Status of Women Committee on Nov. 9th, 2017

[Frances McRae]

Thank you for that suggestion. We'll take that note. It's very creative.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

You talked a bit about rural and remote communities. My colleague mentioned women working from home. One challenge we face in rural and remote communities with women working from home is their access to reliable Internet.

I'm just going to put that out as another thing that we need to consider. If we want people to work from home, we have to be able to give them the tools to do it. Women have a stronger tendency to work from home. I live in a very rural area and I know that this is definitely a barrier, so although we can have all these great programs and ways to mentor people, if we're not providing them with the basic tools they need to run their businesses, that's another issue we need to address.

[Frances McRae]

You're absolutely right. We have an initiative, which we can get back to you with more information on, called Connect to Innovate, which is very much connected to the notion of empowering people with the right tools and technology to build and grow.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

We have a few minutes left. We have two options. We can adjourn the meeting, or if there's anybody who has one or two questions left, I'd open it to the floor, if there's anyone who has yet to ask a question.

We'll go to Earl and then Rachel. Let's keep it tight.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

I'll make it very concise.

You mentioned that with CanCode there are 81 applications. I'm curious what an application means, and the results, and what it entails, so I'll ask that question.

The other thing is the point about Internet service. I was on the industry committee, and one of the studies we were doing was dealing with rural and remote Internet service. I hope that is still there. I'm on the trade committee now, but I'm curious. I'm sure it is still on.

Could you answer the question about the 81 applications and what it actually entails?

[Frances McRae]

There was a call for proposals for the CanCode program earlier this year. As I mentioned, there are 81 applications. They're from qualified organizations who could deliver this program, deliver the results we're looking for.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

What is the scope? Is it to have 100 students? Is it to—?

[Frances McRae]

I would say the applications would all be quite different. I would say that we've had a very broad scope of applications and have had applications from all parts of the country, including Iqaluit, and some from indigenous organizations. We're thus quite pleased with the breadth and scope of it, and the process of evaluating the proposals will no doubt be taking into consideration the various needs we'll be able to put together to make sure we have a good national program that is diverse.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much.

Rachel.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

For me the one question is about the reality that indigenous women in Canada are the poorest of the poor within our country, which is shameful in a country as wealthy as Canada. I know there is so much work that we all have to do.

How do you make your programs accessible to indigenous women specifically? It's a general, broad question, but I'm going to ask it anyway.

[Jonathan Will]

To start, I'll just talk about the indigenous early learning and child care initiative which, as I mentioned, is being done through a separate process. It's designed to recognize the unique and different local community needs on indigenous reserves, among Inuit and Métis children and families, and among other indigenous off reserve.

The government is doing special agreements with these organizations in order to capture their needs. The money is not just going to the provinces and territories. There's a bit set aside—it's a separate strategy—to ensure that the ELCC agreement is culturally appropriate and takes the unique situation of the indigenous people into account.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's our time. We're going to Ms. Nassif for a short question as well.

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

What are the best practices in entrepreneurship around the world that are designed to help women entrepreneurs?

[Frances McRae]

Thank you for the question.

There are actually many practices around the world, but I could not say which are the best. The important thing is to adapt existing practices to the needs in Canada.

I will turn to Ms. Poirier-Mizon.

Ms. Poirier-Mizon, do we have information about international programs and initiatives that are used to improve the situation?

[Nathalie Poirier-Mizon, Director, Small Business Financing Directorate, Department of Industry]

That is something we will have to look into; it is part of our work plan. While I do not have any studies to present in this regard, we can certainly draw general lessons from international practices as regards financial and digital knowledge, or women's access to mentoring or sponsorship. Perhaps we can examine whether, in Canada, we can adapt our programs in those areas.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much.

I would really like to thank the representatives from both the Department of Industry and the Department of Employment and Social Development for coming back as we're completing this study. Thank you very much for coming out today.

We'll see you after Remembrance Week. We'll see you on Tuesday of the following week.

The meeting is adjourned.