Status of Women Committee on April 1st, 2022

[Alice Czitrom]

Yes, that is the recommendation put forward by the federal ombudsman for victims of crime as well, based on well-researched facts around limitations to compensation and what compensation can do for victims of crime, especially domestic violence.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have a minute left.

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

Thank you.

Stéphanie Vallée, thank you for being here.

You said that until there is equality, there will always be violence. Is it because you consider that equality of law does not correspond to equality of fact?

I have trouble understanding, because I think we are equal to men. There is equality. I don't understand the link you make between violence and gender inequality. I understand that there isn't enough time.

[Stéphanie Vallée]

Yes, that would be a discussion to have on a nice full evening.

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

Yes, truly.

[Stéphanie Vallée]

My comments may offend some people, and I apologize, but I will tell you that the higher our socio‑economic status, the more we think equality is achieved.

Some people I know have annual incomes of over $250,000. They don't understand that equality is not achieved, but the people we meet who live on low wages know full well that that is not the case.

So there's something—

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you for your response.

I'm now going to turn it over to Sonia Sidhu, who is sharing with Jenny.

I'll start with you, Sonia. You have the floor.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to all the witnesses for being with us.

My question is for Ms. Jones or Ms. Czitrom, from the Peterborough Police Service.

One of the focuses of this study is around teen dating violence. How would you recommend families best support a teen in a violent relationship, particularly when there are sensitive cultural considerations?

[Alice Czitrom]

I'll start.

There are lots of layers to that question. One of the things that we know about supporting young people around teen violence is that it's not just one solution, or one face to that question. There's the family dynamic. We have relationships where.... Whether or not the teen is honest about how healthy the relationship is, the parents suspect things are not going well. There's the school environment, where the teen is placed in a different environment and other dynamics are happening, and then we have the community at large.

To answer your question, we need a multipronged, multi-sector approach to dealing with teen violence. It can't just be police. It can't just be schools. It can't just be community-based programming. It has to be all of us together, working as one, so that we're all speaking the same language and we all understand the barriers to accessing services for teens, especially.

School systems can also provide such a rich value of knowledge around what is actually going on in the school systems for teenagers, and relationships that are formed within those environments.

I'll leave it to Emily if she wants to add anything to that.

[Emily Jones]

I don't have much to add, other than that, in Peterborough Police, we currently have officers who go into the schools. I know this is being assessed in Canada as to whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, especially for racialized youth and what that might mean in terms of feeling safe around officers.

What we're working toward, and what we've done really well, is that the officers who are engaging in the school system are trauma-informed. They're engaged with Alice and the victim services unit. They're making sure that they're making those referrals alongside me and Alice to those right ecosystems that are going help the youth navigate. We're making sure that we're in the right direction around being trauma-informed, especially because we know we're a police service.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

My next question is for Ms. Lawluvi.

You mentioned that immigrant women need culturally sensitive support. Many immigrant women, including young women, are away from their families for the first time and lack awareness on where to get support, awareness that they have legal rights and what kind of rights they have.

How can education and awareness projects on gender-based violence cater to the needs of people from diverse cultures and racialized communities?

[Mercy Lawluvi]

I'll go back to the fact that we have to have robust prevention. It's more about prevention, and getting that information to all these immigrant women and youth. It's critical that they have all this information.

Having that outreach and getting to communities that are isolated, that are not accessing services, coming to organizations and so on.... We need to go to those vulnerable organizations. We need to connect with mainstream organizations and provide resources that they can also distribute to immigrants who come. It's critical that information gets to them, so that they are aware of their rights.

A lot of immigrant women are afraid of the criminal justice system. They need to have information on what to expect should they involve the police. That is critical. A way of doing that is through community engagement and outreach into the community with all the information that is required.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'll go over to Jenna.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Jenna, you have 20 seconds.

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata—Carleton, ON]

That's not much time, but I guess I would just build on Sonia's question.

I know you mentioned, Mercy, the need for affordable housing. I'll just leave that as a comment. I'm not sure that you have time to respond to it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I'll give you about 10 seconds.

[Mercy Lawluvi]

Affordable housing is a huge issue because, as you know, immigrant women mainly access low-paying, minimum-wage jobs. There's that element of poverty.

Is the time over?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Yes, your time was over before you began.

[Mercy Lawluvi]

Okay. Suffice it to say that it is a huge issue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

For the next two and a half minutes, we're going to pass it over to Andréanne.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I'll go back to Ms. Vallée for my last round.

Ms. Vallée, I wish you a speedy recovery. When you have recovered from COVID‑19, I too would like to have an evening to chat with you. I would really appreciate it.

Your organization's report, which was mentioned in the first round and which is entitled “Adapter le parcours judiciaire au rythme ou au vécu des victimes, des survivantes,” mentions that “70% of abused women are not represented in official statistics.... Abused by their spouse, sexually assaulted, economically or psychologically controlled, these women make the choice to turn to their network, to their families or to anonymous, community-based solutions.”

In this excerpt, you mention the concept of control. Are you talking about coercive control? Is that a familiar concept to your organization? Does your organization welcome women who are victims of controlling and coercive behaviour? Are you doing prevention to help women and responders recognize the early signs of this coercive control?

[Stéphanie Vallée]

The answer to all these questions is yes.

We welcome women to acknowledge that they are experiencing violence and to help them regain control over their lives. Sometimes we also get women to recognize that they are violent themselves. We've started to do the work that I think you're referring to.

However, we make a distinction between the systemic problem of violence and violence committed by women, which does not stem from patriarchy. We don't deal with those two issues in the same way. I sincerely apologize, because I'm not familiar with the entire report as I wasn't working for L'R des centres de femmes when it was published. I do remember it, though, because I was in a women's centre.

What was the other part of your question?

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Actually, my time is almost up.

I want to say two things. First, let's hope the next 10‑year action plan doesn't take 10 years. You mentioned the World March of Women in 2000, which resulted in a 10‑year action plan.

[Stéphanie Vallée]

Yes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

The delays are starting to mount.

Madam Chair, I will close by offering my condolences to all the relatives of the victim of the most recent femicide in Quebec, which took place in Lebel‑sur‑Quévillon, and to the entire community. I extend my deepest sympathies to them.