments.
Bloc
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
I am very happy to hear that. Thank you, Ms. Clément, for making that effort. It is very important.
Coordinator, Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
Ms. Demers, there is also the matter of information sharing. Once we have the information, it is important to share it, to make it accessible. That is one of our priorities.
Bloc
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
I want to know whether you will be a little more efficient in responding to funding requests. Some groups submitted their application two or two-and-a-half years ago and have still not received a response. There is now only one office for Quebec, and obviously, there is no more staff to meet all the needs out there. People are not getting a response.
I would like to know whether they will get responses soon, whether groups will be able to find out what they have to work with. Can you ensure that once the responses are ready, they will be sent out quickly? That is not the case now.
Coordinator, Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
Ms. Demers, there are two types of funding requests: one is through the Women's Partnership Fund and the other is through the Women's Community Fund. I am truly not aware of any projects where the application was submitted more than two years ago and no response was sent out. If that is the case, I will definitely follow up on that.
Usually, when any project is submitted under a call for proposals, a response is sent to the group as soon as the process is over and projects have been selected. Projects are chosen based on merit, not the applicant.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Madam Clément, for joining us today, and also for sharing with us your experiences and your résumé for this position.
First of all, and importantly for the record, Madam Simson was talking about the restructuring of the regional offices, and I think it's important to recognize that this was many years prior to your time. It wasn't imminent around the time you came here; it was many years prior.
Also, of course, we all recognize that the minister is ultimately responsible for the $30 million. Of course, you have a role—
Coordinator, Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
As accounting officer, yes.
