Evidence of meeting #6 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 covid.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Lindsay Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
In terms of pay equity, as was discussed, we know that even though legislation was passed in 2018, the PBO in a report said that nothing had actually been implemented.
I would like to know about the plans or timelines, if you have them, for implementing the legislation and achieving the actual pay equity that so many women have been yearning for, for so long.
Suzanne Cooper Director, Strategic Policy, Policy and External Relations Directorate, Department for Women and Gender Equality
Thanks for your question. It's nice to speak to the committee today.
As the minister mentioned, the government is currently in the process of implementation. This, in fact—I'm not evading the question—is well under the purview of the Minister of Labour, which should probably answer that.
We're certainly happy to come back to the committee and to go to our colleagues at the department of labour to answer some of these questions, to the extent that we can.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Thank you.
Now we'll go to Ms. Sahota and Ms. Shin, who I believe are sharing their five minutes.
Conservative
Jag Sahota Conservative Calgary Skyview, AB
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My question is for Ms. Smylie, or anybody else who wants to answer.
Ms. Smylie, on the GBA+ analysis, you talked about the process and how you apply the GBA+ lens at the beginning, in the middle, towards the end. Basically you continue to apply the lens.
Considering the problems we saw with the initial programs at the beginning of the pandemic, which are now being fixed, was a GBA+ analysis done at the beginning? If so, were the issues, such as women going on maternity leave or small business owners who are women and not having chequing accounts, flagged and addressed prior to the rollout of these programs?
Director General, Communications and Public Affairs Branch, Research, Results and Delivery Branch, Department for Women and Gender Equality
Our work at WAGE doesn't involve us being intimately familiar with all of the discussions that go on as part of the GBA+ process, so I'm not able to speak to any specific initiative that is the purview of another department.
In terms of whether GBA+ was applied at the beginning, the middle or the end, my answer is that it depends. For new programs that were developed, you can see in the economic and fiscal update that in many of those, the GBA+ was done at the beginning. For initiatives that leveraged existing programs, the GBA+, in the context of COVID, would have been done in the midst of implementing that program. It existed pre-COVID.
The answer is that it depends on what initiative was being leveraged, whether it was a new program or an existing program, in terms of what point in time that GBA+ was done.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Now we'll go to Ms. Shin.
Ms. Shin, your camera....
Ms. Sahota, did you have another question then?
Conservative
Alice Wong Conservative Richmond Centre, BC
Going back to the women entrepreneurship program—again, I know this belongs to another department—women definitely need extra help because they have to balance between family and business.
Is there any specific funding from your department which could help women entrepreneurs to balance between family and business?
That's my question. Thank you.
Director, Strategic Policy, Policy and External Relations Directorate, Department for Women and Gender Equality
As we mentioned previously, of course we do have the women's program. One of the pillars of the women's program is economic security and prosperity, so some of our projects certainly can focus on that particular work.
I will also say, because I know you're quite interested in interdepartmental collaboration, that one of the things we've done at WAGE is to co-chair the Equity-Seeking Communities COVID-19 Taskforce, with PCH.
The purpose of that particular group, which, by the way, represents 25 departments across the government, including ISED, ESDC and Health, is to share information, align strategies, policy and initiatives, and engage with equity-seeking communities to make sure we adapt the federal response to the realities of those people on the ground.
We have a chance to discuss a lot of the issues you raise here with colleagues across the federal family. These issues have come up. In fact, we've had discussions around women entrepreneurs. We have had some presentations, in fact, from Black women entrepreneurs who have talked about the struggles they are facing and about how programs need to be adapted with regard to those.
I know our colleagues at ISED, for example, heard that loudly and clearly, so I just want to highlight that work for you as well.
Conservative
Liberal
Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to the officials for being here today.
This pandemic has made the need for shelters and the needs of those fleeing gender-based violence much clearer. My region of Peel in the GTA has a high rate of domestic-related homicides involving a family member or partner. Your department has invested $40 million to support shelters and sexual assault centres. Can you tell us how this funding has been distributed to shelters and sexual assault centres? Do you have any examples of the impact that funding has made?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Department for Women and Gender Equality
As I mentioned earlier, we have distributed, through Women's Shelters Canada, support to 432 women's shelters across the country, specifically to assist them during the COVID crisis.
We have received a number of testimonials from specific organizations saying what this money and this funding has meant to them. In Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Interval House said it usually has to fundraise to get the support it needs and it is usually able to do that but that this year doing that has been a problem. It used that money and the support we were able to provide it to keep its doors open and provide programming for the women who actually need that support.
They also used this money to support families. They had had limited numbers of spaces but they were able to expand their spaces in terms of short-term accommodation. They were able to purchase equipment and programming for their clients. They were able to provide an unbelievable amount of support to help those women fleeing the violence in their area.
There's another testimonial by Alice House in Nova Scotia. The quick receipt of funding from WAGE Canada allowed them to have vital services and resources to respond to the increased risk of violence against women in that province.
I could read on and on. A number of these testimonials that came in from these shelters really demonstrated the need they had to get the money, the funding support, and to get it as quickly as they could in order to respond with the critical care and support that women and children fleeing violence have needed during this pandemic.
Those are just a few examples.
Liberal
Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON
Thank you for all the great work you're doing.
Can you table those testimonials for us and send them to us?
Many of the government services that people interact with on a day-to-day basis are provincially and locally run, like schools, health care services and social services. Considering that most provinces and territories have a ministry for the status of women, can you speak to any collaboration between your department and your provincial counterparts? Can you highlight some examples of how the federal government has stepped up to provide direct support, for example, to schools, social services and any others?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Department for Women and Gender Equality
I'll start and then I'll turn to my colleague, and actually Danielle as well, regarding the work we're doing with our provincial and territorial colleagues.
As we're developing the national action plan for gender-based violence, the work we have under way with our provincial and territorial colleagues is really critical. We are defining the priorities across the country, working very closely with them to actually determine where the needs are greatest and some of the things this national action plan needs to have in place.
Danielle chairs a provincial-territorial-federal working group. I'll just get her to highlight some of the work that's been going on with that group.
Director General, Gender Based Violence Policy, Department for Women and Gender Equality
Thanks, Nancy.
Certainly, some of the work started back in December 2019 when FPT ministers responsible for the status of women agreed to explore how to engage and collaborate on some national actions to end gender-based violence. That was the last time they met in person. That was really the beginning of our co-operation and collaboration with our PT colleagues. Then again in September, just recently—virtually, of course—they endorsed a frame for the national action plan, which outlines visions, goals, principles and pillars for the national action plan.
We certainly have been working together. As you rightly point out, jurisdictional issues around gender-based violence services are in the provincial and territorial purview. However, there are some things that PTs can learn from one another, as well as the federal government, so we are diving a bit deeper into what are the types of things provinces and territories have been doing around prevention or support for families and survivors. We see very much that provinces are learning from each other, especially during COVID right now, in terms of some of the strategies they're putting in place.
As we alluded to earlier around the COVID emergency funding, we did work closely with our PT colleagues in order to identify where are the areas of greatest need and where are some of the gaps, and that collaboration has paved a really good way for us to continue working together on a national action plan.
Conservative
Liberal
Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON
Madam Chair, I just want to request that they table their testimonies, please.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Yes, please. If you could table that testimony, that would be marvellous.
I want to thank the witnesses from the department for coming today and for all of their hard work to help the women of Canada.
As you know, our discussion today was about the estimates. We will vote on the estimates and report them to the House.
DEPARTMENT FOR WOMEN AND GENDER EQUALITY
Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$45,882,680
(Vote 1 agreed to)
Vote 5—Grants and contributions..........$79,443,977
(Vote 5 agreed to)
Finally, shall I report the main estimates 2020-21 to the House?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Very good.
Our subcommittee will meet on Thursday, November 26, at 11 o'clock to select the subject of the next study and to prioritize the studies going forward. Based on that, if we end up wanting to begin the study we pick the following week, then we'll be asking for witness lists by Friday at the end of the day.
We shall see you Thursday, steering team, and I call this meeting adjourned.