Status of Women Committee on April 28th, 2014

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

It could just be that I'm a little thick as well.

[Daniel Sansfaçon]

No, no.

As I said, we are essentially in a role of providing support to other government departments. We provide leadership. We provide tools. For example, this very day I am very pleased to announce that the revised online course that we have created to support departments implementing gender-based analysis has been relaunched. In fact, it has been very successful. This online course in the past year or so has been completed by almost 1,000 people: civil servants, academics, NGO representatives. It is a very successful tool to try to mainstream gender-based analysis.

Our role is to work with the departments to help them implement gender-based analysis as what it really is, which is a good solid approach to doing good policy, in whatever sector it is.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

When you talk about expanded partnerships, then, it's both within government and outside government.

By expanded partnerships, do you mean the depth of the partnerships or the number of them, or both?

[Daniel Sansfaçon]

You're right to say that it is both internal to the federal government, and external with stakeholders.

For example, with the provinces and territories, through the FPT ministers' round table, we will in fact have a discussion of this very issue. We will take stock of progress made using GBA in provincial and territorial governments this coming June, and with academics, taking stock of the latest knowledge in how to implement gender-based analysis in the mainstream. We similarly involve these external stakeholders, and within the federal family, we aim toward a more in-depth way with specific sectors, for example, as I mentioned earlier with the science and technology sector.

GBA is a tool for good public policy. In this regard, if we are able to mainstream GBA within these sectors that are so vital to Canada's economic prosperity, then presumably this will also lead to increasing women's economic security as well as contributing to Canada's overall economic prosperity.

That's also why we work with these clusters of departments, including in this case, as I just mentioned, science and technology. NRCan is one good example where we have certainly made progress in the past year.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much, Mr. Sansfaçon and Mr. Casey.

Ms. O'Neill Gordon now has the floor for five minutes.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thanks to all of you for being with us today.

I was certainly happy to hear that there is much support in each department across our government—support that is so beneficial for women right across Canada—and that every department considers this to be a major issue.

The minister recently announced that Status of Women Canada is providing $200,000 to Nishnawbe Aski Nation for a 24-month project to advance the economic security and prosperity of first nations women and girls. The project will develop community-driven and culturally relevant strategies to address barriers to economic opportunities for women in the community.

Could you give us some other examples of programs that fund culturally appropriate programming? Is this taken into account when funding is allocated?

[Linda Savoie]

In terms of culturally appropriate projects, we strive to make sure that any time a project is working with a specific population, whether aboriginal or inner-city young girls, or older rural women, that the material and the approach they develop is going to be appropriate, whether culturally or for whatever other adaptations need to be done.

I'm at a loss to be more specific than that because pretty much every one of our projects tries to do that. For instance, earlier the minister was speaking about the project that we're doing with the White Ribbon campaign in collaboration with the Argonauts. Well, there again, they are focusing on a very specific age bracket, young men, and finding the appropriate language, tone, and areas of interest to be relevant to this audience.

I have other projects that are working with very young aboriginal girls in a remote community, so again, the project is adapted for that very specific environment. Unfortunately, because we have some 300 projects that are going on at any given time, I would fail to give justice to the quality of what's being done if I tried to be specific. Every project strives to be culturally appropriate.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

I understand very well what you're saying and I realize that each one of these projects is so important to the community and is doing much to help our women and girls.

Do you have something you wanted to say, Daniel?

[Daniel Sansfaçon]

No.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

How much time do I have left?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

You have two minutes.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

The national day of remembrance is a day we all take a moment and commemorate those women who lost their lives as a result of gender-based violence. I would like to know what initiatives your department is taking to address the issue of gender-based violence, and if this helps to gain national attention for this issue.

[Linda Savoie]

Like most of the issues we tackle we tend to try to have more of a programmatic approach, a triple approach: programmatic, policy, and communications. For violence in particular we have levers that work in each of these areas. I'm not sure if there's something specific you'd be interested in, but of course we do fund projects. We issue press releases and send material to make sure there's awareness and sensitivity building with respect to issues, and we work with partners across the federal family to make sure they're also involved and participate where appropriate.

So we tend to have the same recipe, if you will, for the issue of violence as we do for economics and leadership.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you for the great job you're doing.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Sellah, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would like to go back to the issue of women's access to boards of directors.

According to the 2014-2015 Report on Plans and Priorities of Status of Women Canada, the organization is committed to increasing the representation of women in positions of responsibility and decision-making. One of the ways of promoting the presence of women on company boards of directors consists in supporting the leadership role of the minister, and cooperation with the private and public sectors, in compliance with the commitment made in Canada's 2012 Economic Action Plan.

Could you describe the consultation process which took place between Status of Women Canada and the private and public sectors? How was the advisory committee on this file created? Could you also describe the work done by the committee up till now?

[Daniel Sansfaçon]

The advisory committee created by the minister met twice and gave its opinion and advice to the minister. Currently I am not in a position to tell you in a more specific manner what action will be taken following those recommendations made by the advisory committee.

I can however tell you that the representation of women on boards, which is an extremely important matter, is one of the ways of contributing to the economic progress of women. It is a priority on several fronts. We are working on this with the provinces and territories, where this matter was also discussed in 2013 following the 2012 Economic Action Plan decision. Over the next few weeks I presume—it is not for me to say—that a certain number of details will be made public on the subsequent steps which will make it possible to increase the participation of women on boards of directors.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

I put that question to the minister, who replied that this famous report would be released in a few weeks, as well as the recommendations.

I thank you for your answer, but I wanted to know, rather, how that committee was created. I also wanted to know how the consultation process between the minister and the public and private sectors took place. You answered that question in part by saying that there were two meetings, but you have not yet replied to those two points. I would like more clarifications on that.

[Linda Savoie]

Regarding the advisory committee that was created, its purpose was to provide advice to the minister, and not the department. If you look at its members you will see that it is made up of Canadians who are well-informed and very competent regarding this issue. These people were chosen to advise the minister. So there are some things that are beyond our control and do not fall under our purview. However, the experience and expertise provided by these people around the table is outstanding. It is clear that they represent an interesting pool of competence and knowledge.

I do not know if the minister referred to this earlier, but aside from the advisory committee, the minister, as did her predecessor, also holds round tables and meets with a lot of people from outside of the department. That is a part of her consultation process to determine the needs, and also to provide material for discussions within her advisory committee.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Do I have any time left?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

You have time left for a very brief question and a very brief reply.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Actually, my question has been answered. I simply wanted to know how the advisory committee had been constituted. In fact, the minister chose the people who were to advise her concerning the recommendations and the work to be done. As for the rest, it is normal that she would consult people on the ground.

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Ambler now has the floor for five minutes.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much to our officials for being here today.

I'm wondering about the minister's travel outside Canada, and in particular how your department prepares the minister, as well as our parliamentary secretary, for trips into places where there are different cultural norms specifically related to gender.

Do you have the capacity and have you ever had the need to prepare them for different types of...? We're very lucky here in Canada, obviously, that travelling is just not an issue, but when they travel outside of Canada, do you sometimes have to make other arrangements? Do you help the minister and the parliamentary secretary with those arrangements? Can you tell us how you do it, if you have the capacity, and what kinds of things need to be done?

[Linda Savoie]

We are lucky that we can draw on the competencies of Foreign Affairs.

Any department, when its minister travels, tends to look to Foreign Affairs for that level of expertise, because they would have a depth of knowledge in terms of cultural background, gender-appropriate behaviours, etc. We do not claim to have that level of expertise within the Status of Women, but we do have the ability to tap into that knowledge if it becomes required.