Status of Women Committee on March 21st, 2024

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I have to interrupt for one moment.

The bells are ringing. I'm going to ask for unanimous consent from our committee to continue until 5:25.

Can I have unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Go ahead, Anna.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

How can we educate our youth so that they are aware of these situations? How can we educate men so they understand they need to be more respectful of women? What do you see as lacking in that?

[Jessica Savoy]

When I think about youth, I think about the child welfare system. There is a link between MMIWG and Canada's child welfare system. Also, how can we be empowering youth? It's about having more preventative measures within our communities. I mentioned before that we need more supports in our grassroots communities. We need human, technological and fiscal capacities in order to lead and protect our communities in good ways.

To answer your question, there need to be more culturally appropriate services and youth empowerment initiatives within communities in order to empower our children, youth and families, and also our men, so that all men in our greater community and society can do better to combat the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse people.

Thank you.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

I read a book called If I Go Missing—I'm not sure if you've read it—by Brianna Jonnie. She doesn't hold back. She was 14 years old when she wrote the book. She admits that her father was a drug addict and an abuser. It was the strong will of her mom who helped raise her so that she could do.... Obviously, she's done amazing things.

I always feel that, as mothers, whether we have sons or daughters—I have one of each—it's our responsibility to show respect so women are not revictimized by their male counterparts—

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 10 seconds to respond.

[Jessica Savoy]

I didn't hear a question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Was there a question?

Okay. There was no question. I'm sorry. I have to pass it on. We are continuing.

Sonia and Marc, you have the floor.

I'll start with Sonia for four minutes.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for insightful, valuable testimony.

Thank you, Leah, for your advocacy.

My first question is this: We know many indigenous languages are spoken in Canada. On the last panel, on Tuesday, we heard from Ms. Jesty about how her model is unique because it allows first nations chiefs to broadcast alerts using their own words in their own languages, making the alert more accessible.

Could you talk about the importance of making sure these alerts are accessible in indigenous languages?

Ms. Cooper, you can answer that question.

After that, Madam Chair, it's over to Marc.

[Lisa Cooper]

It is absolutely good to have your own indigenous language. Unfortunately, I don't speak Mi'kmaq. Mi'kmaq was taken from my mother as a residential school survivor, so I wasn't fortunate enough to learn it. If the alert were done in the Mi'kmaq language, I wouldn't know it.

A lot of urban people have lost our languages. A lot of urban communities have multiple languages. I'm on Mi'kmaq territory—my ancestral homeland. My mother was born and raised here, and so was I, but we are also urban and service Cree, Ojibwa, Tlingit, Algonquin, Mohawk.... I think it's great to see an indigenous on-reserve community that was able to keep its languages. However, when you are looking at urban centres, you often have multiple languages and nations.

I don't know if that would be a very effective way to do it. I'm not saying it can't be done. If they're Inuit and it's put out nationally in Inuit followed by English and French, or something along that line.... However, I don't know if I would be in support of a call-out in the Mi'kmaq language, which I wasn't, unfortunately, ever able to speak and which my mother lost because of the residential school. I think that would miss the mark in some places.

There are some Inuit communities that speak very fluently, and I love that. If you are looking at those communities, absolutely. However, if you are looking at missing and murdered across Canada, how many languages are you willing to put it out in? That would be my question.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd also like to thank the witnesses.

Obviously, this is a crisis, a tragedy. It's a real shame.

I want to thank Ms. Gazan for bringing this study to the committee. I think we should have two or three more meetings, because we need more time to hear from witnesses. We heard at the previous meeting about the senior officials responsible for emergency management. I think the committee should invite the federal representative of that organization, as well as the president who represents the 10 provinces and three territories.

Earlier, Ms. Cooper talked about the models of the alert system. Quebec, for example, has insisted on having SILVER alerts, particularly for finding people with dementia.

Why can't the federal government or a province add a red dress alert to its national system? I don't understand why it hasn't been done yet.

Ms. Savoy, what would you have to say to the SOREM committee right now, nationally? Why have they not included murdered indigenous women as missing in the alert system? Why has that not happened?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 10 seconds to respond.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Ms. Savoy, my question is for you.

[Jessica Savoy]

Hi—

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I hate to do this, but we do have to cut you off because we are so tight. If there is an answer that you have for that, we would greatly appreciate it in writing so that we can get it.

I'm going to pass the floor over to Andréanne Larouche for two minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Once again, I want to thank Jessica Savoy and Lisa Cooper.

I'd like to come back to something that was discussed at the last committee meeting.

Ladies, you both talked about the importance of social networks in reaching out to people in the event of a disappearance. Social media, the red dress alert and traditional means make it possible to contact people who could not be reached through technology. I'm thinking, for example, of initiatives like the one we discovered last year when we went around airports during the tour of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women on the study on human trafficking. I'm talking about the “not in my city” awareness campaign at airports: posters of missing persons and women are posted at airports.

How can we combine approaches? How important is it to combine that with traditional posters to be able to save as many people as possible?

[Lisa Cooper]

I think we can expand that to airports. We could expand that to bus stops. I've seen them in bathrooms, the posters. You shut the door and there's a picture there. I think there are so many opportunities.

In some places, because of technology—I'm technologically challenged, so you'll have to excuse me—there could be videos on a screen in an airport, where pictures are being shown while people are waiting to board an airplane, or for a bus at a bus stop. There are so many opportunities now where you can have multimedia to help with the large amount.... If you're now sharing this Canada-wide, then you're looking at how many missing and murdered indigenous women a day?

I'll leave it in case Jessica would like to speak to that.

[Jessica Savoy]

Yes. Thank you.

I want to refer back to call for justice 2.4. It calls on “governments to provide the necessary resources and permanent funds required” for the preservation and revitalization of indigenous cultures and languages. As you know, we have lost so much due to colonialism and residential schools.

I'll leave it at that and refer to that call for justice.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Jessica, I hate cutting you off because you have so much to add. I do apologize.

Leah, you have the last two minutes.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you.

My last question is for Ms. Savoy.

You spoke about the child welfare system. It's really been called a pipeline for murdered and missing indigenous women and girls. We know that a lot of folks who are part of the child welfare system don't have a connection to community or family, and they often become murdered or missing.

How would an urban alert be different from a rural alert in taking that into account?

[Jessica Savoy]

It's a great question.

I think we could utilize what's already been done in regard to the Amber alert. I know that Lisa mentioned something about asking people if they're interested in receiving these types of alerts, but I think it's important to note that 80% of indigenous peoples live off reserve across this country. Oftentimes, if a child is taken away from their family, they are off reserve. There definitely need to be implementation and initiatives to really draw the link between MMIWG and Canada's child welfare system.

I'll just leave it at that. I'm not sure, Lisa, if there's time for more.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Okay.

[Lisa Cooper]

I would quickly add that the federal government should look at making sure there's clean water. It hasn't done that very well. It should make sure there is Internet in all places, including rural places, because that's where people are at risk. Even if they have some sort of dial-up, at least it's a start. That has to be a federal investment.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Perfect.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank Jessica and Lisa for coming today. This has been absolutely fantastic.

We agreed to end at 5:25. It's 5:26, so today's meeting is adjourned.

Thank you very much to everybody.