Evidence of meeting #24 for Status of Women in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Suzanne Clément  Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
Sébastien Goupil  Director General, Policy and External Relations, Status of Women Canada
Nanci-Jean Waugh  Director General, Communications and Public Affairs, Status of Women Canada
Linda Savoie  Director General, Women's Program and Regional Operations Directorate, Status of Women Canada

4:50 p.m.

NDP

The Chair NDP Irene Mathyssen

Thank you.

We now have seven minutes with Madame Sgro.

4:50 p.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

It is great to have you back again. Our apologies for all the things that interrupt. So far, we've been able to keep you here for a little bit of the time.

In the planning, I recognize your comments about the International Day of the Girl. What specifically are you planning to do for the celebrations of that day?

4:50 p.m.

Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada

Suzanne Clément

There are no specifics that have been identified at this point.

4:50 p.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

It's still early.

4:50 p.m.

Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada

Suzanne Clément

We're speaking to organizations. We want to make sure that we will speak to young girls, so we're doing some consultations. We're going to do some work with some experts to see what would be the best approach and have some discussions with our minister on the different possibilities.

4:50 p.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Given the fact that you're focusing on this as International Day of the Girl, and you're reaching out into some of our ethnic communities, where it's very much our young women who have some challenges, how would you reach out to them in a sense of being culturally sensitive but at the same time as letting them know what is acceptable and not acceptable?

We had a presentation from one of the organizations, in addition to the Y, the other day. They had prepared booklets and so on and so forth about what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable. In reviewing those booklets, clearly, certain communities would take real offence to some of those comments in there. Yet for us, it would just be a normal information booklet.

Are you trying to put some things together that show some of that sensitivity? We have to bring these communities along slowly sometimes. Unfortunately, our young girls often pay a price for the way some of these things are handled.

4:50 p.m.

Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada

Suzanne Clément

We would not be approaching girls in those communities directly. We would not pretend to have the expertise or the knowledge of the various cultures to understand those limitations and what would be culturally sensitive. That's why all of our work is done through NGOs. We have identified NGOs that are particularly close to specific communities and that are able to best understand their needs and to be culturally sensitive with their response.

For example, in aboriginal communities we're meeting the minister. We had a round table at the first nations and crown gathering with a number of women leaders to find out what they needed in their communities to improve the situation of girls. We agreed with them that we needed to work directly with them so that they can develop the best response.

So we would not pretend to have that expertise. We identify organizations and we try to attract organizations that do have an understanding and work with that population.

4:55 p.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

That was where I was going. Could you give me, for instance, some of the names of some of the agencies you partnered with in the past year? You've mentioned a few already. What are some of the other agencies you've partnered with in the last year?

4:55 p.m.

Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada

Suzanne Clément

Linda knows them better than I do.

4:55 p.m.

Linda Savoie Director General, Women's Program and Regional Operations Directorate, Status of Women Canada

Some are quite vocal about the work they do. We work with an Indo-Canadian group in Edmonton. We work with Bouclier d'Athéna in Montreal. Others, for reasons of continuing to be able to be effective in reaching out to these young girls, are not quite as open about the fact that they're working in this.

We tend to be cautious in advertising these groups so that the parents of these young girls do not prevent them from participating in activities. We have a large number of groups across the country that focus on these things, but we do it in a subtle and culturally appropriate manner.

Some of the groups are known to be doing this kind of work. For example, Bouclier d'Athéna has been addressing the issue of domestic violence in some 15 different languages in the region of Montreal. They're doing tremendous work. There are a number of groups like that, and they each adapt to the communities they are targeting.

4:55 p.m.

Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada

Suzanne Clément

I would say a lot of the groups that are more mainstream and are working.... For example, groups in schools, like METRAC in Toronto, ensure they have staff on their council who are representative of the different communities so they at least have input from individuals who come from the communities.

4:55 p.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Okay, that's fine.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I'm looking at the clock, and I know we wanted to get some work done on our report, so that's fine.

4:55 p.m.

NDP

The Chair NDP Irene Mathyssen

All right. Thank you very much.

I want to thank the officials, Monsieur Goupil, Madame Clément, Madame Waugh, and Madame Savoie. We appreciate your being here, and we recognize the difficulty.

I'm going to suspend. We'll take about two minutes, and then we'll move in camera to continue our study on the abuse of older women.

[Proceedings continue in camera]