Status of Women Committee on April 26th, 2022

[Diane Redsky]

I'll have to look at that again. It was through the national task force.

This industry company was, at their own expense, bringing families to the camps. It's primarily men within these camps. Rather than isolating them, they were bringing in funding for families to come into the camps on a regular basis. They were constantly looking at problem solving with the community.

I'll go back into my notes and provide that information to the committee, or I can pass it on to Leah Gazan to forward to the committee as soon as I find it.

Again, we hope that we can find companies that are committed to what Leslie was saying, which is coming in in advance and really wanting to do some meaningful problem solving with the communities that will be impacted.

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

Perfect.

My last question is how, if at all, you see indigenous women and girls intersecting. Identify how factors such as disability, socio-economic status and age affect their vulnerabilities to and experiences of violence in the context of resource extraction projects.

[Leslie Varley]

Can I clarify the question? Is it how we see the intersection?

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

Yes.

[Leslie Varley]

To answer very quickly, they're very strong. We often see indigenous women with mental health issues or who have been born with disabilities in crisis and seeking support services. They're being exploited, generally, by older men.

Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth, a children's advocate here in British Columbia, is about to start researching and putting a report together on that very issue, so stay tuned.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're now going to move over, for the next five minutes, to Marc Serré.

Marc, you have the floor.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the witnesses for their recommendations. I also thank them for providing the committee with examples of their work for enrichment.

My first question is for Ms. Greig from the Yukon Aboriginal Women's Council.

How was the money you received from the federal government used? Do you have any specific recommendations on how to distribute it so that it benefits as many first nations organizations as possible?

[Dr. Debbra Greig]

Could somebody translate that for me, please?

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Essentially, my understanding is that you received financial support from the federal government for some of the programming. I want to hear your recommendations on the criteria of the funding, and any recommendations that you have to try to look at how to enhance that funding so that it could be utilized in other organizations.

[Dr. Debbra Greig]

I'm so sorry. I can't address your question. I'm the stand-in for Terri Szabo, who's the president of the Yukon Aboriginal Women's Council. I don't know the answers to your questions.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

On the other question, Madam Redsky, you talked about the IBAs. Earlier, you mentioned the example about Quebec to my colleague.

I'm part of Sudbury, and the mining community for decades talked about IBAs and how important those agreements are, but I don't think that a lot of the IBAs, especially in the past, focused on social determinants or looking at housing or looking specifically at violence against women. I'm wondering if you have any examples.

How do you feel about the recommendations by the federal government that we should be looking at funding organizations to provide education to resource bases, like MAC, for the mining industry, and COSIA, for the oil and gas, so that they then could educate their private sector members, to make sure that in impact benefit agreements there are criteria set?

What role do you see for the federal government? A lot of these agreements are negotiated with local chiefs—who, sadly, are probably men—and councils. Do you feel that the role of the federal government should be to provide that leadership to try to educate the associations so that they then could educate their members?

[Diane Redsky]

I would say specifically for the role the federal government can play that I would prioritize giving the resources to the indigenous communities and to the indigenous leadership for those answers, rather than giving the dollars to the industry itself. I think the industry itself can probably afford to invest and should be investing into their own growth and development when it comes to addressing violence against indigenous women and being proactive when they are entering into communities when they're setting up shop. As Leslie was sharing, it would be nice for them to be able to do that in advance and to do it in a meaningful way.

Meegwetch.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Ms. Varley, you mentioned the lack of stats. Do you think the federal government's role at Stats Canada is to collect more data to support organizations and services? There's a wide range here. Do you have any specific recommendations on the collection of data?

[Leslie Varley]

No, I have nothing specific. I'm not a data expert, but what I see and what I know is that if we don't have data, then we don't get the funding to address the problem. Without data we can't prove that we have a problem, and so around it goes, yet the data is that indigenous women don't report violence because it's not safe for them to report it to the police. They might get apprehended or have their children apprehended or be accused of being a sex worker, so they don't report. I think we need possibly an external source to collect data, because it's not safe for us to report data. Stats Canada needs that information.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're now going to switch over to two and a half minutes.

I'm going to pass the floor over to Andréanne.

[Sylvie Bérubé, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Good afternoon.

My name is Sylvie Bérubé and I am the member of Parliament for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou.

I am replacing Ms. Larouche, and I am very happy to be here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thanks, Sylvie. Please go ahead.

[Sylvie Bérubé, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

My question is: can you help us understand the link between resource extraction and other development projects and violence against indigenous women and girls?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

We have a variety of witnesses here. Who would you like to put that to, Sylvie?

[Sylvie Bérubé, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

My question is for all of the witnesses.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Leslie, do you want to get started?

[Leslie Varley]

One of the go-to books that I look at is called The Beginning and End of Rape by Sarah Deer. There are lots of indigenous female academics who have written these kinds of books, which talk about the direct connection between colonization and the rape and abuse of women's bodies, and the idea that indigenous women, prior to colonization, had far more agency over their bodies than female European settlers who came here. The intention was to set indigenous women in their place by raping them. There's also the connection between the rape of indigenous women and of the land, as if both are there for the settlers to take.

I really encourage you to have a look at these kinds of books. There's a lot of explanation here about colonization, settler abuse of land and abuse of indigenous women's bodies.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I'm going to pass it over to Ms. Greig.

Would you like to respond?

[Dr. Debbra Greig]

I'm sorry. I can't respond. I don't have any available information to pass along.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's fair enough.

Diane, would you like to respond?