Status of Women Committee on Dec. 2nd, 2014

[John Barlow, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Perfect. Thank you.

Can I...?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

A little question with a little answer, yes....

[John Barlow, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Just lastly, if you can do it quickly, what is the message that we can take from those programs for boys at the junior high school and high school levels? Is there a best message we can take from those that maybe other organizations or programs can follow?

[Beba Svigir]

Yes, in terms of best practice, it's a full-fledged program with different components of the curriculum. It's a program we have started together with the Canadian Women's Foundation. That program has been reciprocated through the network of the Canadian Women's Foundation's services, and I believe they're in all provinces and territories.

We have annual conferences where we share best practices with all the service providers in that particular network, and they are being accepted. We share curricula and best practices. We also share the evaluation results and experiences through the program.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you.

Ms. Duncan, you have five minutes.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Before I begin, I'd just like to take a minute and say thank you to all of you for the work you do each and every day. It is tremendously difficult work to support women and families through some of the hardest days of their lives. I know many people who work in the line of work you do often develop PTSD from hearing the stories. I know all my colleagues would like to join me in saying thank you for the work you do.

While I'm very glad to hear that Calgary has seen an increase in funds, we want to ensure that we have sustainable funding for organizations across the country and in all areas. We haven't always seen that in Ontario.

To the Calgary Immigrant Women's Association, can you discuss your thoughts on the DCO list and on conditional permanent status, please?

[Beba Svigir]

Our experience with the concept of conditional permanent resident status is that we would like to see permanent status being considered a tool to support immigrants to develop their ability to be successful applicants to stay in Canada.

So from that point of view we are working with our colleagues in the Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies to provide the response based on our overall experiences with the clients who would come to us through that particular stream and how that would relate to the services we provide, the nature of the clients we see, and the number of clients under this category who would be accessing our services.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Is there a recommendation you'd like to make to the committee?

[Beba Svigir]

On this one, probably not, because for any new idea and for any new concept, we like to discuss it as the provincial body to be sure our recommendation comes from the overall Alberta immigrant group and that we provide a recommendation that will serve the agency best but also the clients who would be coming through that area. We're in the process of having meetings to discuss this.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you very much.

To the DisAbled Women's Network, you've talked about how it's very hard for women to come forward. Are there changes we could make? Are there recommendations you would like to make to the committee that could change that?

[Bonnie L. Brayton]

Consistent funding for the work around violence against women is absolutely critical. The possibility of continuing to do the work we're doing is one of the important ways this happens. Because we're talking about something systemic and long-standing, long-standing and systemic things don't change overnight. We need a long-term vision to end violence against women with disabilities and deaf women in this country. It doesn't happen during the course of one project.

We have a vision at DAWN Canada. We know some of the instruments the federal government could be using to work with us and with other partners across the country to begin to develop a really clear strategic plan. One of the envelopes I think of is the enabling accessibility fund, which Mr. Flaherty was instrumental in developing here in Canada. Because if the enabling accessibility fund, for example, were targeted to shelters and transition houses as part of a coordinated call from Status of Women and the Canadian Women's Foundation, as an example, these kinds of strategic approaches, looking not for one year, not for two years, but over 10 years to see us build a national network of shelters, transition houses, and supports for women with disabilities are doable. They are doable if we make the commitments today, and if we understand it's not about what happens today, but it's about making this long-term plan so things change.

For 30 years DAWN Canada has said what the issue is and understood what the issue is and made recommendations. In order for us to move past the recommendations to concrete plans, this project, the one DAWN Canada is currently doing with Status of Women Canada, coupled with some of the other things I talked about, including using instruments the federal government has in its power now, could make that difference. In 10 years from now we could have what we need in this country, which is a national network of accessible shelters and transition houses for women with disabilities.

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

There is enough time left for two more committee members to ask their questions.

Ms. Young, you have five minutes, followed by Ms. Ashton, also for five minutes.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

Thank you again, and I'd like to thank my colleague for the extra time, just because there is so much rich information here.

Ms. Brayton, thank you so much for bringing up the disability fund and how that's working in alignment, obviously, with the Status of Women fund, along with some of the other ones we talked about earlier—

[Bonnie L. Brayton]

It isn't aligned now, but it could be.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

Hopefully that is something you are working on, because you're obviously very good in your role as a national organization looking at helping us work on this.

Can you tell us a little bit more about this $500,000 study you're doing right now? What are the top outcomes you hope to achieve out of this?

[Bonnie L. Brayton]

As I said, it's a community development project. The costs are definitely related to the geographical scope of the project, so it's important to understand that $500,000 is not a lot of money when you're talking about 13 sites across the country. It is again, as I said, what we were doing, and it's a stepped process. Through that process of convening at the community level and through these research projects—as I said, community research that has a purpose is the best way to describe it—what we've been able to develop are.... The next stage of this project, which is what we're rolling out now and begins over the winter, will be workshops that are, again, at the community level, working with service providers and people who work with people with disabilities and women with disabilities, specifically, but also, of course, working with women with disabilities, themselves. It's a convening process to bring people together around the common objective of making change.

Also, education at the service and policy level is critical, along with educating women with disabilities about their rights.

I talked about the fact that women don't feel safe to disclose. Well, we have to put in place at the community level the resources so that they can disclose safely and know that, if they do choose to disclose, they'll be supported to follow through.

I really appreciate the fact that this opportunity through the community fund is allowing us to start to demonstrate how change happens. It isn't the answer, it's the beginning of the answer, and that answer lies with curriculum and education across, as I said, all the stakeholders.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

Absolutely.

I was really very heartened to hear that you're working with other partners on this, like the YWCA of Canada, etc. I assume there are going to be some in-kind costs, and all of those kinds of things, where you can possibly meet in a meeting space. Being embedded in the local community is a very good thing.

[Bonnie L. Brayton]

The mantra at DAWN Canada is “leadership, partnership, and networking”. That's because we're one agency serving millions of women in this country and the only agency that's focused on women with disabilities and deaf women in Canada. It's one of the few in the world. I think that speaks to something.

I said earlier to this committee, we're the largest minority group in the world, at half a billion. We are the poorest, with the highest rates of violence, the lowest rates of education, the lowest rates of employment, and the highest rates of poverty. So you're looking at and you're listening to the most underserved group in the world today.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

Thank you so much.

In the very few minutes I have left I want to just turn to early, forced and child marriage, because as you know this an issue that's close to all of our hearts. It's certainly happening in Canada, as you say, Alia, as well as internationally.

Canada is in fact one of the leaders in pushing this at the United Nations. I was fortunate enough to be at the United Nations this summer and to meet with our team that is leading this. They've now received dozens of countries that have signed on to this initiative internationally, and we are leading this internationally.

I would like to ask this to our Calgary friends who are doing such great work in this area. When I was involved in immigrant programs and services, learning about our laws in Canada was one of the things we embedded into the language training, as well as any training that we provided across Canada in the different courses that reached out to those tens of thousands of women and families who came through our doors across Canada to receive settlement training in what coming to Canada was all about, what Canadian laws were all about. Is this something that is still being provided in your various training programs and services?

[Beba Svigir]

Yes—

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

That early, forced and child marriage is not legal and is not supported in Canada...?

Please, go ahead.

[Beba Svigir]

Yes, thank you.

Absolutely. Through the initial settlement program, which is the first step for any client coming to our agency, they receive individual orientation and also group orientation in family laws and Canadian laws. We have a civic engagement program that has been running at CIWA for four years now, which does everything relating to rights and responsibilities in Canada, including civic participation, voting, and understanding the system, resources, and opportunities in the system. But we're also really focused on the responsibilities in Canada and making sure they understand that when they come to Canada, immigrants need to abide by Canadian laws and that there are services to help them. I'll give an example—

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much. That's all the time we have for now.

Ms. Ashton, you can have one question, because we are pressed for time.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

I want to preface my question by clearing the air a bit. There's been an attempt to bring forward the greatness of the Status of Women department and this government vis-à-vis funding for women's organizations. We all know in this room, and those of us tuning in, that a lot more is left to be desired. There have been deep cuts in this department. They've affected all of the organizations that have come before us and they affect Canadian women deeply.

I do want to bring attention to one area that we haven't had a chance to discuss today, and perhaps is a reflection of the way in which women in our country and women coming to our country have been dealt a very heavy blow. I am referring to refugee women, many of whom come with disabilities, with deep trauma, and who have been not just left out in the cold by this government, but seriously have been slapped in the face. In fact, we know that Canadian courts have ruled—