Status of Women Committee on Oct. 3rd, 2022

[Charmaine Williams]

Sure. Thank you for the question.

I think of it in two directions. One direction is that if we think about where people seek help when they are dealing with emotional health or mental health problems, we want to be thinking about how that care is tailored to the needs of specific populations. I think I said at the end of my comments that we need women-centred spaces and girl-centred spaces. However, we need spaces that are also BIPOC-centred spaces, so that a Black woman has the opportunity to be in a service where she knows that people understand the issues of Black women and girls and that she's going to meet practitioners who represent that population or have deep knowledge of that population.

The other half of that is the health promotion component. In terms of health promotion, I go back to what you just said. There are populations that are dealing with collective trauma and stress because the world is not safe for certain populations—certain groups of women and girls. We need to think about health promotion that deals with that kind of collective trauma and stress. Also, there's the cumulative trauma and stress. If you look at the research, you see that women of colour, sexual minority women and gender minority women have histories of lifetimes of exposure to violence and trauma. Part of what is difficult in our system is that it's not ready for them when they are ready and able to actually deal with that work and in turn deal with those traumas.

In terms of best practices for treating traumas, we know you need regular supports, community supports, connection and this kind of thing. We don't have a system that's built to deal with that. We have a system that has a one-size-fits-all approach, which I'm frankly not even sure fits anyone anymore. However, certainly for Black or indigenous people, people of colour, or women and girls, it's not a good fit.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much for that.

My next question is for Ms. Olagunju.

You spoke about your experience. In Winnipeg Centre, 70% of refugees in the province of Manitoba move into my riding. One of the things I've been fighting for is programs for youth, for a couple of reasons. One is that a significant number of young people moving into my community deal with Islamophobia on the regular. It's growing and it impacts people, and what we're seeing in my riding is that as a result of failure to provide support for youth, more youth are joining gangs.

There was a model by a guy named Dr. Martin Brokenleg, and he talked about the “circle of courage”. He said that kids need a sense of mastery, generosity, independence and belonging, and when they don't have that, they'll find other ways to fill those needs.

Why is it critically important to have readily available supports, particularly for newcomer youth who are coming from diverse experiences, sometimes with significant trauma and especially leaving situations of war? Why is it important?

[Timilehin Olagunju]

Thank you very much.

This is just a fun fact: I used to live in Winnipeg. I was a refugee in Winnipeg. It was hard, very hard, because they have this thing that refugees aren't people. I was very isolated.

To answer your question, I think it's very important for youth to have the environment so that they don't turn to those other vices. I think refugees, immigrants and indigenous people need the space to speak to someone, to talk to someone, just so this doesn't happen. With the trauma and the problems we face, if we're unable to talk to someone about it, it just eats us inside. The only way to pass out the thing that's eating us is to either be on our own or join the gangs to find our safe space.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We are down to our last six minutes in this committee for rounds of questions, so it will be two minutes, two minutes, one minute and one minute. I'm probably going to keep it pretty tight so that we can end on time.

Dominique, you have two minutes.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Madam Chair, since it would be difficult for me to ask my questions in two minutes, I will change my approach.

Earlier, I told you that we were here to find solutions. Some of you have put forward ideas. It would be frustrating for me to use my two minutes to ask you questions, because I would only be able to speak to one person, so we would not be able to hear the range of your proposals. What I would invite you to do is to reflect, in each of your organizations, on the good things that you have done and the best practices you have put in place or observed. Ms. Williams mentioned this. Our committee would welcome that information. It would certainly help us in our reflection on the important issue of women's and girls' mental health. I think it would be very helpful.

I would like to end by thanking you very much for your testimonies. I have learned a lot and I am very grateful to you.

Once again, I hope that peace of mind will prevail and that we will be more attentive to the mental health problems that many people unfortunately experience today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I'm now going to pass it over to Jenna for two minutes.

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata—Carleton, ON]

Two minutes.... That's impossible, but thank you, Chair.

Thank you to all of the witnesses, first of all, who have joined us. It's been really incredible and useful to hear your insights and suggestions today.

Dr. Tapo, it's great to see you once again. You made a few comments that I wanted to dig into. One was on how confusing the system is. One was around psychotherapy and counselling not currently being covered within our country. The other piece was that the one-size-fits-all approach to mental health doesn't work and we need a cross-cultural design.

I'm really just going to open it up for your comments, in the remaining minute that we have, to expand on any of those items.

[Dr. Tapo Chimbganda]

One thing we're working on at Future Black Female is a national mental health campaign for Black girls. We are going to roll out a national survey, because there is no information on the mental health experiences of Black girls. We can only surmise from other sources of data. We're rolling that out and we're looking for funding for mental health promotion specifically for Black girls and women.

Take PMS, for example. Black girls and women are more likely to be diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome, which means they're more likely to have more difficult periods and to suffer from PMS. This is not something that is talked about at all. It is stigmatized. It is even made fun of. We all make these jokes—“Oh, she's PMS-ing” and all that—but it's a significant mental health issue within that community.

These are the kinds of approaches we need. We need to understand the mental health struggles of different communities and where they're coming from, even if it is from physical health. Polycystic ovarian syndrome is something that's diagnosed by your physician, not necessarily by your psychiatrist.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much.

I'm sorry, Jenna. I know this conversation could continue. It's been excellent.

I'm now going to pass it over to Andréanne.

Andréanne, you have one minute.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Again, I thank the witnesses.

I'm going to proceed quickly.

Dr. Chimbganda, could you tell me in 20 seconds why the feminist approach is important to this mental health study?

[Dr. Tapo Chimbganda]

I think the lens of women and girls is important because, more and more, as a society, we are putting more demands and expectations.

We've been talking about social media. If you look at the representations of girls and women there, they're impossible. Their mental health is suffering, because society is changing. Even as we're working hard for equality and equity in gender perspectives, we discover more information. We need to be responsive to that information.

It's not enough to just celebrate women. Let's also protect them and provide for them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

Leah, you have the last minute. Go for it.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I want to follow up with Ms. Olagunju.

You said that you were invisible, that you didn't matter.

One thing I've been fighting for in Winnipeg Centre is a place called the Bilal Centre. It's particularly centred on assisting Muslim youth. They put in applications and keep getting refused, even though we know things are getting dire.

Why are organizations like Bilal critical, life-saving organizations?

[Timilehin Olagunju]

I'm sorry, but I need you to reconstruct the question, because I got lost.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Why are organizations like Bilal, which provides services for Muslim youth...? We talked about racism and life-saving organizations. Why are they critical?

[Timilehin Olagunju]

I feel they're very important because, as minorities, we need to have a representative front so our voices can be heard. That's why I feel the organization is very important for young Muslims in Winnipeg.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

I would like to thank all the witnesses. Today has been an excellent sit-down and we got a lot of information.

To those people in the last round of questioning, I'm very sorry for removing your time. I just find some of that very challenging, because.... I'm sorry, but I will never cut off Ms. Todd. She has too much to offer. I think that's the thing. I hope everybody recognizes my flexibility, because we have such incredible witnesses. I do apologize.

We will be meeting once again on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

I remind all of our witnesses that, if you have additional information or briefs you would like to send in, please send them to our clerk. Those are due by October 31.

Thank you so much.

Today's meeting is adjourned.