Status of Women Committee on Nov. 30th, 2017

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Excellent. Thank you very much.

We're now going to Emmanuella Lambropoulos for her five minutes.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you, Minister Monsef, for being with us today and for all the great work you've been doing in your position.

My question is one regarding the most vulnerable women. As you mentioned in your opening comments, those women are the ones who are marginalized. Many of them are newcomers coming from countries that don't regard women in the same way, where women are actually oppressed.

Can you inform us about the ways that we're reaching out to these women to help improve their situation?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you very much, Emmanuella, and thanks for all the work you're doing here. I know that we threw you into the deep end in some ways with the work you're doing, but you're excelling, and your contributions to this place matter a lot.

In terms of the focus on vulnerable groups, especially vulnerable women, the way that the intersectional gender lens is applied to any consultation process or any policy or regulation that we put forward is, very roughly, by asking how it affects women and men differently. What about people of different genders? What does it mean for persons living in rural and remote Canada rather than in urban centres? What does it mean for seniors as compared with young people? What does it mean for indigenous persons vis-à-vis migrants to this place? What does it mean for persons with disabilities and exceptionalities, for francophones or LGBTQ2 communities? That's the frame in which the analysis is taken into consideration.

Within the gender-based violence strategy, we heard from stakeholders that it was critical to focus on those populations that are particularly vulnerable to violence, because we know that there's also a confounding factor that happens. If you're a woman with a disability in rural Canada identifying as LGBTQ2 and as a francophone, you have a whole other set of barriers but also vulnerabilities that can make you susceptible to violence.

The way we're intervening is first by making sure that we hear those voices. Many thanks to my gender-based violence advisory council, who help ensure that we stay current, up to date, and aware of these voices and of that intersectional lens that we need to be applying to the work we do.

More specifically, on the ground we rely on expertise from organizations that we fund to do this work for us. We will be focusing on those vulnerable groups with the funding that will be rolled out as part of the gender-based violence strategy. We also need to make sure that we have a better understanding of what is actually happening. Whether it's female genital mutilation and cutting, or challenges that persons with disabilities have around gender-based violence, or trans women and those living in urban centres versus rural centres, data and statistics are going to provide us with a better understanding of the scope of challenges.

Also, the knowledge centre is going to make sure that an intervention in Antigonish, for example, that is proving to be successful for vulnerable communities can be shared with those in a community in the Yukon, for example, so that we're not funding the same projects over and over again but the best practices are being shared and we get to the outcomes we need to get to faster and more effectively.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you very much.

I'm a firm believer that gender stereotypes have a lot to do with women's economic security. Regarding that issue, what are we doing for women and girls in our country?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you for that big question. I hope someone else asks, so that we have more time to talk about wage gaps and how stereotypes are an impediment.

We can legislate many things. What we can't legislate is change in attitudes or cultural change. What we're trying to do through our efforts across government is encourage more women and girls to enter STEM; provide more flexible leave options; make sure that, if she's leaving an abusive situation, her job can be protected and she can take leave to put her life back in order. We're working to ensure that we have more child care spaces, for example, so that women don't have to choose between work or taking care of their family.

We heard from the Governor of the Bank of Canada that the Canada child benefit is stimulating the economy in important ways. One of those ways is its ability to give parents the choice and the money to do what they need to do, and what many parents are choosing to do is put that money towards child care so that mothers can go back to work, and sometimes fathers.

There's a lot of work that needs to be done. This is an issue shared by G7 countries. This is an issue we hear from stakeholders and service providers every single day, and it's an issue that we are committed to.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Excellent. Thank you very much.

We have time for two more sessions, so we're going to carry on with Rachael Harder for five minutes.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to split my time with my honourable colleague Martin Shields.

My question for the minister is simple. In commenting on violence against women and girls, I think you would agree with me that it's about taking a stand for equality. It's about taking a stand for choice and respecting a person's choice. It's about allowing women and girls to function on the notion that no means no. We often use that phrase. Standing up against violence against women and girls also means that a person's voice should count. Do you agree?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Yes.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Perfect.

At this committee, we have a chair, Ms. Vecchio, and she is a phenomenal chair, but she was put in place against her will. When she said no to being put in place, her voice was ignored. The six members opposite me, who happen to be Liberal members of this committee, all forced her to take the chair. As Minister of Status of Women, do you agree with this decision or do you believe the choice of the chair should have been respected?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

First, I want to congratulate you on your chairpersonship and thank you for the leadership role you've taken on. I also want to acknowledge that the committee is the master of its own destiny, so I will not get into that.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

I'm just asking if, as a minister, you agree with the decision or not.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

As the minister for women, I think the person who leads this committee has to be someone who believes in gender equality in the fullest sense of the term, believes—

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Do you agree with the choice of your colleagues to force Ms. Vecchio?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

—in choice for all women and girls in all areas of their lives, including the choice over decisions about their own bodies. Gender equality starts with that basic, fundamental choice. The spokesperson for this committee—

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

It does start with that fundamental choice, doesn't it?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

—has to be someone who's able to bring diverse voices together and is able to communicate with Canadians the important messages and the work that this committee does.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Marilyn Gladu for the very important and effective way that she provided leadership to this committee, to Canadians, and to the government. I wish her the best in her endeavours beyond this committee, but I also thank the chair of this committee for all the ways she's keeping the ship running and making sure that really important work continues to get done.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I'm going to go back to the theme that I was on. In a sense, this is one that relates to newcomers. I'm in a community that has probably 100 different countries represented, and it's an economic reason that they're there. However, without female doctors, we have women at risk of some of the most severe things that I have seen in a community. We have a tax policy that's out there being amended, but it's not going to work in the favour of female doctors in rural areas. I'm challenging you to be that voice at that table, to change that so that it does have female doctors outside of our major urban centres. The proposal didn't. What's coming still is problematic, and in terms of doctors, females tell me it's still problematic. You haven't fixed it. You think you have, but you haven't. It puts the most vulnerable newcomers in my community at risk, and this is countrywide where we have a lot of newcomers.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Martin, thank you for that question. I can tell you that health care providers do more than support newcomers. They support indigenous persons. They support persons with disabilities and exceptionalities. They look after our seniors, the people who built this country. They look after my one-and-a-half-year-old niece who had an ear infection and no one could figure out what was wrong with her but the doctor, a female doctor at that. We all know the important role that physicians and health care workers play in our communities in our day-to-day lives.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Right, and the University of Alberta did the study that says that's the problem.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 50 seconds.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

I can tell you that the rural caucus, the women's caucus, cabinet, and all MPs are effective voices for their communities. Those voices, also from professionals themselves, have been heard. The legislation that you're referring to, once it's introduced in the House of Commons, will go through a really important democratic process. It includes debate in the House of Commons. It includes hearing further from witnesses and persons with expertise. It will include opportunities for all members to provide input and amendments. It will then be voted on. It will then go to the Senate for sober second thought, and it will come back to us. I have a lot of faith in the democratic process. I know that the consultations we began this process with, which is actually new for a federal government to do, will only lead to better outcomes, not just for rural physicians but for all Canadians who depend on them, for entrepreneurs, farmers, and professors.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I don't want to take away, but we still have some more questions. We need to go to Bernadette.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

I can talk to you later. We can take this offline.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

We will continue with Bernadette for her final minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Minister, for being here today.

I have two approaches. First, we saw the census data that says 62% of managerial positions in Canada are now being held by men. As much as we are doing as a government to improve women's involvement in leadership roles, how do we go outside of government? How do we attack that problem? It is a big problem.

When we see those numbers, is there a way we're measuring to make sure that we are making a difference, to see that in two years, five years, or 20 years there is actually movement to having more women in leadership roles and management positions?