Status of Women Committee on Dec. 10th, 2013

[Dr. Hasan Hutchinson]

Really what we try to do at Health Canada is make sure we're working with the best evidence that's out there and then try to turn that into messages that will help to improve eating behaviours. Sometimes that's more of an art than a science, but we always try to make sure we take the best evidence available. Then we work with scientists, say, through CIHR to make sure we're evaluating what it is we're doing so we can correct that and build the evidence base going forward.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much. It was important to have all the information.

Ms. Ashton, you have five minutes.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Thank you very much. I'd like to engage our guests from Status of Women Canada as well in this discussion. Obviously as the status of women committee, we're keen to make recommendations directed to the minister and the department. I recognize that this discussion today has involved everybody else except for Status of Women, which is something that concerns us. The whole idea here is the disproportionate impact on women.

What programs or initiatives are funded by Status of Women that have a direct relationship to any disorders or diseases or mental health problems that afflict mostly women, as do eating disorders?

[Linda Savoie, Director General, Women's Program and Regional Operations, Status of Women Canada]

I would start by saying that it's not really surprising that diseases or issues that affect women in a disproportionate manner are not addressed necessarily by Status of Women. Each department looks at the totality of the Canadian population when it develops its programs and policies. It would not be our role, necessarily, to replace them in this function.

I can't speak to the programs outside Status of Women that would deal with this, and I would have to say that within Status of Women, it hasn't been an area of focus for us. We do not have a program relating to this issue.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

I certainly appreciate that answer, and I think the second part is really what gives us some guidance in terms of where the gaps are. I hear your point on looking at the totality of the Canadian population.

We did hear from Dr. Woodside, who's a specialist in this area, last week. He asked whether it is coincidental that it's mostly women who suffer eating disorders and yet there is overall so little attention in terms of a national strategy, in terms of awareness that this is a very important issue. In fact, he equated the number of people who face prostate cancer, obviously men, to the similar numbers of people who experience eating disorders. Yet we have these huge campaigns—Movember. There's research, there's awareness around prostate cancer. Yet we certainly don't see the same when it comes to eating disorders.

For us it really causes one to ask the question around conditions that women face that put them in a position where they're more likely to suffer from an eating disorder—conditions of patriarchy or inequality. Perhaps your team could elaborate how eating disorders or diseases or illnesses that affect women disproportionately intersect with the issue of women's inequality.

[Linda Savoie]

I don't think there's much that I could add to this, because I get your point that issues that affect women in a disproportionate manner are a concern. At the agency, we've been focusing particularly on the issues of violence against women, the economic shortcomings in terms of the challenges, and the lack of women's presence in terms of leadership.

We have not been involved in the health sector. I would contrast what you were saying about prostate cancer with breast cancer. There are some really amazing things happening out there when it comes to some very specific women's health issues, and they're being done well by the people who have the lead on this issue. As non-experts in this field, I think it would be somewhat inappropriate for us to start telling people what to do when they're doing it way better than we could.

I think the representatives from the departments here today all have solid gender-based analysis capacity internally, and they would be in a much better position than we would to assess how their policies and programs are or are not meeting the gender analysis test. It goes beyond gender, right? It's the intersectionality: the women in their diversity, the men in their diversity.

It's really not an area of expertise of ours. It's not an area where we've been participating. I would see it as a very significant challenge for us to try to become a player in this field.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Okay. I appreciate that.

How much time do I have?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

It's perfect right now. Thank you very much.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Now we have Mr. Young for five minutes.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Madam Israel, you mentioned you had a study done or that you had commissioned a study that had a chapter on eating disorders. Were there any results that came from that project to help patients?

[Marla Israel]

I'm sorry. I didn't hear the end of your question.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

You mentioned you had a study done and that there was a chapter on eating disorders. Were there any outcomes from that study that helped the patients?

[Marla Israel]

That helped the patients?

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Were there any concrete results?

[Marla Israel]

The study itself is one that focuses on mental health writ large in terms of understanding the attitudes and behaviours of kids. That's the purpose of why we gather that information—

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

So it's a more general—

[Marla Israel]

Yes, it's a general survey, and it's their own self-reporting, which is very, very important.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Thank you.

Are there any actions your agency has taken that have produced concrete results for patients to date?

[Marla Israel]

Well, can you be a little more specific?

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

We've heard that patients are underserved, that there are complex diseases, that they're hard...we hear of patients waiting for care. We've heard that family physicians don't know how to deal with them. Is there anything you've been able to do thus far that corrects or improves any of those?

[Marla Israel]

Yes, I would venture to say that there are a number of issues and activities on behalf of the Public Health Agency that actually minimize the impact on the health care system. That's the goal of Public Health. It's really to focus on prevention in order to ensure that Canadians don't end up, for example, in the health care system, to added costs in that respect, so....

I can add a specific example where you look at the investments that are being made upstream. There is significant evidence to suggest that those investments upstream have a very positive effect in minimizing the impacts on the health care system.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

“Upstream”? What does that mean?

[Marla Israel]

Upstream means that—

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

In the hospital?