Status of Women Committee on April 21st, 2016

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

All right, that's okay. I should have given you more time for yours—

[Lori MacDonald]

No, that's quite all right. There's more time for you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

—but you'll find the questions will roll.

We're going to start with our first round of questioning. Ms. Damoff.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

I'm sharing my time.

Thank you to all of you for coming. One of the things we're looking at in our study is hypersexualization. We've been having trouble incorporating it into how we get responses from witnesses, how we even deal with it as a committee. Things like objectification of women and the normalization of violence against young women in our media.

Do you see any gaps in programming, because that's also tied to cyber-bullying and I'm wondering if that's incorporated into any of the strategies you have or if you see any gaps in what you are doing, where some work needs to be done?

[Lori MacDonald]

I'll take a first stab at the question.

To begin, I think it's an area that does need more study and more discussion with respect to what the issues are, how we address those issues, and how we move them forward. When we look at our crime prevention programs, we look at different models that are available to address specific issues.

I'll give you a small example, and I hope it will make the point in terms of the question you've asked.

For some of the programs we look at, in terms of the models, we don't want them just to address the basic issue, whether that's a substance abuse issue or a bullying issue, but to address those other underlying factors that are in place. We recently supported a crime prevention program in B.C. that specifically addressed issues of sexualization, the LGBTQ community, and also issues of new immigrants, different nationalities and ethnicities. This was all involved in this particular group to try to get at the underlying issues that are causing problems in the lives of those children and youth. Then how do we address them?

I'll turn to my colleagues to see if they have anything they'd like to add to that question.

[Supt Shirley Cuillierrier]

I agree with my colleague. It's an area that requires a better understanding to properly address. In the RCMP we feel that youth engagement is key to building self-esteem and the protective factors that we see some young people missing out on. Eventually there's the potential for such young people to be victimized.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

As you're one of the few female members of the RCMP, how much of a challenge do you think young women and girls face in communities to come forward with issues because they aren't able to go to a female officer?

I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but if I'm a 13-year-old girl, I might be intimidated by reporting the issues to a man versus a woman. Is there any need to perhaps look at that and try to address it in communities?

[Supt Shirley Cuillierrier]

The hypothetical situation of a 13-year-old girl in her family or in the school, when we talk about protective factors, we hope she does have an influential female in her life whom she can speak to. It would be incumbent upon that adult to bring it to the police because there are situations in every profession whereby a person who is not feeling comfortable speaking to a man would seek a female colleague and have that discussion. I think at a community level, a young girl might seek out someone—a teacher, a public health nurse, or a friend—and get advice, seek the help, and then it would get reported to the police.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Thank you.

I'm sharing my time and I'm sorry for taking up too much time, Eva.

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

That's not a problem.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to all for your presentations.

Could you please give us a breakdown of the national strategy for the protection of children from sexual exploitation on the Internet? Does the strategy function as an educational tool? Does it provide preventive measures? Does it administer proactive measures for victims and respond to incidents?

What are your thoughts?

[Angela Connidis, Director General, Crime Prevention, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

I just want to be clear on the program. You're speaking with respect to the national strategy for the protection of children?

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

That's it exactly.

[Angela Connidis]

That's funding that's allocated to departments. In government we tend to find that a number of departments will work on portions of an issue, and it can be very difficult to coordinate what they're doing and coordinate the programs. Part of the strategy is that the funding goes to Public Safety, the RCMP, the Department of Justice, and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection—which, I have to say, I don't know very much about since this is not a program that falls within my area—to help those departments identify their particular niche and to determine how they will work together to develop research and understanding in those areas.

With regard to the particular programs that each department funds, I would have to get more information for you, unless any of my colleagues have that.

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

I don't know if somebody can answer this question, but are there any gaps within the existing framework of this strategy that prevent you from adequately assessing threats and providing protection from sexual exploitation?

[Angela Connidis]

I will have to get back to you on that as well.

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Okay.

Ms. MacDonald.

[Lori MacDonald]

I would just say that with any new strategy, particularly in this field, which is evolving and changing, I think the strategy has to evolve and change as we learn more about what's happening, as we're exposed more to technology changes, and as children become more exposed to what's available and the different types of electronic capacities. As technologies such as Snapchat, BBMs, and other kinds of technology that children are exposed to evolve, the strategy also has to evolve to keep up to the different influences on children. I can't speak directly to the gaps in the strategy, if they exist, but certainly it would be something we would absolutely want to take into consideration as we go forward.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Excellent.

Now we're going to Ms. Harder.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you very much.

My question is for Lori and Angela to answer. I have a question with regard to cyber-bullying and strategies for dealing with this. I'm just wondering if you can explain to me how local and national law enforcement work co-operatively in order to track down incidents of cyber-bullying or sexual extortion when they happen in another jurisdiction, with the understanding that while of course some take place here in Canada some are elsewhere but still impact our nation.

[Lori MacDonald]

Thank you for the question.

I'm actually going to turn to my colleague Shirley here, who has some information she'd like to share with respect to that.

[Supt Shirley Cuillierrier]

In terms of cyber-bullying, as I referenced earlier, we take a proactive approach by working with our police officers across the country who work with schools. We've designed some learning tools to help the police officers as well as the youth and the teachers.

One program we recently worked on is called the BullyText. In fact, we were at an innovation fair yesterday and got an honourable mention for the work we've been doing. Essentially it's scenarios, and it's literally texting, and girls and boys can use it. It walks you through scenarios, and if you're bullying online, it gives you different options. Eventually, if you keep being a bully, you're told you're being a bully and you are kicked out of the game, whereas if you're answering in a proactive, respectful way, it starts to acknowledge you. Different scenarios are built in. We've received excellent feedback from teachers and youth alike. That's not to mention that it's a great tool for our police officers to use when they go into schools to talk about cyber-bullying.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

I'd like a really quick point of clarification from you, Chair. I don't know if you can answer for me, but I'm wondering, just so I know how to focus my questions. Within the RCMP there are other initiatives. Are we going to be hearing from the RCMP's National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre at all?

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

We have the ability to hear from anybody, because we've deferred the study to September, and we'll be putting together the work plan. If you would like to submit to the clerk the names of people you'd like to hear from, you can do that.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Okay. I'm going to assume that's a yes, that we're going to hear from them, too.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

The analyst says yes.