Evidence of meeting #127 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 sterilization.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
It's an ability for communities to have support services for women prior to birth and after birth, and also to support those early years with respect to families.
4:15 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
It's in their communities, in their homes. There will be home visitors who will go.... It's similar to what provinces have. You'll have a home assessment, and a nurse or a family visitor will come and speak with you about how you're doing, and your baby, and everything else. They'll follow up on immunizations. They, of course, have a great support role for breastfeeding. Some communities have chosen to hire doulas or to support doulas in the community to exercise that role, or in some cases even midwives will exercise that role.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Excellent.
We're now going to move on to our final line of questioning with Eva Nassif.
Eva, you have five minutes.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Gideon.
Ms. Gideon, I have a question for you. With regard to the class action suit filed in October 2017, we realized at that time that these practices—women being subjected to tubal ligation without their consent—had existed for 10 or 15 years, and no one noticed.
Could you explain what happened? Why did it take so long, 10 or 15 years, before the department realized what was being done?
4:15 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
Our department does not manage direct services that involve surgical procedures. We continue to fund two hospitals and their operations, but they are small. No operations are performed there.
Our department delivers primary care or nursing care in some remote communities. In Canada, it is really the provincial and territorial health care systems that deliver these procedures and medical services. Our department provides complementary funding for the communities, but not for specialized, maternal or reproductive care.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
However, I still don't understand why it took between 10 and 15 years for these procedures—with regard to contraception and tubal ligation performed without consent—to become public. Why do you think it took so long?
4:15 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
I have not been with the branch for 10 or 15 years.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
I apologize, but it says here that there was a class action suit filed in October 2017. The point was that people wanted an admission that these things had been done for 10 or 15 years.
4:15 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
Yes.
4:15 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
Yes, I understand, but we are not directly connected to the Saskatchewan health authority. We don't have responsibility for health care services in that field. However, we do provide funding to Saskatchewan's first nations communities. Some programs are provided in the communities. That said, these are not specialized care programs that would involve surgery. If complaints were made, we do not have access to that information at our department.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
In that case, are the provinces or territories responsible for the lack of information?
4:20 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
It is the provincial or territorial system that would have a more direct link with their regional health agencies, as well as with the patients, communities and the women who access their services. This issue was not submitted to us by first nations or Inuit leaders who participate in our processes. That does not mean, however, that nothing was going on. It simply means that we were not working with them on these matters.
There are several other matters we do study with them, such as cultural competency in the health care system and discriminatory practices. Those points are submitted to our upper management committee in the course of our work, as well as to our regional and national first nations partners. That practice, however, did not come up specifically. At least it was not raised since my arrival at the branch.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Still on the topic of what was being done in Saskatoon, in their study, Dr. Judith Bartlett and Senator Yvonne Boyer said that this was not just about tubal ligation without consent, but that there were no other means of contraception.
How is it that your department and you, as assistant deputy minister, were funding these organizations?
4:20 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
We fund contraception programs.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
4:20 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
A range of contraception methods are offered in Canada under the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program for first nations and Inuit. We offer coverage for a range of medications and they are available to indigenous women. This is, in fact, a very important point which we are going to emphasize in the documents we will be preparing with these people in order to improve access to information and direct communication with indigenous women in the communities.
4:20 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
Yes.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
4:20 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
Yes.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
This falls under provincial jurisdiction, but the federal government can certainly look into the issue of informed consent. However, what else can we do?
4:20 p.m.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada
We could work on that. We do have the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program. We have also been working on a joint review with the first nations since 2014. In that context, we are trying to see how direct access to information could be improved even more, so that the people concerned will know what coverage we can provide for medication. It is a very important point.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
That's excellent. Thank you very much.
On behalf of the committee, I'd like to thank Katherine Cole and Valerie Gideon for coming forward and bringing forward this information for our brief.
I want to remind the committee that our next meeting will be on Tuesday, January 29. We will continue our consideration of the draft report on barriers facing women in politics. There will also be a first draft regarding our shelter and transition houses study coming out to everybody by January 25.
To everybody, have a wonderful holiday, merry Christmas and a happy new year. See you in 2019.
The meeting is adjourned.