Status of Women Committee on June 6th, 2017

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

That was a great answer.

Thank you very much for coming today.

I want to start off with the First Nations Women's Council.

I really appreciate hearing you speak about the different challenges that you face. I am also the critic for families, children and social development. I have had a number of student organizations come and talk to me about funding for post-secondary education for first nations.

Can you share with me your thoughts on that? Is it just the fact that we have this cap when it comes to post-secondary education, or is there a gap in what we're doing for education at the primary and secondary levels as well? Can you share with me your thoughts on the education system available to you?

[Tracy Lee]

For post-secondary education, funding is available. It's minimal, and it's not enough for a family to survive on. In terms of education from K to grade 12—

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

You just mentioned the family. I'm looking at people who are graduating from high school. You're referring to, let's say, a woman who has children using this funding. Is that what you're referring to when you talk about the family?

[Tracy Lee]

Right. As I mentioned before, as a previous nation board member, I know that most of the women enter education as mature students. Direct entry from high school to university is not the norm. That's the minority. When you get into post-secondary education as a mature student, you are forced to live on this allowance that's provided through the educational treaty right, which is insufficient.

I just want to say, too, that pre-grade 12, there's a funding inequity that exists between on-reserve and off-reserve students. An on-reserve student will get approximately $5,900 less than their off-reserve counterpart. That means fewer resources, etc.

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

Thank you very much.

This is for both groups. I would like to start off with the Métis Women's Council. We've talked a lot about mentorship. Karen Ludwig, who has been a big part of this committee, says, If you can't see it, you can't be it.”

Can you share with me, from your own work, what opportunities there are for mentorship by some of the women in your council, or even by the men in your council, where they could do outreach to help our youth and young women, to give them greater opportunities? Do we have any mentorship programs working with our Métis women, or things of that sort?

[Valerie Kaufman]

I can't name a specific mentorship program for you, but all of the people on the council are committed, each in their own way and according to their own circumstances.

We have someone who works for Suncor. Suncor takes young Métis people and has them serve internships and that kind of thing, so she speaks a lot about that. Some of us are retired, but in my career I worked with the Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Centres Initiative and had great successes in mentoring those young people; they still come back to me. It's about a personal commitment around the mentorship.

In Alberta we also have the Métis scholarship fund, which is the Belcourt Brosseau funding. That helps a bit. They mentor people to get ready to go on to post-secondary education. That's part of the priority of the Belcourt Brosseau scholarship funding.

So, yes, it's there.

[Phyllis Steeves]

I would reiterate that the notion of mentorship is embedded in our communities. It's part of the culture. All of us on council are role models within the community; we take it up professionally, and personally as well.

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

Excellent.

I just want to stay with the two of you for a minute. There has always been the discussion of division between first nations and Métis. What are your thoughts on the impact on the Métis women? Is there, in effect, a difference? Is there some sort of inadequacy? Do you find something is different between the two groups?

[Phyllis Steeves]

There are many similarities because, of course, we have first peoples blood, as well. There are many similar cultural...but in terms of specifics, people have talked about education and funding.

As Métis people, we have far less funding available to us, so when we are looking at taking up post-secondary education, unfortunately, as limited as first nations funding would be for students on reserve, Métis people don't have that available.

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

I didn't know how to ask that question without directing you to the answer I wanted, so thanks for reading between the lines, Phyllis.

Carrying on with the First Nations Women's Council on Economic Security, I have similar questions when it comes to mentorship. What specific programs or training and what different opportunities have you offered to women in the community, from either male or female mentors? What sorts of programs go on there? I recognize that there may be some that are informal.

[Tracy Lee]

Again, it's very limited. The ones that are out there that I am aware of really speak to building resilience, building capacity with that individual through the re-instilling of culture and language, because that's the foundation that has sustained our people for years. With the residential school disruption and the interruption of those values, programs are working to revitalize that and to re-instill that. There are programs that focus on young men and young women around that type of mentorship, which are proving successful.

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

I have about 30 seconds left, so I want to stick with you and ask you about the graduation from secondary school.

I was just at a place in London not too long ago where there were many people doing their GEDs who were in their fifties. What is the percentage of women who graduate from secondary school in your area?

[Tracy Lee]

I'll just speak to my area as a former education board member. It is very minimal. About three years ago, there were three students who graduated with college-ready transcripts, and the year before that, there were none.

Again, this points to the inequities of on-reserve versus off-reserve funding, which provides resources and support. Very few go directly from grade 12 to university.

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

Thank you very much.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Pam Damoff]

We'll now go to Ms. Malcolmson, for seven minutes.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to all four witnesses.

To the First Nations Women's Council on Economic Security, back in my riding on Vancouver Island, I was talking with members of the Tillicum Lelum Aboriginal Friendship Centre, and they said that one of the biggest barriers to indigenous women being able to accept job offers was the access to safe and reliable transportation. In northern B.C., especially, we've seen the terrible story of the Highway of Tears and the consequences of inadequate transportation.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on whether you would like to see the federal government make a deeper investment in public transportation, especially in the areas that would help indigenous women get to work safely.

[Tracy Lee]

Transportation is the number one barrier to accessing health care, accessing educational opportunities, and accessing employment. Our roads are very substandard. When you're living in a community that is at or below poverty, people are living from one junker car to the next junker car. If the roads were better, their cars would last longer. If they had reliable cars, they could drive to employment, health care, and those educational opportunities. The roads are very substandard on reserve.

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

That's confirming a lot of other testimony we've been hearing, so thank you.

To both of the witness panels, I'm interested in your advice to us around recommendations we could make about government procurement. We heard evidence early in this study from a professor from Simon Fraser University, who said that the last time the New Democrats were in power in B.C. they tied into contracts for building a major highway on Vancouver Island the requirement that a certain percentage of the jobs and apprenticeships had to go to women and indigenous people. They bumped that up from 2% of employment to 20% of employment. Even though the contractors didn't want to see it and had never been able to get beyond 2% before, when it was a requirement it worked out really well.

I would like to hear, from an economic standpoint, whether you would like to see those kinds of measures built into infrastructure procurement, since this government is about spend so much.

[Tracy Lee]

Definitely. I think the recommendation is more collaboration, more partnerships.

[Marlene Poitras]

There are a lot of aboriginals who are entering into their own businesses, in all fields and in all areas. They often have to compete against these larger, well-established companies for any types of jobs, because they're at a disadvantage, whether it's financially through the bank or with the numbers of people they have employed.

It is certainly an issue and I think those barriers need to be considered, looking at ways to employ more aboriginal contractors, the aboriginal men and women who want employment in those areas.

[Valerie Kaufman]

The Métis Women's Council in 2016 made this recommendation to the Government of Alberta. There is a set-aside currently for aboriginal people in Alberta. However, it is not enough. We can always see an increase in that.

We are fortunate that in some areas of Alberta, in Fort McMurray for example, there is inclusion of first nations and Métis and Inuit people. Métis people are not only living in the urban settings of Edmonton and Calgary. In Alberta, in particular, there are eight settlements, so there a lot of rural people who are underemployed or absolutely not employed, so some of that procurement in jobs needs to be focused around the rural communities for us.

That's the piece that's really missing and that's the piece that we recommended to the Alberta government, so it would be similar to the federal government.

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

Thank you.

My third question, again, is to both witness panels. We heard in a report issued by Pauktuutit, the Inuit women's organization in Canada, that they recommended the government invest to ensure that all indigenous women—they were talking about Inuit women, but I would imagine all indigenous women—have reliable access to computers and to computer literacy, so they can have better access to the job market and to economic security.

Do you have any quick advice on access to reliable computers and whether the federal government should be investing more in providing access and literacy training for indigenous women?

[Valerie Kaufman]

I would say resoundingly yes, especially in the rural communities, again, and focusing on current technology, current social media, that kind of thing. There's a lack of information about that kind of thing out there, so it would be important to focus on things that are missing. The gaps have been well identified, especially by young people.

[Phyllis Steeves]

That would really assist in terms of education, because for people who do not want to leave their communities, if they have Internet access they can do online training in so many different areas.

[Tracy Lee]

I'll quickly add that not everybody has access to the Internet. Communities that live below the poverty level don't. A lot of everything that is built still makes the assumption that you have access to Internet and computers, and really there is a great need for development and that capacity building in the communities.