Go ahead.
Evidence of meeting #116 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 affordable.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #116 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 affordable.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
National Executive Director, DisAbled Women's Network Canada, As an Individual
Go ahead.
4:15 p.m.
Community Advocate, As an Individual
Yellowknife was touted as the best place almost in Canada for that model. When the HPS first started, we were told that everybody, including indigenous governments, had to be at the table or we weren't getting any funding. We all came to the table because we all wanted funding. We all got along. We all developed a really thorough plan. It was a collaboration. On and on it went.
All of a sudden, the federal government decided to change the whole thing and make it city hubs. Now the city controls it. There's a hub. They disbanded the community committee. It became a very bureaucratic, non-inclusive, silencing kind of body where they decide who gets the money.
So it did work, I think famously, and if they had maintained that concept and that model, I think it would have worked across Canada. They changed the structure, and I think it doesn't work that well. We have to really keep in mind that the voice of people with lived experience is excluded by service providers, by government, by decision-makers. They're all talking to their navels. They have no idea how to move from homelessness to contribution to greatness.
I think many people can do that. I did that, and not because I was punished and put down and pathologized. I did that because my sort of behaviour was normalized as somebody suffering from trauma and other things, and once I dealt with that, I could move forward, which I did. I think the system tends to pathologize. Women themselves tend to dig themselves out and move on, if we can just get everybody else to move out of the way.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
Thank you.
I'm sharing my time, so I'll turn it back over to my colleague.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you.
Thank you for your response. I think that's really helpful for us.
I'd be interested to know how you started your centre and who came there. Who needed what you had to offer?
4:15 p.m.
Community Advocate, As an Individual
It was very interesting. I was on the street, so I was running around like a crazy person along with lots of other people. We started the centre because we couldn't function all that well. I could at least read, so when my colleagues on the street would run into child welfare or welfare or police, I would step up and say, “Well, I can read. Let me read that.” I began to be an activist. The system really balked against that: “We get along up here. We get along. Why are you here? What are you talking about? These women don't need you.”
I think that's how it started. The Centre for Northern Families became known across the north as an activist and advocate centre, but we always got pushed back by “don't bite the hand that feeds you”, or “don't doubt the sisterhood”, etc. At the end of the day, however, our centre was successful because we were trusted. Community people trust us.
What else can I say about it except that trust is huge? Compassion is huge. I loved those women and they knew it. We were peers. We were peers working together. That made the difference in terms of understanding and....
Oops. I'd better watch the chair more carefully.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
It's all good.
We'll move on to our final five minutes.
Ms. Nassif.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you both for your presentations.
Welcome, Ms. Brayton. The last time we saw each other was in Montreal last summer.
You talked about these women who suffer from blows to the head, who may have been strangled or struck on several occasions, who are traumatized and who may also suffer brain injuries.
Could you tell us a little more about the problems these disabled women experience with their children?
4:20 p.m.
National Executive Director, DisAbled Women's Network Canada, As an Individual
The issue of women who have suffered brain trauma is really a very special one. As I mentioned earlier, it's often not diagnosed. These women live with it without realizing they have it. As a result of their behaviour, they can definitely be perceived in a shelter as troublemakers, as individuals with behavioural problems, who don't want to obey the rules and so on.
So these women will blame themselves. They feel it's all due to their attitude, that it's their fault. In addition, women who experience violence often have self-esteem problems. Consequently, it's not surprising that women who already have this problem and suffer brain trauma, particularly when it affects their executive functions, also suffer from a lack of judgment and all kinds of behavioural problems associated with their disability. This happens without them or people around them realizing it. As I mentioned, they often have mental health and drug and alcohol dependency problems, for example. These individuals are victims of violence, women with disabilities they're unaware of.
I have some statistics. For example, a study by Dr. Angela Colantonio states that 40% of women in prison in Ontario have three things in common, not including racism, which is another problem. Her study focused on three things they have in common.
They have three things in common. They have a history of childhood sexual abuse, a brain injury and they're in prison. In Ontario 40% of women have those three things in common.
So we're criminalizing victims. It's mainly that.
There's also something that's related to the health and social fields. We're beginning to learn more about this. We talk about football players, athletes and all kinds of people, but a woman exposed to violence experiences the same thing. The only difference is that she isn't a star. She gets punched, and she's just a woman who has violence in her life.
There's an enormous number of these women. The exact percentage is still unknown, but an estimated 30% to 80% of women living in shelters have suffered brain trauma. I'm not exaggerating. Women and people who work in shelters will confirm that for you. People used to say something was wrong, but it was never named. Now we're starting to name it.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Apart from the bed shortage and the difficulty involved in accessing those shelters and halfway houses, you mentioned a lack—
4:20 p.m.
National Executive Director, DisAbled Women's Network Canada, As an Individual
They wind up homeless and sexually exploited. They're human-trafficking victims. The disability rate among women in this situation is enormous. Nearly half of them have a disability.
Take the missing and murdered women inquiry and the indigenous women we're talking about in that community. Many of those women had traumatic brain injuries. They didn't have the diagnosis, but they had the traumatic brain injury. As I said, it's outside of this study, but it's very important to understand that these women are not making it into those transition houses and shelters for those same reasons.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Can you tell us whether there are any shelters or halfway houses where staff can establish a diagnosis before starting to house and stigmatize these women?
4:25 p.m.
National Executive Director, DisAbled Women's Network Canada, As an Individual
No, there aren't any.
I didn't say a lot about accessibility. That'll be in our official presentation. There's no such thing as physical accessibility or anything related to it.
4:25 p.m.
National Executive Director, DisAbled Women's Network Canada, As an Individual
No.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
We're going provide every group with one extra question. Keep it short and simple. We're going to go to Brigitte Sansoucy, Rachael Harder, and whomever you would like—just tell me who it's going to be.
Brigitte, you have time for a short question.
4:25 p.m.
NDP
Brigitte Sansoucy NDP Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
I'd like to continue on the issue of accessibility.
What more can we do to improve it?
4:25 p.m.
National Executive Director, DisAbled Women's Network Canada, As an Individual
As I said, there are four pillars. The first is research, and the second is education.
An enormous amount of education has to be done in the shelters concerning policies for establishing programs for accessibility and support for shelters and halfway houses. Politically speaking, people like you have to be informed about who our current clientele is, who isn't and why. It's obviously very important to assess accessibility funding so we can ensure it's there.
To be able to say that a shelter is ready to admit women with disabilities, you don't just install a ramp and that's it. You really have to rethink the concept of admitting women with disabilities.
Some thought has to be given to hiring employees and establishing a board of directors.
You have to know how to set up a shelter so it's a welcoming place for anyone in any situation.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Excellent. Thank you very much.
A short question means a short answer, but Bonnie, you have so much to offer. Thank you.
4:25 p.m.
National Executive Director, DisAbled Women's Network Canada, As an Individual
I do my best, Karen.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
You are awesome. Thank you.
Rachael, you have a short question—for a short answer.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Arlene, I just wanted to follow up on what you were saying with regard to the shelter you ran. Where did the funding come from for that? How did that take place?
4:25 p.m.
Community Advocate, As an Individual
I volunteered for the first four years because we couldn't get funding. Eventually, we embarrassed the GNWT into funding something, and it just worked. We had so many people coming to the shelter, and the family resource centre was attached. We had 50 people. Professional people always tried to get us to change what we were doing, and then people would drop off. I would say, “Well, no, we're here to help people.”
The focus on people versus programs was huge. Funding came because it worked, and it still comes. I work with indigenous women on employment and stuff. We're just on a huge roll.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Fantastic.
We're going to finish off with our final question from Darren Fisher. You have a short time. Go for it.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so much for being here.
I'm not on the committee, but I'm fascinated by this topic.
I have a short snapper on funding and the gap. Which provinces do well and which provinces don't do well? Is there a way to correlate or publish that so we can see, on a per capita basis perhaps?