Status of Women Committee on June 15th, 2017

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

Thank you very much.

To all three of the witnesses today, you all deal with people who have been victims of violence and recognize that there needs to be a lot of rebuilding for these individuals, a lot of soul-searching, a lot of building of their courage and their self-image. That's one of the first stages, to be able to get them back into employment. Once you've reached some of that, what sort of opportunities are your organizations creating to bridge from that horrific past that they've had to their employment and their own economic stability?

[Ellen Frood]

First of all, our mandate is to work with women from a trauma-informed basis, to understand the trauma they've experienced.

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

Okay.

Because it's part of our economic study, the reason I'm asking is just to get them on the road of economic independence or economic stability. I recognize that for some, like you said, it takes up to six months if they're out of the workforce. There are key issues there as well. But just with the study, a lot of it has to do with one's economic security. From the review that we've done before, and from my personal experience, I recognize the importance of creating that whole being once again. I'm sure all three of you have worked on those, but getting them out and allowing them to transition back into society, what sort of measure are you taking?

[Ellen Frood]

Transitioning, in our world, means about 30 days in a shelter, and counselling means working with women to help them address the trauma they're experiencing in their lives. In that process we provide referral services to other organizations that will help them with the employment side of things. Again, I refer back to it, but our mandate is to work from a trauma-informed basis, not employment, but we see the other side and the impact economically.

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

Absolutely.

Anne, what do you guys do within your organization, then, when it comes to...?

[Anne Davis]

It's similar. We have an employment program. It's very entry-level. As Ellen has said, our role, really, is to provide the counselling, the practical support services for a woman who's trying to transition into or back to employment. Through our employment program, we help her with things like writing resumés, finding appropriate clothing for job interviews, those kinds of thing, and kind of walk beside her as she goes through the process. But we are not funded for the kind of long-term employment programs that exist in our community, so we work closely with those.

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

Anne, perhaps there is something within your own organization that you do?

[Anne Taylor]

Well, I think we do a lot of the same things, but the point I'd like to make is that when she leaves her home for an independent life, that's going to be a very long process and—

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

Please understand, I fully recognize that. I'm looking at next steps. I'm not trying to be rude by any means. I understand the incredible work that you do in dealing with a broken person. I get that. I think many women who come into those situations are dealing with so many internal issues, and many times physical as well. But I'm looking at that transition to making a healthy start back into society, so perhaps you could go with that.

[Anne Taylor]

All I wanted to highlight is that for her to step into, say, an educational program or a work transition program, she has to be safe. It's not only about what's going on internally. She actually has to be safe. What we know is that even after they leave the transition house, women are often still unsafe in their homes and their communities.

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

Our study is not about this, but I appreciate all of the work you do and, trust me, because when it comes to violence against women, I work very strongly in my own community. It's something that I will continue to fight against.

Part of this study is the economic prosperity of women. That's why I'm trying to get the information from the three witnesses today, to find out where this transition is, because I recognize that it's going to take time. For some people, they may heal in six months. For some it may take 20 years, and I fully recognize that, but as we're transitioning to get them back into society, safety, of course, is a key issue, as is mental health.

However, we're looking at trying to make individuals and families prosper. I'm wondering if we can come back to the organizations you refer these persons to. What can we be doing to help those organizations deal with these people? Is there a lack of education? Are there opportunities for them to go back to finishing the post-secondary education, or even their GED? What programs do we have for training? What are you doing when you are referring people out to these employment centres?

[Ellen Frood]

We work with the employment centre directly and refer people directly to it. Once a client leaves our doors and goes to the employment centre, we have little contact with them, but what we have heard is that the programs there are restrictive, that there are only so many hours that somebody can access before they are told they can't come back anymore. I think there's a miscommunication there in terms of how people are working.

Secondly, I want to speak about the justice system because I think we need the justice system to act more quickly on behalf of women to enable them to remain economically safe, like the story I told of the woman whose house was sold and she had nowhere to go. The justice system needs to be an advocate as well to make things happen more quickly for women in the courts, so they are not in a position of not living and having to leave.

I know we're not getting to your question, because, again, recognize that it's not our mandate. We see the impact of economic insecurity on the women we deal with.

[Anne Davis]

May I add that I would say your question actually speaks to a gap?

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

I would actually prefer to address the gap.

I work with the London Abused Women's Centre. I work with our violence against women group in Elgin County and different associations. I've done that for many years, so I do understand all of those....

I'm just trying to see where that gap is and how we can address it. That's what we need to look at.

I hear everything you're saying and I appreciate it. I that believe the work that we did in our violence against women study was very impactful. It's just that, to me, this is step two, not about restarting what we've already done. Trust me. I get it. I don't want to belittle the work you do. I'm looking at how we can further women's prosperity. I don't want to mix up study one with study two because we're on study two now, so how do we continue forward?

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

That's the end of your time.

We're going to Ms. Malcolmson, for seven minutes.

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

Thanks, Chair.

Thank you to all three witnesses. We're going to quote verbatim a great deal of your introductory comments. The link you have made between domestic violence and economic insecurity is extremely strong. You have painted an extremely powerful picture that we're not going to get economic security and economic justice for women without ending violence against women. I hear you loud and clear.

I also hear all three of you say, extremely firmly, that provincial and federal governments have delegated the safety of women from intimate partner violence to NGO movements. We have a responsibility to fund your operations, not to make you jump through one funding application after the next. That's something the New Democrats are advocating for. I feel confident that the committee members here will hear that call loud and clear that this is a path to economic stability to provide that support in the community.

I have a question for Anne Taylor from Haven Society in Nanaimo. We heard from another women's shelter on Tuesday, the Island Crisis Care Society, who said that they've had a colossal change in the makeup of the clientele coming to their shelters, particularly elderly women who have fallen into poverty. The latter do not have stable housing, have become unsafe, and have never used a shelter in their life. Some of them are in their 80s.

I think you might have seen those same kind of changes in the makeup of people coming to you. I would like to know a bit more about what those changes mean for your staff and your budget. What's the personal impact on your staff of having an increased demand for your services?

[Anne Taylor]

I think the analogy I used in my presentation, in a very crass way, is that we spend a lot of time pulling bodies out of the water quite literally. Yes, we are seeing increases across the board in the numbers.

We've always seen a huge range. When you talk about elderly women, we've always seen women over the age of 55, but we're now seeing more of them, particularly on Vancouver Island. It's not unusual for couples to come here under the auspices of retiring. What we're beginning to see is that sometimes it's also a strategy to isolate that woman a little bit further, to remove her from her family and her connections in her community, and for her to then be on the island where she knows nobody.

Imagine a woman who is in her 60s or 70s, has been married for decades, and who begins to face the reality of increasing violence and abuse. She's then forced into the position of reaching out to services that she never imagined she would connect with.

For our staff, the reality of what we have to offer her is disillusioning at times. I think both of my colleagues mentioned that the social housing crisis is dire here in Nanaimo. Women are not able to find safe, affordable housing. Not only are they staying in shelters longer—which means that we can't provide space for other women who are looking for that emergency shelter—but often they also have to make choices to go to places that really are less than adequate. This will often result in their going back.

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

Thank you so much.

I'm going to turn to the Comox Valley Transition Society and the Alberni Community and Women's Services Society.

Your MP, Gord Johns, recommended that we invite you. It was good advice. Thank you.

Ellen Frood, I was struck by your linking of residential schools and intergenerational trauma to the clients you see. Last night I saw on a CBC online story a quote from Cree Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come. After 40 years of service, he said that the absence of women's shelters and social programs often forces Cree people to head toward urban centres, where they risk homelessness and abuse.

Is that starving of services in the rural areas something that you're seeing effects from?

[Ellen Frood]

I can't speak completely to all of the services in rural areas; however, what I will say is that in the case of many first nations people, they're often hesitant to accept services on reserve because, for a lot of reasons, the abusers may stay on reserve.

They seek these services outside their own community—the aunties, the uncles, the gossips—and they leave. What that does is force them into poverty off reserve, without access to services. Our youngest client is a baby two months in the womb, and we have a 98-year-old. That was a four-generation family that came to our transition house. It's forcing generations of women or families to live together, often in very inadequate circumstances, without sufficient funding.

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

Thank you.

Anne Davis, your picture of the economic impacts of leaving a relationship was extremely strong. We've had a lot of testimony at this committee about some of the labour unions in a number of provinces—such as Manitoba—that have negotiated leave for domestic violence within their collective agreements. Also, B.C. has a private member's bill, which we hope will be turned into a government bill. Can you talk about how that might affect women for the better, especially if it were to be taken in as part of the federal labour code, which is something we're encouraging?

[Anne Davis]

I think it would be extremely helpful. It would help some women maintain their jobs, which is really important. In a way, I think it would help to—this is kind of an awful word to use in the context—normalize the fact that these situations do happen and that women need to get time off from employment to deal with them.

I've worked with a lot of women over the years who have lost their employment when their relationship ended. They worked for a small business or a small store, and the ex-partners kept coming in and harassing them or phoning constantly. The employers weren't willing to deal with that, so they had to go.

Anything we can do to help women maintain employment is really important. That is a very key piece of the puzzle.

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

Thank you so much to all the witnesses.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Very good. Now we'll go to Ms. Nassif.

You have seven minutes.

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Davis, Ms. Frood and Ms. Taylor, thank you for your testimonies and all the good work you are doing in your respective organizations to help women.

I wanted to ask you a question about the challenges of substance use and abuse. I'm not just referring to the opioid crisis that has wreaked havoc recently, but in general. Do you have any resources to help the people affected to overcome this kind of crisis? These might be rehabilitation resources or even counselling for women who have been mistreated or have experienced spousal abuse, and who are referred to your organization.

[Ellen Frood]

May I answer in English?