Thank you, Madam Chair.
I had quickly thanked Ms. Vecchio last week. I will also be brief, but I wanted to do it again. Since 2019 when I was elected, I have worked with Ms. Vecchio on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. When I initially accepted this role, I was well aware that it was not a priority committee, unfortunately. Status of women issues are often seen as secondary, as less important.
These issues were my sole concern. First, I was happy to be appointed as status of women critic, within the Bloc Québécois, and then as vice-chair of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, but, on the other hand, I was worried, because I did not know what issues I would be able to make progress on. We work within a society that is still far too misogynist, just as is still the case in politics, where I sometimes have the feeling I am in an “old boys' club”, if I may say that.
I was nonetheless proud to have raised problems in other committees, whether it was assaults in the Armed Forces or the issue of assaults in sport, which we first tried to take to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.
Recently, on March 8, I gave interviews to some journalists. I talked about my pride. During those interviews, one journalist asked me a surprising question. He wanted to know why we still need a status of women committee in 2024. I was floored. That was when I realized all the work this committee does, all the work done by an exceptional chair, a strong and open-minded woman like Karen Vecchio. That has enabled us to do an incredible number of studies and produce reports that I hope will not be left on the shelf. Given that our committee is often seen as secondary, there is often a tendency to shelve our studies. I hope we will be able to continue our extremely productive work.
Madam Chair, I want to welcome you here and I congratulate you on your appointment. We have a lot on our plate. We must remember that we need to defend our committee, to stress the excellent and important work we do. There is still a lot of misogyny in our society and we have to point out that the work we do is done in partnership, hand in hand with men. You are welcome here, Mr. Serré.
Our battle is not with men, but too many men believe the feminist movement is against them. This gives rise to online misogyny and hate movements that are especially violent against women. We must denounce this violent speech, these online “men's rights” movements.
On the committee, we have to stress the importance of our work and we have to defend it. Our committee is not secondary. It must not be constantly pushed aside to make way for other committees.
I will stop there. I have already spoken for longer than planned.
Once again, congratulations to Ms. Vecchio. Welcome, Madam Chair, and let us now move on to serious matters. Let us vote on this important motion and continue doing the good work of the committee together.
Thank you.