Evidence of meeting #16 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 projects.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation
I'm very encouraged by the leadership of men in our community.
Conservative
Michelle Ferreri Conservative Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
Thank you so much, Ms. Quinn.
It's nice to hear that you're targeting the men in the education aspect. I loved that it's building empathy, which is very valuable. Thank you very much for that. It sounds like it's a success.
Can I get a yes or a no? Are these programs a success? Do you have any data to come out of them yet?
Executive Director, Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation
We have minimal data. It always takes money to study the long-term impacts, but we do believe that we see changes in the attitudes and behaviours of those who come to the program.
One indicator, too, is that sometimes we have men call us and say, “I haven't been arrested, but can I come? I know I have a childhood problem.” That's a good thing.
Conservative
Michelle Ferreri Conservative Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
That's a big step.
I know we're short on time, so I'm going to jump right over to Madame Étienne.
I'm wondering if you have any stats on a reduction in family violence with economic development. My experience in speaking with chiefs of indigenous nations across the country is that there is definitely a want for economic development. I'm wondering if you have any stats around a reduction in family violence with economic development.
President, Quebec Native Women Inc.
We have very little in the way of information, statistics or documentation on indigenous women and girls and economic development, the economy and so on.
As I said earlier, funding should be provided in order to study and document the theme of indigenous women and natural resource development. That would help us determine what those women need so they can hold positions on sites, acquire more training and entrepreneurial support and so on. We need to know more about women and economic development and all the development that's being done on the land.
I'd also say that some communities in Quebec are approaching promoters for the purpose of developing natural resources but aren't doing it in an organized way. Certain criteria have to be met to respect the indigenous families that use the land.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Sonia Sidhu
Thank you, Ms. Étienne.
Thank you, Ms. Ferreri.
Next we go to Ms. Shanahan for five minutes.
Brenda, the floor is yours.
Liberal
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
Thank you very much, Chair.
I also thank the witnesses for being here today. This is a topic that has been of great concern to our government since we formed government in 2015, and we have been putting significant sums of money into organizations that are working directly against gender-based violence and preventing gender-based violence.
My question is for Ms. Quinn.
You addressed earlier that you're doing education, and I agree that. With men and boys, it's very important to do so. For women and girls, we've also heard that women and girls who face abuse growing up have more difficulty recognizing abuse in other relationships.
Can you explain or expand on how this trauma makes indigenous women and girls more vulnerable to sexual exploitation and what strategies we can use to address this? Could you also comment on whether you've seen the effects of the additional funding that this government has put into preventing gender-based violence?
Executive Director, Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation
Thanks. I'll do my best, and I would defer to the indigenous women on this panel.
There are a number of wonderful initiatives. We have the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women in Alberta that engages women all the time and also works with young women, and I celebrate their work in the community. Again, there are programs called Girl Power that are specially oriented towards indigenous girls in first nation and Métis communities as well as different types of educational initiatives.
I know that through WAGE, for example, the Bonnyville Native Friendship Centre received some funding, and they are working in their community. I think we're seeing some changes.
I know, too, the Canadian Women's Foundation work has been really critical in Fort McMurray and other places. I think there's some good news happening, but we still have to do the big work to counter exploitation. I think I would defer to Ms. Palmater because things have to go into policy as well, that and enforcement.
We can do all the great preventive education in our communities and in our own ways. At the same time, if we are not looking at the structural injustices that are there.... For example, I would encourage everyone to check out the recent statement from Enbridge pipeline about human trafficking. They have engaged an indigenous woman to do the training of their workers and contractors in North America. That's the big change we need to see that will support indigenous girls and women.
Thank you.
Liberal
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
Very good. I will ask Dr. Palmater to comment on that same question. Hopefully I'm going to have time to talk to Madame Étienne as well.
Go ahead, Dr. Palmater.
Chair in Indigenous Governance, Ryerson University, As an Individual
One thing that Canada is often celebrated for is that it has a ton of laws, human rights laws, liberties and freedoms, and any time it goes to the UN or the Inter-American Commission, it can make a giant list of tons of program initiatives, pilot projects and everything else.
What happens is that they haven't shown how that translates into less violence against women, less foster care, less exploitation or less trafficking. In fact, if you look at the statistics over a 20-year period, it continues to increase, so Canada is really dropping the ball, sometimes because it's focusing in the wrong direction. We're looking at—
Liberal
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
I'll just break in there. Have you seen the effects, though, of the additional funding that we have put in place? I'm a cost-benefit person by profession, and I just want to know if we are putting money in the right places overall.
Chair in Indigenous Governance, Ryerson University, As an Individual
No. Disproportionately you put too much money into political organizations and not enough into the community-based grassroots groups that are doing the work on the ground, that are helping the homeless, that are helping the women in the Downtown Eastside and that are advocating for women in prisons.
Liberal
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
Thank you very much.
Ms. Étienne, I don't know whether we have any time left…
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Sonia Sidhu
I'm sorry, that's all the time you had, Ms. Shanahan.
It's now the Bloc Québécois' turn.
Ms. Bérubé, you have two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Sylvie Bérubé Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
If I have enough time, I'd like to ask Ms. Étienne to tell us about resources for helping and supporting women victims of violence, particularly since many communities are rural and remote.
What you think the needs of those communities are?
President, Quebec Native Women Inc.
Their needs are considerable. Indigenous communities in Quebec are situated in remote places. The Atikamekw nation, for example, lives in the forest and thus is isolated. Major investment is required to ensure an appropriate quality of health care. That's also the case in every other respect.
The needs of the communities located near cities are different because they don't live in the same environment. What happened to Ms. Echaquan, for example, something that was one of the significant events of the past two years, suggests systemic racism was involved.
Quebec, and more specifically the government of that province, will have a lot of work to do to acknowledge that there is indeed systemic racism in its institutions. The task will be to provide an accessible, high-quality service that's appropriate and culturally suited to the needs of indigenous women and children, as well as to a general clientele.
Bloc
Sylvie Bérubé Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Thank you.
My next question is for Ms. Doré-Nadeau. I'm sure you'll agree with me that it's also important in the context of this study to find concrete solutions to this problem.
Do you feel that the federal government should implement measures and regulations for extractive companies? This would involve establishing a specific framework, including rules on harassment, that these companies would have to comply with.
Director, ConcertAction Femmes Estrie
Yes, it's extremely important to introduce measures. For a very long time, various groups have been asking for an ombudsman. As Ms. Palmater was saying, when acts of violence are committed in other countries, it's really very difficult to ensure that our Canadian companies are held accountable. We need due diligence legislation in Canada for human rights and the environment. Our companies ought not to be able to exploit and kill people on grounds that they were resisting the companies' presence on their land. It tarnishes our country's reputation seriously, and of course many lives are at stake.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Sonia Sidhu
Thank you, Madame Bérubé. Your time is up.
For the final round, we'll go to the NDP for two and a half minutes.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Ms. Quinn, one of the focuses of your organization deals with income bridges to address exploitation. I put forward a bill for a guaranteed livable basic income, Bill C-223. Senator Kim Pate has put forward the same bill—exactly the same language—on the Senate side, Bill S-233. Part of the reason I put forward that bill was in response to calls for justice recommendation 4.5 from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, because as you indicated, there's a direct correlation between income security and the increased risk of violence.
Would you agree with me that a guaranteed livable basic income would assist women, girls and two-spirit individuals to be safer from violence?
Executive Director, Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation
Thank you so much for that question, and thank you for putting that bill forward. We absolutely support it.
During the pandemic, we got a little grant through some federal money, and we did a little pilot project where we added in dollars, about $1,000 a month for six months to five women. We asked, what difference did that make? These were all women who were in sexual exploitation, trying to make money by providing sex services. They all said that a guaranteed annual livable income would mean they would not have to sell their bodies.
I absolutely support this move. It would make a major difference for indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBT people, for all people, if we had this. I commend you on that leadership.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Thank you so much.
I often feel that indigenous people are provided with a false choice. Economic development or being safe from violence and sexual exploitation is an example that we're studying here, and certainly in the inquiry that happened in Quebec.
My question is for President Étienne. It was tragic seeing what came out of Lac-Simon, especially with the involvement of the SQ. What safety measures have been put in place since that inquiry to ensure indigenous women of that territory, who often have been given that choice around resource extraction, are safer, or is it the same?
Liberal
Stéfanie Sirois-Gauthier Legal and Policy Analyst, Quebec Native Women Inc.
Ms. Étienne had to leave, as she told us earlier.
Very few measures have been introduced as a result of these criticisms. So few, in fact, that I would venture to say that there were none at all. That is extremely disappointing. We were just now talking about reconciliation, but basically, nothing is being done.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Sonia Sidhu
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Gazan.
This completes our second round. I want to thank our witnesses once again for their answers.
Now, for the third round each party will have six minutes. We will start with CPC member Shelby Kramp-Neuman.
You have six minutes.