Status of Women Committee on March 19th, 2013

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

I am going to have to interrupt you—

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Edmonton—Spruce Grove, AB]

—is focused on violence against and women and on family violence, too. If we can't help them, perhaps another department can help them. So we're doing our best to facilitate support for organizations.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Ms. Ambrose, I am going to have to interrupt you. Thank you for your answers.

We now move to Ms. James, for five minutes.

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister and officials, for being here.

I know that in the first round of questioning, Minister Ambrose, you spoke extensively about the commitment to engage men and boys in the fight to end violence against women. While you were saying that, I was thinking about a member's statement that was read into the Alberta legislature on March 14 of this year by Donna Kennedy-Glans, MLA for Calgary-Varsity. She was a member of Canada's United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and she was speaking about the importance of engaging men and boys in leadership, a position that you have taken, Minister, in this particular area.

I brought it with me, and I'd like to read it in, because a lot of what she says, I think, is really important. I'm just going to read it. Again this is not my personal statement. I'm reading another statement:

Last week I attended the 57th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women with my colleague from Barrhead—Morinville—Westlock. Our Canadian delegation was very capably led by federal Minister Rona Ambrose. The goal of this session was to identify ways to eliminate and prevent violence against women and girls.

As a mother of three sons it was particularly reassuring to me that the vast majority of the participants at this UN session recognized the need to engage men and boys in preventing violence against women and girls. In fact, this strategic imperative was concretely advanced by the Canadian delegation.

It’s heartening...to know that this approach is already being applied here in Alberta. [Here are just few examples.]

The Calgary YWCA hosts the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes campaign, inviting men to walk in high heels to raise awareness of men’s roles in combating violence against women. The Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters hosts Breakfast with the [Boys] events to bring male leaders together to inform and inspire action to help end domestic violence.

I’m [very] excited about an initiative launched by the B.C. Lions football team, [which] I’m hoping...will be adopted by the Calgary Stampeders and the Edmonton Eskimos. Football meets feminism when high-profile athletes

—I heard a giggle—

stand alongside women as allies.

I think that's really true, though.

Wally Buono, former coach of the Calgary Stampeders and [new] coach of the B.C. Lions, even steps up to share his own story of growing up in a home with domestic violence.

This is not part of the statement, but the next two points I really want to stress because they really drive home the need to engage men and boys.

These initiatives have the potential to be gamechangers. Too often we see gender equality as a women’s movement, dependent on male support and encouragement, yet it isn’t enough for my father, my husband, and now my sons to stand along the sidelines and root for me. They need to get in this game and participate.

I thought that was fitting, and I wanted to read it into the record today. I think the last two points this person made were very fitting as to why we need to bring men and boys into the equation now. So thank you for the good work we're doing in that area.

I wanted to touch very briefly on another point. You mentioned Bill S-2 in one of the first questions. You didn't refer to the bill by name, but you were talking about matrimonial property rights on reserves. I'm just wondering whether you could speak a moment on how important this bill is, how we currently have a legislative gap here in Canada that does not protect women on reserves, and how, in terms of marital breakdown, the fact that there is such inequality right now plays a large part in domestic violence in those particular areas. I'm wondering if you could touch a little bit more on that particular issue.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Edmonton—Spruce Grove, AB]

Bill S-2 is our latest attempt in the House of Commons to close the gap that exists, which the Supreme Court identified over 25 years ago. It's a rights gap in that aboriginal women living on reserve do not have the same rights to matrimonial property that women in the rest of Canada have. I think this is the fourth legislative attempt to pass this bill, so I do urge all of the members from all parties on the committee to think about that. It's been over a quarter of a century since the Supreme Court ruled that women living on reserve are without access to the legal rights they deserve.

This particular bill, Bill S-2, which you're familiar with, will give women those rights to matrimonial property, and—I think most importantly—it will allow a judge to enforce emergency protection orders and remove a violent partner from the home. At this point, we don't have that protection for aboriginal women on reserve. I think that's a really important part of this, because it addresses the issue of violence against aboriginal women and girls living on reserve. So I do urge all members of the House to support this. Of course, the consultations on this have been very thorough and lengthy. They've taken place over 25 years. This is the fourth legislative attempt. If there are discussions to be had among parties, let's have them, but by all means let's expedite this bill through the House.

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you very much for your comments.

Do I have any time left?

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

I am sorry, but your time is up.

We now move to Isabelle Morin, for five minutes.

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much for joining us, Madam Minister.

I am going to continue with the same subject, because violence against indigenous women is a concern of mine.

We are soon going to begin work the work of our special committee on missing and murdered indigenous women. Unfortunately, I am not sure of the extent to which the special committee will be able to find justice for those missing women and bring peace of mind back to their families. The work we on the committee will be doing is very important.

Status of Women Canada really has the ability to conduct gender analysis. How will the department use its skill and expertise to advise the special committee on missing and murdered indigenous women? Are you going to participate in it, how will you do that, and what will your contribution to the committee be?

Thank you.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Edmonton—Spruce Grove, AB]

Well, I've already made my views known to the whips of each party who are dealing with this special committee. My view is that this is a good opportunity for all of the parties and for women's organizations that are working on this issue to put forward a substantive exercise and a substantive process, and I support that wholeheartedly.

I look forward to the special committee. I will work with my colleagues as much as I can. I know this is led by Justice Canada. This is about the investigation in particular, the investigative techniques or allegations about challenges in the judicial system that aboriginal women and girls have faced and that communities have faced. But we will be there to support the committee in any way that we can.

I don't know who is going to be sitting on the committee, but I hope all of you from the different parties make a point that it is especially important to have the expertise from this committee. You already did a study on this issue not that long ago, on the issue of violence against aboriginal women and girls. I hope that all that information is available to the special parliamentary committee and that some of the members of this committee are asked to sit on that committee or participate in whatever the undertakings are of that committee. It's very important.

There has been a lot of work done. There's been $25 million allocated to the missing and murdered aboriginal women strategy. There's been a new centre created by the RCMP for missing persons, and a new national database that's accessible for all levels of police, whether municipal, provincial or federal police organizations. There's even a public tips website. If you know of someone who's missing, you can put a piece of jewellery on it so that people could maybe identify it.

There are so many things happening across the country to deal with this issue. There's the inquiry in British Columbia led by Mr. Oppal. We have forwarded that information on to the United Nations that's looking at this issue. There's a lot of collaboration between the provinces and the federal government. There's so much work that has gone on and a lot of goodwill, but there's still an opportunity—

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

I am going to interrupt you here because I do not have a lot of time.

I wanted to know how you are going to participate in it, but my colleague Ms. Hughes will continue. She has other questions for you.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Thank you very much.

I'm going to ask you a variety of questions, and what you don't have a chance to answer, could you please forward your responses in writing?

In 2008, Status of Women Canada was working on a gender equality indicator project and I'm wondering if you can update the committee on the progress of this report.

The other question I have is with respect to some of the comments you made with respect to MRP about thorough consultations. Could you table the report of all the thorough consultations? I can tell you that I have first nations that have said they have not been consulted at all, and their concern is with respect to the fact that you are impeding...in their jurisdiction to decide what they're going to do with their own land.

The other thing is with respect to—

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Ms. Hughes, you have 30 seconds left.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

—the transfer for Justice. I'm wondering where that funding envelope was, what that money was actually allocated for, and whether it's going to affect a program that was set for something else. What was cut in the Justice file, if anything?

The other one is that you made a comment with respect to proposals for projects that encourage girls. I'm wondering if you can tell me how many came in, how many were approved, how much is being invested in these programs, and where these projects are actually taking place.

Thank you.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Edmonton—Spruce Grove, AB]

Well—

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Excuse me, Ms. Ambrose, but Ms. Hughes' time is up.

However, you can answer questions in writing. The clerk will be in touch with you about that.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Edmonton—Spruce Grove, AB]

Absolutely, we can answer all of those.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

It is also possible that the officials may be able to reply during our second hour.

We have three minutes left.

So you have three minutes, Ms. Ambler.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Thank you, Minister, for being here today.

I'd like to talk to you as the mother of a daughter who just turned 18 last week. I want to thank you for championing the issue of violence prevention on university and college campuses. My daughter will be going to university this fall and I've read all the horror stories about what can happen to young girls on university and college campuses.

Mainly in these stories we hear that women between the ages of 15 and 34 are at the most risk of experiencing violence. In particular, university and college women are more likely to have the other risk factors of violence, such as being out of their house in the evenings most nights, or being exposed to alcohol.

That's why I agree it's very important to address the risk factors where they occur and to partner with universities and colleges to prevent violence against women on campus.

I was wondering if you could speak to the calls for proposals for women engaging young people to prevent violence against women on post-secondary campuses and provide some examples of the types of projects that are being funded in this area.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Edmonton—Spruce Grove, AB]

We are seeing the incidence of sexual assault rise on university and college campuses and CEGEPs across the country. There are a lot of women's organizations that are active on campuses, but for some reason it's not enough. It doesn't seem to be working, so we thought we'd target student-led organizations, ask the young people what they think would work, so that's what's different about this call for proposals. We wanted student-led organizations to be a part of it.

Of course they don't have the capacity, so they partnered with....For instance, in Edmonton, they partnered with the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton or they may have partnered with the Y in certain places, but the whole point is they may not have the capacity to deliver the service, but they had some really good ideas. There were some really interesting things that came out of that.

In total we funded 21 different organizations. It was a national approach to carry out these projects. They tackle a wide range of issues. There are harassment issues, but more often than not it's about sexual assault and things like safety plans on campus. There are still places where there aren't safe walk programs, where young women are walking back from their classrooms late at night, or there's no transportation on campus, so they have to walk quite far to get to a bus and they're alone. So even community safety plans on campus to create a safe walk program are needed. Other universities and campuses seem to be more advanced, so they were looking at more sophisticated approaches to getting the message out regarding the resources they have available.

In Port Alberni, British Columbia, the Alberni Community and Women's Services Society is working with the North Island College on a really great project that affects women in that area. As I mentioned before, in Edmonton, the sexual assault centre is engaging male students in a couple of the campuses to work on anti-violence against women on the university campuses.

Here in Ottawa, were working with the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women to engage students at the University of Ottawa, Carleton, La Cité collégiale, and Algonquin College to end violence against women.

In Montreal, Quebec we're funding a YWCA project that engages francophone students from three different CEGEPs in ending violence against women on their campuses.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Do any of these have a date rape prevention component?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Edmonton—Spruce Grove, AB]

I would imagine so. Obviously, there are a number of different approaches at different universities, but I'm sure that's a huge issue on campuses. They're looking at a broad range of issues.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Thank you.

That ends our one-hour meeting with the minister.

Thank you once again for coming to meet the members of our committee.

I am now going to suspend the meeting for a few minutes to allow our next guests take their places.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

We now continue our meeting.

We welcome Linda Savoie, Director General, Women's Program and Regional Operations Directorate and Sébastien Goupil, Director General, Policy and External Relations.

We will just continue the round we started earlier with Ms. Tremblay and Ms. Clément.

Ms. Young, you have seven minutes.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

Hello, and thank you so much for coming today. It was very interesting to hear from the minister today, not just on the breadth and scope of the programming that's happening in Canada but also on the initiatives and the leadership that we've undertaken in the United Nations as well, to have an impact globally and internationally with other countries. I know that, for example, it was Canada and the minister and yourselves, of course, working very hard to launch the International Day of the Girl. I want to commend you on that great work and the fact that it was obviously a huge success.

Now turning more to the department, because of your role here, I wanted to ask about this new website that was alluded to this morning, because some of us have not had a chance to look at this website. Can you tell us about the reason behind it, what happened, and what you think the reach is going to be for this, which is obviously not just Canada but international, and again where Canada can be a leader in this whole area?

I want to spend a couple of minutes on that, and then I want to talk about the transfer of funds in the main estimates.