Status of Women Committee on Nov. 18th, 2014

[Fariba Pacheleh]

I just want to add to what Jill mentioned. I think there are two things in here: awareness and knowledge of what it means to have some money that can help you to go to the next step. Again, that comes with sponsorship, and I will go one level above, mentorship. A lot of people are lucky enough to have, for instance, a father who is a businessman, or someone in the family who does that. My father was not a businessman so I never learned anything about business until I came to Canada and started to learn by myself. For many of us, if you don't have a mentor or someone who will sponsor you and help you to build those financial skills, you don't know about it. So some training and mentorship in that area would be very helpful.

To answer your other question about marketing and integrating yourself into the economy, basically it is definitely the sponsorship, and mentorship is only one component of it. The other part of it is a continuing and sustained caring for that person to get to a level that they deserve and where they are capable of delivering real value to business and the economy.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Duncan, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

If I could go back to Ms. Pacheleh, please, are there cities, provinces, in Canada, or countries around the world that you really feel are making great strides in implementing programs that tackle SCWIST issues?

[Fariba Pacheleh]

Thank you, Ms. Duncan.

Yes, in my opening statement I mentioned that in Europe, Germany has done that. There is also some work done in the U.S., and it was brilliant. The Honourable Kim Campbell brought it up as one of the examples of what we can do. There are a lot of studies there that we can start using. If you're interested, I can find more information and send the link about what they do in Europe. They are more successful than Canadians in that area. I can forward it to you after this meeting and take it from there.

But there are a lot of things, and we can use those examples and build our own stories here in Canada. We have a lot of very diverse and intelligent people, women and men, who can help.

The point I want to reiterate here is that we really need the support of men. Without that, we cannot achieve what we want to achieve.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thanks, Ms. Pacheleh. If you could table what Europe is doing and what the U.S. is doing so that it could be included in the report, we'd be very grateful. Thank you.

Now I'll turn to Ms. McLachlan. You spoke of a national housing strategy, and thank you for raising that. What specific elements would you like to see in such a strategy?

[Harriett McLachlan]

Some of the specific elements would be establishing goals that are measurable with timelines. We can do the round table discussions around the country and see the differences between rural and urban areas, see the different population sectors and stuff, and those are critical to have. But I find that, through the programs and projects developed, there is a lack of measurable timelines and good action plans so that they can be achievable, so that they can be reviewed, so that there is a body that can examine those things to see how we are doing and where the gaps are, and to plan in a way that intervention is done comprehensively so that all levels come together, all levels of government, all areas of civil society, indigenous groups, faith-based groups, and whatever. It needs to be something that's comprehensive.

These are critical. For me to say one community over here needs this or that, this is the work of many different levels of government and parts of civil society working together to establish those things.

I think what's really important is that they follow some of the human rights legislation that is already there.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

The last thing I'll ask you, Ms. McLachlan, is whether there is anything you haven't said today that you would like to say to the committee.

[Harriett McLachlan]

Is there anything I haven't said today that I'd say to the committee?

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Anything you haven't had the opportunity to share.

[Harriett McLachlan]

I would say that there is a great lack of support in community organizations that can work hand in hand with entrepreneurs. You talk about saving money. Poor women cannot save money. We have to be realistic about some of these things.

What I'd like to see is some leadership from the federal government to start round table discussions with various levels of government and civil society so that we can put something forward.

There is an anti-poverty plan in the housing strategy, which has had a process of two years of development, that we're soon going to publish and make available. It's two years of work and consultation. I can't answer something today, but what I'd like to see is leadership from the federal level around these issues. We live in a wealthy country, and this is critical. Otherwise we can't embark on these great entrepreneurial programs. We're going to be stuck with poor housing and bad situations. These are basic needs.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Ms. McLachlan.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

My thanks to all our witnesses. We have to end our meeting because we will soon hear the bells telling us to go and vote.

Ms. Pacheleh, if there is any information you would like to add, you can always send it to the clerk. Then we will be able to share it with all the members of the committee. If there is anything else that you would like to have told us to further enrich our study, we would greatly appreciate your doing so.

I would like to have all committee members' attention because I have some information to pass on to you.

This was our last meeting on the economic leadership and prosperity of Canadian women. Our analyst will prepare a summary of the testimony for us and a list of recommendations made by the various witnesses. That will be the first stage. It will help us in drafting our report.

Our next meeting will be held next Thursday, November 20, at the same time, but in room 268. We will try to get the heating turned up because it looks like winter has arrived. We will be studying the prevention of violence against women and we will be hearing from four organizations on that subject.

I would like you to note that the supplementary estimates were sent to the committee on November 5. Information about that has been sent to you by email. For your information, the deadline for reporting to the House is December 5.

Thanks again to our witnesses for appearing before the committee.

The meeting is adjourned.