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.
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Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
I have about 20 seconds left.
Ann, do you want to add something?
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Director, Community Initiatives, Canadian Women's Foundation
Just quickly, the Canadian Women's Foundation does a lot work on healthy teen relationships, which is about learning what a healthy relationship is at a young age for both girls and boys, and we think that's key.
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Excellent. Thank you.
We're now going to move over to Rachael Harder for seven minutes.
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Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you so much.
Thank you to all of the witnesses for taking the time to be here and share with us today.
My first question, of course, will be for Mr. Thomas, at the Aboriginal Housing Society.
Boyd, I'm wondering if you can share with us a little bit more with regard to social enterprise. That was one of the lines you used in your opening remarks. Can you talk a little bit more about what that means in the context of aboriginal housing and how that's facilitating secure housing for those individuals who need it?
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Executive Director, Aboriginal Housing Society
I have a really hard time sitting down with a bunch of organizations and applying for grant funding for things when you have a certain pocket of money and then you have everybody fighting to get that money and competing with each other. It makes it really difficult, especially when you have so many services that are doing good things that the community needs. I thought that if I could make money by doing it and was able to use that as my resource, then I could manage that. I can budget for it and I can account for it.
As an example, what I did is that we saw a duplex that was being built. I heard a realtor friend of mine say that the builder was have a hard time with that. We went in and offered to purchase the building right at the stage it was at—about 50% done. We offered to purchase it at that price. Then they had a builder come in afterwards to finish it, and we paid him to do that. We're allowing equity to build in that particular house. We're renting it out at fair market value. The revenue we get from that is surplus. There is a surplus coming out of it. Then we're able to turn that around and put it right back into other fair market value-type projects that will finance our welfare market value housing.
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Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Do you have a series of fair market value properties that you're renting out that then help make up for the gap that's left when you're choosing to rent other properties at less than market value?
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Executive Director, Aboriginal Housing Society
That is part of it. We're doing well, but it also helps, too, when you receive capital grant funding. That cuts the bank and the interest rates out, and that's where a large part of the money is. If we're able to build something and then turn around and have a grant that accomplishes that, we're able to recycle that money. That money doesn't get lost in operational funding; it can be recycled again and again as we grow our portfolio.
In everything we do there is a surplus. It doesn't have to be a drastic surplus, but there is a surplus that will help meet even maintenance costs, the consumable items. Any time a good deal comes along, we work at it. Definitely our real estate market here is a little different from those in other places of the country, but at the same time, there are businesses that are really willing if they can realize something that comes from it, for example, the condo. The guy needed to finish his complex. I helped him out, he helped me out, and it was of mutual benefit to both of us.
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Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you.
The Aboriginal Housing Society also puts a key emphasis on mentorship and helping people, not only to move into affordable housing, but also to be able to steward the opportunity for renting and then ownership.
Can you talk a little bit about why that's important and what that looks like.
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Aboriginal Housing Society
I used to say common sense was common. It's not. Common sense comes from being in relationship and sharing experience. Basically, it's the native tradition of the elders talking to somebody else who's coming up. In aboriginal culture, one of the things that an elder has spoken to me about is that it takes seven elk to build a teepee. In order to get those seven elk, you need the entire village to go out there to hunt the animals, you need the entire village to process them, to tan the hides, to distribute the meat, to use the bones. So housing really is a community effort.
It's the same approach with this organization. When people come in, they don't know how to talk to the utilities. They say, I'm going to be a little overdrawn, can I make payment arrangements, or my furnace isn't working, what do I do? You go over there and say, this is this the switch way up here and you turn that on. Somebody thought it was a light switch. There are basic thing like that that would be common if you've been taught them.
What we do is this. I mentioned that in my office I have a living room. I take out the administrative portion and I allow people to come into the living room where we can have coffee; the kids can watch a little bit of TV, Netflix, and we can sit and talk. That way, we can take advantage of that whole mentorship process that I call “housing college”, so that people can receive the knowledge they need. That step-by-step approach, in the housing continuum, actually gets people from the social housing that we have on through to home ownership, because they then get interested in education. I've got several people who have gotten their journeyman's ticket and they now own their own electrical company and plumbing company. Where they have been able to get to from where were before is all part of my being able to speak with them. It's people whom I know, the board members who have professional designations and letting people know they can do it, that they've you've just got learn how to do it and that we will help them with it.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you.
Madam Chair, I would like to take this opportunity to move a motion. I'm hoping that we can do it fairly quickly as a committee in order to get back to hearing from witnesses. I move as follows:
Given that Status of Women Canada is changing to Department of Women and Gender Equality, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women invite the Minister to brief the Committee on her new mandate no later than Wednesday, December 5, 2018, and that this meeting be no less than one hour in length.
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Thank you.
I'll open it up for debate and, Pam, you've got the floor.
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Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Out of respect for our witnesses here, I'm going to move that we adjourn debate.
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
We'll go directly to a vote.
All those in favour of the minister appearing on—
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Liberal
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Golly gee. We're voting on adjournment of the debate.
(Motion agreed to)
We'll continue.
You've got 30 seconds left, Rachael, in questioning.
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Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
I will ask the same question, then, of the B.C. housing society. You also mentioned something, and you used the word, "re-establish", to help women re-establish and using a trauma-informed approach to that. Can you talk a little bit more about that and what it looks like to help women re-establish their lives.
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Executive Director, BC Society of Transition Houses
Yes, it's the BC Society of Transition Houses. The nature of the work that takes place in transition houses is very much focused on the crisis that has brought the women and children to that place. As they stay there longer, there is a focus on next steps, including navigating the legal system, health issues, schooling for children, social assistance, and housing. I see that this committee has spent a lot of time talking about the continuum of housing.
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Executive Director, BC Society of Transition Houses
Someone stepping into housing following violence is assisted greatly by the work done within transition houses.
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Dr. Baker, thank you very much.
We're now going to move to our next round of questioning and we have Sheila Malcolmson for seven minutes.
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NDP
Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Thank you, Chair.
I heard Halton Women's Place refer in their introduction to the lack of comparable access to services for women fleeing violence across the country. We also heard comments about the lack of a national action plan from both the Canadian Women's Foundation and the BC Society of Transition Houses. I'm hoping that you can add to that.
Maybe I'll direct my questions to Joanne Baker from British Columbia—as I am. Can you tell us more about the consequences of the federal government's decision not to fulfill its United Nations commitment to do a national action plan, which would coordinate...? Actually, in the words of the blueprint for a national action plan, it said “in the absence of a national action plan, responses to violence against women in Canada are largely fragmented, often inaccessible, and can work to impede rather than improve women's safety.”
Can you give the committee a little bit more of a sense of the impact on the ground of the federal governments having chosen to work on StatsCan and federal agencies rather than taking that leadership at a national level, as we had hoped, to coordinate responses and assure a consistent level of safety across the country?
5:15 p.m.
Executive Director, BC Society of Transition Houses
You've summarized the position of the United Nations beautifully. I think it's a terribly missed opportunity for this government not to have taken, as you say, a strong position of leadership on the issue of violence against women in all its forms, and to have delivered a national action plan with the broad scope and a whole-of-government approach that it could have.
Within that, I think they could have done the work that we were told they needed to do federally to get their own house in order. That could have been part of the action plan. It's important for leadership at the federal level to bring together the territorial and provincial governments, because as we've heard in today's testimony and in previous sessions, women and children fleeing violence in Canada receive varying levels of service depending on where they are living and fleeing to. I think that's a cause of shame for Canadians.
One of the things that could address that is a national approach that would compel, at the very least, comparable levels of service in each province and territory.
My sense of this being a real missed opportunity is also informed by the fact that globally, this is a period when people are paying attention to issues of violence against women. Wouldn't it have been fantastic to have our national government standing up with its own national plan at that time?
5:15 p.m.
NDP
Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Can you give us a little bit more on the impact you're seeing in the context of your network, in terms of the reality women are facing when they're in a rural area versus an urban area, or in different provinces and territories? What might they experience from that disparity in access to safety?
5:15 p.m.
Executive Director, BC Society of Transition Houses
The disparity can be in terms of whether there is a large enough transition house to meet their needs. If you're a woman living in a rural or remote location, there may be a safe home that can provide service to you. That may be a room in someone's private house, for a few nights, and some coordinated support by a community organization, which helps them take the next step. That's a life-saving service, but it is not a long or deep enough level of service for women in that situation.
The referral points for anti-violence workers in smaller communities mean they try to be all things to all people. That is amazing, well-intentioned work, but it means that women and children seeking service in those communities have fewer options. As I indicated in my statement, lack of transportation in those kinds of communities can mean that they literally cannot get to communities that have the services they need—often vital services such as legal and health appointments.
This is having a very real impact on the ground. When I'm speaking about these issues, I'm not only thinking about the women and children who are fleeing violence. I'm also thinking about the members of the anti-violence workforce who are doing this very undervalued work for very, very poor pay and in incredibly difficult situations.