Status of Women Committee on April 1st, 2022

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to meeting number 12 of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. I call this meeting to order.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on Tuesday, February 1, the committee will resume its study on intimate partner and domestic violence in Canada.

Per the directive of the Board of Internal Economy on March 10, 2022, all those attending the meeting in person must wear a mask except for members who are at their place during proceedings.

To ensure that the meeting runs smoothly, I would like to pass on some instructions to the witnesses and members.

Before you speak, please wait for me to name you. If you are participating in the meeting via video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your microphone. When not speaking, please mute your microphone.

Interpretation services are available to you. Those participating in the meeting by video conference have the choice of English, French, or the floor. These choices are offered at the bottom of the screen. Those in the room can use the headphones or choose the desired channel.

I remind you that all comments from members and witnesses should be directed to the chair.

Before we welcome our witnesses, I would like to provide this trigger warning: We will be discussing experiences related to violence and assault. This may be triggering to viewers with similar experiences. If you feel distressed or if you need help, please advise the clerk.

I would like to welcome our witnesses and our guests today.

I am honoured to welcome the Minister for Women and Gender Equality, the Honourable Marci Ien. Joining her today from the Department of Women for Gender Equality are Alia Butt, who is the assistant deputy minister for strategic policy, and Lisa Smylie, who is the director general of the research, results and delivery branch.

We will begin with five minutes for the opening statement from the minister, and then we'll go to our round.

Minister, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth]

Madam Chair, thank you so very much for the opportunity to appear before the status of women committee on the matter of intimate partner violence in Canada.

I applaud you and FEWO committee members for undertaking this important study of this form of gender-based violence, as any form of gender-based violence is a horrific human rights violation that can take a physical, psychological, emotional and financial toll on victims and survivors as well as their families.

There is absolutely no doubt that you have been appalled by statistics showing that more than 6.2 million women in Canada aged 15 and over have experienced violence from an intimate partner, someone they expect love and support from, someone they trust. It is also extremely disturbing that, between 2014 and 2020, 458 women were killed by a current or former intimate partner in Canada. To put that figure into context for everyone, that was one woman every six days. More recently, the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability reports that 173 women and girls were violently killed in 2021, amounting to one death every two days.

Behind these abhorrent stats are stories of the shattered lives of millions of individuals, predominantly women and girls, whose pain and suffering is absolutely unthinkable.

In fact, gender-based violence has risen sharply. This phenomenon is often referred to as the COVID‑19 phantom pandemic.

When our government saw this happening, we moved quickly to ensure that those experiencing GBV continued to have a safe place to turn to. Since April 2020, approximately $300 million in emergency COVID funding has been committed to organizations supporting those experiencing GBV. This includes more than $122 million that has already been provided to 1,300 women's shelters, sexual assault centres and other organizations providing critical supports and services. Because of this funding, more than 1.3 million individuals experiencing GBV had a place to go.

One of those places was the Saskatoon Interval House, which was facing financial difficulties due to the pandemic. With the federal emergency funding, they were able to continue helping those in need, providing families with hotel rooms while organizations helped to find them safe and affordable places to call home. They were also able to purchase equipment and programming to support clients online.

Madam Chair, this is one of many stories, and our government knows that there is so much more work to do. It's why budget 2021 announced more than $3 billion over five years to prevent and address GBV, with $601.3 million earmarked for the national action plan to end gender-based violence, which Women and Gender Equality Canada is leading. The national action plan will be guided by the needs of Canadians from every province and territory, taking into very careful account the intersections of sex, gender, gender expression, gender identity and perceived gender. It sends a clear message that gender-based violence will not be tolerated in our country and that our government will always stand alongside victims and survivors of violence no matter where they live.

In January 2021, at the 38th annual meeting of my provincial and territorial ministerial counterparts responsible for the status of women, we endorsed the joint declaration for a Canada free of gender-based violence, including a shared vision, principles and goals for the national action plan to eliminate GBV and advance gender equality for all Canadians.

As we move forward, it is critical to acknowledge that indigenous, Black and racialized women and girls, and LGBTQ2 and gender-diverse people continue to face higher rates of intimate partner violence. To address the pressing needs of indigenous peoples, budget 2021 announced $2.2 billion over five years and $160.9 million ongoing to build a safer, stronger and more inclusive response to the ongoing tragedy of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

Budget 2021 also invested $236 million over five years to expand work to eliminate sexual misconduct and gender-based violence in the military and to support victims and survivors.

Of course, money alone will absolutely not put an end to GBV. We must continue to work with frontline organizations and better educate boys and men to be agents of change, because we all must step up to end GBV and build a stronger and safer Canada.

Madam Chair, our government is determined to prevent and end gender-based violence by working with provincial and territorial governments, and I sincerely hope that the committee's valuable study will encourage us to move faster.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much, Minister.

We'll be starting our first round with six minutes for each of the questioners. Today, we'll have time for both the second and the third rounds as well.

We're going to begin our first six minutes with Dominique Vien.

Dominique, you have the floor for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Minister, thank you for making yourself available to come and meet with us.

We are conducting a very serious study to which we are all very committed.

I have a few quick questions for you.

Of course, we could wage numbers wars. We have heard from organizations, from women and men. We need to hear from more men, and I'll come back to that. However, almost all the organizations and women who came to speak to us said that there was not enough money and that the needs were very great. You say that over the past two years, you have provided $300 million through emergency funds to help the various groups. However, what we are told is that there is not enough money.

Last week, the director of an organization in the Ottawa area, whose name I can't remember, told us that she had to turn away 500 women. These are many women who have not had access to services in times of crisis and who have not been able to take refuge in times of violence. What is your response to that?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you so much for this very important question.

We are working on sustainability. The sustainability of vital women's and equality-seeking organizations is essential, and I hear you with respect to the organizations, but I will tell you that there are places that I have visited, and I'm thinking of one in Halifax in particular, that frankly could not have kept their doors open if not for federal funding.

We know there have been changes in recent years. We've enhanced our support to organizations focusing on supporting longer-term, higher-value funding to organizations, including capacity funding. We recognize that applications for funding could be an obstacle for some organizations, so we've streamlined the process if they are applying and do not have the bandwidth to set aside time to apply. We heard this. We streamlined it and made it simpler and more straightforward.

There are more than 250 projects under the capacity-building plan that have been supported in this way.

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

Thank you.

The Minister of Finance will table her budget on April 7.

Have you met with her? Have you made any requests to her, such as increasing mission funding or core funding for organizations that welcome women in difficulty and women who need to leave a violent environment?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

I will always stand up and be there for the organizations, for the women and for the youth whom I serve.

I have indeed put forward requests. We will see what happens come April 7, but I believe that our government, as has been the case since the strategy was tabled in 2017, has stood beside women and has stood beside organizations on the ground that are undergoing challenges, especially now. As we know, this pandemic is not over. We continue to provide supports.

I'm going to turn to Lisa now, who can provide some numbers. You did allude to numbers and maybe a war of numbers, and she can provide some numbers that would help.

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

Thank you very much.

I would be very grateful if she sent these figures to the committee. I don't have much time.

Madam Minister, there are men who experience hardship and men who are violent. Violence can start very young. There is also interest in intimate partner violence among teenagers.

What are you doing for men's groups at the moment? How do you address them? What do you say to them?

They have to be part of the solution too.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Absolutely. I want to talk about something personal here, because this is something that I have advocated for for a long time. It's this whole idea of calling in boys, calling in men and being there to support men.

I met with an indigenous leader from Iqaluit some months ago, and she said something that I have long remembered. It's an adage that I am living by and trying to lead my ministry by. She said, “Marci, an eagle cannot fly with one wing”, meaning that, when it comes to gender-based violence, if we are addressing only women and not engaging and addressing men and boys, then we will not get to the bottom of this.

WAGE leads several activities to engage men and boys as allies in advancing gender equality and ending gender-based violence. For example, in 2018, WAGE held a series of round tables right across the country on how to engage boys and advance this. It led to a report called “What We Heard”, which really has informed WAGE's work to date.

Since 2015, WAGE has provided $16.3 million to 40 different organizations that are on the ground engaging men and boys and hearing from those boys, because it's important.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 30 seconds.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

We know that this is cyclical. If boys experience violence at a young age or they see something in the home, by and large they will repeat that, so engaging boys at an early age is important to us and important to me.

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

What kind of support do you give to homes and organizations that help abusive men at the moment?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

I'm going to go back to the elder in Iqaluit, who was a social worker and a leader. Right now, she is undergoing a process where she is calling in the men in her community who have victimized or who have displayed abusive behaviour, and she is understanding why—by talking to them, learning about their experiences and understanding why they do what they do.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

We can provide more information, though.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much, Minister.

We're now going to move over for the next six minutes to Jenna Sudds.

Jenna, you have the floor.

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

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Minister, for being here today and contributing to this study. It's been, I think, eight weeks now and there have been some fantastic testimony and learnings.

What I'd like to ask you about this afternoon is this. I know that in 2017 our government brought forward the federal strategy to end gender-based violence. Building on that momentum this year, the government is set to release a 10-year national action plan.

I would love for you to explain to us the difference between these plans and also how they're related.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

How about I start with the similarities? In terms of similarities, both the strategy and the NAP link together all of the GBV-related efforts of all of the federal departments, because this is a very inclusive approach. The departments and the agencies form a kind of whole-of-Government of Canada approach to GBV in Canada.

The federal strategy was to make sure that there was federal coordination to eliminate GBV altogether and create a runway for the national action plan, hence the 10 years, whereas the national action plan is to coordinate the federal government with jurisdictions across Canada at every level.

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

Thank you so much.

Maybe building on that, can you share with us the progress that's been made with respect to the national action plan, and perhaps share a few key points from that?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Absolutely. Our government is committed to ending GBV in all of its forms, and budget 2021 reaffirmed that with $3 billion.

In talking to my provincial and territorial counterparts, I have found that there is not one approach that works for every single province. This is very much what I call an all-of-governments approach when I refer to my provincial and territorial counterparts, in saying that what is good for Quebec may not be good for Saskatchewan, what's good for Ontario might not be the priority in Manitoba, and so forth.

It's listening to the leaders in each province and territory, understanding that they are in touch with the grassroots organizations—those that are on the ground and that are serving—and hearing and listening to all of that and putting forward all of that information. That has led to the beginning of a framework that we agreed to in January—something quite significant—and I'm looking forward, as my mandate states, to providing a framework by fall.

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

Fantastic. Thank you so much, Minister.

With that, I will pass it over to Sonia.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Jenna.

Thank you, Minister, for the work you and your team are doing and for being with us today.

Minister, we know that women, especially racialized women, have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, both at work and in the home. Looking forward, what can you tell us about the government's plans to make sure that our economic recovery is feminist and intersectional, and sets women up for success?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Sonia, thanks for the question.

It really is pivotal and it is at the forefront of everything. Under the federal GBV strategy and our plan, the priority is to increase support for the most vulnerable populations. I would like to point out here that when we say “women”, women are not a homogeneous group.

We know, as you mentioned, Sonia, that racialized indigenous women have seen more violence during this pandemic and have had more trauma. We have to recognize that, and this plan recognizes that—so it's women, girls, indigenous women and girls, LGBTQ2 and gender-diverse individuals. I want to include here as well women living in the north, and women in rural and remote communities.

I was speaking to someone just the other day who said that when you're dealing with a rural community and you're experiencing intimate partner violence, everybody in town knows your business. If you go and seek help, there's usually one place to seek it and everybody will know. That sometimes stops people from coming forward, and that's something to consider. How do we help women like that, who are feeling isolated and who are isolated, so that they can seek help when they need it? It's women with disabilities and girls with disabilities, as well.

I'll give you an example, Sonia. There's a project, Eagle Vision. It's an excellent example of prioritizing culturally competent programming. They've developed a series of podcasts, which really is the way to go, and I'm not just saying this as a former journalist. A lot of people tune in. A lot of people take note of podcasts these days. It's called Taken: The Podcast Series, and it shares the stories of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls to help solve cases and raise awareness of the issue. What I want to tell you here, though, is that these podcasts are reaching more than 600,000 Canadians, who listened to the podcast more than 1.4 million times.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 30 seconds.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

It's available in English and Cree as well.