Evidence of meeting #3 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 shelters.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Jenna Sudds Liberal Kanata—Carleton, ON
Obviously where I'm going here is the importance of that and knowing that there's been some good work done that we should really be discussing and highlighting.
You mentioned growing the number of shelters. There are 46 now, and I think you referenced almost 100 within 2026. Can you speak to that trajectory?
Director General, Social Policy and Programs Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
In 2020 there was an immediate initiative to expand the network to an additional 12. There were 10 more announced for first nations communities, plus two in the territories. Finally, after that, we have moved into the most recent initiative in 2021, whereby we're expanding to an additional 38 shelters plus 50 transition homes. All told, that should bring us to a doubling of what is in place right now.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Thank you so much.
I'm going to take the floor back to Laila.
Laila, you have your five minutes.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
We know that many indigenous women and girls fleeing violence leave their home communities. While you were talking about the shelters, what specific actions are you doing to support these vulnerable women, girls and 2S+ members of society who are in urban centres or in off-reserve settings? Specifically, how are you putting into play the calls to action?
Director General, Social Policy and Programs Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
Again, moving to the transitional homes is a big piece for us. That's not just going to be limited to first nations communities, but that's an important piece of the puzzle. Yes, it's great to have shelters in place for people to seek refuge when it's absolutely necessary, but there needs to be some sort of step that allows people to transition back into some sort of different environment.
The transition homes are going to be an important piece for us as part of that puzzle. Again, the work that a lot of these communities do—and we'll be able to support more urban communities—
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Thank you. I'm sorry. We just don't have very much time.
Could you provide this committee with a list of all the transitional housing stock that is available coast to coast, so that we can see where there are deficits in some of our communities and where perhaps more investments need to be made to ensure that we are really taking care of this?
Director General, Social Policy and Programs Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
Just to be clear, the transition homes are a new element for us, so we're just moving into that direction now, but—
Conservative
Director General, Social Policy and Programs Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
None of them have been set up yet. It's a new element that was just announced last year.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
What is the timeline to have the first transition home operational?
Director General, Social Policy and Programs Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
It was announced in 2021. We're starting to receive proposals now, so we're hoping to have these in place, at least some of them, within the next year or two. We can provide more details on that.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Yes, please provide more details around that.
As well, you highlighted that there are 10 new shelters being built. Where are they, and where are the two that are being built in the territories? If you could just provide that in writing, that would be spectacular.
To go one step further, what is being done to ensure that an intersectional lens is being applied and that all the supports being delivered are culturally sensitive and responsive, to make sure we are not further traumatizing or adding vulnerability to these people?
Director General, Social Policy and Programs Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
Again, we work really closely with the communities themselves and through the organizations nationally. Our regional offices at ISC are working really closely with communities to identify what those needs are and to try to build that into their proposal. Again, it's very much a bottom-up type of approach, but intersectionality and a number of considerations are definitely the things that we try to bring to the review of our proposals.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Just to touch on it, what jurisdictions specifically—or first nations, Métis or Inuit communities—are leading the edge on this, which we could look to as potential places to expand on those?
Director General, Social Policy and Programs Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
Again, I will get back to the committee, but I would think some of the shelters that we have in place.... We could benefit from the existence of those first nations shelters. There are a number of initiatives going on in Ontario that we probably can—
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
If you could really put that precision on, that would be much appreciated.
I'll give the rest of my time back to the committee.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
That's fantastic. Thank you so much.
Emmanuella, I see your committee member has joined as well. We have the cat. Anyway, it's wonderful.
We're going to pass this on.
For two and half minutes, Andréanne, you have the floor.
Bloc
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Once again, I thank the witnesses for coming out today to comment on this important study on violence against women and domestic violence cases.
I would now like to address Ms. McKinnon.
Ms. McKinnon, you've provided a window on what's happening internationally that could inspire what we do. You talked about the app to ask for help. Have you seen any other initiatives in other countries that could influence public health policy or public policy here in Canada?
Director General, Centre for Health Promotion, Public Health Agency of Canada
There are a number of countries that have done some great work in this regard. Australia would be one of them.
What I could definitely offer to the committee is for us to take that question away and provide some answers in terms of what we see as those international best practices that may be helpful for the committee in its study, particularly from the point of view of family, gender-based and intimate partner violence. This would be the best way to approach this question, so that we give you a fulsome look at that.
Bloc
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
Yes, I've had discussions with representatives from the Australian Consulate, who are looking at the importance of expanding the definition of abuse to include psychological abuse, among other things. I'm opening the door here to something called coercive control, which is a much broader term than sexual or physical abuse.
I'd like to hear from you on that. How important would it be to legislate on the issue of coercive control and broaden the definition of abuse?
Director General, Centre for Health Promotion, Public Health Agency of Canada
Yes, this is an important issue. I would suggest that for the Public Health Agency of Canada, we would not necessarily be in the best position to answer that. It's likely a question for the justice department. We would see the impacts here in terms of coercive control from a health perspective.
Like any other form of control, sexual violence or physical violence, we see incredibly profound health impacts that will last across the life course and often can even extend into the next generation. It's extremely important to address all forms of control.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Thank you, Mrs. McKinnon.
We're going to go to Leah, for two and a half minutes.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Just going back to the national action plan, part of the reason I'm indicating there is no plan.... I want to share a couple of quotes.
Shelagh Day, chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, responding to what was released, said this:
We were looking for and expecting concrete action with responsibilities assigned, timelines, and resource allocation. Instead what we have is a collection of federal, provincial, territorial statements that were issued to us this morning.
Chief Judy Wilson, from the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said, “Justice delayed is still justice denied.”
We really don't have a national action plan. It's been highly criticized. There is no plan. There are no timelines.
The federal government also committed to implementing all 231 calls for justice out of the national inquiry. That includes call for justice recommendation 4.5, to implement a guaranteed livable basic income, because it was very clear in the inquiry that there was a direct correlation between poverty and higher rates of violence.
Is your department currently looking at a plan with timelines to implement call for justice recommendation 4.5 for a guaranteed livable basic income?
Director General, Missing and Murdered Women and Girls Secretariat, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
The 23 departments are collaborating on an implementation plan with concrete timelines, etc., for the federal pathway. That's the first answer to your question.
The guaranteed livable income has been identified as a priority by indigenous partners throughout all of their chapters and throughout the national action plan. The government is committed to looking at this in the future.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
When will the government be implementing a guaranteed livable basic income? It did promise to implement all the 231 calls for justice recommendations that came out of the inquiry, which includes 4.5. This is why I'm asking. Are there plans to implement a guaranteed livable basic income?