Status of Women Committee on April 4th, 2012

[Paige Isaac]

Sure. I guess I would maybe say supporting pipeline projects. So connecting with aboriginal people while they're young and keeping that connection as they follow their path to getting their job. I think mentoring is a really big one, and I keep hearing it. Also, there are internships. Creating interesting internships and really trying to integrate aboriginal people into the marketplace would be interesting. I've heard from a few students that internships really helped to empower them.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

Is it because they gain skills and experience during their internship, as well as having the ability to gain networks and contacts through their internship, so that they can then apply those or use them as supports to move on?

[Paige Isaac]

Exactly, and I think it also maybe demystifies the scariness of getting into the workplace. I think it just offers a really good introduction. It's exactly that, putting it on their resumé, gaining experience to go ahead and do something different.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

If I may ask the two of you.... I believe I have a bit more time, Chair?

[The Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

A minute and a half.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

Do you think there are any differences between rural and urban girls? Do you think that city girls have different challenges from rural girls, etc., and what might those be? Would you like to just throw something out there on that?

[Jocelyne Wasacase-Merasty]

I definitely see that career-wise the opportunities.... That's where a lot of our skill development and our leadership skills come from, being in the career path that allows for this. But when you're in an urban setting, especially in a first nations setting, those kinds of resources are limited. So I see there's a huge difference, a huge job barrier that we have to consider when we're thinking of rural and urban.

[Paige Isaac]

Maybe it's generalized, but my first idea would also be identity and connections to culture. Perhaps more urban aboriginal people are just integrated into mainstream society and have those opportunities at hand, and have easier access to them, than aboriginal youth coming from on reserve. They might be a lot more connected with their community, they might want to stay in the community, where the same opportunities might not exist. I think that would be my first idea.

[The Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

Now it's over to Madam Boutin-Sweet for seven minutes, please.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Ladies, thank you very much for joining us.

I will ask my questions in French.

Ms. Wasacase-Merasty, your website talks about effective, independent governance. You also talked a lot about cultural identity and self-determination.

However, all too often, the proposed solutions come from outside your communities. What would you recommend in terms of the report we will produce on the economic prospects of aboriginal women? Do you have any specific recommendations that would encourage aboriginal women's self-determination?

[Jocelyne Wasacase-Merasty]

I think what happens when we're in the communities is that there's a bit of an eye-opener that happens in those communities when we start talking about inherent rights. Basically, what we say to them is, this is about you and it's about you putting your voice back into how you want to see your community governed. I always tell the people in the community that what's missing from that whole process is their voice. Too often we're looking at our chief and councils to make these decisions, make these changes, and going back into the history, there are a lot of things that have displaced our traditional systems.

So when we start talking about building something from the grassroots, from the ground up, one of the very first aspects that comes into play, where we start having a lot of heavy discussions, is our culture, our traditions, our language, and our history. That really shapes the outcome of the way that they're going to design their governance structure. So it's an important discussion to have.

But when we start having those discussions, we always talk about how, traditionally, there was a role that women played in that. One of the things that they say here in the Prairies is that we were the lawmakers, the men were in charge of upholding those laws, but we were the ones who made the laws. Where is that process now in today's society when a lot of the laws that we are given, our polices, have been given through different legislative acts? So if we're going to start building that from the ground up, then we have to start having those discussions.

I think there's a third point there that I'm missing. I just got kind of lost in that.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Do you have any specific recommendations for the committee's report, with regard to self-determination?

[Jocelyne Wasacase-Merasty]

I think we really have to start focusing on increasing that voice of the aboriginal woman. We have to really start empowering her to participate. There's a lot of fear in our first nations communities, because a lot of backlash has happened to women. When they take steps to try to become part of this bigger process, to be part of the decision-making or even stepping up into election platforms, sometimes they have negative backlash. There's a lot of fear from our women just to find their voices, just to start participating in what we need to start recreating.

That's why I believe talking about colonization and its effects on our people, on our women, is a good starting point. We really need to understand how that plays out, how it looks today, and how it surfaces. Then we can start dealing with some of those issues. It's just creating that self-awareness of the things we do that we're trying to move away from.

So that's one recommendation. I always believe in the input of the community. I always believe that we have these issues and we'll talk about these issues, but a lot of the solutions need to come from the women themselves. They need to identify some of the strategies. They need to be engaged at the earliest possible steps.

That's my recommendation: start having that dialogue and see what happens.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Thank you.

I have another very quick question for you, and I ask that you keep your answer very brief.

I assume you are familiar with native friendship centres. Today, I learned that cuts have been made to the Montreal centre's federal funding. Do you think that will affect the economic future of young women?

Were those centres helping young women?

[Jocelyne Wasacase-Merasty]

You know, from what I understand, the centres have a stronger role when you go out east. When you come out to the Prairies, our friendship centres play not so big a role in that.

So it would be hard for me to really give that a just answer, because I don't have enough information, based on my own knowledge, but I think it's—

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Freeman will use the rest of my time.

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

Thank you.

Thanks to both our witnesses for being here, for taking the time to speak with us today.

My questions are for Ms. Isaac.

Aboriginal peoples in Canada are the fastest-growing population, comprising about 13%. Do you know the average percentage of McGill students who are first nations, Métis, Inuit, etc.?

[Paige Isaac]

It's very small. We have about 120 self-identified aboriginal students among 3,200 students across undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education. It's very small.

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

That's too bad.

I mean, it's great; really I love McGill—I went to McGill—and I know you guys do good work.

I'm actually just going to take a side note here and go and correct something that Ms. Bateman had said earlier, which was that the gender gap is getting smaller in Canada. Actually, the OECD shows us that it's been getting larger since 2006.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

And I appreciate, Madam Chair, with your permission, my colleague's correction—

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

I actually don't want you to take any of my time.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

—but it's not wrong. I was not—

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

No, I'm sorry, you're taking my time.

[The Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

Order.

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

I just wanted to correct that on the record.