Status of Women Committee on Nov. 23rd, 2016

[Bonnie Brayton]

I don't know for sure. It was done by a group in British Columbia. I could certainly find out. It was probably the provincial government in British Columbia, since it was a B.C.-based study.

[Karen Ludwig, Liberal, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Okay. Thank you.

[Bonnie Brayton]

Largely what is happening, and from most of what I've picked up—I think this is a really important point to make, and it's a piece of work DAWN is working on now—is that lots and lots of research gets done and the disability lens is either not applied or the disability research is not extracted and not understood to be significant.

Going back to that study in British Columbia, that data I shared with you wasn't found by the researchers to be significant. They weren't looking for it, so they didn't find it. That's the point I want to make to everybody. If you're not looking for the information, you won't find it. We are the most invisible population in this country, but one in five women in this country has a disability—one in five—and that's a low number. That's based on the fact that with stigma, we don't have people really coming forward. Lots and lots of brain-injured women who don't know they have a brain injury instead think that there's something wrong with them. They develop mental health problems. They develop addictions.

All of those things stem from the fact that they weren't supported from the outset or that it's not understood that when they experience violence, they are experiencing more than physical violence. Women are becoming disabled through violence in the country at alarming rates.

[Karen Ludwig, Liberal, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Thank you.

Ms. Neubauer, can you talk in terms of the research that you're working on with Covenant House?

[Julie Neubauer]

We have specific funders for specific areas of research, and they are private funders. The Gooder Foundation provides money for some of our research as well as the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Trillium Foundation. The overall commitment to research and development comes out of our annual operating budget, when we hired on three different staff in 2015 to spearhead research. That comes out of our general operating budget, and then it's focused research from those specific places that I mentioned.

[Karen Ludwig, Liberal, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

To continue, I'll put a researcher's hat on. So often with research we're asked to produce measurable outcomes. Then those measurable outcomes are used to look at whether or not there's an increase in funding, if the program should be changed. Again, that's a significant area that takes expertise.

Are there measurable outcomes that your donors or your funders are looking for in terms of measuring what is success?

[Julie Neubauer]

Absolutely. For the the Rogers Home, we have funding specific to that, and we are looking at a variety of different things. We're looking at, at the beginning of their stay, where they see themselves in terms of engagement with the staff. What are their post-traumatic stress symptoms? We are looking at their resiliency scale and at their mastery scale. Then, because we have them for two years, over that period of time, we work with them and provide that intervention tool at six months, a year, and then two years. We measure those exact same things over again to find out whether the dosage of our program is, in fact, taking them along the spectrum of those different tools.

In addition, at Covenant House we employ something called the Empowerment Star. We look at engagement. We have nine domains from education to safety to, again, mastery. We speak with the young people again at three months, a year, and at the end of their stay, looking at whether they measure themselves. It's one thing to administer a task or a tool onto somebody, but to have them self-evaluate, where they feel they have moved along the spectrum of change.... Our urban response model also looks from crisis to independence, and we overlay it on the stage of change. As I said before, this is a very long process, and the engagement in the relationship is critical. It's not a linear process, so it's not from start to finish; it's that they bounce back from contemplation to action, etc. A lot of our activities try to measure their movement through those different changes as well.

[Karen Ludwig, Liberal, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Thank you.

What is the average duration of someone who would stay at Covenant House? How often might that person return in terms of a revolving door?

[Julie Neubauer]

That's a very interesting question. We're noticing over the past two years that our primary transient population is no longer so, in fact so much so that we're having conversations about the use of the word “crisis” in our name. We're finding that a lot of young people are less transient and coming in and out. The average length of stay, I think, is 21 days, whereas in the past it was three days. A lot of our young people who were using it as crisis in the past are now using it as transitional housing. They're engaging with our staff. They're recognizing that housing in the GTA is not viable, that they can't afford the rent. They're recognizing also that their needs are so profound that in order to get a leg up on education and employment, they need to remain in a stable, constant space.

Does that answer your question?

[Karen Ludwig, Liberal, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

It really does. We've heard from other witnesses looking at violence against women that so often housing is an issue, as Ms. Malcolmson has talked about at this committee, and housing is often temporary, In order to really break that cycle, they are looking at much longer-term housing and helping with that transition.

Not giving any case details, but how would Covenant House work with someone who is transgendered?

[Julie Neubauer]

Outside of their specific needs that they identified, like what floor they sleep on and what bathrooms they use, we have done renovations on some of our spaces. We have done changes to our policy to absolutely embrace and include. My initial response is that in every way we work with them like every other client, but there are some specifics around designated bedrooms on the floor of their identified gender.

At the Rogers Home, it's either female or female-identified and they have their own bedroom and their own bathroom, so it kind of precludes that conversation.

In our other transitional housing programs, the Rights of Passage one, they reside on the floor in which they identify.

[Karen Ludwig, Liberal, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you both very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

We go now to Ms. Harder for five minutes.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you very much.

My first question is also for Covenant House Toronto.

To what extent do you think the porn industry might have an impact on trafficking and the violence that we see taking place with young women and girls?

[Julie Neubauer]

I made the statement earlier about the whole foundation of gender inequality and opportunity equity across the world. I think the pornography industry and the demand for all these things play a massive role in trafficking. The things that Bonnie was talking about, that make our young women vulnerable; not to pontificate, but it's an overarching attitude of our society that allows these types of activities to continue and that the commodification of the female body is an acceptable occurrence.

Many of our young women aren't actively engaged in pornography in the ways that we used to understand it, so not in the California Valley of skin flicks, but much more in terms of exotic dancing and escorting. There's the whole notion of sugar daddies and sugar babies. I would make a direct connection to that kind of acceptance and understanding that when I'm a young woman and I look to ways in which I can feel valuable or make money, I look to my own body. That's an unfortunate place to begin. We do have young women who do sex-cam work, but most of our stuff is directly related to sex acts, providing sex for service.

I would wholeheartedly agree with the suggestion that there is a direct link to pornography and the sex industry.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you very much.

I have another question for you, just because this is making headlines right now. In the province of Ontario there was a 15-year-old who was sexually assaulted by a 50-year-old man. This 50-year-old man was given a sentence of seven months and two years of probation. This is counter to the minimum sentencing that he should have been given, which is one year.

I'm just looking for your reflections on this. In my estimation, when we go this route or we allow this judge to make this decision, it actually seems like we're sending a message to society that it's increasingly okay to take advantage of women, rather than taking a stand for them and advocating on behalf of the vulnerable.

I'm wondering if you can reflect on that a little bit.

[Julie Neubauer]

We have just five to seven minutes....

You just need to look to the south and look at the activities of recent events down there, at the language that was allowed to happen, at all the conversations that ensued around the candidates and their gender, and then the fact that there are instances where our judiciary system responds in the way they do.

In this case, this is unfortunately what you get. The age difference was 15 to 50, but those types of decisions happen daily, whether it's a wife to a husband or a father to a daughter. This just happened to be a 15-year-old girl to a 50-year-old man, and they didn't have any familial connection. Sadly, it's just those ones that get brought to light, but you know that these occurrences happen daily. Again, it goes back to that general acceptance of women as property and people not being comfortable in making a grander stand against something that is a basic human right.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you very much.

I have one last quick question, and it goes to you, Ms. Brayton. It is with regard to pornography and the impact that you might see it having on those who have disabilities.

[Bonnie Brayton]

I think it's important to remember that there's an awful lot of women out there with invisible disabilities. Coming back to some of the data I've shared, this is quantitative data that needs to be deepened by properly attacking these questions from a longitudinal perspective and so on. I think that with 35% of sex workers in British Columbia and 40% of women in prisons, we're talking about women with disabilities when we're talking about any of these issues. We're not acknowledging that they're women with disabilities, perhaps, but that's what we're talking about. It's one third of indigenous women, and I have no hesitation in saying that if the data was there, then I know it would affirm what I'm saying.

You talked about the cross-border sex trafficking. I know that's happening among young indigenous women, young women with disabilities included. When we're talking about any of these issues, we need to add the disability lens and the intersectional lens at all times. The most vulnerable women in this country—

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I'm sorry. That's the end of your time.

We'll go to our last five minutes with Ms. Vandenbeld.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

To start, if you wanted to finish your thought, go ahead.

[Bonnie Brayton]

I just wanted to affirm what Julie said and remind everyone that based on some of the information I've shared already, it's quite clear that while we haven't been talking about it, and perhaps you haven't been hearing it from any of the other witnesses—it's not a reflection on them, but is a gap in important knowledge and research that needs to be addressed—that really is who we are talking about. At least one third of those women, wherever we're talking about them, are women with disabilities when we're talking about women who are being exploited, about women who have been marginalized or vulnerable-ized.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you very much.

I want to thank both of you for your incredibly compelling testimony and for bringing to light some of the things and especially some of the statistics that we haven't heard previously. We're here, of course, as federal legislators. A lot of what we hear we're going to have to bring back into recommendations in terms of what the federal government can do and what legislation is needed.

I heard you say, Ms. Brayton, that disability legislation right now is not gendered.

Ms. Neubauer, you mentioned things like strengthened tools for the justice system.

Perhaps I could ask both of you to elaborate specifically on what we can recommend as a committee in terms of federal legislative changes.

[Julie Neubauer]

Go ahead, Bonnie.

[Bonnie Brayton]

Thank you.

In terms of the legislative side of things, I'll remind everyone here that Minister Qualtrough will be bringing forward accessibility legislation, and I know she is committed to women and girls as well. It's really important to work with her and to collaborate with her unit and her department around making sure that this legislation is supported as it comes forward, including any ways that it can be specifically used to address gender issues. Of course, an intersectional approach is critical.

I think one of the things that's most exciting about our current Parliament is that we have a strong focus and a cross-ministerial strategy that is talking about looking across departments. Rather than thinking of me as the person who needs to meet with Minister Bennett, Minister Qualtrough, Minister Hajdu, Minister Philpott, and all of the folks who need to be made more aware of the kind of information I'm sharing with you, it's really important that all of you walk out of this room feeling a collective responsibility, because that's what I'm asking you to do. This is not work that DAWN Canada can continue to sustain by itself. It is about you thinking about this at every point when you look at legislation and at every point when you look at an issue. Ask yourself, have we applied the intersectional lens, and are we looking at this in a fulsome way, so that we include everybody in our society?