Status of Women Committee on April 16th, 2024

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

Thank you, Leah. The time is up.

Now we are starting the next panel. Because of the time, what we will do is three minutes for Anna, three minutes for Lisa, and then two minutes for the Bloc and two minutes for the NDP.

We'll start with Anna for three minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to share the last bit of my time with Dominique.

First of all, I want to congratulate you, Ms. Brown, on your film, and your daughter on her radio show—like mom, like daughter. You're an inspiration to all moms.

One of the things I do want to ask about, Ms. Brown, is what you mentioned earlier. I'd like you to expand on the comment you made about “little action”, please.

[Lorna Brown]

Well, again, where is the accountability? We hear it from the family members. They say that there are 231 recommendations. Can we bite off, like, six or seven of those, and just implement them? It's just an extreme frustration that very little has been done.

It seems to be very fragmented across the country as to who is speaking for the missing and murdered women and girls, like the families. Who is actually holding government accountable for implementing these calls to justice?

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

Would you say, “less talk, more action”? I think that's what we're looking for.

[Lorna Brown]

Yes.

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

I want to refer the other question to your lovely daughter, Denise. You do look like your Mum, by the way.

Do you use your radio show to help identify murdered and missing indigenous women and girls?

I've listened to it. I went through it, and I love the music.

[Denise Halfyard]

I do, actually. Every week has a different theme, especially around the days of interest for MMIWG, February 14 to May 5, and we even have events that we coordinate. I bring attention to missing and murdered indigenous women and girls through song. There are a lot of artists out there who are also using their voices to amplify this message, not just in Canada but into the States as well. There are a lot of artists, so—

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

Thank you. I'm sorry, I don't want to cut you off, but I promised Dominique some time, because she has something very important to ask.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Roberts.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I have a brief question for you, Ms. Halfyard.

Earlier, you answered my colleagues' questions about the response to the Amber alert. You drew a parallel with the Amber alert, as we did, and you talked about the territory to be covered. You replied that we should start at the regional level and then extend the territory.

You may have mentioned it and I missed it, but could you tell us what is this regional territory you were referring to? Is it the province, the reserve or the administrative region? What did you have in mind?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

Just a quick answer, please.

[Denise Halfyard]

I think it should be by population. In the Vancouver area, they definitely look out for each other. I think that especially if we were to do something like that regionally in the Terrace area, it would cover the Highway of Tears.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

Thank you.

Now we will move over to Lisa.

You have three minutes.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Thank you.

I'll pick up on the same vein.

At this committee, we're trying to nail down how this.... We all agree that there should be a red dress alert. It should be indigenous led, but what does that look like? I've heard several witnesses, including you, talk about the Amber alert and how it should be similar.

Pelmorex is the company that operates the red dress alert system in Canada. It also does the silver alert system. It also operates The Weather Network, so I always just call it The Weather Network. It operates those for free as part of its broadcasting licences.

What happens for those alerts is that the threshold to decide whether or not to call it goes to the police. I think what we've heard at this committee is that it should be a consortium of indigenous leaders—indigenous women—that makes that decision. I think that's the key decision in all those instances: What's the threshold? How do we decide whether this is someone who even wants to be found or whether it's someone we need to look for right now?

I like your idea of it being regional to start with.

Could you see a system where we have regional bodies of indigenous women in particular who oversee the initial contact and then...? Can you see what I'm getting at?

Where do police fit in? Do they fit in at all? Is there a role for police?

Maybe you could hash out where we're getting at with this committee with this red dress alert system.

[Denise Halfyard]

I think it's interesting that you bring up The Weather Network because that's exactly the model I was thinking of, where you can choose different destinations to follow. As well, the default is wherever you are at that moment. I think that's a great option.

As far as police go, I think that whoever—let's say “committee”, for lack of a better word—would be leading this in their region should just be called upon and utilized as they see fit.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

It would be the committee making the original decision and then they would reach out to police for tactical support and that kind of thing.

[Denise Halfyard]

Yes, it would be for assistance. Again, every region is different. Everybody has different relationships with police. Some are very close and some aren't.

Again, it comes down to being regional and whatever their relationship is.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Lorna, do you have anything to add? Do you have any other ideas of how this would roll out?

[Lorna Brown]

No.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

We've talked about how there are many different types of police services in Canada, depending on where you live in the country.

Do you have anything more to add on whether we need more indigenous policing resources to support this work?

[Lorna Brown]

Again, I mentioned how we have the highest population in B.C. of first nations people. I don't know that we even have any indigenous police in northern B.C. For a population of that size, we definitely need more indigenous police.

Also, having that connection with.... I recently met with some new police officers in Terrace. I think they're trying to change that. They recognize that they have failed in the area of trust. However, they're very new, so we'll see how that plays out.

Yes, it definitely needs more indigenous policing.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Clearly the work you're doing is getting out and doing some good, so thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Sonia Sidhu]

Thank you, Lisa.

Now we'll move over to Andréanne.

You have two minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Ms. Halfyard and Ms. Brown, I'm watching you this morning, and I'd like to add a few comments to what my colleague has already said. I hope to have the opportunity to do a wonderful project like yours, in collaboration with my little girl, who is now two years old. I hope I'll be lucky enough to experience this wonderful complicity with her.

There's an interesting aspect I'd like to talk about. I recently met an Amnesty International activist at an event. I know that my colleague Ms. Gazan has already spoken about human rights and resource exploitation, and I know that Amnesty International also supports the women of the Wet'suwet'en nation.

What additional support can this organization provide?

[Lorna Brown]

I can answer that.

We look at the northeast of B.C. It's not officially the Highway of Tears but the Dawson Creek area where so many girls and some men are going missing. I have a friend who has two family members missing; they went missing less than a year apart. It's been an issue with extraction, and it continues to happen. These companies need to be held more accountable for so many who are still going missing, and are being affected in violent ways.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Mrs. Brown.

We'll now turn it over to Leah, for two minutes.