Status of Women Committee on Nov. 20th, 2014

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

There are two datasets. Yes, I'm aware.

[Kathy AuCoin]

There's the GSS, which is a sample survey of victimization, self-reported; that's whether the incident was reported to the police or not. It's one data point which has been coming out every five years since 1999. The other one, on an annual basis, is through police records, where we get the volume of the victimization criminal offences that are reported and substantiated by the police. That's on an annual basis.

If you're looking for a specific item detailed to the victim characteristics, we are limited, based on the amount of data we've received from police services. For good 100% coverage, it's for the past five years. We can go back further, but we're not getting full coverage from Canada because not all police services were able to provide us with that level of detail.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Okay. So it's really the last five years.

[Kathy AuCoin]

If you want good coverage.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Could you table with the committee the questions that were asked under the long-form census and the questions that will be asked under the 2014 general social survey?

[Kathy AuCoin]

Sure.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Okay.

To go back to PHAC, Ms. Elmslie, does the health sector track violence data through, for example, the hospitals, or emergency, or ambulance? How is the health sector tracking these?

[Kimberly Elmslie]

Tracking data? We have a surveillance system that is called the “Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect”. We work with the social service organizations across the country, the child protection services, and the provinces and territories to collect data.

I'm just looking in my notes here very quickly—

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Is that just with respect to children? I'm looking for women and girls.

[Kimberly Elmslie]

We have that for children. For women and girls, there are data reported through Statistics Canada, I believe, the self-reported data from the Canada community health survey. It contains data—

[Kathy AuCoin]

Only child maltreatment.

[Kimberly Elmslie]

Only child maltreatment? I will check, because I think we get some data from Stats Canada that we use and may go more broadly, but it would be good for us to confirm that.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thanks.

If women or young women go to hospital, are we not tracking that data?

[Kimberly Elmslie]

If women go to hospital and they're seen in emergency departments, we are getting some of that data through our injury surveillance program, but through the Canadian Institute for Health Information, there are hospital-based data gathered through that program as well. I'll check for you on the extent of what information and how much is coming through CIHI on women and girls presenting to hospital.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

The time allowed will be five minutes now.

Mr. Barlow, you have the floor.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

I appreciate everyone's passion and knowledge. I hope I bring a different perspective to things today.

Ms. Elmslie, you mentioned how important it is to address men and boys in this issue as well. If you've grown up in a home of violence, you're more likely to be a perpetrator in the future.

I want to touch on something with Ms. Arnott. As many in this room know, Sheldon Kennedy and I have been friends for many years. I've had the opportunity to work with him through the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre in Calgary. What I found really interesting with that program is that it brings everybody together under one roof: mental health, social workers, and RCMP.

Can you talk a bit about the child advocacy centres? I don't know of other ones across Canada. I'm finding it interesting that this seems like a program that Justice is working on. Could you elaborate a little on that and on some of the work that's being done to raise awareness and to cut that chain in order to address these abused children at a young age so they don't continue that cycle?

[Pamela Arnott]

I'd be happy to. I could spend the rest of the day talking about child advocacy centres, because they really are a fabulous approach to helping children who have been victims of crime. The Sheldon Kennedy centre is an excellent example. I think we have 22 locations now across Canada that either have an operating child advocacy centre or are somewhere down the line towards opening a child advocacy centre.

As you said, they bring together multidisciplinary teams. They bring together the police—and in some locations there may be a specialized investigation unit—child protection services, forensic nurses, crown attorneys, mental health services, victim services, and any number of other community resources that may be available there. A number of the child advocacy centres, because of the demographics where they are located, include an aboriginal liaison or perspective in their work and may include a multicultural perspective in their work.

I'm in your hands. I can—

[John Barlow, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

The biggest thing I see with the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre in Calgary is the fact that—and you can ask Sheldon about this too—the children are not having to tell their stories more than once. As well, it's shining a light on an issue that as a society we'd like to ignore. Do you see that helping families to bring these issues forward, that they don't feel they're being shamed anymore? This really is an issue and they should be encouraged to come forward and there is help there.

[Pamela Arnott]

Absolutely. I would certainly encourage the committee to reach out to any of the child advocacy centres. You'll find folks there with a passion that will light up the room because, exactly as you say, they are gaining a supportive environment for children and their non-offending family members.

We've done a lot of work at Justice Canada to provide research about child advocacy centres, because before Justice Canada provided funding in 2010 there was no Canadian research about child advocacy centres. Justice Canada is leading the way in Canada on that research. We're finding, as you say, that crown counsels are more efficient in their decisions to lay charges or to proceed with cases. We find that parents are more satisfied with how they have to interact with the criminal justice system. Most importantly, we're finding that children say they are less scared, at that kind of entry level, about having to deal with this group of professionals.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Excellent.

Ms. Savoie, you talked a little bit about how we involve men and boys in this education issue. You talked about the Toronto Argonauts program. I understand the BC Lions have a similar program that's just become quite popular. What programs are out there to educate men and boys? My daughter was cyberbullied online when she was in high school. We addressed that, but what happens so the boy will learn a lesson from this as well? What programs are in place there?

[Linda Savoie]

We're lucky in Canada that this is an emerging field and it's a very innovative field, so there are a lot of people trying all kinds of things with various age groups. You can engage men and boys through those breakfasts with the boys that are popular out west. You have those programs that focus more on kids who are in sports or who have role models that are sports personalties like the BC Lions and the Argonauts. Respect in sport is also very much involved in those spheres. There is so much more to say.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you.

You'll have a chance to give other examples in other answers, I'm quite sure.

Mrs. Sellah now has the floor, for five minutes.

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

Thank you all, ladies, for being here to shed light for us on issues that generally affect women.

My two questions are for Linda Savoie.

How do you explain the high number of women affected by violence in Canada, a G-7 country?

Also, you know that Status of Women Canada has undergone changes in terms of the funding it receives. I am sure that you are also aware that the responses to the violence against women in Canada are largely fragmented, often inaccessible and may well serve as an obstacle, rather than an improvement, to the security of women.

In your view, how have the budget cuts to Status of Women Canada reduced access to legal resources for victims of violence?

[Linda Savoie]

First, let us address the first point you raised. In my opinion, the rate of violence against women in Canada is unacceptable. That said, if we compare ourselves to the other countries of the OECD, the rate is more or less the same, unfortunately. So this a problem that affects developed countries just as much as developing ones. It is certainly a global issue and solutions have to be found jointly. That is why we are constantly observing initiatives elsewhere, to see if there are lessons we can learn. Although the rates are unacceptable, they are unfortunately real. Canada sits right on the average.

Now let us turn to the changes made in 2007. As everyone knows, the organization has seen a lot of changes since 2007. Investment in communities has increased. In 2007, I think that we barely had $7 million to invest in communities. Today, that amount is $19 million.

I believe that some of our approaches have been particularly helpful. If I look at the calls for proposals that specifically target violence on college and university campuses, we really heard what was happening on the ground. Our call for proposals was launched before the media really became interested.

I believe that we now have a tool that is being very well used. Despite the changes in our structure, we have found effective ways to keep our ears to the ground and issue calls for proposals that will generate information. Our efforts are now very focused on sharing the knowledge that will come from the calls for proposals and from the projects we have been launching for four years.

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

Actually, I would like to ask you a question about campuses.

In the course of our study on issues affecting women, we heard from the president of an association at the University of Ottawa. I was very surprised to learn that there is violence on campus. That lady told us in so many words that she got no help at all. Beforehand, we were trying to find out what kind of help she was getting to deal with the problem.

Apart from listening to them and gathering information, what are you doing in concrete terms. What are your results to this point?