Status of Women Committee on Nov. 26th, 2013

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

With regard to sexual assault, do you do anything with the colleges and universities?

We have a great college system and university system in Ontario, but all the events seem to be around alcohol. Everything's in the pub and everything is about drinking beer and stuff. That's when a lot of the sexual assaults happen, when there's been a lot of consumption of alcohol. Is there anything that they've asked your support for? Do you have any communication planned on helping to reduce sexual assaults that happen when people are drunk?

[Linda Savoie]

What we have is actually a little bit broader. What we did two years ago is launch a call for proposals so that campus communities across the country, whether they're colleges or universities, could approach us with projects that would allow them to explore what the risks are to young women currently, and what the possible measures are to implement, to increase the safety of these women on the campuses.

Of course, there are over 20 of these projects going on currently that we're funding. They are exploring a number of strategies. Some focus on physical safety. Some focus on dating safety. Some focus, as you were just mentioning, on personal safety when in an environment where there's a lot of alcohol being consumed. All these projects are going to generate a number of tools that again are helping campuses across the country deal with this issue.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much, Ms. Savoie and Mr. Young.

Mr. Dion, you have the floor. You have seven minutes.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank Mr. Goupil, Ms. Tremblay and Ms. Savoie for being with us today. I am happy to be here too.

I would like to go back to the advisory council set up by the previous minister, Ms. Ambrose, for gender representation on corporate boards. The council—and we discussed it earlier—was supposed to report back in the fall. Am I to understand that it will take longer than expected to publish the report?

[Sébastien Goupil]

That is correct.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Do you have any idea when the report will be ready?

[Sébastien Goupil]

It is difficult for me to speak to that. In my view, the minister should answer the question. Our role, at Status of Women Canada, is to support the minister and her advisory council. So I cannot comment on the matter.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

How many times has the council met?

[Sébastien Goupil]

It has met twice.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

There have been two meetings, but over what time period?

[Sébastien Goupil]

That information is already public. There was a meeting in June and another one in October.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Do you think that is a good frequency?

[Sébastien Goupil]

Considering the make-up of the council and the people that it represents—these are very busy people—I think there is a real commitment to offer the best advice and the best support possible. There again, I cannot comment on a question of that nature.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

I apologize, I am not a member of this committee, but based on the description of what is expected from these people, I would like to know if there are any parameters that will allow us to anticipate the type of recommendations that will be submitted.

[Sébastien Goupil]

I will go back to three of the points the advisory council has examined. One deals mainly with advice on how Canadian industry and corporations can increase the representation of women on boards. Bear in mind that various sectors of the Canadian economy are represented.

As you undoubtedly know, Mr. Dion, not all sectors are at the same point. Look at, for example, the mining and gas sectors compared to the banking sector. That requires some thought and discussions. Commitments need to be made.

It is also important for this council to look at how to measure progress and to account for it in a Canadian context. Lastly, they must determine how leaders who commit to and advance the file can be recognized. These are the three main areas that the advisory council has examined.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Goupil, while the council does its work, Parliament also does its own.

Can you assure us that the council members know when a bill is tabled by one of our colleagues? I don't remember who it was, but we will get you the information. There is also Senator Hervieux-Payette's bill that has been around for a long time.

Does the work of parliamentarians get to the council?

[Sébastien Goupil]

It would not be appropriate for me to talk about the council's discussions...

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

I was simply wondering if...

[Sébastien Goupil]

... but I believe they generally take note of work that has been done. Not everyone believes that laws are the most effective means. This is an issue of international debate. Studies have shown that regardless of the use of laws and implementation of strategies, what's important and what gives results is the level of commitment and the resulting plan.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

I would be surprised if international experiences were being taken into account rather than the Parliament of Canada's own discussions. I suggest that you make sure that the council is well aware of the debates of Canadian parliamentarians.

You are passionate about what you do and that is very important for Canada. That said, I would like to talk about performance evaluation.

The evaluation states that you work to a great extent through various organizations, in other words you subsidize these organizations for a time, often for the short term. From what I read in the evaluation report, it was often difficult to undertake quantitative evaluations.

Have you thought about how you can make sure that we, as taxpayers, are getting value for money, and how you can identify what is working and what is not working quite as well? I am talking about concrete results in terms of public interest goals.

[Linda Savoie]

In terms of funding for groups and evaluation of results, the most recent program evaluation took place two years ago. It dealt with the 2006 to 2010 period.

At that time, the department had a slightly different approach in terms of calls for proposals. At the time, we would tend to wait until we were presented with the material. That caused enormous problems when we attempted to identify trends and measure results. As you pointed out, the evaluation clearly shows that. There are signs of success in terms of the assistance we are providing to create partnerships. The scope of the program is good and there is great demand for it. However, there are certainly shortcomings.

Our work over the past three years will better support the next program evaluation in 2017. We have changed our approach and we now do targeted tendering twice a year. This will provide us with a sampling of similar projects throughout the country, using the same recipe or different recipes, but with the same theme. That will allow us to identify the truly successful recipes, what is working and what is giving better outcomes. We hope that our current approach will provide us with more rigorous quantitative results. In terms of qualitative results, all is proceeding relatively well.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you. Unfortunately that is all the time you have. Thank you very much for those answers.

I will now ask Ms. Young to take the floor. You have five minutes.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

Thank you very much.

I want to thank the officials very much for coming here today.

I would like to follow up on the current discussion around the allocation of funds, because we are here today to talk about estimates and budgets, etc. I would ask you to continue outlining to us how the projects are vetted, selected, and monitored. How do you monitor for outcomes and the best use of government funding? If we have time, I'll have some subsequent questions as well.

[Linda Savoie]

Starting with the selection of projects, as you're probably aware, we do our calls for proposals through our website. Our calls describe very specifically the types of projects we're looking for, and what the key results are that need to be achieved.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

That changed, as you just said, a couple of years ago.

Can you explain why that changed?