Status of Women Committee on March 24th, 2015

[Catherine Scott]

That was announced in the last budget, an additional $40 million to the youth employment strategy.

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

We certainly can make use of that money.

Does anybody else have anything to add?

[Janet Walden]

I would say start right at the beginning sparking kids' interest in science, such as seeing what experiments can do for you and generating excitement around research, science, and engineering. That has to be the starting point. We do support a program called PromoScience that reaches out to a huge base of people. Just our single grant to Actua alone touches 225,000 students, young people across the country. I think it's the hands-on right at the beginning that is important.

In terms of your second question about the industry, about a third of NSERC's budget is in partnership with industry. These students are trained—and these are young males and females, actually—in collaboration with industry, so they get exposure to the industry. It's very important from the industry perspective to see these mixed groups and how they interact and the different perspectives that young women and young men bring to research challenges. As I say, about a third of our budget is focused on working in partnership between the academic sector and industry, so these students get terrific exposure to potential careers and to how industry actually works, which is very important for women in particular, because often they have a misperception about what those careers actually entail.

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

When women get out in these businesses and are working hands-on, not only will the women see a difference but the people who have hired them will also be able to promote their ideas and see different things that they can do, as well as just having men. It's a worthwhile cause all around. I really appreciate your information in that area.

How much do I have? Is that it?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much, Madam O'Neill Gordon.

It is now over to Mr. Casey, who also has seven minutes.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Witnesses, I know how hard you prepare for these committee meetings, so I think I owe you an apology first of all for coming late, and second, for not being Kirsty Duncan.

Kirsty is speaking in the House, so if this day had unfolded as it should have, you would have had someone with a doctorate in a science background, who is a Nobel prize winner, asking you very penetrating and incisive questions. Instead you got me, but just allow me to muddle through.

Ms. Walden, I did get to hear all of your presentation, and I was interested in your reference to a conference attended by 30 countries. As we embark on this study, it seems to me that, rather than reinventing the wheel, we should be looking probably internationally and possibly provincially for best practices. In terms of gender diversity in the areas that are under consideration here, who is doing the best job in the international community? What can and should we copy?

[Janet Walden]

That is a very good question.

Actually most of the developed world is in a similar situation to us in that we don't see enough women coming in, particularly, as I said, to the physical sciences, chemistry, engineering, computer sciences, etc. I think to some extent a lot of us are struggling. The U.S. has a program called Advance, in which they've made some interesting investments, but I think it's probably too early to say whether or not those are successful. I think right now much of the developed world is piloting, experimenting, and trying to find effective ways.

For example, we had our chairs for women in science and engineering summit in the U.S. in 2013, which was the summit you were referring to. It was co-hosted by NIH, NSF, CONACYT, which is the Mexican funding authority, us, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, also in Canada. When we held that summit, our five chairs for women in science and engineering were looked at actually as a best practice and as a model that a number of countries were going to be following up on after the summit, and are following up on.

I'm going to ask Serge if he has anything he'd like to add.

[Serge Villemure, Director, Scholarships and Fellowships Division, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada]

Thank you very much.

I have just a few things to add in terms of the international community.

As Ms. Walden mentioned, we're basically all at the same place with respect to judging what the next steps are in the STEM area as granting agencies with respect to advancing gender equity in research. From the Washington summit in November 2013, a road map was published that basically is still in advanced draft form to try to get multi-stakeholders to endorse it and to work together to try to reach the goals.

As to your question about who's doing the best job, it's very hard to say. Every country is at the same place, except that at the European Commission, with their Horizon 2020 programs for research, they have started to include diversity and gender equity in the research content. That means they're asking researchers to really document their research results, and if and how they differ for both men and women.

As an international community, there is a lot to do, but as Ms. Walden said, we're at about the same place.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

With regard to the Horizon 2020 program in the EU, is there an equivalent in Canada, or should there be?

[Janet Walden]

This is a mammoth program, at l think €79 billion. The EU has come together to decide, under one umbrella, research priorities. They've taken a pretty bold step, as Serge has said, to require looking at balancing in teams of researchers that come forward and students who are being trained under the umbrellas of these initiatives, and also to consider the research itself from a perspective that sometimes we tend to focus more on the male-oriented or gender-neutral research as opposed to looking at the differences between research that might be in the women's world versus the men's world.

For example, there is a project ongoing about voice recognition. Well, it's clear that in voice recognition, the frequency range that I speak in and the frequency range that you speak in will be quite different. If we only focus on the frequency range that you focus on, then there's a whole segment of the community who will be left out.

Looking at research, again, it's right at the research project level, it's at the research collaboration level, and as I say, I think from that perspective, Horizon 2020, which includes all of the EU countries, is a really bold step for them. I think if Canadians want to participate, these will be the rules they will participate under. I can tell you that Canadians are very interested in participating in the Horizon 2020 programs.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you.

If I can now take it from the international to the national, I come from Prince Edward Island where employment, regardless of gender, regardless of field, is a challenge. With Canada being such a diverse country, I expect that the challenges are more acute in the various regions.

This question is probably for the folks from ESDC—

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Be very brief, Mr. Casey.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Okay.

In your experience in terms of the regions of Canada and the magnitude of the problem we are studying in the various regions, are some doing a better job than others, and why?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Be very, very brief, please, Ms. Scott.

[Catherine Scott]

In terms of apprenticeship training, it is a provincial-territorial responsibility, but we do know that a number of provinces....

In terms of demand for skilled trades workers, certainly that demand has been focused in western Canada in recent years. A number of the provincial governments have put in place measures to develop and enhance their pre-apprenticeship training systems, as well as to put in place initiatives to encourage more women to enter into the skilled trades.

If you look across the board, many provincial programs do exist, and some of those are funded through federal transfers.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you.

It is now Mr. Barlow's turn, for five minutes.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Will, first of all, I really appreciated your answer to the previous question about what we're going to do to encourage or improve promotion and awareness at the younger ages. We had a lot of discussion regarding that very issue in a previous study we did.

On that, I'd like to bring up a statement by JudyLynn Archer of Women Building Futures in Edmonton. She said that women who go through the program and look at getting into skilled trades can see a salary increase of 127% over their previous job. Her quote was that it's income that most women would only “dream about”.

I'm wondering, would the salary part of it and the opportunities there be part of that promotional project and material that you'll be putting out?

[Jonathan Will]

The career choice tool does show earnings and employment rates by field of study, including apprenticeships, certifications and whatnot. It would include that information.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Perfect.

I know when you drill down to it that education is a provincial issue, but I look at some of the composite high schools, skills Canada program, and things like that, where high school students get to compete regionally, provincially, nationally, in construction, welding, and those kinds of things.

Is there any discussion in terms of partnerships with the provinces to address curriculum at the school level to help raise awareness of these kinds of opportunities?

[Jonathan Will]

I am not aware of any joint work with the provinces. Both levels of government do make significant investments in the area. I'm just not currently aware....

We could get back to you on that.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Okay. Thank you.

I want to go back to one of your earlier comments in your presentation.

You said that women have a slim majority in some careers. There were two that you mentioned that were quite interesting. One was agriculture, and the other one was natural resources.

I have a very rural riding in southern Alberta. We battle constantly to try to keep people interested in the agricultural industry and keep young people on the farms or involved in value-added agribusiness and innovation.

Are there any specifics on what agriculture careers women seem to be pursuing? I just found that to be a pleasant surprise.

[Jonathan Will]

The aggregate data that Statistics Canada provides in terms of the ready access does not cause more level of disaggregation of that data. When Statistics Canada comes, perhaps you could ask them to look at more specific disaggregated data that could get to the answer of your question.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Great. Thank you.

Mr. Graham, you've had a nice easy ride of it so far. I want to get you involved here.

I just had a great experience with a constituent in my riding. She is a young lady from Scotland going into a heavy-duty mechanic's position. She applied through the express entry program and was given an invitation to apply for a permanent residency 24 hours after she applied.

You didn't have a chance to talk about the express entry program, but can you talk a bit about that and some of the advantages that's going to have? The focus of the express entry is to address areas in skilled labour where there is a void and we have a labour crunch.

Can you talk a bit about express entry, please?

[Matthew Graham]

Well, actually I'll continue my easy ride and pass the question on to Maia Welbourne who is in charge of this.

[Voices]

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