Status of Women Committee on Oct. 20th, 2022

[Brittany McMillan]

Yes. We work really closely with a lot of our community partners, so if people need counselling, they come to us or we refer out. Then we do a lot of meeting people where they're at. Jordanne specifically does a lot of accompaniment of individuals who are navigating the legal system, as well as those needing to go to the hospital because of STIs. There are things like that.

I think we're basically doing it all when it comes to sexual violence. Maybe MCCSS will be mad, but we can't follow the mandate or we wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you.

Melanie Omeniho, you mentioned earlier land-based knowledge and traditional medicine, but can you expand a bit on the grandmothers' wisdom circle and how that could inform us, with some recommendations along those lines?

[Melanie Omeniho]

In our community, we have grandmothers. I know that people have a tendency to call them “elders”, but they really love to be called “grandmothers”, and they're the grandmothers who collectively work together.

When they come together in circle, they bring the young people with them and they pass on the tradition, knowledge and language of who we are. It's an important part of reconnecting people who are sometimes called “latchkey children”, who have been disconnected due to urban issues or due to the fact that we don't have the same kind of communities we used to have. We try to bring them back together, and the grandmothers work with them, counsel them and advise them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's perfect. Thank you very much.

I'm now going to pass it over to Andréanne for two and a half minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses again for being with us today.

Since these will be my last questions, I'll quickly turn to Ms. Couture, who hadn't quite finished what she was saying when I talked about the importance of providing mental health training, especially in the prison setting.

Do you have anything to say or add on this in 30 seconds?

[Véronique Couture]

I'll talk about what we're seeing in our organization. People come from a prison setting, but because there are no direct mental health services, they end up in the general population, where the problems are only half-treated, if at all.

When they come to us, they're even sicker. They need a lot of consultations with our case workers. Their stay with us lasts longer, because they need more time to regain enough independence, especially to move into an apartment. Normally, a stay with us lasts from three to six months. However, because of work that wasn't done beforehand while they were in prison, these people now need 18 to 24 months to achieve that independence.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you for your testimony and commitment to the community, Ms. Couture.

Ms. Omeniho, you mentioned the recommendations that affect indigenous women and girls. If I've understood correctly, you talked about the importance of implementing these recommendations, which still hasn't been done, and how that might relate to the mental health of young indigenous women and girls.

[Melanie Omeniho]

Yes, it has been pushed back. The recommendations have been made for a very long time now. It's been three years since the reports from the inquiry in “Weaving Miskotahâ” have been out, and longer for those from the TRC. A lot of the commitments that were made have not been acted on, and that has significantly impacted young women and girls.

When one-third of our young women tell us that they have suicidal thoughts, it's a serious, traumatic issue in our communities. We need to work to make sure we can have healthy young women moving into the future who don't feel that they're not important or who don't have extreme anxiety and depression issues.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

I'm now going to turn it over to Annie for the last round of questions.

Go ahead, Annie, for two and a half minutes.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to ask this question.

When I interview people for my staff, I always tell them they can have a one-minute elevator pitch to convince me why I should hire them, so here's the one-minute elevator pitch to the Government of Canada.

In what ways could the Government of Canada improve the effectiveness, availability and accessibility of mental health services for young women in Canada, and why?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

If you want to direct that to whoever you want to answer first, you have a minute and a half.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

I would start with Dr. Shanker, and then if there's some time, any one of the other witnesses who would like to could chime in.

Thank you.

[Dr. Stuart Shanker]

I want the government to teach parents and educators what self-regulation is. I want them to teach it so that they do it for themselves, and so that they recognize the need for their kids, whatever their age, to learn how to self-regulate in healthy ways.

[Brittany McMillan]

In terms of what we could do specifically, it would be to invest some more dollars towards sexual assault supports, knowing that, statistically, the rates of sexual violence are significant.

[Véronique Couture]

I would say that we need to simplify and speed up access to funding so that we can meet our clients' needs more quickly.

[Melanie Omeniho]

For me, it's about trying to make sure that the resources we need get to the communities' program service providers who are providing mental health services to help our young people.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's perfect.

On behalf of the committee, I would really like to thank everybody for coming and bringing their testimony today. It's been very strong and very helpful.

As you're leaving, we are going to have about six to 10 minutes of committee business. We're not going in camera; we're just going to do it live. Our guests are more than welcome to leave right now if they wish to. I'm just going to go through some of our business right now.

Perhaps everybody can turn to their business for the day. I'm going to start with an Elections Canada document. As you were all informed by the clerk, Senator Donna Dasko has inquired about the possibility of accessing Elections Canada's written response following their appearance in June 2018.

Is it the will of the committee to share that response with the senator?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

To the clerk, we will send off a favourable response to the senator.

Go ahead, Sonia.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Madam Chair, a response came in 2018. If all party members are willing, then we can share.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's fantastic. It looks as though we're all in favour. There should be no issues there. That's wonderful, so we will send that off.

On the next piece, a delegation of Armenian parliamentarians has asked to meet with the committee next week. We had initially looked at Thursday, October 17. They had asked for us to do it from 11:15 to 12:15. Unfortunately, that will not work because resources are not available to us.

The clerk has been working on this, but it's really up to the committee if we want to arrange an informal meeting. I'm going to ask the clerk, if she wants to take the mike. I'll be honest that I really get nervous about cancelling our meetings when it comes to mental health and wellness, because we're doing such incredible work.

I'm going to turn it over to the clerk. What are our options? We can do an informal meeting and have some food. What are you recommending?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Alexie Labelle]

Usually those kinds of meetings are considered informal meetings. The committee can decide to organize a lunch. I can go back to the organization to see if the date and time the committee would like to meet with them would work for them. It will always depend on the resources. I can make a request for the time that you decide upon. If the resources are not available, then it will be up to the whips to decide.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's perfect.

I guess the first question I have for you is whether you are interested in having an informal meeting with the parliamentarians from Armenia. Overall it looks as though we're good.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Madam Chair, even if this is an informal meeting, with a change in time slot, could we still request resources?

[The Clerk]

Actually, I had already requested resources for the proposed time slot, but that was denied. If the committee decides on another time slot, I will make the same request because I will have to get the resources approved again.