Status of Women Committee on April 2nd, 2019

[Immaculée Kalimurhima]

Thank you.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

I'm wondering if you can reflect a little on your parents' journey, their credentials for working in Canada and how they found that transition.

[Immaculée Kalimurhima]

When we got to Uganda, my parents got jobs in a refugee camp. My dad was assistant doctor and my mom was a nurse, and they worked there for 10 years, helping the refugees who were sick with all kinds of life-threatening diseases.

They came here with their papers and everything, and they were told their papers weren't considered here, so my mom had to go back to high school at the same time as us. She fought really hard to get that education in Congo, where women don't have the right to education, and here, where we consider the country to have gender equality, her higher education was viewed as nothing. She had to go back to school, with six children to take care of.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Were your parents successful in going back and getting their credentials? Can I ask how they are doing today?

[Immaculée Kalimurhima]

My mom is still going to school. She's in CEGEP now, the same as me. My dad is going to school part-time and working, as we are.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Can you talk to me a bit about your hopes and your dreams, going forward?

[Immaculée Kalimurhima]

I hope to finish school successfully, which is kind of hard right now, because I have to help take care of my young brothers and sisters, help my family have a better life and help to see if Canada can at least evaluate the education of refugees when they come here. Canada gave us an opportunity, and we want to give something back. We have the education to do so, but we don't have anywhere to prove it. We don't have a chance to prove it.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Immaculée, it's clear that you and your family have worked really hard to be a part of Canada and to make a life for yourselves here. I have every confidence that you are going to be successful going forward. I commend you. What you are doing is not easy—helping with five siblings and even supporting your parents while they pursue their dreams. Simultaneously, you are pursuing yours. I have every confidence that you're going to be successful. I wish you all the best as you move forward.

[Immaculée Kalimurhima]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Okay. Irene, you have four minutes.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you.

Thank you for bringing these very divergent but important perspectives. Ideally, that's what parliamentarians are supposed to do: bring their community to this place and allow this place to make good decisions about that community. Congratulations, and thank you.

Again, I have so many questions. Immaculée, you talked about the recognition of foreign credentials. Are your parents experiencing difficult barriers? Is it too slow a process? Is it too ponderous and unfair?

[Immaculée Kalimurhima]

It is unfair, considering they have done their education. They already have work experience with so many different organizations. They worked with UNHCR and other medical organizations that are in the refugee camps. When they got here, nothing was considered. They were not considered for even the lowest job at the hospital. My dad was working low-paying jobs in a factory, making $11 an hour, and he is a qualified assistant doctor. It's totally unfair. We would like to have the opportunity to help the community that has helped us a lot.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

Megan, you talked about the institutionalization of human beings. We heard very recently about forced sterilization of indigenous women. We were horrified by it, but it's a reality. Despite the fact that indigenous people are 5% of the population, they make up 30% of those who are incarcerated. I understand your frustration.

I wanted to get to what you talked about in terms of home care for those who are vulnerable, and making it part of the social fabric through the health care system. I've had experience with community living. It matter what happens to those challenged individuals. Could you describe what you see in terms of the social agencies becoming part of the health care system?

[Megan Linton]

Yes. I am currently in a province where the health care system is being significantly slashed. We are losing access to services left, right and centre. I know my own community living centre was slashed in half just over a year ago. Within the social fabric of our society, this needs to be mandated in a way it currently is not. The way it is currently mandated, with the provincial responsibility on health care—despite a national strategy—isolates people within provinces.

Within Ontario right now, we're seeing significant cuts, specifically to accessibility of post-secondary education and access to schools. I think our understanding of community living and disabled voices needs to be expanded. We need to recognize and support disability and disabled bodies beyond a capitalist mindset of what they can produce, and work that into every fabric of our society.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you.

Phoenix, with regard to your experience as a transgender woman in sport, I think we regard it as something where there aren't too many people in your situation, but I wondered about it. Is there a significant number? Also, what kind of awareness is beginning in terms of the work that needs to be done to meet your needs and respect that community?

[Phoenix Nakagawa]

Well, it's a very small community, because a lot of queer people in sport have been abused. There are very high rates of rape. There are very high rates of abuse. There are very high rates of ignorance by coaches as well. I'm the only one in my rowing club, and I think I'm probably the only one in the Prairies to be trans in sport.

The policies are coming forward. Rowing Canada, my association, did come up with policies, but after reading through them, I am very disappointed, because they are words on paper. I am offered no protections. My community is offered no protections. It's just stating that we can race, but that's it.

I am truly ashamed that this happening, because I want to be able to race with my people and with the community and to love the sport for what it is.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I'm sorry, but your time is up.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to talk to Valérie.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much to today's panellists: Immaculée, Megan, Valérie and Phoenix.

We're going to suspend for a few seconds and change up the panels.

I'm just going to make a little note; I'm sure the clerk will be okay with this. After all the witnesses have testified, let's have a group photo with all the MPs and all who have taken part in this.

We're going to reconvene.

I would now like to welcome the next panel: Charlotte Scott-Frater, Claire Belliveau, Eugénie Veilleux and Corina Picui.

We're going to start with you, Charlotte. You have the floor for two minutes.

[Charlotte Scott-Frater, As an Individual]

Today I'm here to talk about something that I feel is an under-discussed part of the post-secondary undergraduate experience, specifically for women, and that's the issue of professor-student intimate relationships. Often, that's greeted with a sort of knowing chuckle. It has a lot of cultural baggage, but if we strip that away, it constitutes an abuse of power and a violation of trust, plain and simple.

Predatory professors use their position of authority and the admiration that students hold for them to induce them to enter romantic relationships, and then use that power to compel these women to stay quiet. While it isn't exclusively women who are affected, it is disproportionately women. The idea of a bad end to a relationship with a professor impacting grades and career prospects is really a legitimately scary thing that prevents a lot of young women from speaking out about this. As well, a lot of these professors will tell them to stay quiet in order to protect their reputation.

Most universities do not have outright bans on teacher-student intimate relationships. My own university, McGill, recently declined to do so despite two full years of sustained student advocacy for this policy.

In first year, I was told by an older female student in my department that I should never take classes with a certain prof because everyone knew that he would hit on his students during office hours. A lot of people don't have access to that information. I was very lucky. It's a shame that whisper networks have to evolve in order to protect female students where institutions fail to do so. As well, there is a great personal cost to speaking out on this. A student at my university is currently being sued by a professor because she's alleged to have told other students about allegations against him.

I understand that the federal government doesn't get involved in education, but it's a national issue, and you should call for an outright ban.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Excellent. Thank you, Charlotte.

We're now going to move on to Claire for two minutes for her opening statement.

[Claire Belliveau, As an Individual]

Thank you very much.

It is clear that there are an increasing number of women in politics. The 2015 federal election saw a record number, 88 women elected as members of Parliament, but we still face many challenges. In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges is sexual harassment and the terms of language directed to and in reference to women in politics.

An article published by Global News in 2018 highlights the issue of sexual harassment in Canadian politics. The article states:

One MP, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect her personal privacy, said that while she has never experienced sexual harassment on Parliament Hill, she has heard her male colleagues share many jokes and remarks of a sexual nature about female MPs and employees.

Despite her best efforts to make clear that the jokes—which her colleagues find trivial—are unwelcome and inappropriate, they have not stopped.

I am deeply disappointed and disheartened by the behaviour of some of Canada's leaders. It is clear that gender balance and equal representation in cabinet do not mean equal respect on Parliament Hill. Both the women and the men in politics need to work together in order to address this issue.

I ask the women of Parliament to address inappropriate workplace language. While some women may remain afraid to speak up against harassment, I encourage them to confide in a trusted co-worker. However, I also call upon the men in politics and in Parliament to address and challenge inappropriate language that they may hear among their co-workers in regard to their female co-workers. Language in politics needs to be addressed because, far more often than not, women are verbally harassed and they do not speak up against harassers in fear for their job.

The leaders of our country need to be held accountable for their inappropriate language and their actions towards women in politics. While it remains a male-dominated field, an increasing number of women are now involved in politics. If the gender representation in Canadian politics can shift, so can the language towards women in politics.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much, Claire.

Eugénie, we're passing it over to you for two minutes

[Eugénie Veilleux, As an Individual]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Recent events have made me realize that being a woman, and especially a small woman, has had more repercussions that I would have thought, at several points in my life.

I'm thinking in particular of a recent event, a public speaking contest where I had worked very hard to win first place. The comments that I received after the contest surprised me. People told me that I had really surprised them. They didn't think that a small person like me would have such a strong voice. This didn't bother me. The comments weren't bad. In the end, why do people make those comments? The reason is that the characteristics of a good speech aren't associated with small women like me. A powerful voice, strength and greatness are demonstrated in speeches.

This just confirmed the importance of destroying stereotypes, which are especially blatant in politics. Inequalities are strongly perpetuated by stereotypes. The more intense the socialization process, the stronger the stereotype. This issue is addressed in paragraph 5(a) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, which condemns the perpetuation of these stereotypes.

One issue is that politics was exclusive to men for such a long. As a result, the stereotypes are very strong. We don't need to look very far to see that Canada has never elected a woman prime minister. In Quebec and the United States, there have been very few. In addition, few women are leaders of political parties running for election, for example. How can a woman have aspirations in a field built so heavily on male stereotypes?

Lastly, my message is that parity is still important in politics. Above all, I want to point out that parity comes from general recommendation no. 5 of the CEDAW, which proposes temporary special measures. This just means that parity is a temporary measure to enable women to infiltrate decision-making institutions. We've reached a point where so many competent people have doctorates, training and experience. These people are women as well as men. Experience is no longer an issue. Stereotypes must be dismantled during the hiring and selection process. I'm excited to see more women in positions of power.

I'll conclude with an observation by Simone de Beauvoir. Women's rights are not and will never be permanently acquired.

Thank you.