Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here with you today.
I would first like to describe what Com'Femme is. It is a not-for-profit organization made up of a group of women. It is based in the Montérégie region of Quebec, with its main offices located in Brossard. It is a generalist organization that welcomes women of 18 years of age and older, whatever their situation in life. The matters we discuss can just as easily be about citizen involvement as about sexual assault, criminalization or breast-feeding. It really does not matter because we consider all areas of women's lives. We try to make sure that something is going on at every precious moment we spend at our Com'Femme day centre.
Montérégie is a large area. We have a number of partners with backgrounds in community and women's issues. So people often look to us in matters of governance, parity and equality. As I prepared for this morning's session, I tried to determine what seemed pertinent to tell you and what the major issues in our region are. Montérégie has an urban aspect and a rural aspect. For Com'Femme, dealing with women living in both those environments is a major challenge. How can we talk about equity, parity and prosperity when the issues facing the region are so significant?
I am also part of the Réseau québécois d'action pour la santé des femmes. Through proposed legislation, Quebec is currently in the process of reforming its health and social services. This often brings up quite specific questions in terms of women's health. As we know, every woman is someone's daughter, mother, grandmother or wife at the same time. They are natural caregivers, and are also to be found in the workforce and in governance. Women really are everywhere.
What does the health network mean for a woman? If we consider how she is involved, either for herself or for others, we understand how complicated it is to talk about prosperity. It is really important to study the issues of equity. I thought about everything happening in the area, according to the latest research, at least. Two young researchers conducted a study called "Pauvreté et précarité: Une approche inspirée de l'intersectionnalité" [Poor and precarious: an intersectionality approach]. This dealt with recognizing everyone across the board, men and women alike, in all the phases and all the situations of their lives, with all the social determinants imaginable.
The study says that women are getting poorer. Who are the poorest of the poor? They are elderly women who, in many cases, have immigrated to Canada. They are most impoverished, the most disadvantaged, the most isolated. In our area, we have quite a major immigration issue. I should point out that the study is available if you want to consult it. It talks specifically about women who arrive in Canada, are overqualified compared to us and who, despite that, find themselves in a state of isolation. They lack the means to become integrated.
We throw open our doors to them and we try to work with them so that they can make a place for themselves in our society and achieve prosperity here. We are always working in mixed contexts, including Canadian women, of course. That means that buddy systems and sponsorships are possible. With the few resources we have, we try to develop a sense of ownership and belonging.
Women make up 51% of the population.
I still ask myself the question that we all ask ourselves: why are we so under-represented in economic and governance structures? Certainly not because we do not want to be. I am here this morning and a lot of other women around the table are here to say that we have a place. Why can we not take that place?
I will leave you with that question. I am looking forward to hearing from the other witnesses.
Thank you.