Evidence of meeting #64 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 projects.
A video is available from Parliament.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
Just to clarify, we don't put in projects. We respond to projects that are submitted by organizations.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Of course, but you approve projects. You decide which criteria you are going to accept. My understanding is that there is now a focus on not just the sheltering piece but building up leadership programs and responding to economic development programs.
Can you speak to that a little bit, Madame Clément?
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
Leadership is one of the three priorities for Status of Women. We look at leadership in different contexts.
Your needs in the area of leadership are dependent on your starting point. For young girls, for example, leadership was one of the two focuses in the girls' call we had issued. Some of the initiatives for girls could be as basic as girls being aware of the opportunities that are open to them and having mentorship kinds of relationships, for example, with political mentors within their communities, having access to mock parliaments, those kinds of initiatives.
Leadership initiatives for a first nations community could include, for example, providing information to women on how they can access resources within their community to make a difference. There are so many.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
You have touched on leadership, and I appreciate that.
What about the economic development piece?
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
Economic security? Again, the projects are very different. They are just as different as there are differences in women and girls in Canada.
Economic security for one individual may be financial literacy. For another individual, it may be targeting non-traditional kinds of employment.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
These aren't individual people making.... You're saying “for one individual”.
Do you have a financial literacy program? Have you actually responded in your call for proposals on the literacy piece?
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
There are groups that offer that as part of their response. We don't go out and do financial literacy.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
No. But when they come to you and say they would like to help women who are currently at shelter X with developing financial literacy skills, how do you assess that? Do you help that?
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
What they do is provide us with an analysis of the community needs. They tell us what the community issues are.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
The community being the women at the specific shelter.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
The women they are wanting to assist. Usually they have a defined population they want to target. Then, they will outline the response, how they believe they can address those needs, and that response could be financial literacy.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Have you done one like that? Have you actually supported projects like that?
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
I'm sure. I can't think of exactly the names of the projects.
They do basic life skills in some of the projects, depending on the situation of the population they are dealing with.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
We're all agreed that it's critical information. I'm curious if you have given people that kind of assistance through the leadership piece. It is a priority.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
Are you talking about a specific project?
Director General, Women's Program and Regional Operations Directorate, Status of Women Canada
I don't have a specific project I would refer to, but we always try to—
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
I'm actually very interested in specifics. For example, when you evaluate the projects that come in....
By the way I so commend what you're doing with making it more accessible to everyone with the website, opening things up, moving to electronic access so it doesn't matter where you live. You don't have to be in the heart of Ottawa to get help.
NDP
The Chair NDP Marie-Claude Morin
Ms. Bateman, I will have to stop you there, because your time is up.
Perhaps you could send us an answer in writing. Would that be possible?
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Madam Chair, perhaps what we need is a list of good examples of similar projects from across Canada.
NDP
The Chair NDP Marie-Claude Morin
The clerk will get in touch with you to follow up on that.
We will now go to Ms. Ashton. That will be the last set of questions, since we then have to proceed with the votes.
Ms. Ashton, you have five minutes.
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
Hello.
I'd like to continue on a point that my colleague referenced with respect to the funding of the Centre d'expertise Marie-Vincent in Montreal. Have any similar projects been funded to support aboriginal service providers outside Quebec?
Director General, Women's Program and Regional Operations Directorate, Status of Women Canada
I'd have to get back to you on that. I'm doing a review of our aboriginal-specific projects.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
Sure. If you could get back to us with both the reference to the programs and how much funding they received, that would be very helpful.
I want to go back to the issue of Status of Women's involvement in missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada. Was Status of Women the funder of Sisters in Spirit?
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
Yes, it was a five-year agreement for $5 million.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
It was an excellent program that unfortunately the government chose not to renew. But I think it also indicates an involvement on behalf of Status of Women in this very critical file that women in Canada grapple with, particularly indigenous women.
Madam Clément, you were very quick to note that this is an issue for Justice and an issue of policing, something that I would disagree with most vehemently as somebody who's very involved with this file as well. I'm concerned with that statement coming from Status of Women, particularly given the work that you've been involved in by directly funding programs that attempt to find a solution and put an end to the violence.
I wonder if you have any thoughts to share on that.