Status of Women Committee on Nov. 24th, 2011

[Bonnie Brayton]

The strategy is based on many years of working with different communities. The Canadian Association of Community Living developed a safety audit tool for communities several years ago. It's very much based on the concept of identifying gaps at the community level. The process of identifying those gaps, however, has to be one that is through community engagement.

Hedy, when you're talking about how one addresses those different things and with whom, you have to involve the local police. You have to involve local community organizations and people with disabilities in the process. That's fundamentally where this starts: with the inclusion of people with disabilities in the process at the community level.

It's a national strategy, but it has to be drilled down into by going into each province, territory, and municipality. Initially we plan to do 13 locations across the country, some urban, and some rural. We certainly recognize the fact that it's not a one-size-fits-all kind of approach. Again, the audit tool that's been developed and will be transferred, if you will, from the application CACL had for people with intellectual disabilities to the broader community of people with disabilities is one that is really focused on inclusion of people with disabilities and inclusion of local actors in the community.

One of the things I face all the time is trying to get access to the violence against women sector, if you will. The violence against women sector is a sector, and we all know, especially here at the Status of Women, that there is a whole body of work and a whole bunch of organizations, people, and so on involved in this work.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

This is the first step. What are the other elements of a national strategy that you see? For instance, will housing be one element of a national strategy? Would institutionalization be an element?

[Bonnie Brayton]

In the medium and long term, I would say absolutely yes. The first thing you have to do--and what we plan to do in the first phase--is identify where those gaps are, to concretize housing issues, to concretize the justice system issues, to take them from the place of recognizing that there's a problem to starting to work through the solutions.

One thing, for example, that would be an element of this work would be CACL working with the Department of Justice on the concept of informed consent and the right of a person with a disability to speak on their own behalf. This is a really key piece in the justice and legislative systems: recognizing that people with disabilities, women with disabilities, have the right to speak for themselves, that they are capable of identifying their own abuse.

Also, I will say that another really important piece of this is education. One thing I can tell you from working over the last five years on this file is that many women with disabilities are so used to abuse that they do not even recognize that they are victims of it. One of the first things we did, earlier this year, was run an ad campaign through Abilities magazine and at Women's Worlds 2011. That spoke to women with disabilities about helping them identify what abuse is and how they can seek resources and support.

There are many elements to the way this has to be done. I quite agree with you that we have to go through a process that starts with the audit process, engaging the community, identifying the gaps at that provincial or territorial level, and then going forward in the next phase of this work in starting to develop partnerships that begin to take this from something that's an abstract to real inclusion.

Fundamentally, to bring it back to the convention—I'm sorry to bring it back to that, but it's such a fundamental and important piece of legislation—people with disabilities need to be included in community. If they're included in community, there's a process that will allow them to identify how their needs can best be met. One of the things we must stop doing is assuming that we know how people with disabilities need protection. We need to work with them and we need to work with their families, with their caregivers, and with the government at every level.

Thank you.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Thank you.

Do I have any more time, Madam Chair?

[The Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

You only have nine seconds left.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

That's okay. Thanks.

[The Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

We're very close to 4:30, and Ms. Brayton must leave at 4:30. I'll give you a choice: one very quick two-minute question and answer per caucus, or the opportunity for our guest to summarize or have a last word in regard to their information.

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Excuse me--

[The Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

Yes?

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Scarborough Centre, ON]

On a point of order, let me ask who the next person is in the rotation. I think I would like to request that we keep the regular rotation so that we have five minutes on this side, and if the one witness has to leave, then we can direct our questions to the second witness, who will still be here.

[The Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

This is a new round.

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Scarborough Centre, ON]

So would it be seven minutes for our side...?

[The Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

No. Ms. Brayton needs to leave. So five minutes per caucus--

[An hon. member]

Yes.

[The Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

--and Ms. Brayton would have to leave then.

So what is your decision, please?

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

I think we're next in the rotation with our five minutes, so we'll take our five minutes and that should pretty much take us right to 4:30 anyway.

Madam Bateman is next.

[The Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

Is that agreeable with the other two caucuses? No?

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

No. There are two different rounds, so everybody gets seven minutes, then everybody gets five minutes.

[An hon. member]

Right, and we start for five--

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

So now we're at the five minutes, and you guys are the only ones who are going to get five.

[An hon. member]

Right--

[The Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

Excuse me.

Madam Fry.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

I just want to follow up on your suggestion. I think that when witnesses take a lot of time to come to visit with us—especially seeing that Ms. Brayton came and went on a train, taking up a lot of time—it would be really nice if we could accommodate our witness.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

We will be accommodating our witness.

Madam Chair, there are five minutes left in this round. It is another round that starts with this side of the table and we have five minutes left; it's seven, seven, seven, and seven, and then it starts with the five. It's our turn for the five. I don't even know why there's discussion.

[An hon. member]

There should be no discussion--