Status of Women Committee on Nov. 24th, 2020

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number six of the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women. Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of September 23, 2020. The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website.

I'd like to welcome Minister Monsef. I'm very glad to have her here today.

To ensure an orderly meeting, there are a few rules. Members and witnesses can speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services are available. You can choose at the bottom of your screen “floor”, “English” or “French”. For members participating in person, you can proceed as you usually would when the whole committee is meeting in person in the committee room. Keep in mind the directives of the Board of Internal Economy regarding masking and health protocols. This includes wearing a mask when circulating in the room and whenever social distancing is not possible.

Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. For those participating virtually, please click on the microphone icon to unmute your mike. For those in the room, your microphone will be controlled as normal by the proceedings and verification officer.

A reminder that all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair, and when speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you're not speaking, your mike should be on mute.

With regard to a speaking list, the committee clerk and I will do the best we can to maintain a consolidated order of speaking for all members, whether they are participating virtually or in person.

I had a request from the committee, a suggestion for improvement. In the past, we've had some brilliant questions which unfortunately occupied the entire time and there was no room for the answer. Therefore, when you get within a minute of your time, you will get the yellow card, and when you get within 20 seconds of your time, you will get the red card. Then you will be cut off gently and kindly at the end of that time.

With that, we will start in. We're really happy to have, as I said, Minister Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality; and the officers from her department. We have Guylaine Roy, who is the deputy minister, and Nancy Gardiner, the assistant deputy minister, in this first panel.

I invite the minister to begin her comments and then we'll go into our rounds of questions.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister for Women and Gender Equality]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Hello, colleagues. Bonjour. Aaaniin. As-salaam alaikum.

I join you live from my basement in Peterborough—Kawartha on traditional Michi Saagiig territory, covered by the Williams Treaties. I want to thank you all for the very important work you're doing, the study that you've begun and the study that you've just wrapped up, which is critical in providing guidance on next steps for an even recovery as well as in response to COVID.

I want to congratulate the newer members to this committee. This is a really productive group of people who come together, find common ground and move good things forward. I can think of our federal gender-based violence strategy, which was so well informed by the work that this group had done.

I want to congratulate you, Madam Chair, on returning to the chair and also on your recent book launch. It should be a fun read over Christmas break.

Colleagues, I will spend a few minutes this morning talking about COVID, about where we are since the Royal Commission on the Status of Women tabled its historic report in the House of Commons, and then about connections.

COVID has, without a doubt, hit women hardest. It's hit the most vulnerable, those in rural communities, those with disabilities, trans women, indigenous women and Black and racialized women particularly hardest. Those with children and care responsibilities for adults in their lives are doing double or triple duty. Those who are on the front lines, whether in our health care system, long-term care system or responding to victims and survivors of gender-based violence, all have taken on additional responsibilities.

You know too well the job losses that women have experienced over the course of COVID. I know this committee is aware that if we are not united and strategic in our response to COVID and the recovery post-COVID, we stand a very real chance of losing hard-won gains.

Our government, right from the start, took decisive action. We put people at the centre of our response. We've applied an intersectional feminist lens to every aspect of our response. Whether it is support for the women's sector, which has received a 70% increase in funds over the past five years if you combine everything provided to them in the previous five years, the more than $1 billion in support for early learning and child care this year, the support for women entrepreneurs, and our supports to provinces and territories to enable them to carry out their responsibilities, our government recognized from the beginning that supporting women would be critical to our response and recovery from COVID.

In fact, CARE recently pointed out that Canada is the only country that fully accounted for gender in its response. We take this recognition with a lot of humility. We are committed to doing even more to ensure that on the other side of COVID, Canada is even stronger than when COVID began.

I realize that COVID has been hard in many ways on those Canadians and on colleagues who are grieving the loss of loved ones. You are not alone. I hope that you have the strength you need to get through this difficult time.

Looking ahead to December, we will mark 50 years since the Royal Commission on the Status of Women tabled its historic report in the House of Commons. We have an obligation to those who came before us to ensure that we build on the momentum, build on the progress and not allow the clock to be turned back. Those connections—women's connections to the labour force, to one another through broadband and cell service, and through conversations like this and those you're engaged in, Madam Chair, in the course of your studies—will be vital to ensuring we build on that progress.

I look forward to the conversation today. I have my binder and a bunch of papers here. My wonderful officials are here as well to ensure that you have the information you need to keep moving forward.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Excellent. Thank you, Minister.

Now we'll begin our round of six-minute round of questions with Ms. Sahota.

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Thank you, Minister, for being here, and thank you for that presentation.

You spoke about gender-based violence. In 2017 the government announced a national strategy on gender-based violence. The Liberal election platform in 2019 said that a Liberal government would develop a national action plan.

In a recent briefing provided to me by your department, the officials mentioned that stakeholders have been calling on the government to develop a national action plan, yet the department was still evaluating how to develop one.

Minister, we're coming to the end of 2020. When can we expect the national action plan so that we can start addressing this issue?

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

Your question is an important one.

When we launched the federal strategy in 2017, it was the first time that the Government of Canada had brought the various efforts it was undertaking under one umbrella. It started to coordinate amongst different departments, but also with provinces and territories, who, frankly, at the time were leaps and bounds ahead of the federal government in what they were doing.

In the five years we've been in office, we've been able to provide historic funding to women's organizations. We've reopened shuttered women's organization support centres across the country.

The federal strategy did three things. It provided supports for survivors and their families. It invested in prevention efforts. It also put forward ways in which our justice systems could be more responsive to victims and survivors. A lot of progress has been made, for example, in clarifying the definition of consent and in building capacity for front-line organizations.

The national action plan takes that work one step further. We are, as you so rightly mentioned, in the process of working out in the middle of COVID what the best ways forward would be.

You can rest assured that supports for survivors and their families will continue to be number one.

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Thank you.

Your mandate letter states that you are to develop and work with your cabinet colleagues and their departments on ensuring that government programs and funding go through a gender-based analysis. You spoke about putting people at the centre of everything here. However, we have heard around this committee and from our stakeholders that when the pandemic hit, many of the government programs did not address the many challenges women faced, such as that faced by pregnant women who had been laid off as a result of the pandemic and had a challenge in collecting the government support.

Minister, with a budget of more than $100 million a year and over 100 staff, Canadians expected more and are sorely disappointed. How, if at all, have you addressed these failures in your departments to ensure that in future, government funding and programs are properly reviewed by a gender-based analysis?

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

I will correct the record. We have actually been recognized as having the best intersectional gendered lens to our COVID response of all countries. In the early days of COVID, as you know we were dealing with a disease that none of us really knew. We acted quickly to provide immediate supports to Canadians who needed it the most. Millions of Canadians received income supports.

Businesses received the supports that we could provide in the early days. Ever since, we have pivoted, because we have listened and have tweaked our measures to ensure that they meet the real needs.

I will say, concerning supports for pregnant women, that my colleague, Minister Qualtrough, who was before this committee in the summer, I think it was, spoke about how she's working to address the challenge around maternity leave. Just a few weeks ago she announced that we are providing a credit of, I think, 420 hours for pregnant women who perhaps were not able to accumulate the hours they needed for their parental leave, their mat leave. This is significant, and it's backdated to March 15.

There is much more to do. I am proud of our government's record on this, but as I said in my opening remarks, we come to this with humility, knowing that we can always strengthen our response. If colleagues have suggestions for ways we can do so, this committee is certainly a forum for them, as are the follow-ups and the conversations between and among committees.

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Thank you.

In the previous Parliament, your government passed a piece of legislation that required boards to be made up of a diverse group of people, including women. Can you please update the committee on how this is going?

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

Absolutely. Thank you for that question.

The bill that Minister Bains put forward did require a comply or explain model. We've seen some progress on the federal boards. As you have also heard, a couple of weeks ago, Minister Bains announced a 50-30 initiative to take the progress that was made and to build upon it. That work is ongoing.

On the Government of Canada appointments, I can say that we've been able to increase the representation of qualified women to 50%. We've seen increases in diversity appointments too, but that's another area that we're going to continue to be diligent on.

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

That's the end of your time.

Now we go to Mr. Serré and Ms. Dhillon, who will share speaking time.

Mr. Serré, you have the floor.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister, I just want to say thank you. I'm really grateful for all your ongoing dedication and focus to ensuring that all government decisions have a GBA+ and a rural lens. You are not only the Minister for Women and Gender Equality, but also the Minister of Rural Economic Development as well.

Thank you for your time on Zoom town halls in northern Ontario over the past two weeks. We know that the needs of women in rural communities are different from those of women in urban and suburban communities. There are more barriers to accessing help.

Earlier this month you announced the launch of the universal broadband fund. Minister, can you expand on how this will help women experiencing domestic violence, and how the government is ensuring that women receive reliable services via the Internet?

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

Thank you, Mr. Serré.

I'll be honest. Rural Canada never fully recovered from the 2008 recession, and women with children never recovered.

It's wonderful to have you back on this committee, as well.

As I mentioned in my opening remarks, connections are vital to our ability not only to respond to COVID, but also to recover from it. Connections can mean conversations like this. How vital has it been for us as professionals to be able to stay connected to our colleagues, to our work? That high-speed Internet access has been a lifeline.

Parents are providing double and triple duty. Caring for their kids, particularly with online learning, and staying connected with their parents in long-term care homes are vital connections. Yet, about two-thirds of indigenous communities don't have this access. About 60% of rural communities don't have access, and about 2% of folks living in urban ridings, urban communities don't have high-speed access.

We responded to Canadians with a plan that they asked for. The plan is the single largest investment in connectivity. It includes a rapid response stream for connections that can be improved over the next year. It includes investments in cell service as well as fibre. It includes transparency.

It includes a partnership with Stats Canada to ensure that we are following the progress of this investment. Of course, it also includes a concierge service. It's a one-stop shop for rural communities that don't have the capacity to navigate this complex ecosystem on their own. They can pick up the phone and reach out to smart engineers and project managers on the other end of the line who can help them navigate the process to get connected, so Canada's recovery can be complete.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Minister, for that response.

At the onset of the pandemic, our government recognized that we asked Canadians to stay at home, but not every home is safe. Alongside the Prime Minister, you announced $50 million to support organizations serving women and their families who are fleeing violence. Earlier this fall, you announced an additional $50 million. In my riding of Nickel Belt, funding organizations that serve women's centres, like the centre in Sudbury and the West Nipissing Community Health Centre, stay open to accommodate serving women fleeing domestic violence.

Minister, can you provide us with organizations and how much money was provided nationally to support these organizations?

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Let me just interrupt you. Did you still want to share your time? You're over your half of it.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

We have a minute.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Minister.

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

Regarding organizations like the centre in Sudbury and the West Nipissing Community Health Centre, let me, on behalf of the Government of Canada, thank them for their tireless work and for supporting women and children in their hour of need. As you said, not every home is a safe home, and that $50 million response was immediate. It came within hours of the pandemic being declared. We were able to partner with Women's Shelters Canada and the Canadian Women's Foundation, and funds were able to flow directly into the bank accounts of these organizations to do exactly those things that you mentioned, MP Serré.

We also were able to top up that amount with an additional $50 million. We'll be rolling that out very soon. The pandemic is far from over and the winter is going to be long and difficult. We will be there for our partners on the ground just as they are there for Canadians in their most difficult hours.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Ms. Dhillon, you have one minute.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Thank you, Minister, for being here. Since there's a lack of time, I will quickly get to it.

Gender-based violence is a horrendous reality in all communities across Canada. There's social harm related to it, not just in a social way but in an economic way. Our government developed the national action plan on gender-based violence. Would you please give us a quick update on the development of this plan?

Thank you so much.

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

You are right, MP Dhillon. The scars that are caused by gender-based violence, including sexual violence, never fully heal. The best we can do is be there for those who experience it and do what survivors have asked us to do, which is work to prevent these violations from happening to others. Since the pandemic began, we have not only responded with emergency supports, but we've also engaged in hundreds of conversations with experts who are providing us with necessary feedback to shape the national action plan.

I'm happy, Madam Chair, to keep this committee in the loop with that information on the progress we're making.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Larouche, you have six minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Good morning, Madam Minister, and thank you very much for being with us today.

I find this symbolic, all the more so because tomorrow we begin 12 days of action on violence against women. It lasts until December 6, a key date to be particularly commemorated in Quebec because it's the anniversary of the Polytechnique femicides.

You have just paved the way, and I had already asked you the question in the summer when we studied the issue. Violence against women has worsened during the pandemic. I feel this is a good opportunity to introduce the action plan on violence against women. I asked you about it this summer and my colleague also asked you earlier.

Do we have a date? Do we know when the plan is going to be rolled out?

Since you just began working to update the action plan, could you give me a few of the measures we are likely to see included in it?

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

Thank you, Ms. Larouche.

I'm pleased to say that at that federal-provincial-territorial table, colleagues, despite our differences, we are united in a belief that we need to do more, that we can do more and that all Canadians expect us to do just that.

You're absolutely right. The 16 days of activism to address and prevent violence against women are upon us, this year with a particularly sombre tone as we're not able to come together on December 6 in vigils to light candles and to lay roses as we would have in previous years.

This year is particularly important, as I said, because December 6 and all the sadness that it comes with is followed by December 7, the 50th anniversary of the tabling of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada report in the House of Commons, which was the beginning of a series of significant gains for women and gender-diverse peoples.

In terms of where we are with the national action plan, we have been connecting with labour groups and with indigenous leaders. Later today I'm meeting with disability activists and folks, themselves, with disabilities and exceptionalities. We have reached out to rural communities. My brilliant parliamentary secretary, Gudie Hutchings, has been working with the justice system, with police services across the country and with victim support services.

The reason we are having these very methodical conversations almost at the community level, including the Federation of Canadian Municipalities as well as provinces and territories, is that Ottawa will come up with a plan based on what we hear from experts and survivors on the ground. However, it will be up to communities to implement that plan.

We need to ensure two things: first, that the national action plan is reinforced and working in parallel with the response to the calls for justice around the MMIWG inquiry; and second, that we understand what communities need in order to be able to implement their own community safety plans. We are, of course, working very closely with Quebec and other provinces and territories to make sure that they are on board and to make sure that the framework that we've put in place meets their realities.

Again, the process is methodical and careful, but there's a recognition across the country that we have to move with urgency.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Minister.

I didn't understand what you said earlier. Who would have thought Canada was the only country with a feminist lens on economic measures during the pandemic?

I'd like to bring to your attention that some economic measures were not necessarily suited to women. I am thinking of the emergency account in particular. Some women had trouble gaining access, for they had more personal accounts because they run very small businesses. Women in my constituency have contacted me to tell me about the difficulties they encountered gaining access to certain economic measures.

I'd like to hear from you about this.