Status of Women Committee on April 1st, 2022

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

Madam Chair, do I have more time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 18 seconds.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

I'll pass it on.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's wonderful. Thank you so much.

We're now going to pass the floor to Andréanne Larouche.

Andréanne, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Minister, for being with us today. Your presence is timely, in the middle of our study on violence against women and domestic violence. In fact, our study is coming to an end, but all the work remains to be done.

Madam Minister, in Quebec, we have been following the issue of violence against women closely. In fact, one of the last femicides in Quebec took place very close to my home, in Dunham, where another woman was killed in a violent context. It's always a tragedy, and I hope we'll have recommendations.

My first recommendation is about funding. You talked about the importance of funding for a number of organizations, including shelters for women who are victims of domestic violence, who came to testify before the committee. However, they mentioned the importance of stable and recurrent funding from the government, so I want to come back to that.

As part of your action plan to end gender-based violence, do you plan to establish stable, recurrent funding for frontline agencies that support women victims?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you so much, Andréanne, for the question.

The elimination of gender-based violence in Canada will not be possible without coordination among all levels of government.

During this pandemic, Andréanne, when shelters reached out to us for assistance, as I said before, WAGE distributed $100 million to more than 1,300 shelters, sexual assault centres and other organizations providing critical supports for GBV. This funding was distributed through partners such as Women's Shelters Canada and the Canadian Women's Foundation, but also through the Government of Quebec. Quebec received approximately $17 million of this funding.

Budget 2021 announced $200 million to support shelters and organizations, which is already flowing to service providers. Of that, Quebec is specifically allocated $44 million over two years.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

These are interesting sums of money, Madam Minister, but I spoke to someone who worked at the Quebec Ministry of Public Security last year, and he was lamenting the fact that this funding sometimes came with conditions. The Quebec government asks that transfers, whether for health or for shelters, be made without conditions. Last year, in the midst of the pandemic, it took the federal government another six months to reach an agreement with Quebec on the transfer of the money it was requesting for shelters, because the federal government was trying to attach conditions. Obviously, as you say, reaching an agreement with Quebec and with each province is different.

Do you recognize that? Will you commit to ensuring that the upcoming negotiations with Quebec on transfers do not take longer, to listen to its demands on the matter and to try to speed up the process?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Andréanne, I won't commit to anything until I see forthright exactly what conditions we're talking about. Please, if you will, forward to my office those conditions and the agency or organization that you're talking about. I would be pleased to look at it.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

One of my colleagues also spoke about the budget, which will be tabled next week. We look forward to seeing it and we hope you have spoken to the Minister of Finance.

Domestic violence is an intersectional issue. It concerns many people. For example, in Quebec, the report “Rebâtir la confiance” [Rebuilding trust] was tabled, which is non-partisan and involves several departments. Indeed, it affects justice, public security and the status of women.

I hope we do the same thing in Ottawa. Talking about money and coming to an agreement with the Minister of Finance is one thing, but there are other departments involved. For example, the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, as part of its study to explore solutions to end gender-based violence, tabled a report entitled “The Shadow Pandemic: stopping coercive and controlling behaviour in intimate relationships”. I was talking about it to my colleague, the member for Rivière‑du‑Nord.

Since some of the recommendations, such as the creation of a specialized court, concern the Department of Justice, have you had any discussions with your colleague the Minister of Justice?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

You're absolutely right, Andréanne. This is in all ministries, plural. It is an all-of-government approach. I like to call our ministry the glue, because it really does touch every single department in government.

The answer to your question is yes. I am in constant collaboration with the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Public Safety, the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Housing—all of the ministries—because all of them interact with and impact women and gender equality.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

There is also the issue of tracking bracelets. Since sentences of more than two years are served in federal institutions, the Quebec government cannot intervene with serious offenders, and therefore it is asking that the federal government follow suit with regard to tracking bracelets.

Ms. Ien, as Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, could you ask your colleague the Minister of Justice to have your government respond positively to this request from Quebec? Quebec is asking the federal government to follow suit, and this request to the Department of Justice could help resolve cases of violence.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Yes. As I said, Andréanne, I am in constant communication with David Lametti and others, and I continue to support. When it comes to matters that are clearly in his purview, he will ultimately make those decisions, but please know that I am supporting and that we are in constant communication about these matters.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much.

We're now going to pass the floor over to Jenny Kwan.

Jenny, at five minutes I will let you know that you have only a minute left.

Please go ahead for six minutes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for coming to the committee today.

I'm subbing in for MP Leah Gazan.

I would like to first ask the minister about core funding. The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, in collaboration with 26 gender equality organizations across the country, called for your government to commit $25 million per year over 10 years for sustained core funding for women and gender equity organizations so that they are able to continue advocating for and providing frontline services and support to those in need and those who are fleeing violence.

This promise was included in the minister's mandate letter. As we know, the rates of violence are increasing, and really for many of the women who are faced with domestic violence and violence in our community, action is slow, so there's no time to wait.

When can we expect funds to be released to ensure that organizations on the front lines are able to respond to this violence [Technical difficulty—Editor]?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Before the minister responds, I will ask you, Jenny, to check your microphone and ensure that you also have the microphone checked on your computer.

With that, I'm going to pass the floor over to Marci.

Marci, you have the floor.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and thank you for the question. It is clearly an important one.

I will say that since April 2020, WAGE has distributed more than $122 million, and that money has gone to more than 1,300 shelters, sexual assault centres and other organizations that are providing pivotal supports for those experiencing GBV. Because of this funding, 1.3 million individuals experiencing violence had somewhere to go, had a place to turn to and had supports that they needed.

Digging into this a little deeper, 448 organizations were able to hire new staff, and nearly 500 organizations were able to hire additional staff or extend shifts, which was so important during this time and which continues to be important, to respond to the increased demands for supports and services that we have heard about today and that you have heard about in this committee; 560 organizations were able to expand programs and services to respond to increases in GBV during this pandemic; 230 organizations were able to acquire new rental housing units or shelter beds; and 96 organizations were able to support child care, as well as services in support of children, because we know that when women are fleeing intimate partner violence, many have children with them and they need special supports to make sure they are okay.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you, Minister.

I hope the sound is better. We did test it earlier and it was fine, so I don't know what happened.

Can you hear me now?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

We can hear you. It's all good.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Okay. Thank you.

Minister, I appreciate the funding that has been allocated. However, what the organizations are asking for is sustained, ongoing core funding, and that is not what is being made available. I am aware of the funding that has been allocated during the pandemic period, but that is not sustained core funding.

My question is about core funding. Will there be a specific allocation for core funding?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Yes. We have had changes. We have seen changes in recent years, Jenny, and we have enhanced our support to organizations.

If you look at what we have done, you can see that we are supporting organizations on the ground with longer-term, higher-value funding. We understand that this is working, including for capacity funding. That has meant that more than 200 projects under the capacity-building fund have been supported in this way, and it focuses on strategic planning.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you, Minister.

I have limited time, so I'll ask you and your department to table with the committee the core funding allocation to the organizations throughout the country, so we're aware which organizations received core funding from the government, for how long, and how much. If I could receive that for all the organizations across the country, I would appreciate it.

I'd like to move on to another question. The issue is, of course, as the minister indicated, the concerns around the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, yet communities have been waiting for the government to act with a real plan, a real rollout, and real markers in terms of progress on this file.

We haven't seen very much, quite frankly. The Coalition on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, in my riding of Vancouver East, meets regularly. We are absolutely desperate for leadership from the federal government on this file. So many family members continue to look for their loved ones on their own, without support from the government. Women and girls continue to go missing. They continue to be murdered, to the present day.

Will the minister allocate resources to families, as they engage in this work to look for their loved ones without any help from any government?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

The Government of Canada is continuing its efforts to end this tragedy. In my mind, if we don't get this right, then we don't get anything right. This is absolutely pivotal.

I want to turn my attention—because you asked what we were doing for the communities—to the call for proposals made by WAGE. This call for proposals was meant to bolster the capacity of indigenous organizations and 2SLGBTQQIA+ organizations to provide gender-based violence prevention programming that would focus on addressing the root causes of violence against indigenous people. That call for proposals was $55 million, and we've had an excellent response to it. We have had responses that go right across the country.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you, Minister.

We're going to start our second round. We'll be doing five minutes for both the CPC and the Liberals, and two and a half minutes for the NDP and the Bloc.

I will begin with Shelby.

Shelby, you have five minutes.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being here today.

You mentioned earlier in your comments that you're not throwing millions of dollars at programs and expecting that to fix everything, but I'm not confident that's working.

What I'm going to speak about today.... Through the gender-based violence strategy, funding was allocated to Women and Gender Equality and the Public Health Agency of Canada to address three different things: developing and testing innovative practices in youth/teen dating violence prevention, preventing bullying and cyberbullying, and developing a framework to address gender-based violence in post-secondary institutions.

I'm not seeing a tremendous amount of progress, as much as we would like. It's a really concerning issue, for several different reasons.

What results do you think have come out of those particular frameworks? Considering the funding is set to expire soon—and I recognize you can't anticipate and share what's forthcoming in the budget—where are you at with this?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

It's such an important question.

I am very much a research-based person, Shelby, so numbers matter to me. We've spent $30 million just to equip our department to do research and get disaggregated data to address a lot of what you've just talked about.

I'm going to turn to Lisa, who has those numbers and can amplify them for you.