Evidence of meeting #121 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.
5:40 p.m.
Director, Horizon Women's Centre
We were called “family resources” before and our mandate was for up to eight weeks, but now with the new shelter standards we can take them longer, so we do if we need to.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Excellent.
I'm just going to pass the floor over to Dr. Leitch. She has one more question for you.
5:40 p.m.
Simcoe—Grey, CPC
I have one question and just one comment with regard to something Emmanuella mentioned earlier.
I completely agree with your approach—I think, Diane, you were mentioning it—with respect to social behavioural change for children. I think that's the language we should all be using. It is about social behavioural change.
We've seen that in Canadian society many times for things as basic as garbage and recycling. I know that when I litter now I actually feel very uncomfortable. I hope no one saw it and I pick it up and I put it in the garbage can.
I do believe that whether it's issues around recycling or issues that are much more paramount to Canadian society, like violence against women, those social behavioural changes are things that children need to learn before the age of 10. We see that all the time in their education, and the more we can do, whether as parliamentarians or you in what you're doing as activists and others, I think will really drive that change. Those education programs are not for someone like me.... I'm a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon and it's not my field of expertise, but maybe it is for Emmanuella and her colleagues, and it is that social behavioural change that we have to focus on.
My apologies for my diatribe.
My quick question, though, is for Linda, coming back to letting you finish the answer to the question I asked of you before about transition. You had commented that you have a two-month time frame for having women resident in your shelter and then transitioning them out. But for how many and for what percentage of women can you actually meet that time frame, or do you really struggle in trying to provide that opportunity for women to transition at the two-month mark?
Should we be looking at supports for organizations like your own, or on the transition end, where is that bottleneck, for lack of a better term, so that we can help these women?
5:40 p.m.
Director, Horizon Women's Centre
I would say that in the past five years we've had to take the women for longer times because we do not have second-stage housing in our area. If a woman is there for two months and finds an apartment available, say, for two months, we will keep her because we're not going to let her go to find a market rent for two months. She would have to give her two months' notice, so we would keep her longer. We do keep women longer than the two months. We have to, because there is no second-stage housing in our area. That would be a real help.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Thank you very much.
I'd really like to thank Diane Beaulieu, Boyd Thomas, Dr. Joanne Baker, Ann Decter and Linda Lafantaisie Renaud. Thank you very much for the excellent panels, and sorry about all of our scheduling complexity today.
Here are just a few reminders. We have a couple of deadlines coming up. November 9 is the deadline for the briefs, just as a reminder. Witness lists for our next study are due next Wednesday, November 14. Also, draft recommendations for the barriers to women in politics study are due on November 21.
Thanks very much.
Oh, yes, go ahead, Pam.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
I have a question, Chair.
I asked my assistant earlier this week when we are getting the draft of the barriers to women in politics study, because I thought it was on Monday.
5:45 p.m.
Conservative
5:45 p.m.
Dominique Montpetit Committee Researcher
The report should be distributed by the end of the week.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
5:45 p.m.
Conservative
5:45 p.m.
Simcoe—Grey, CPC
I know the motion was tabled before, but I just have a comment. Having served in the role of minister of status of women, I think it would be very beneficial for us to hear from the minister on what her new mandate may be and the direction she would like to take.
Obviously, that could colour what studies we choose to follow here. I wasn't able to comment on it before, but having sat in her shoes, I think there may be some substantive value for all of us, let alone the minister, in terms of what things we focus on.
5:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Okay.
I recognize that the person who put forward the motion is not here.
I appreciate your comments but
I think we can continue that conversation, that debate, with all of us in the room.
I recognize that Sheila had asked before she left that we don't do anything crazy in her absence.
Thank you once again, everybody. What a wonderful meeting today.
The meeting is adjourned.
