I assume that you already have a lot of figures on the wage inequality between men and women, so I will not provide any figures. We actually sent you a 2015 document that provides a number of figures with respect to that.
I will instead move on to the recommendations.
First, we would like the federal government to introduce proactive pay equity legislation in its area of jurisdiction and ensure that this legislation is properly implemented. We now have 20 years of experience with the legislation in Quebec. Some shortcomings have been noted, especially when it comes to non-unionized women. I believe that the federal government could benefit from Ontario's and Quebec's experiences to immediately and vigorously enforce the legislation.
Second, we note that women who take care of vulnerable individuals and children are still underpaid, especially in the areas of early childhood education, work in seniors residences and home support services. Those areas come under provincial jurisdiction.
Furthermore, I sat on the 1986 child care task force. The recommendations we issued to create a Canada-wide program on child care have still not been implemented. The current government has put in place small funding programs for organizations, but we think that it could do much better and that the money should go only to public non-profit organizations that are certified by a provincial or a territorial government. One of their objectives should be to fairly compensate individuals who have a very heavy responsibility in the areas of health and welfare of children and vulnerable individuals.
When it comes to access to employment, we think that the government should reintroduce its equal employment access programs, not only for women, but also for other discriminated-against groups, such as visible minority recent immigrants, aboriginals and persons with functional limitations.
There are still issues in terms of access to language courses, especially for immigrant women. There are also problems in terms of the failure to recognize foreign degrees. Since immigration is a federal responsibility, the government could do a much better job in that area.
Concerning employment insurance, we have also sent a text that documents issues of discrimination against women in employment insurance. I cannot raise all those arguments today, but one thing is very clear: the eligibility criteria for benefits, which are based on hours worked, are discriminatory. Someone who works 35 hours or less per week has much less access to the employment insurance program than people who work 40 hours a week or even, as in the case of male seasonal workers, 45 or 50 hours a week.
I hope that you will look at these documents to better understand the arguments.
When it comes to parental benefits, the Quebec parental insurance plan has been integrated into Canada's employment insurance system, but it is poorly adapted to parental insurance issues, mainly because there is a waiting period that should not exist.
So we recommend instead that the Quebec pension plan and the Canada pension plan models be adopted, so that we would have a federal parental insurance plan with criteria adapted to parental benefits.
Finally, we reiterate what you have already suggested: women should have better representation on federal boards of directors, as well as among candidates in federal elections.
Thank you.