Evidence of meeting #137 for Status of Women in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was kids.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Madam Chair, you've given 20 seconds to other—
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Thank you very much.
I just wanted to tell you that, when I was Minister of Labour in Quebec City, I increased the statute of limitations for people seeking to file complaints about workplace harassment. I'm doing the same thing in collaboration with all the parties here. The goal is to give former employees under federal jurisdiction more time to file a complaint if they are victims of violence or harassment in the workplace. Little by little, we will get there.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Shelby Kramp-Neuman
Thank you, Dominique.
Sonia, you have the floor for five minutes.
Liberal
Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses for your testimony.
My first question goes to Mr. Testaouni.
Mr. Testaouni, your organization is focused on breaking down barriers and connecting communities to support 2SLGBTQI+ people. You talked about more opportunities being given to entrepreneurs.
How can the government better partner with organizations like yours to ensure that the unique challenges faced by 2SLGBTQI+ community professionals are addressed, especially in industries and provinces where the climate is becoming more hostile?
Chief Executive Officer, QueerTech
The first thing that comes to mind is that a lot of organizations need funding and support, especially in periods when there are economic challenges. Organizations like ours need support from the government so we can deliver programs to our community.
As I mentioned, 36% of community members get discriminated against in the recruitment process, so what we put in place are training programs to support the community so we can prepare them for the future of work and what awaits them so they can be successful.
Liberal
Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON
I want to put an angle on the issues around online safety. I'm wondering how you think the tech sector and legislators can create and maintain an online platform that effectively safeguards free speech while also protecting individuals from harm and discrimination online.
Chief Executive Officer, QueerTech
As I said in my opening remarks, there are human perpetrators but there are a lot of bots that are powered by AI today. We would accentuate this program a lot. We need to have better legislation and policies in place so that these platforms can make sure that they remove these bots, and also that a moderation policy is created and that there is transparency with communities like us so that we understand how it's regulated. I think government needs to put a framework around that.
Liberal
Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON
Thank you.
My next question goes to Fae Johnstone.
Thank you for coming again and for the work you are doing, Fae.
Talking about happy and healthy kids, you commented that the homeless community is a big part of the aftercare. What do you think the federal government can do? What is the action plan? I know an action plan is important. What more can our government do to decrease the amount of hate toward this community, and how can politicians play a role so they can lower the temperature and ensure community safety?
Executive Director, Society of Queer Momentum
First, my invitation would be for all parties to not engage with anything queer or trans in the next federal election. Let's just set it in a corner. Let's get back to it after the writ is dropped and after that's all done, and then we can have these conversations and find a path forward. I do not want an election where queer and trans issues are mentioned once, because it will not work well for us.
Second, I would say that I welcomed the federal government's 2SLGTQ+ action plan. I will say, however, that I was disappointed with the amount of funding committed.
We're talking about millions of Canadians and their families. We're talking about a community that has gone through decades of state-sponsored discrimination and exclusion at times and a society that is still hostile to us, so I would invite further investment and deeper partnerships with queer and trans civil society.
We know our issues. We know the programs and interventions that address health, social and economic inequalities. We want to be in partnership with this government, whichever party forms government, to continue the progress we've been making since the 1960s.
Thank you.
Liberal
Director of Legal, Egale Canada
I love my fellow witness's suggestion that politicians don't speak about our communities. We could all just take a pause for 18 months or something, come back and have lower-temperature conversations.
I just think of what Mr. Lamrock shared and my experience with the young people in New Brunswick. It was horrifying to have their identities in the headlines for month after month. Nothing brought them greater peace than just having that shift.
We had local organizations begging the leaders, even favourable leaders, before the election in New Brunswick, to not talk about their communities because it was just so devastating to have their humanity politicized. No good can come of it.
I echo the comments that this conversation today has been really lovely. I feel like there is a lot of productive dialogue. That just isn't possible, normally, in headlines.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Shelby Kramp-Neuman
Thank you so much.
I think that at the outset, it was said, “please leave us alone”.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Shelby Kramp-Neuman
We have 10 minutes. We could go on. We could spend another hour.
What I'm going to do is truncate the members' time. We'll do three, three, two and two.
Michelle, you have the floor for three minutes.
Conservative
Michelle Ferreri Conservative Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'll tell you, the Conservative line is “leave me alone”. That's very much who we are at our core. Don't tell me what to do. Don't tell me who to worship. Don't touch my stuff.
Conservative
Michelle Ferreri Conservative Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
It's that simple.
I want to go back to something.
Thank you for bringing up the homelessness issue because I know that in my shelter.... I did want to talk about that.
However, I want to get to this first. I think it can be very valuable in recommendations for this study. We have a Conservative member right now who has Bill C-412. It's in juxtaposition to Bill C-63.
In Bill C-63, the big push-back is that it's a regulator. It's another body—another government bureaucracy—that would then have to enforce what happens with the social media platforms. Bill C-412 removes that regulator and puts the duty of care or the responsibility directly on the social media platforms. It could be implemented immediately.
The big thing that I really value about Bill C-412 is that if there is an anonymous person online spreading hate or threatening somebody, the judge would then have to release that name, based on the algorithms and the social media's responsibility or duty of care.
The specific difference is that Bill C-63 would create a regulator, which to me is another arm's-length organization or another task force. We're going to have a meeting about a meeting, whereas in the Conservative Bill C-412, it is immediate. It gives the duty of care directly to the social media platforms.
Could we have you on record supporting a bill like that today in this committee to ensure that we can have stronger legislation, so that judges have more power to ensure that we know who's hiding behind these screens and hurting people?
Go ahead, Mr. Jensen.
Director of Legal, Egale Canada
I apologize, Madam Chair, because this is going to be a very lawyerly answer. I, unfortunately, cannot commit to anything without having reviewed it myself.