Evidence of meeting #6 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 witnesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
Can I just respond to that?
I actually disagree. There's quite a bit of research on the social determinants of health, which clearly have linked things like housing, economic success, and education to people's health and wellness outcomes, so I'm very confident that those things are linked.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
I would agree with you there. Definitely that can be the case. I guess, without asking the question specifically of the same individual, you cannot assume causality. All you have is an equation for association.
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
Well, we'll leave that up to the researchers to sort out.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Okay.
Anyway, in the documents we were given, one of the statements that was made was that this would be the last report that would be given or delivered in this way, and that future reports would lend greater transparency and accountability. I'm just wondering if you can briefly help me understand what future reports will look like and whether or not it's then possible to track the year-to-year efficiency and effectiveness of this department.
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
Absolutely. As we move forward in this new government, what we really want to do is make sure that the money we're spending shows concrete results for Canadians and that we can prove not just outputs but outcomes. So if you know anything about evaluation—which it sounds like you know a little bit about—there are two things we measure: outputs, which are things like reports, documents, and research; and then outcomes. What we really want to do is make sure that we're evaluating the money we're spending, regardless of what ministry or division it is, through the lens of outcomes.
Also, this is more of a longitudinal approach. You're not going to be able to say that you spent this money in May and by September gender-based violence had gone down, but what we want to do is make sure we are trending in the appropriate direction.
We are working right now on creating our tools. The Prime Minister and the government have been very clear that we are all accountable, not just to our mandate but in terms of the efficiency of our budgets. We'll be coming back to you as we develop the tools so that you can take a look.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
One of the risks that was identified in the report we were given was this, “Given its broad mandate and the demand for its program and policy interventions, SWC may be perceived as not meeting/responding to stakeholder expectations.”
I think, really, what this is getting at is that it's possible that this department could exist and not actually make a real difference. I'm just wondering how, over this next mandate of yours, you'll be ensuring that we have measurable outcomes so that we know that we're achieving something.
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
That's something we're working on right now with our department. We're in the process of determining what, exactly, we're going to measure that will demonstrate that we have effectiveness. We know we do have a very limited lever, if you will, to influence widespread societal change, but we will be looking at concrete measurements that will demonstrate that we're making progress.
They may be things we can control, like an increase in number of departments that are actually GBA-trained or looking at the efficacy of using GBA for our memorandums to cabinet and whether or not they're done in a fulsome way. I'm just shooting these ideas out, but we'll be looking for specific indicators that we have control over, understanding that some of the work we do will contribute to better outcomes in other departments.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Thank you very much. I really appreciate the agency, and your time in coming to see us again.
I want to focus on the report on plans and priorities. I'll start with an issue that relates to both gender-based violence and promoting economic security, and that's your co-operation with the infrastructure minister.
I've met with a number of groups in my riding, both women's centres and centres for men who were perpetrators of domestic violence to become educated to try to end the practice. I was blown away by how often they cited the need for public transit in small communities for people to access their services.
Have you been working with the infrastructure minister to help people access this valuable social infrastructure?
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
In a very broad sense, given that it's not specifically in my mandate to influence public transit, but certainly I am very vocal about the need for supports that will move marginalized populations, for example, men who are living in precarious ways—whether or not they've been perpetrators—and that will enhance efficacy of communities.
That's something I am passionate about. In fact, I think the more we can support vulnerable populations, the more we have better outcomes, economically and socially, in our country.
More specifically, the work I've been doing with Minister Sohi and Minister Duclos is around that mandated piece in my mandate that speaks to enhancing women's shelters and transitional homes and making sure we have access for women who are fleeing domestic violence.
You raise an excellent point and it echoes what I've responded to in other questions. In order for us to make movement on things like gender-based violence, we have to support the wellness of the entire community. I thank you for noticing that.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Certainly while we're on the mandate of transition shelters, which was more explicitly referred to, I noticed some of the biggest detractors of violence against women are women's resource centres in my community, and I'm sure across the country as well. When I spoke to some of the members who run those facilities, they sometimes complained that because they didn't provide shelter services but provide a lot of similar services, they run into some hiccups when it comes to core funding.
Can you give us some guidance as to how organizations like that might access support from the federal government to enhance their own programs?
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
It is a tricky spot, and I can't tell you how many times since I've been elected that I've been asked by my own municipality if Shelter House will now get core federal funding. In fact, the answer is sadly no, because we're not in the business of providing operational funding to programs on the ground. The federal government is there to prevent the need for these kinds of organizations long term. The investments that we're making are much more structural than that.
Of course, there are always program funds through various different projects or proposals, but the sustainable funding is always a challenge. I would say the answer is that we need to work very closely with our provincial and territorial partners on things that lead to outcomes that will alleviate the need for things like homeless shelters, for example.
It's not the answer that oftentimes people are wanting to hear, but the honest answer is that if we were to provide operational funding for every single not-for-profit organization that's underfunded, that's all we'd be doing. Our mandate is making sure that those structures and systems are healthy and well, and are supporting people to live in a way that reduces the need on some of the NGOs that exist at the community level. That's not to say that their work isn't incredibly valuable.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Of course, and I think the honest answer is the correct answer.
If these organizations would like to find out how they can promote the priorities, is the website the best resource for them to learn from?
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
Absolutely.
They can go to the website, or they can contact us. We can walk them through various options we might have. We can also sometimes direct them to other more appropriate funding sources within government.
Liberal
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
I'll be very quick then.
In a previous life, I spent time working with a human rights NGO, and we had a strong focus on the LGBT community, among other sectors. I'm very curious. If the mandate of the agency seems very focused on violence against women, is there any attention paid to violence against other members of the LGBT community, like transgender violence or violence against—?
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
I'm really glad that you asked that question.
Yes, and I think we'll be expanding our focus to make sure that transgendered people have the same focus. We know that's an extremely vulnerable group of people, especially transgendered women. They are often victimized in incredibly traumatic ways, from both genders. My perspective is that's something we need to move forward with and be more vocal about.
Thank you very much.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Wonderful.
Thank you, again, to the minister and to Status of Women Canada for coming in and helping us to better understand the estimates.
At this time, we have to vote on the supplementary estimates and the main estimates, so there is standard chat to read.
Pursuant to Standing Order 81(5), the supplementary estimates (C) 2015-16, votes 1c and 5c, under Officer of the Co-ordinator, Status of Women, were referred to the committee on February 19, 2016.
Shall vote 1c under Office of the Co-ordinator, Status of Women, carry?
Ms. Damoff.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
No, the minister doesn't need to stay.
We would excuse you, and—
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
On a point of order, I thought we had the minister for one full hour.
Don't we have 10 more minutes? We'd have time for two more questions.
Conservative
