Status of Women Committee on Feb. 16th, 2016

That's a great question. Thank you.

What we've done, as I said earlier, is create a theme for this International Women's Day. We have material on our website that people can download. We've got a campaign on, basically, that is saying, “Tag a woman who empowers you.”

If all of you were to do that and spread the message to all your contacts to basically get the word out, because we know that empowerment really does.... Having access to education and having access to jobs are all things you know very well will help. Coming from all of you as role models, it would be really powerful for us to have that message out there. Even having speeches or giving any kind of talks out there would be very powerful.

We have an MP kit that I'm being told about that you should have, so if you can just spread the word through your various networks, I think that's what it's all about. It's like getting the conversation going, getting a dialogue going among youth, as you said, because there are some people out there who are feeling it in spades in terms of how much more work there is to be done, and then there's another side that may not be as in tune with that idea, so it would be great to get the conversation going among youth to try to promote this international day of women.

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON

I believe that empowering women is probably one of the biggest things that we can do, especially as members of Parliament, just by showing that we are here today, and this is what any girl can do.

What age group are you focusing on? I mean, I look at many families, and if the role of the mother is just to be the caregiver, we can see that there might be some idea that the caregiver role is what girls are supposed to do in the family. What sort of things are we focusing on so that they understand at a very early age that they're equal? What are we doing for that age group?

Head of Agency, Status of Women Canada

We don't target our programming to age groups. We basically target it generally.

I would invite my colleagues to speak.

We fund various projects that bring along women and girls. An example is our email blasts to schools and others. We work with high schools, but we don't go into elementary schools.

We fund projects. One example has to do with working women, but as a role model. It's this group called Women Building Futures in Edmonton. It is for women who want to work in the skilled trades. This not-for-profit organization basically goes out there and gets women and assesses them, because even if they want to be a crane operator, they might not be able to be a crane operator, so they do a very rigorous assessment. They bring the woman and her children in for six months' training, and in the basement they have the welders and the machine rooms to be able to do the training. The women and children are in condos, and they have schools nearby. The women are trained for six months. They have child care or schooling, and then they were guaranteed jobs waiting for them from some of the energy companies. These women went from working at McDonald's for $20,000 to doing these jobs for maybe $100,000. Mind you, this was a couple of years ago now, and the situation in Alberta is a little bit different now.

It's not targeting the children, but having the children looked after and seeing their moms as role models helps to advance that kind of thinking and prepare the next generation.

I invite my colleagues to add their comments.

Nanci-Jean Waugh Director General, Communications and Public Affairs, Status of Women Canada

The tool kit that we provide to schools has ideas and suggestions for various activities that teachers can take on with their students in the schools. It could be elementary kids or it could be junior high or middle school, and then high school. They are also sent to community organizations so they can engage young people in those categories as well.

This year the most exciting part for us is that empowerment is going to be a full-year project for us and a full-year theme. As we move into Women's History Month as well as the International Day of the Girl, there will be more targeting on the theme.

Stay tuned over the next few days. You're going to be hearing a little more about empowerment and some of the projects that are possibilities.

Conservative

Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON

The empowerment that comes will go hand in hand with ending violence against women. I think that's true. That's why I'm wondering about what age group we start recognizing. I know there are 12-year-old girls who are being sexually assaulted today, and if they are empowered, is this going to help them? I think that's a really strong strategy that we should maybe focus on as well.

That's why there's the violence against women piece. When it comes to empowerment, I think it has to be not just about pay equity but also about the fact that they can stand their ground and they too can be grounded for their future. That's something that's very important to me.

On violence against women, what sorts of projects are we currently working on so that our young men and our young women recognize what is right and what is wrong?

Head of Agency, Status of Women Canada

I'll invite my colleague Linda to tell you about it.

Linda Savoie Senior Director General, Women's Program and Regional Operations Directorate, Status of Women Canada

Being the holder of the funds, I have a direct relationship with the projects.

As a strategy within the women's program, we have used a mix of targeted calls for proposals and open calls for proposals to fund a range of projects around the issue of violence among the other two pillars that are priorities for us. In terms of violence against women and girls, we've had some strategies that aim very directly at engaging men and boys in the reduction of violence against women and girls. We have some projects that are just ending now. We're looking forward to doing an analysis to figure out what the good strategies were and what worked well, and then sharing that knowledge.

Some projects were specifically focused on violence experienced by young women on campuses across the country. There was also a series of projects that ended in the last year. There's a lot of interest in our getting the knowledge out there. We're in the process of validating the lessons that we think have emerged with the groups that we've funded. We also have some projects under way right now that are looking very specifically at cyberviolence, in all its forms, as it is experienced by young women and girls.

We have these very targeted strategies. Having a cluster of projects that are examining the same issue across the country in various ways that are appropriate to their regional realities is a great source of knowledge for us.

Periodically we also have open calls, just to make sure we keep our ear to the ground. We had one last year where the groups were telling us about the concerns they had in terms of violence issues, for instance. There were some interesting things that were brought to our attention. Some were less discussed, such as the impact for women who are experiencing intimate partner violence and how that affects them in the workplace. It affects their performance. It affects their ability to be productive members of society in terms of their own finances. We've also had some issues brought to our attention around sexual reproduction coercion.

Those are interesting for us as red flags that we want to explore further. Those are the types of strategies and the types of investments we use.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu

Excellent.

Your round is over, so we're on to Ms. Malcolmson. Don't worry. We have lots of time today. Everybody will get a chance to ask questions. I think it's good.

Go ahead, Sheila.

NDP

Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC

Thank you, Chair.

I appreciate the accessibility and the good work that you're doing.

You mentioned the mandate having not been changed, but I understood that equality had been removed from the Status of Women mandate in the previous government.

Could you speak to that?

Head of Agency, Status of Women Canada

Yes, it's something that we've tried to clarify, because since 1976 the mandate has been exactly what you've seen.

In our report on plans and priorities, which lays out the objectives, the word “equality” had been used, and it's still there because that's what we're doing all this for. It's to achieve or strengthen equality. It's still there, but for a time it was taken out of the report on plans and priorities as one of the objectives, and it was also taken out of the terms and conditions of the women's program.

It was never in the mandate. Technically, the mandate never had gender equality in it because it had been the mandate that was given to this agency through an order in council in 1976. Whenever the agency reported on what it was trying to do or what its strategic objectives were, we put into it that the objective of all the things we were doing was to achieve gender equality. It was taken out at the time.

NDP

Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC

Is it back in now?

Head of Agency, Status of Women Canada

Yes.

NDP

Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC

Good. Thank you. That is good news.

I'm hoping you can speak a little more about the domestic violence strategy on gender-based violence. How close are we? I know there's been quite a lot of work done by NGOs. I think we're all anxious to see a strategy put in place, and I'm hoping that collectively we'll be able to build on the work that has been done.

How close are we to having a strategy in place that we can then work from?

Head of Agency, Status of Women Canada

We've been working on this since November, I guess, in terms of putting it together.

You're absolutely right, there are very many pieces in the federal government that are working on domestic violence or gender-based violence. We're working with our federal partners to have an assessment of what is out there in terms of legislation, strategy, framework, and funding programs. What's in the federal government? We've never really created a list to figure out what's going on in the federal government, so we're doing that.

We're looking at the provinces and territories and looking at their best practices. Examples are Ontario's new sexual violence campaign, called “It's Never Okay: An Action Plan to Stop Sexual Violence and Harassment”, and B.C.'s domestic violence-free strategy. We're looking at what the provinces are doing.

We're also going to be talking to some of our international stakeholders, such as Australia and New Zealand. We're going to be reaching out to stakeholders and experts in the coming months as soon as we get it framed together.

I'm sure this committee will be hearing from others on that, because it'll be an instrumental role in terms of how we craft this gender-based violence strategy. We know there's lots of advice out there in terms of a blueprint for what the strategy should look like, which we're also looking at.

NDP

Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC

So the blueprint that was developed by national NGOs is something that is on your plate?

Head of Agency, Status of Women Canada

Absolutely, yes.

We're looking at that and we're working on a federal gender-based violence strategy. It's not necessarily a national strategy, because you don't want to duplicate what the provinces are doing. They're best placed to do what they're doing. They know their priorities. They know what works and what doesn't work in their province and they're proceeding at their own pace.

What we're trying to do in the federal government is to at least put it all together so that we can say this is what we have in the federal government in the family violence initiative that the Public Health Agency has or in some of the Criminal Code amendments that the Department of Justice has. We'll be putting together a lot of different pieces that are in the federal government and saying, “Okay, what does this look like, and how can we work together and build on what the provinces and territories are doing without duplicating what they're doing?”

It's going to be a different strategy from the Australian strategy, for example. It'll be a made-in-Canada strategy.

NDP

Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC

You're working toward restoration of shelter funding for domestic violence victims. Can you give us any kind of a teaser about some of the discussions that are under way or how you see a revitalization of that commitment unfolding?

Head of Agency, Status of Women Canada

I'm sorry, I can't tell you about the discussions under way, but we're hopeful you'll find out soon.

There is definitely a recognition. You'll hear our minister speak very eloquently, from her experience on the front lines running a shelter, about there being no question that there is a need for shelters and services when we have about 500 women and their children being turned away from a shelter every day. There is a need out there.

Again, we have some federal levers and we have to work with the provinces and territories to ensure that we're all providing what women need at this time. It's definitely on our agenda. We are having lots of discussions and trying to push to ensure that we're going in that direction.

NDP

Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC

Regarding vulnerability to violence in the first place, can you tell us a bit about what you're working on with regard to the income inequality front, the poverty element that makes women and children vulnerable to violence in the first place?

Justine Akman Director General, Policy and External Relations, Status of Women Canada

Chair, if I could jump in, this is one of the situations in which Status of Women is an enabler, an organization that works with other federal organizations to ensure there's a gender lens in the programs and policies that are being developed. It's related to the wage gap strategy and doing something to focus on women who are in poverty to ensure they can have the tools and resources to get out of poverty.

One of the main initiatives under this government will be a national child care strategy, so we'll be working with the department. These aren't programs and policies that Status of Women itself is leading, but child care is going to be one of the critical programs.

Then a number of other initiatives will be undertaken under this government that we will be working on with our federal colleagues. Status of Women itself does have some women's programs, but women and poverty is generally our focus from the policy side. We're working with our federal colleagues on specific initiatives to address the issue.

February 16th, 2016 / 4:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu

All right. I'm going to go back to the Liberals, but I'm going to add a minute and a half to you guys because we ran over a little on some of the questions.

Liberal

Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS

Sure. What's the total time? I might want to split that.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu

We've got a full hour of discussion, and we started at about 25 to, so it will be another 20 to 25 minutes of discussion.