Evidence of meeting #10 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was issues.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:35 p.m.
NDP
Brigitte Sansoucy NDP Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
No.
For example, there's part of a sentence that says, “an analytical tool the federal government uses to advance gender equality in Canada”. I don't think we need copyright approval or need to put that part in quotation marks.
3:35 p.m.
Committee Researcher
If it's taken directly from a website, that's the rule.
3:35 p.m.
Committee Researcher
Okay.
Do you want me to rewrite the sentences without putting footnotes at the bottom of the page?
3:35 p.m.
NDP
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
I think the committee would like to see it again if you change the wording to remove the quotes.
3:35 p.m.
NDP
Brigitte Sansoucy NDP Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
I don't think the rules for writing a news release are the same as those for a university paper that contains quotations.
I'd like to know the publication date, please.
3:35 p.m.
NDP
3:35 p.m.
Committee Researcher
The date is indicated at the top of the page. April 15 is there now, but we'll add the publication date when the time comes.
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
When the time comes to publish the news release, we'll change the date.
3:35 p.m.
NDP
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
Of course.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
For the press release, you're going to verify the link on the English version and rephrase the ones that have citations, and you'll reissue it to the committee.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
3:35 p.m.
Some hon. members
No.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
No.
That is our committee business. Now we go to our speakers.
We're going to suspend for just a minute, while we bring our speakers in.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
We have Angela Connidis and Lori MacDonald from the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. We also have Shirley Cuillierrier from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
We will begin with the Department of Public Safety. I believe you have prepared 10 minutes for us, and you may proceed.
April 21st, 2016 / 3:40 p.m.
Lori MacDonald Assistant Deputy Minister, Emergency Management and Programs Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Thank you, Madam Chair and honourable committee members, for your invitation to appear before the Standing Committee on the Status of Women and participate in this study on violence against young women and girls.
Public Safety Canada is acutely aware that violence against women and girls is a serious concern for many Canadian families and communities. It is an important responsibility, and we must all to work together to prevent and stop violence against women and girls.
At the department we are dedicated to supporting and improving the safety of our communities across Canada and my colleagues at all levels of government and organizations, educators, family, and youth to help prevent violence against women and girls.
I am joined today by my colleagues Angela Connidis, director general, crime prevention, corrections and criminal justice, at Public Safety's community safety and countering crime branch, and Shirley Cuillierrier, chief superintendent of national aboriginal policing and crime prevention services at the RCMP.
To keep Canadians safe, we work at different levels. For instance, crime prevention is a pillar of Public Safety Canada's work with an increased focus on the specific needs of marginalized communities and at-risk groups.
As you know, the depth and scope of this particular issue have many facets. Therefore, I would like to present several initiatives that address violence against women and girls in which the department and the RCMP play a key federal role.
To begin, the national crime prevention service within the RCMP has developed a national youth strategy for 2015-2017 that identified four priority issues: bullying and cyber-bullying, intimate partner violence, drugs and alcohol, and youth radicalization to violence. Some of these initiatives include the Centre for Youth Crime Prevention website, RCMPTalks, the youth leadership workshop, and delivery of social media campaigns.
In addition, the primary objective of Public Safety's national crime prevention strategy is to develop and disseminate practical knowledge to help governments and institutions, non-profit organizations, and local communities to implement effective crime prevention strategies.
The national crime prevention strategy is based on the premise that well-designed interventions can have a positive influence on behaviours and that crimes can be reduced or prevented by addressing risk factors that lead to offending. Successful interventions have been shown to reduce not only victimization but also the social and economic cost that result from criminal activities and the cost related to processing cases in the criminal justice system.
Since 2008, based on the research of what is known about risk factors, delinquency, and future offending, the national crime prevention strategy has focused on the following priority groups: indigenous peoples and northern communities, children aged six to 11, young people aged 12 to 17, and young adults aged 18 to 24. As well, in some instances we consider supporting projects involving high-risk offenders and youth gangs.
This strategy funds the implementation and evaluation of crime prevention projects in communities across the country with an annual envelope of approximately $41.9 million for project funding.
Although the department's programs and initiatives are designed to improve public safety, our priority issues are not uniquely gender focused. For example, under the crime prevention strategy, our current priority issues include youth gangs and youth violence, drug-related crimes, hate crimes, bullying and cyber-bullying, and exiting the sex trade.
Nonetheless, various crime prevention projects strengthen prevention interventions to address gender-based issues related to crime and violence in collaboration with, and in strong partnership with, locally based women's organizations, the best place to address these issues of violence and victimization against women and girls.
Prevention programs and strategies aim to reduce risk factors associated with crime, and are linked to violence against women in Canada. They also increase the protective factors or build resiliency in the most affected communities.
Since 2008, the National Crime Prevention Strategy has focused on conducting impact evaluations and reporting on the results and impacts of selected crime prevention projects in Canada. Many projects have demonstrated positive results in reducing risk factors associated with violence and crime.
As the committee has shown an interest in the nature and extent of cyber-violence against young girls and women and best practices to address and prevent it, I would like to bring particular attention to the efforts our department has undertaken to expand our knowledge of the issue and further understand what interventions can work to prevent the victimization of young girls and women.
Public Safety has a continued commitment to find effective approaches to prevent bullying and cyber-bullying. We are currently working to identify best practices and innovative initiatives to build on evidence-based cyber-bullying prevention and intervention practices. This knowledge is shared with policy-makers and practitioners to help inform advice on projects that can be funded under the strategy in the future and to deepen our understanding of the issues, particularly among young girls and women.
Our efforts in relation to cyber-bullying have focused mainly on two approaches: promoting awareness and implementing programs to assist youth, parents, and educators in combatting bullying. Public Safety has developed the get cyber safe awareness campaign to educate Canadians about Internet security and steps to protect themselves online. In 2014 the department launched the “stop hating online” anti-bullying awareness campaign to raise awareness among Canadians of the impact of cyber-bullying and how this behaviour amounts to criminal activity. The department also supports the initiative www.bullyingawarenessweek.org, with the theme “stand up to bullying”. The campaign emphasizes the need for all Canadians to speak out against bullying and cyber-bullying.
For example, since October 2014, the strategy has funded a $2.1-million five-year project to implement a leadership and resiliency project in Newfoundland and Labrador that will use the leadership and resiliency program, know as LRP, to enhance participants' internal strengths and resiliency while preventing involvement in substance use and violence. The organization delivering the program, Waypoints, has selected the LRP model to address the priority issues of school-based bullying within the greater St. John's area.
You may have heard about the leadership and resiliency program as part of the emergency debate on indigenous affairs recently, where it was referenced as a project we are supporting in La Loche, Saskatchewan.
Another initiative is the aboriginal community safety development contribution program. Aboriginal women are a priority, as violence against aboriginal women is commonplace in Canada, where societal indifference often leaves aboriginal women at greater risk of violence, particularly intimate partner violence or violence perpetrated against women because of their gender and identity.
Public Safety's community safety planning initiative helps indigenous communities understand the underlying issues that result in the victimization of indigenous women and girls. It also helps community members work together to define risks that lead to crime and helps them build on the strengths in their community to respond to those risks.
As a parallel and supportive activity to both the upcoming missing and murdered indigenous women inquiry and the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the community safety planning initiative supports community efforts to heal and to become healthier and safer places to live and raise families.
I will now refer to the online sexual exploitation of children, which is another issue faced by young women and girls. Statistics Canada reports that sexual violations against children have risen in recent years, despite an decrease in violent crime in Canada. Over 4,000 child sexual exploitation offences were reported in 2014, a 6% increase over 2013. In addition, the number and rate of child pornography incidents continued to rise, up 41% in 2013-14. Cybertip.ca is Canada's tip line to report the suspected online sexual exploitation of children, and they have observed an increase in reporting, particularly of child sexual abuse on the Internet. Research indicates that girls are more frequently the victims of a sexual offence than boys, representing 81% of child victims. A study released by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection in January 2016, titled “Child Sexual Abuse Images on the Internet: A Cybertip.ca Analysis”, examined 43,762 images and videos classified as child pornography. These findings corroborated that 80.42% of the children are girls.
Lastly, budget 2016 proposed to provide $35 million over five years, starting this fiscal year, with $10 million per year ongoing to establish an office of the community outreach and counter-radicalization coordinator. The office will provide leadership on Canada's response to radicalization to violence; coordinate federal, provincial, territorial, and international initiatives; and support community outreach and research. The impact of radicalization of violence on young women and girls will be an important component to the outreach and research.
We are encouraged that this committee is gathering valuable information and perspectives, and believe in the ability to work together and establish mechanisms for further co-operation.
We'd like to thank you for the opportunity to be here today.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Thank you very much for a very good speech.
We're going to turn to Shirley Cuillierrier. She's the director general with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
3:50 p.m.
Superintendent Shirley Cuillierrier Director General, National Aboriginal Policing and Crime Prevention Services, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
I don't have any opening remarks, Madam Chair. I was deferring—