Evidence of meeting #117 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 shelter.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Kristal LeBlanc  Executive Director, Beausejour Family Crisis Resource Centre
Jennifer Lepko  Chief Executive Officer, YWCA Lethbridge and District
Steven Blaney  Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, CPC
Sonia Sidhu  Brampton South, Lib.
Lyda Fuller  Executive Director, YWCA NWT

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

Now we're moving on to Jenny Kwan. You have your seven minutes.

October 24th, 2018 / 4:55 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Fuller, for your presentation.

“The north has some of the highest rates of family and gendered violence in the country.” Status of Women Canada acknowledged this, saying that there is “a lack of shelter services in indigenous communities” and that “[c]onstruction and maintenance costs lead to crowded living conditions, which are a risk factor for violence.”

They went on to say, “We do know that, despite efforts to date, more than 70% of the 53 Inuit communities spread across four geographic regions of the Canadian Arctic still don't have access to shelters”.

That's the reality, and you have shared some of it with us.

The government knows about the lack of shelters, because Status of Women Canada acknowledges it. The question is why this problem is persisting. Why is there no action taken? Given that budget 2019 is just coming up, in February, what is your recommendation? What do you call on the government to do? What are the must-dos that they have to have in this budget in 2019?

4:55 p.m.

Executive Director, YWCA NWT

Lyda Fuller

I would say they need to better support the shelters that exist so that they don't have to close for part of the year, and also to construct shelters in areas where there aren't shelters.

The three regions I referenced are all in the Northwest Territories. I know the Yukon has only three women's shelters, and I believe Nunavut has five. I'm not sure they're open all year, either.

Many times, they might be person-dependent. We would hear, for example, that the executive directive of the shelter in Cape Dorset was being treated for cancer, so the shelter closed while she was away. Then you have very iffy services.

We need to build capacity in northern Canada, not only with bricks and mortar but with people who are there to run the shelters, and we need to invest in them and in their training.

4:55 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

With the presentation from the last group, I asked them to send something to the committee on what sufficient funding would look like. I wonder if you can do the same for northern communities, particularly from your region, so that we can get a sense, as a committee, of what those demands are and be able to extrapolate that information for other communities as well.

Is that something you can do for us?

5 p.m.

Executive Director, YWCA NWT

5 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Thank you.

We also note that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, article 22(2), states:

States shall take measures, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, to ensure that indigenous women and children enjoy the full protection and guarantees against all forms of violence and discrimination.

We know that is not the case. The National Aboriginal Circle Against Family Violence also found that indigenous women's shelters are significantly underfunded, at far lower levels than their provincially funded counterparts.

Can you comment on that, please?

5 p.m.

Executive Director, YWCA NWT

Lyda Fuller

Our shelters in the Northwest Territories are variably funded, for sure. It's fascinating to me that the most northern shelters, with the highest cost of things like food and utilities, have the lowest funding.

Across the north, expenses are high, and the funding just doesn't seem to be there for the shelters. I don't know what else we can say. I know there's some federal funding for shelters on reserves, but I don't know what the funding levels are for those shelters.

5 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

There are only 41 shelters serving approximately 330 first nations communities, which represent approximately 55% of all first nations communities, so it is wholly inadequate.

From your experience, would you say that indigenous women and girls have access to comparable levels of services and protection no matter where they live, or do you think there's a difference?

5 p.m.

Executive Director, YWCA NWT

Lyda Fuller

I absolutely think there's a difference. I don't think indigenous women have the same access as you would find in southern Canada, for sure.

5 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

A nation-to-nation relationship, as the government has said, is the most important relationship. What do you think the government should do about that with budget 2019?

5 p.m.

Executive Director, YWCA NWT

Lyda Fuller

I'd like to see more shelter services for indigenous women, because they face such high rates of violence and such high lethality. I think we need to ensure that they're better protected and have options available to them.

I'm not familiar, for example, with the shelter system in Nunavik, in northern Quebec, but I would venture to say they probably have some of the same issues that we have here around funding and access. We just need to do better with that.

5 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

One of the issues is around core funding, which was raised previously. Is that something that is absolutely a necessity for you? Do we need to have the government get through this finger-pointing process of saying, “No, it's not me. Go to the province,” and then everybody else just saying, “Not me”?

Guess what, it is the people who are doing the hardest work, such as you, who don't have the resources to provide for some of the most vulnerable people, the women and children who are faced with violence in our communities.

5 p.m.

Executive Director, YWCA NWT

Lyda Fuller

Yes, I would like to see core funding. I'd like there to be a funding model that is fair across the country and provides adequately for shelters for women. Right now, the funding models across Canada vary widely. I would like to see it be much better and more standardized, so that women have access no matter where they live in Canada.

5 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

Excellent. Thank you very much.

I'd really like to thank you for appearing today, Lyda Fuller, executive director of the YWCA Northwest Territories. You've provided us with a great amount of information.

We will now take a short break for about five minutes before we resume our meeting in camera.

That is it for my French, people.

We're going to suspend for about two minutes. I'm going to ask for one staff per person, one person per party, and that the rest of the room close off.

Thank you very much once again, Lyda. Have a good night.

[Proceedings continue in camera]