Status of Women Committee on Oct. 28th, 2024

[Shelina Jeshani]

Thank you, Sonia.

Yes, as you heard from the statistics, Peel police is telling us it's seeing at least one strangulation case a day, and we know that cases are under-reported to the police. From April this year until the beginning of October, we saw 17 strangulation cases come through our door.

We've started by understanding in our collaboration that we have to have good training and good capacity-building, so that we all understand the issue and we're all able to respond. We have brought in folks from the strangulation prevention institute to do training with all of us, so that we can start to recognize the signs of strangulation, we're asking the right questions and we're educating people on this issue.

This has allowed us to now start screening folks to be asking those questions, because we know that many times, victims of IPV do not talk about strangulation. Sometimes, the strangulation was so bad that they passed out. They don't remember everything. We have to ask questions about what the violence has been like and what different acts have been happening. We also know that women of colour may not necessarily have markings on their neck to show issues of strangulation.

We've started with that training, and with that, we've come together and we are creating a strangulation prevention protocol in our region that will be instituted with and used to train all of our 24 partners. This is so that we are all screening and using the same risk assessment to determine the level of risk, and we're making sure that people get the medical attention they need.

We also know that in strangulation cases, she may say, “I feel fine. I don't feel anything,” but it can be days or weeks later that there are internal injuries that actually cause death.

The research is clear. We know a woman who is strangled is 750% more likely to be killed by that man. When I hear folks from the strangulation prevention institute talk about strangulation, they talk about men using it with a God complex. The ability to put their hands around someone's neck and to know they have the ultimate power and control to stop someone from breathing—that they can take their life away.... It is the most extreme form of violence we can ever see. We have to pay attention. We have to talk about it, and we have to talk about it with our young people.

We started a few years back, talking in schools about healthy relationships, but we have to talk about what unhealthy relationships look like and what those signs of violence are. We have to name them.

This is some of the work we're doing. We know we need to do much more, because one strangulation a day is too many, and that's only what Peel police is able to give us at this point.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Ms. Jeshani.

Just quickly, last time you spoke about the need for cross-sectoral integration to bring communities together with justice, legal, health and education services for survivors. You talked about the school program.

I know the Safe Centre of Peel is a good example of the integration, but what measures can the government take to foster those sorts of cross-sectoral networks to support victims of gender-based violence?

[Shelina Jeshani]

Cross-sectoral collaboration is so important, because we know that when people have to go to many different places, they're not going to go. Our needs assessment in 2009 showed that people needed to go to approximately 18 different places to get all of the services they needed. With young children, with language barriers, with lack of finances, with big regions being in crisis, you're not going to get to all of that. That's virtually impossible. Why have we created a system that is so difficult to navigate?

The safe centre model, like other models, is about that integrated wraparound care, where people need to just come to that one place, or a partner agency gets them there, or the police get them there. That one place starts the whole service system. We talk about a health care system in our communities, but do we have a service system to address IPV? No. It's all of us, as non-profits, trying to figure something out, and doing this in silos. The safe centre model allows for all of that to come together. We're communicating and providing expert services based on the functions that we need in order to create a service system.

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Thank you very much, and thank you, MP Sidhu.

Next, we have Andréanne, for two and a half minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Alexander, for your openness. I took note of what you said in response to my questions about non-disclosure agreements. Unfortunately, that problem was also the focus of concerns expressed during the study the committee did on the safety of girls and women in sport, a study that I myself proposed.

There's also the whole issue of the Jordan decision. We are very concerned about it, so we have introduced a bill in the House of Commons to put an end to the situation.

Ms. Walker, you can say more about those two topics, but I would like to come back to the comments you made in July. You highlighted the issue of the epidemic of femicide in this country, and you talked about the importance of modernizing the system.

Which of the points you talked about in July would you like to come back to?

[Megan Walker]

It's important to recognize that the expertise comes from women with lived experience, not from a government bill that has not had anybody provide any input into it.

When I think of femicide happening every week, or every couple of days, whatever it is, we need to name it first of all as femicide, so it becomes visible. We need to be able to collect data around femicide, and we need to work to help families heal. There are a number of prongs that would be part of this.

Whether it's femicide, choking or torture, whatever it might be, those problems will continue to exist until we are invited to sit at the table on a permanent basis to help resolve the issue. The issues are so many, and the government has so far either not taken any action, or done it on a piecemeal basis. We have to then retrieve the motions, or the recommendations, from the government and undo them. We need to make sure we're at the table, have a voice and contribute to the conversation.

[Cait Alexander]

What kind of country do we want to live in? It's really simple. Every time I cross this Canadian border, I shake. I love this country. I have so many amazing people here, but we do ourselves such a disservice by not having a functional justice system. We are really losing the grip on it. Feeling safer in America is a very ironic situation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Thank you.

MP Zarrillo, you have the floor, for two and a half minutes.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you so much.

Some of the testimony today has me thinking about the real lack of investments from the Liberal government on this very important issue.

I just was googling this: In 2019 there was only $2.5 million over three years to keep children safe from online harms. In 2023 they were willing to put $50 million over five years towards ParticipACTION for kids, but there was only $2.5 million over three years to keep children safe from online harms.

I'm thinking about the future. I'm thinking about some of the testimony I heard today and how important it is that we have healthy kids and healthy boys growing up, and healthy women.

I would like to go back to witness Jeshani, who talked about some of the education that's happening in school. I was thinking about this. If the federal government can have a campaign on online harms—a minimal campaign—and a larger one on ParticipACTION, getting kids out to exercise, could the government take on awareness campaigns to help educate kids at school about healthy relationships?

[Shelina Jeshani]

I think education is key. We know femicide is preventable. We also know that we live in a society in which violence against women becomes a closed-door problem, a women's problem. We need to change that. This is a community problem that we're facing.

Absolutely, we need to find different ways to bring information to diverse communities, with cultural sensitivity and language appropriateness, to be able to talk about this issue. We know there have been a tremendous number of campaigns over the years that talk about drunk driving, for example. Why don't we have campaigns that talk about violence against women? This is a community problem. When a woman is killed in our community, it costs taxpayers a lot of money. It impacts—

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I'm sorry, but I don't have a lot of time. I just wanted to ask if you have ever seen a federal government truly invest in a significant awareness campaign to end violence against women, girls and diverse genders in this country?

[Shelina Jeshani]

I'm not aware of any campaign.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Okay. I'll ask witness Walker the same thing.

[Megan Walker]

No, I've not seen that campaign, which is why women and girls are dying, being killed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Thank you.

At this point, I would like to welcome Anna. You have the floor for five minutes.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

First of all, I want to thank Megan and Kate for their bravery in coming back after the fiasco last summer. You should be applauded. You're very strong women.

There are a couple things I want to get to.

Ms. Walker, you said on September 15, 2022, that the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the former justice minister and the Minister of Women and Gender Equality attended a meeting to discuss the urgency of the Criminal Code definition of “femicide”. It's been two years, and still nothing's been done.

Femicide is not a private issue. Restraining orders, undertakings and peace bonds offer women and girls a false sense of security and place them at an increased risk of femicide. I want to set the record straight, because I know my colleagues across the hall keep stressing that this bail reform is a provincial issue, a provincial law. Let me make one thing clear: Although provincial judges and justices of the peace are appointed by the province, they have to abide by the bail laws created and implemented by the federal government.

I understand education; I understand that not all men are bad, but if we don't change the laws, this issue will continue to happen. Do you agree that it is now time to act and not to keep doing more research? We don't need more research. We know what's happening. Let's “Get 'er done.”

[Megan Walker]

Absolutely. I can also just clarify one thing. We invited all of those parties to the meeting, but they never responded, so we were never part of that meeting with the government, because it never happened. I think that's an important point to make.

You are spot-on. It's time to move on. Let's stop talking about it. Let's move on and make it happen.

[Cait Alexander]

When are we going to hold these abusers accountable?

[Megan Walker]

Exactly.

[Cait Alexander]

They don't like it. The only thing they'll respond to is pressure. I'm not about mass incarceration, but there are certain individuals who certainly should not be on these streets, full stop. They cannot be rehabilitated. They don't respond to, “Don't do that again.” They do it over and over, and every time you let them get away with it, they're empowered to continue. Then they kill someone. Every time you give them a peace bond, that is their golden ticket to say, “Ha ha ha. I won,” and they act on it.

We have to do it now. The cost to move away out of violence is about $30,000. Let's talk about the funds that takes. Without my parental support, my family unit and the resources that I was privileged to be born to have, I would not have been able to move to America to get away from him, and I probably would be dead. However, I'm lucky; I'm one of the lucky ones. The majority of people don't have what I have. I recognize that, and I'm here because we have to change this. We have to. Otherwise, it's going to continue to get worse.

We had to act 30 years ago, so let's have no more studies. I'm done. I want to move. I want to protect. I need to protect the next woman.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Can I just ask...? I believe the comment that you made, Ms. Alexander, was that it cost $8 billion per year.

[Cait Alexander]

That's an unreported fact from 2009.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Okay. Let's go back a step.

The individual, the criminal—I'll call him a criminal—who abused you has the means, obviously. Would you agree that individuals who cause that type of harm...that we should seize their assets to help the victims recover?

[Cait Alexander]

Yes.

[A voice]

I concur.