Status of Women Committee on Jan. 29th, 2015

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

I have a quick question.

Ms. Wright talked about how child care centres can work on prevention by empowering women to help avert violence in the long term. In Quebec, we have a child care system. Do you see that as a way to help achieve gender equality?

[Nathalie Duhamel]

Absolutely, as that helps women gain independence by going to work and escaping abusive situations. We know that the majority of sexual violence is committed by someone close to the individual, often in a family context. Essentially, yes, women who experience that type of violence must be able to flee their abusive environment and have access to a child care service.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

I now yield the floor to Mrs. O'Neill Gordon, who has seven minutes.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and I want to thank all of you for being with us today. You certainly have shown that a lot of great work is being done by all of you and you deserve my sincere thanks for all the work you do.

Marie-Christine, to clarify something, you mentioned $60,000 of funding, where did you say that comes from or how is that received?

[Marie-Christine Plante]

That comes from the Community Action Program for Children, which is a federal initiative.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

It's a federal program?

[Marie-Christine Plante]

Carrefour pour Elle is mainly funded by Quebec's health and social services department, but we also receive a $60,000 federal subsidy. Be that as it may, we deliver most of our outreach services and awareness-raising programs thanks to the Carrefour pour Elle foundation. That's what enables us to provide more services on the ground. We have a private foundation.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Yes, it's certainly put to good use in all the work you're doing, that's for sure.

I also want to take time to congratulate you on winning all these awards. You've certainly proven that, with all this information you've given us right here, you certainly have it all put together and you have a lot to offer.

When you go into the schools, are you going to visit students who you already know need your help, or are you speaking to a whole group of students and providing the information to everybody? How do you get in there?

[Marie-Christine Plante]

We try to establish a relationship with schools we go to. We provide age-specific activities for students. We deliver workshops for students in secondary II, III and IV. We speak to all students, but we then invite those who need assistance to contact us by telephone. We have a youth worker who can talk to them over the phone or sometimes even by email.

That aside, this is first and foremost a general presentation intended for all students.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

That is for both boys and girls?

[Marie-Christine Plante]

Yes.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

It is open to all of them, so that's great.

Then you can provide it after they hear what—

[Marie-Christine Plante]

Yes, exactly.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Does that become a subject they are taking? Is that considered a part of their course?

[Marie-Christine Plante]

The schools themselves decide in what classes our presentations will be made—for instance, it may be during a French course or a religious ethics course. It depends on the school. Our presentations are intended for mixed groups. We think it is important to reach both the boys and the girls.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Yes, and that's where we need to start with youth today, let them see the importance of how to act with women and men alike.

Can you you describe the training you give to new Canadians, and how do they find out? You say hairdressers and estheticians; how do they learn about it and what training do they get?

[Marie-Christine Plante]

Those are two different things. The first training, which is intended for newcomers, is called “Quand on s'aime, on s'aime égal”. We co-facilitate these sessions with community police. We provide those 2.5-hour presentations in francisation classes and talk about what constitutes domestic violence, forms it may take, services provided by shelters and the role police play, both in terms of prevention and enforcement, if applicable.

Of course, we stress the importance of taking action when someone is a victim of domestic violence, but also when someone witnesses such violence. We talk a bit about the fact that reporting can be a legal obligation when someone witnesses abusive behaviour. I think this is highly relevant because many foreign women and men don't trust police officers. Police services in their country are not necessarily like ours. As we say, this is a matter of building trust.

As for hairdressers and estheticians, we provided about 100 of them in our region with training on domestic violence. We discussed myths and realities, like Ms. Duhamel was saying. We gave them our organization's pamphlets and small pencils, and told them that, should they meet a woman who is a victim of domestic violence, they could give her our telephone number or call us. We are a resource that is available 24/7. This is really a person-to-person approach, and we have set ourselves a challenge to meet with as many hairdressers and estheticians in our region as possible.

The next step will be to meet with pharmacists. We want to do that this summer. So we continue to do our work.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Yes, as you say, hairdressers hear everything, so it's a good place to reach out and offer that.

[Marie-Christine Plante]

Exactly.

That's exactly why we have done this, and the initiative is called “Couper court à la violence”.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

That's good. I like that idea.

Leslie, KW Counselling Services, in my understanding, has two types of outreach programs: the community outreach program and the multicultural outreach program. Can you please identify in detail how these two types of programs differ in practice?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Ms. Josling, you're going to have to be very brief, but please take the time just to—

[Leslie Josling]

Our community outreach program exists in community centres across Waterloo region. It's a partnership with our regional government. They fund that program. Our multicultural outreach is provided with cobbled-together funding from various sources. It does some of what Marie-Christine has talked about, but we also have leadership development courses in the multicultural community. Our thinking is that if we strengthen leadership in those communities they can effectively become our champions, and because they have so much credibility in their own communities, by teaching them about domestic violence and child abuse and mental health issues, they then can act as a bridge to the existing resources in the community.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much, Madam Josling.

Ms. Fry, it's your turn, and you have seven minutes.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Ms. Josling, you're looking after a multicultural community, and we know multicultural communities sometimes have very different leadership where things are looked at differently. You have a culturally sensitive outreach, have you?

[Leslie Josling]

That's right.