Status of Women Committee on Feb. 7th, 2017

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Excellent.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

We'll go to my colleague Ms. Vecchio for seven minutes.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Hi. Thanks very much. I'm going to start with the OECD.

Back in December, I was at the World Forum in France, where they were really focusing on the sharing economy. Can you speak quickly about the impact of the sharing economy and the opportunities for women?

[Prof. Willem Adema]

Do you want me to talk about the sharing of paid and unpaid work?

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

No, about the sharing economy. It's the opportunity to take on something like Airbnb, if you're familiar with that. These are opportunities where women can create business cycles through offering products of their own and creating community that way.

[Prof. Willem Adema]

I must admit that I wasn't at that particular forum. What I do know is that when it comes to entrepreneurship and initiatives, the role of women's networks and mentoring is very important. If you define “sharing” as sharing with colleagues and people in a similar situation, that is one way forward.

When I look at sharing in this particular case between the genders, I look at men and women at home trying to share the work in the economy but also the work at home. Various countries have undertaken initiatives in that area. We are—

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

That's fantastic. I understand that in every culture we have to look at things being different. Things are different in the country you're actually living in and the way you were raised. I know that has a lot to do with it.

I want to switch over to the Canadian Women's Foundation and ask you about your leadership cultivation programs. Can you give me some examples of them and how they might mentor people into politics, onto boards, or into becoming women entrepreneurs? Can you give me an insight?

[Anuradha Dugal]

Absolutely. Thank you.

We have a leadership institute specifically for women. It's been piloted over three years. Twenty-five women each year go to the Coady International Institute and do a model that is very focused on executive leadership. It is directed at supporting their leadership in not-for-profits. The reason we created it was that the community economic development groups encouraged us to try to plug a gap in training and expertise in women's leadership in not-for-profits. As we know, succession planning is not happening in not-for-profits. There 's a big turnover in staff at the higher levels.

That has shown us the importance of mentorship and coaching. They have a program at the beginning and at the end, and then during the year they run a leadership project themselves in their community. They have a mentor who offers them not only the asset-building advice that we see in the sustainable livelihoods projects but also real-time industry advice, which is really important to them. Those mentors are key to that program.

Right now we run it for mostly not-for-profits, but we find that women in those programs report to us such things as, “I now feel like I could present myself for political office on the town council”, or “I feel I could present myself for a board position at the local shelter.” They're seeing the assets growing in all areas, not just in their professional life.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Wonderful.

I want to switch over to the YWCA. As the critic for families, children, and social development, I do a lot when it comes to looking at the opportunities for child care and recognizing the difference between rural versus urban and people working shift work. I'm from a community that has a lot of that as well.

I have done a lot of looking into Quebec—I know that the minister has a plan for looking at a national child care strategy—and I have found some holes in there. I think what is happening is that we have this envy of Quebec, where we see it as the best thing, yet we see two-year waiting lists. There are not enough spots. We also recognize that with regard to taxation, people are paying small amounts at the back end because they're being taxed at the beginning to pay for this entire program. As well, one thing that's come to my attention is the quality. I know that in Ontario, where I am, there is a ratio of one to five and things of that sort.

Clearly there are some big holes in this child care program. I'm not saying it's not a good thing, but there are some holes. Can you comment on that? You seem to be a real advocate for it. I'm trying to find out what we're trying to do better. We know that it's okay, but not what it should be.

[Ann Decter]

I was reporting to you on the success of broad-based low-cost child care in Quebec in changing women's economic position, not on a detailed analysis of what's part of that program. I think it has been evolving. It started as kind of a Cadillac program, with many different kinds of child care, which no one else in the country has attempted as part of the system.

What we see in child care across the country is that in the last 10 years, after the federal government walked away from moving forward on a national plan, the social pressure for access to child care has been felt by the provinces, and they have tried to respond—

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

That's okay, because it should be the provinces, if we're looking at it—

[Ann Decter]

Well, it's always going to be piecemeal if it's the provinces.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

It is piecemeal, yes.

[Ann Decter]

Yes, so it's not that the federal government is ever going to provide a national system and be the service provider, but it needs national leadership. You have four provinces that have responded with full-day kindergarten in the last 10 years. The pressure continues, and it's a policy gap on which we haven't seen sufficient action. It is part of women's lack of economic security, which takes them into their senior years in the position that I described.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Okay.

I just want to pull back to employment insurance. You mentioned addressing employment insurance so that we could look at other opportunities. What are those other opportunities? Currently we have the sick benefits and the maternity and parental and compassionate care benefits. What are some other things that you think we need to put in there?

[Anuradha Dugal]

I think one thing that's needed is emergency funds for women. Certainly there are emergency loan funds that are run by individual organizations. It's a lot of pressure for the individual organizations to run something like that, but whether you're experiencing a sudden economic loss or a sudden crisis in your family, the need for that emergency fund in order to jump to a new place of living or to get something done quickly—

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Do you see that through employment insurance or through a federal program?

[Anuradha Dugal]

There used to be in a few provinces—I'm sorry, but I'm not familiar with all of the ins and outs of it—emergency funds available, particularly for women, particularly in certain situations of violence, which would help them in a few provinces, but—

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Was that under the employment insurance?

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

We're going to go now to Ms. Malcolmson for seven minutes. Sorry.

[Anuradha Dugal]

We'll have to check that for you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

You may begin.

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Thanks, Chair.

Thanks to all the witnesses for their work.

I have a series of questions for the YWCA and Ann Decter.

Women's economic security is very closely tied to their ability to live free from spousal and sexual violence. We hear that women and girls fleeing situations of domestic violence are being turned away from shelters. Can you talk a bit about how that relates to the shortage of affordable housing for women?