Status of Women Committee on Nov. 25th, 2014

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

But we don't track how many are coming forward.

[Justine Akman]

How many are coming forward with specific cases of violence? No. We have excellent descriptions of the programming that's made available through the non-government organizations funded through CIC, many of which are focused on violence against women. We have plenty of best practices in that area, but not the numbers. We wouldn't track that sort of thing. There might be privacy issues there as well.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

You talked about CIC. There's a process to allow newly sponsored spouses and partners to come forward without having their status affected, and that's really important. How are you getting that information out to the communities? You talked about a brochure. How many languages is the brochure published in?

[Justine Akman]

A brochure right now for sponsored spouses is available in French and English, but settlement services are available in other languages as well. “Welcome to Canada” is in two languages, but the other brochure focused on the exemption for conditional permanent residence is in eight languages.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

What are those eight languages?

[Justine Akman]

I don't have the full list with me, but I'll try to get that. Oh, it's right here. Okay, I'm sorry; my colleague pre-empted that question.

It's in English, French, Spanish, Tagalog, Hindi, traditional Chinese, Mandarin, and Urdu.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

I think there are some gaps there. I know the communities I serve; that's not going to reach all of them.

I'll turn to Ms. Israel, please. You said five new shelters were built in 2007, but the funding has stayed stable. I guess my concern is that we have 1,200 missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls, and the fact that five new shelters needed to be built would suggest there's a need. How have we managed to keep the funding stable?

[Marla Israel]

We keep the funding stable in terms of operational funding. This is operational funds that go towards the maintenance costs of the shelters themselves. As I indicated, there has been $500,000 allocated on a yearly basis to address any cost of living increases to those shelters. In addition, one of the things that the department is exploring is visits to those shelters to see what more can be done with respect to supporting the operational needs of the shelters and to ensure that any gaps are addressed.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

We now go to Ms. Ambler for five minutes.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to all of you for being here today and for your very informative and rich presentations.

I'd like to thank you, Ms. MacPhee, for mentioning my private members' motion.

Madam Sellah, we'll need to have a few more discussions it seems, but I think you may want to come around to supporting my private members' motion eventually.

I wanted to thank you for mentioning it. I know there's only so much that you can talk about other than that you know the government is supporting it. Do you see the value in closing a loophole for a practice that's accepted in other countries—proxy fax, internet, and telephone marriages, which are allowed in some countries, for example in Pakistan, India, Qatar, and some other Middle East countries?

This practice is not allowed in Canada. The reason it's believed to facilitate forced marriage is that common sense would tell us that when two people aren't in the same room when they get married the chances are fairly good, or at least moderate, there is some element of either fraud or force involved. For this reason Canada does not want to perpetuate this practice and be the kind of country that allows this to be used for spousal immigration applications.

What that does is it sends the signal to those who are doing this, who are forcing these marriages on their children or their nieces and nephews, that this is okay because the result is a good one, that being the ability to come to Canada as an immigrant and as a new Canadian.

Do you see this as part of the government's commitment to ending barbaric practices through violence against women initiatives? Do you think that this is all part of the package in terms of what the government is doing to help not only women but young men who are also victims of these kinds of marriages?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Ms. Ambler, I think that we have to remember that these are officials and officials are not the government or members of Parliament. Try to phrase your question more generally so you don't put these fine people into an embarrassing situation.

Please ask your question and we'll leave a minute to answer.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Yes. I'm not asking for your opinion, but do you think this is part of the government's overall package to help prevent violence against women?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Talk about promising practices to prevent violence against women.

[Susan MacPhee]

Promising practices bring us back to the core of our policy objectives. It's part of the existing policy suite and the existing regulations that in all ways these are meant to be authentic relationships that people entered into willingly. That's the core of the work that our visa officers have been doing for decades.

As I mentioned in the opening remarks we've taken measures to strengthen over time everything that we can do to make sure that these are actual relationships that people entered into willingly. You raised a point about the changing technology and the many ways that things have evolved over time. For us it comes back to the policy suite and the work that we do every day to ensure we have authentic relationships.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

You have thirty seconds to maybe say thank you.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

To clarify, the regulation change is not to give visa officers any more powers. They would no longer have to prove that the relationship wasn't bona fide. They would immediately be able to proceed from knowing that the marriage took place by Skype, let's say, to being able to say it does not qualify any longer. Is that correct?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you so much, Ms. Ambler. You have made your point.

Ms. Nash, go ahead for five minutes.

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Welcome, witnesses.

I just want to echo that it is very appropriate that we are having this panel discussion today on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Superintendent Bates, let me begin with you. Thank you for your testimony. We know that indigenous women are far more likely to suffer abuse and violent crimes than non-indigenous women are, and we appreciate the report from the RCMP last May that put a number on the missing and murdered indigenous women. It's a terrible, tragic, shocking number—1,200—but it is good to have that data.

We know there have been multiple reports from victims and also from international human rights NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, which published a wonderful report in February, 2013 entitled “Those Who Take Us Away: Abusive Policing and Failures in Protection of Indigenous Women and Girls in Northern British Columbia”. We know there have of course been many cases of victimization of indigenous women by police including the RCMP. I appreciate the study that the RCMP has undertaken of itself and all of the programs that you are instituting, but I'm wondering if, in light of the systemic nature of this epidemic of violence against indigenous women, the RCMP can support a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.

[Supt Tyler Bates]

We don't call inquiries and we don't call for inquiries. Our focus is on resolving outstanding cases, on criminality, and what the overview informed us of is that nationally we have 225 cases that remain unsolved—120 homicides and 105 indigenous women who are missing through suspicious circumstances or whose whereabouts are just unknown and there isn't enough information to classify their disappearance as accidental or otherwise. We're seeking closure for families in terms of resolving those outstanding cases.

Our most recent efforts surround a review of those remaining files by our criminal operations units, our divisional commanding officers, to ensure that all investigational avenues that can be pursued are being pursued and that families are communicated with on an ongoing basis.

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Thank you very much. I wasn't asking you to call an inquiry but rather to support the call for an inquiry.

I just want to read a quote from one of your former colleagues, who is now the victims ombudsman, who testified at last year's special committee to study violence against indigenous women. This is a quote from Ms. Susan O'Sullivan:

The first item I would like to discuss is the potential for a national commission of inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada and the subsequent or concurrent development of a related action plan. I support the call for the creation of this commission and action plan.

How do you respond to what your colleague has said to the committee?

[Supt Tyler Bates]

Again I think that a national inquiry is not a matter for police to weigh into. I think that is a political consideration and outside of the focus on resolving those outstanding cases.

We are very much engaged on the prevention front with our federal partners and communities, and we are doing our utmost to prevent a reoccurrence of the tragic numbers that we see. That's our focus.

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Thank you.

Ms. Connidis, I'd like to ask you about incarcerated women and pick up a bit on what my colleague Ms. Duncan began. We know that the prison population in Canada is skyrocketing. A constituent of mine, Andrew Gregg, made a documentary called State of Incarceration really documenting some of the terrible conditions in our prison system with double-bunking and overcrowding.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

You have thirty seconds.

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

My concern is that for women who have been victims of violence, which overwhelmingly women in prison are, this overcrowding is unacceptable. Will the government consider creating a collaborative national action plan to address violence against women, which so many women's organizations are calling for, including dealing with this overcrowding in prisons?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much, Ms. Nash.

Perhaps you can address the question very briefly.