Evidence of meeting #81 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 going.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Maryam Monsef Liberal Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
First, I can't discuss with you what we talk about in cabinet. I'm sure you can respect that.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Can you tell me whether you advocated for the well-being of women in Canada?
Liberal
Maryam Monsef Liberal Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
That said, every single day I advocate for gender equality. On the passive investment piece that you're referring to, the reason there was no gender-based analysis at the time that ATIP was done is that there was no legislation to do an analysis on.
Conservative
Liberal
Maryam Monsef Liberal Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
I can tell you that work is done and that analysis was taken into consideration. We heard from women who want to save for maternal leave. They want to be able to save for rainy days. That's why we increased the threshold in passive investment far beyond what was expected of us. We reduced taxes so that female entrepreneurs could have further abilities to invest in their communities and to create jobs.
I can assure you that, as a government, gender equality is a priority. Nothing we put forward, for example, in terms of tax measures, is going to contradict that ultimate goal and priority of ensuring that all genders thrive.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Minister, thank you very much.
With all due respect, I asked you if GBA+ was applied. You said yes. Then you said, actually, no, it wasn't applied to that measure. Are you lying to me?
Liberal
Maryam Monsef Liberal Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
No, Rachael, I'm not lying to you, but it's hard to apply GBA+ to something that doesn't yet exist.
Conservative
Liberal
Maryam Monsef Liberal Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
It was a reform that was being proposed to be consulted with Canadians on.
Conservative
Liberal
Maryam Monsef Liberal Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
I can assure you that, come budget 2018, that budget will have a gender-based analysis done. It's a historic effort that's being done, and I will be sure to keep you in the loop of that process should you remain interested.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you, Minister.
Minister, my next question is with regard to the citizenship guide. Again, I'm going to assume that you've been part of the conversation, that you've been included.
The citizenship guide is being revamped. As part of that, it is intended, or the draft shows us, that female genital mutilation, FGM, is going to be taken out of the citizenship guide going forward. I will read exactly what the UN says about FGM:
FGM/C includes procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Beyond extreme physical and psychological pain, the practice carries many health risks, including death.
This is a practice that the former government put in the citizenship guide in order to say that we as Canadians do not stand for it. This is a wrongful practice. It is a mistreatment of women. It's violence against women and girls.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Your government, the Liberal government, came in and said, “No, we're going to take that out of the citizenship guide. There's no need for that to be in there anymore.” It's no longer in the draft.
Are you silent on this as well, or did you use your voice and was it ignored?
Liberal
Maryam Monsef Liberal Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
Rachael, I don't know what “as well” means.
I can assure you that I use my voice well.
Conservative
Liberal
Maryam Monsef Liberal Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
I myself, the government, and all Canadians condemn the practice of female genital mutilation and cutting. It is illegal. It has been since 1997. We are revamping the citizenship guide. We are ensuring that it includes a better picture of the history of this place we call home and ensuring that it includes a better understanding of gender equality and rights for women who are coming to this place and calling it home.
We are working with my gender-based violence advisory council to ensure that any contributions we make to that draft lead to more accessible, more informative information. Nothing has been finalized. I appreciate the member's concern, and I'm definitely open to any constructive feedback she has on solutions.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Thank you so much, Minister.
I recognize that there was a little concern about my cutting off.... I think it is very important, when we have the minister, that we have the opportunity to undertake a very bold and sometimes difficult discussion, so I will allow this to occur as long as it's not actually attacking the person in a terrible and personal nature. That's just to set the ground rules for you.
I'm now going to Sheila Malcolmson for her seven minutes.
NDP
Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being with us.
I'm going to try to fit three questions in, so I hope we can get “yes” or “no” answers where possible.
One of our first jobs as a committee was to review gender-based analysis. We made recommendations 7, 8, 9, and 10 around national coordination and leadership on the issue of sexual assault and rape on post-secondary campuses. We heard from many witnesses that they would like to see the Government of Canada lead a national coordination of policies to prevent campus rape. That was reflected in the New Democratic minority report. It wasn't in the majority report, but still I urge you, regardless, to take that leadership.
The consensus recommendations were, in all those areas, that the issue of campus rape be raised at the next meeting of the relevant ministers, provincial and territorial, and that was a commitment in the response we got. The federal response—I think it may have been from your predecessor—was that provinces and territories are primarily responsible, that it's a matter of provincial and territorial responsibility, but that the departments of Justice and Public Security have agreed to discuss the issue with provincial and territorial counterparts at the table of the ministers responsible.
We're saddened that campus safety was reduced to an agenda item. Nevertheless, that was the recommendation of the committee.
Could you tell us, was this on the agenda? Did you get a report back? What is the leadership that the federal government is going to take?
Liberal
Maryam Monsef Liberal Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
Thank you, Sheila, for all your leadership and ongoing efforts to address gender-based violence and enhance opportunities and choice for women.
In terms of GBA+, that aspect of your question, we will be—
NDP
Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
I'm just going to be clear. It was campus rape. I haven't asked about GBA+ yet.
Liberal
Maryam Monsef Liberal Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
You referred to GBA+, though. I will come back to it later.
Liberal
Maryam Monsef Liberal Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
The national coordination of campus violence that is gender-based is certainly an item that's not just on my agenda every day, but it is something on which colleagues from provinces and territories have had discussions, ongoing, but also at the FPT meeting. We know that about 40% of the cases of sexual assault that are reported are being reported by students. For any parent out there, when you send your kid away, you want to make sure they are safe, that they are building a better future and not finding violence and insecurities that can scar them for life. This is, accordingly, a priority.
One way we are intervening is through funding that has been provided to various campuses across the country. Some of these I met with over the summer.
NDP