Evidence of meeting #15 for Status of Women in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was services.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Councillor, Red Deer County
Thank you for the question.
Yes, I agree with the previous speaker. Connectivity is a broad topic. We could spend a lot of time on it. In education, we've seen with COVID restrictions how chaotic school has been with teaching children online. Supports, resources, education...it's numerous. It's the way of the world, so rural, urban, whatever, it needs to be there.
As an Individual
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
To begin, I agree fully with the other witnesses. Reduced access to services really impacts women's vulnerability, and it impacts women's ability to access those critical health, social and justice services. It also puts additional pressure on organizations that are attempting to fill those gaps without the matched support of funding or capacity development. It also creates additional challenges for rural women attempting to access the services within their local communities without having to leave the community, especially with limited access to transportation.
Conservative
Bloc
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to thank my colleague for replacing me and addressing this important issue of connectivity. It is about access to broadband Internet services, but as Ms. Hamm pointed out, it's also about access to cellular networks. Where I'm from in Shefford, we still have several areas where it's hard to get service. For some women in rural areas, access to resources to resolve situations of violence can be complicated because access to a means of communication is difficult.
Given the current disparities in Internet and cellular connectivity, I'd like to hear from the witnesses about the problems this can create for women in emergency situations.
President, Centre Victoria pour femmes
I can start answering the question.
It's true that women living in rural areas are finding they are in a very delicate situation, especially because of the pandemic. I can mention at least one way in which our little organization succeeded, and that is in implementing a 24-hour hotline for francophone women who are victims of violence. The model accounted for the very different situations faced by francophones in each region and for their specific realities. Our model was also used to help design a similar, but not identical, service for Indigenous communities in the North. The service is called Talk4Healing.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
That's your time. I'm sorry.
We'll now go to Ms. McPherson for six minutes.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses for joining us today. This has been extremely interesting and very important testimony.
I'd like to extend a special welcome to Ms. Bota from Red Deer. As an Albertan, I know she's been going through a very cold snap like the rest of us, so congratulations on surviving.
The first question I have is around data. I'm going to ask everyone, but I'd like to start with Ms. Allen, if I could.
Ms. Allen, you spoke about Canada being a data-poor country. That's very interesting to me, but I'm curious. Could you expand on that a little? Why do you think that is? What attempts have been made to Statistics Canada and to the federal government to increase our data? What are those key pieces of data that are missing? If you could expand on that a little bit, that would be wonderful.
As an Individual
There is a significant lack of information and data about rural communities. In particular, there's a real lack of difference between the information on rural, rural remote, and remote. They're not well defined in the data. There's also a lack of understanding about urban communities and rural challenges, because those are quite unique.
There's an inability to publicly access gendered federal data on funding. That impacts organizations that are looking to apply for funding opportunities but don't have those quantitative statistics that can help inform and strengthen funding applications. That has proven to be quite a barrier for rural organizations, in particular rural organizations supporting women's services.
I don't want to take up everyone's time here, but there's one other piece I would like to add. There's really not a lot of data on indigenous peoples, particularly recently formed bands. That has also been an incredible barrier for funding opportunities in particular.
Councillor, Red Deer County
Madam Chair, I concur with the previous witness. There's a definite gap with statistics.
I just want to talk to you about a project that we have going on in Alberta on building capacity in rural crime prevention. To build a framework—for which we thought it would be quite easy to gather some of this data—was very, very difficult. Further to the other witnesses' comments, there is a definite gap with data, and also with the indigenous peoples. With Métis settlements as well there is a big difference.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Yes—between the data you can access.
Ms. Hamm, in terms of our recovery from COVID-19, how important will it be to get that data in terms of our evaluating whether or not we've had a good GBA+ recovery from COVID-19?
Mayor, Ville de Magog
Thank you for the question.
Well, it's not my domain of expertise.
I would say, however, that it's certainly important to be able to accurately interpret the gender and age data, but also the data on many other factors, some of which have already been mentioned. This helps us target vulnerable individuals, target the right projects when applying for funding and direct them to the right people.
Today, technology makes that possible. People are talking about artificial intelligence in the business world. Data plays an extremely important role in ensuring that we are providing adequate service in our regions, determining where we want to spend our funds, what programs are going to be put in place and what policies are going to be developed. Recovering from this pandemic is going to become a budgetary issue.
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
That is very important.
On that question, Ms. Fuchs, do you have anything you'd like to add?
Conservative
President, Centre Victoria pour femmes
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I am no expert in this area either, but I support what Ms. Allen said.
I would like to say that Legal Aid Ontario has begun collecting data on its clients, including race, gender and sex. The idea is to find out for whom we are litigating, and who we are penalizing. We feel it's pretty obvious, but we need to collect this data to support our position.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
We have enough time remaining to do three minutes each.
Ms. Shin, please go ahead for three minutes.
Conservative
Nelly Shin Conservative Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Thank you so much.
Thank you to the witnesses for being with us today.
My question has to do with domestic violence. From what we've heard from other witnesses, first nations women don't have the kind of access that other areas might have. Are there enough shelters and transition houses, and if not, how are their needs being met to help them leave the perpetrators? Is there a system of sensibility among the community groups there that can assist them with something as simple as transportation? Is there an emergency service available through public safety measures from the Government of Canada that are in place to help women leave if they don't have services in their area? I guess that could also apply to rural areas.
That would be my first question, for anyone. Thank you.
Councillor, Red Deer County
No, there is not. Speaking of my area, there is no transportation provided. A lot of the agencies operate on shoestring budgets, and they cannot afford the extra cost of transportation. It becomes a very vulnerable situation, especially if you have children involved. In some cases, when you're talking about indigenous, you also face discrimination in some of the neighbouring communities.
As an Individual
Thank you very much for that important question.
I very much support what Ms. Bota said. From my experience, working with rural shelters, there is an extreme lack of affordable housing and second-stage shelter space. It is an incredible challenge. In terms of transportation, COVID-19 has created some unique barriers, which have impacted the ability of women to leave situations, but also to access services, like justice services. That has been flagged a number of times through the different discussions I've had with practitioners working in rural communities.
I have one last piece to add to that. I've also been hearing that there is not enough flexibility, funding and budget lines to reflect a rural lens for transportation. There is not enough funding for gas, because in rural communities there are much larger geographies to travel, so this has also caused a barrier for accessibility.
Conservative
Liberal
Marc Serré Liberal Nickel Belt, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
It's a shame we only have three minutes to talk with the witnesses.
I hope that the four witnesses will continue their work by engaging in provincial and federal politics. We need people like them in politics. I urge them to follow in Ms. Bota's footsteps.
Our government has invested $50 million in cellular telephony and $150 million in projects to be completed in the next few months. We have invested $1.7 billion in high-speed Internet access. It's the largest-ever federal investment in that area. I encourage all the witnesses to share this with private companies. It's really important.
My first question is for you, Ms. Fuchs. Thank you very much for the work you do at the Centre Victoria pour femmes. Francophone minority communities in Northern Ontario face enormous challenges, particularly because of the distances.
I'd like to highlight the fact that, according to your organization's annual report, you are very involved with high schools and have developed ties with the community.
We have been looking into developing a national gender equality strategy. In 30 seconds, can you suggest two or three factors that should be part of the consultations to develop such a strategy?