Status of Women Committee on April 18th, 2024

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

We have it now. We're good.

The first six minutes go to MP Ferreri.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses.

The only reason I knew exactly what my colleague was talking about is that I asked the question before we even started as to what SOREM stands for—to my colleague's point—so no worries at all. We live in an acronym world here in Ottawa.

I have a question for Ms. El Bied. If you were told today to implement the red dress alert, if it was given the go-ahead by SOREM, then it sounds like the infrastructure's already in place—the weather alert and Amber alert systems. If this were added on, how long would it take to implement it?

[Kenza El Bied]

Unfortunately, I am unable to give you a timeline on how long it will take to implement this because it will need a lot of engagement with the provincial and territorial organizations.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

I'm sorry. I'll be more clear. I don't mean that from a relationship perspective. I mean that strictly from an infrastructure technology perspective. Is the technology already in place? If it were to get a go-ahead, then is it ready to go?

[Kenza El Bied]

I will not describe it as “ready to go”. It depends on which type and what the details and technical elements that need to be implemented are, because the infrastructure that we have in place right now is not general infrastructure that could be used for any type of alert.

Please add to this, Arjun, if you have any details on that.

[Arjun Vinodrai, Senior Director, Policy and Programs Development, Emergency Management and Programs Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

I'll just to add to that point. The exact requirements will need to be determined through the engagement, and then that will determine the timelines, technological requirements, etc.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you.

What I'm getting at is that we had a witness here who suggested that the weather alert system would work really well for this, in particular because it's regionalized. I live in Peterborough—Kawartha. If there's a tornado warning in Peterborough—Kawartha, then that alert system goes strictly to Peterborough—Kawartha. If there's a missing indigenous woman in northern Ontario, in whichever area, is it ready, infrastructure-wise, with what's already there? That's what I'm saying. Is it already in place? I'm trying to get an answer out of that.

[Kenza El Bied]

There is infrastructure in place for the weather alert. I'm afraid to say whether the same infrastructure would be used for the red dress alert. I am not in a position to say that the same infrastructure would be used for this kind or type of alert, unfortunately.

We can take that back, dig into it and provide a written response, but I cannot respond to the critical timeline or confirm that there is infrastructure in place for that.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Minister, do you know the answer on that infrastructure piece? Listen, we are all on board with this alert system. What we're trying to do here is nail down the details to ensure that it gets out. It sounds like the infrastructure's already in place.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Let me just say that there are a number of different pieces and available technology that can be relatively easily adopted to a red dress alert system. I think the issue that we are addressing—and I'm going to ask Krista to elaborate—is what we're going to do in terms of who's in charge of the alert system. There are a lot of issues around codevelopment that we need to work on.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

That's totally fair. I 100% understand that piece. We heard that through testimony.

What I was just trying to say is that, when we got the COVID alerts, the alert system was already in place, which is very good. I think what is frustrating for folks is that it's there; we don't need dollars invested in this. We have that.

I understand the relationship piece and who's overseeing that, which was a lot of what we've heard. I appreciate that in terms of ensuring that the right people, in particular indigenous leaders, are at the helm of this. I respect that.

Minister, you talked about driving along the Highway of Tears. I'm curious. Did you try your cellphone when you were driving along that highway, and did you have any dead zones?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

There were three of us who drove. Cellphone service has improved drastically, so I would say, when I went, it was much better.

There were some dead zones, I would say, between Terrace and when I visited the Nisga'a, for example, and in other places as well, but I think there are new cell towers being built there.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

I think, Minister, you can appreciate that a dead zone is literally a dead zone when somebody doesn't have access. That's one of the big key issues we would like to raise.

You have shown that this is important to you, but how are you going to work with your ministers to ensure that when you have an Auditor General's report that found that rural and remote communities are currently sitting at 60% high-speed Internet access and the same AG report says government efforts are falling short...? While 91% of Canadian households have access, just 59.5% of those in rural and remote areas enjoyed the same access, and that number drops to 42.9% for households on first nation reserves.

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Do you think you can wrap up in about 30 seconds?

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

What we're looking for here is to ensure that this is going to be addressed—it has to be addressed—to ensure that this red dress alert saves lives.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

I completely agree.

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Thank you.

The next six minutes will go to MP Sidhu.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, colleagues.

Before I begin my questions to the minister, I would like to make an important comment about the election of the chair of this committee.

I want to welcome and congratulate the chair of this committee—it's nothing against you. We all look forward to working with you collaboratively, like our past chair was doing with us.

Mrs. Vecchio established her place here over the years. The previous chair of the committee made sure we worked well together, listened to the experts and, most importantly, produced many good reports. I've known her since 2017 and she made sure the committee produced a record number of good reports.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank Mrs. Vecchio for her passion and for her work for all Canadian women and girls through this committee.

I do not understand the decision of the Leader of the Opposition to remove such a great advocate for women and girls, such as our previous chair for this committee.

With that said, we have important work to do, so I really want to thank her for her work. Let's work collaboratively, the way your predecessor established.

Now I'll go over to you, Minister.

Thank you for joining us today with your team. The committee's united in making sure that a red dress alert system is established and works properly to save lives.

This committee heard many times that the system should be indigenous-led. How do you plan to implement this important principle?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Thank you.

We have undertaken extensive engagement. There have been over 16 engagements in the different regions of the country, many of which were attended by MP Damoff, as well as MP Gazan. I participated in some of them.

There are a number of different critical partners who have been working for many years on the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and gender-diverse people, and they've informed us a great deal.

The next step of this is where we need to start codeveloping the system along with our partners and to ensure that the system is responsive to the needs, because the last thing we want to do is create a system that is devoid of usage by those who are meant to use it, as well as those it's meant to support. It's critical that we get this right.

I want to ask Krista Apse to shed a little more light on what the next steps are.

[Krista Apse, Director General, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Secretariat, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs]

Thank you, Chair, for the question.

When we talk about codevelopment, there are some things we want to think about. Some are things we already talked about through the engagement sessions but at a very high level. We really need to get into some further detail around defining criteria and what that actually means. We can't pretend to define that criteria as a government. That must be done with partners and with technical organizations on the ground who have a clear understanding about what that impact will be.

You have heard a little about oversight and about the importance of who actually oversees the red dress alert. That's another important element that we would want to talk about further with partners and come to ground on what that oversight would look like and how law enforcement would be involved in the red dress alert system.

We also need to talk about what information is captured. How is that information captured and who oversees that information? How is that shared publicly, and what elements of that are shared publicly? Those are all things we need to continue to have conversations about and to engage on with indigenous partners and with people who have a solid understanding of that on the ground.

Maybe I will add one last thing. I'm sure the committee has heard about wraparound services and about the need for the connections between and among the wraparound services, which need to exist to support families and survivors once a woman is found. How do we make sure that takes place? What exists already? How do we make those connections between the various services that are offered and that exist? What gaps exist?

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

We know that many municipalities such as Regina and Winnipeg are home to vibrant and strong urban indigenous communities. How would a red dress alert system be administered in these communities? Minister, could elaborate on that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

If you could possibly wrap up in about 30 to 40 seconds, that would be great.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

At this stage, we're looking for provincial, territorial or regional partners, and we have a number of very active discussions. There are at least two provinces and two territories willing to start this process. I think as we continue the discussions, we'll be able to hone in on which region we start off with. Obviously, our expectation is that it would be a national system. Once we have the local area coverage figured out, it will be expanded to a national system.

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Thank you.

Ms. Larouche, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

We absolutely have to finish this study and set up this alert, so I hope our committee will manage to produce a productive report so we can move forward and complete this study.

Thanks to the officials and the minister for being here.

Minister, at page 295 of the budget tabled on Tuesday, we learn that the federal government has provided an investment of $1.3 million over three years for the first phase of setting up the red dress alert.

That is fine, but how are we going to be sure that the alert will be put in place in an organized fashion and as appropriately as possible?