Good afternoon. thank you for having us here today to talk about this topic, which is really close to our hearts. I am Siham Chakrouni, provincial coordinator of the Ontario Movement for Francophone Immigrant Women (MOFIF).
Let me talk a little about MOFIF. It was officially founded on March 31, 2001, but it traces its origins to a 1996 meeting headed by the Table féministe francophone de concertation provinciale de l'Ontario. The meeting discussed the major issues surrounding the sponsorship of immigrant women.
At the beginning of this century, MOFIF continued to mobilize in order to work on specific matters of concern to the community of francophone women in Ontario with decision-making and community bodies. In 2004, MOFIF published a study on the impact of armed conflict on the integration of immigrant and refugee women in Ontario. It also developed an awareness and education package intended for those working with immigrant women.
In the years thereafter, MOFIF entered into more and more partnerships with community organizations, particularly those that advocate for women. For several years, MOFIF has also been investing in a popular education program in order to update its mission and to encourage the active participation of immigrant women in all spheres of society.
MOFIF is at the intersection of school and community life. The organization is unique to Ontario; its programs are tailored to and based on our knowledge of our environment. The women who work at MOFIF are immigrants themselves and are well aware of the challenges women face. Our offices are located in Toronto, but we have partnerships all over Ontario, such as in Ottawa, Windsor, Sudbury, London and elsewhere. Our staff, our members and our volunteers work on the ground and are ideally placed to know the concerns and the needs of women and girls.
We work together with organizations that provide direct services, such as the Oasis centre des femmes, the Centre ontarien de prévention des agressions, and Action ontarienne contre la violence faite aux femmes, as well as other partners and organizations. We organize workshops, we undertake studies to meet the needs of women and girls and, above all, to foster their economic development both directly and indirectly.
In the first years of its existence, MOFIF focused on women's welfare. For some years, we have turned our attention to the needs or challenges faced by girls because of the growing demand. After a community consultation and with the Trillium Foundation's financial support for MOFIF's strategic planning for 2011-2014, MOFIF has dedicated an entirely separate section of its mandate to girls.
Today, MOFIF's mandate is to work with the aim of improving the life conditions of francophone immigrant women and girls and to encourage their integration and active participation in all aspects of society.
Let me share with you some facts and figures. They come from a document called “Girls in Canada Today: National Opinion Poll and Report on the Status of Girls”. The poll was conducted in 2011 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. The Girls Action Foundation made the report public in order to raise awareness of the struggles still facing girls today and to empower more Canadians to make a difference for the next generation.
So here are the facts and figures. In terms of leadership, men outnumber women four to one among Canada's elected representatives. Only 4% of CEOs in Canada's top 500 companies are women. Two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women. Young immigrant females are more likely to be unemployed than their older or Canadian-born counterparts.
In 2001, 14.9% of foreign-born female labour force participants aged 15 to 24 were unemployed. The experiences of young immigrant women vary, but can include culture shock, peer pressure, a lack of resources focusing on their needs, conflicts with their cultural background, discrimination, underemployment and racism.
Our project “Viser haut” received funding from Status of Women Canada. The aim of the project is to encourage women to get involved in decision-making positions such as boards of directors. The project was a real success. Women were given tools, through a comprehensive two-day training session on governance, including pre-training orientation and post-training placement.
We held a conference-debate day on March 31, 2012. We invited all the women who had participated in the projects. We heard their testimony and we had discussions afterwards. The women were grateful for being able to start getting involved in school boards and, for example, in organizations such as MOFIF. In fact, some of the women who took our training have already joined boards of directors.
I am going to name some of the projects MOFIF has done. In 2004, we did a project called “The impact of armed conflict on the integration of francophone immigrant women”. In 2008, a research action project was carried out, called “The analysis of francophone immigrant and refugee women living in Ontario away from their children”. There was also another research action project on adapting French-language services to combat domestic violence against women, members of francophone ethnocultural and racial minorities. The next project was called “Young francophone immigrant and refugee women in action” and the last one was on understanding the causes of domestic violence in ethnocultural and racial minority communities and some of the ensuing legal consequences.
Thank you for your attention.