Status of Women Committee on Oct. 20th, 2022

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

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

Dr. Shanker, the motion talks about factors that affect the mental health of young women and makes them vulnerable. Could you tell us which factors you think are involved?

[Dr. Stuart Shanker]

Forgive me for answering in English. I couldn't find my translation button.

Both Debbie and Jaime have identified something very important. We know the data tells us that these pride centres have this beneficial effect. As neuroscientists, we're always asking why. Here, the “why” is that.... It's something that I was thinking of before when I was talking to Michelle. What we need to do is turn off the stress response.

The human brain can't really do it on its own. We are wired for social engagement. It gets turned off by human contact. That's our primary. One of the reasons we've seen this universal rise during the pandemic is that teens and young women have been deprived of what their brain needs, which is social contact, that intimacy that turns off the stress response.

The problem is compounded by the fact that, in the present culture, they are searching for what.... It's called dopamine hooks. You can get a shot of dopamine from social media. What that does is keep you going, but it does nothing to turn off the stress response. On the contrary, for the reasons that were explained to you first thing today, they are exposed to messages that greatly exacerbate their stress load.

The last point I want to make is that—

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

Unfortunately, I have to interrupt you because we don't have enough time, Dr. Shanker.

Thank you for your answer, but I would now like you to tell me about a social phenomenon that began five years ago, the #MeToo movement.

What do you think about it? Do you feel that women's liberation has had a positive effect on the mental health of young girls and women in general? I'm talking about women in particular, but it can also be men.

[Dr. Stuart Shanker]

The problem they have is that, in isolation, they cannot reduce their stress, and here is a very interesting phenomenon. When stress is very high, it shuts down our self-awareness. It shuts down our feelings. Now we have the compound problem that they're feeling anxious but they don't even know it until the problem bursts. What we have to do in order to address what you're discussing, in order to empower them, is.... They have to learn how to recognize when they are, or are becoming, overstressed and what they can do to reduce that stress load, which will trigger oxytocin, not dopamine. Then, what we see in all of these problems—

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

Thank you, Dr. Shanker.

Mrs. McMillan, I'd like to ask you the same question. Have you seen that the #MeToo movement has had a positive effect on women's mental health?

[Dr. Stuart Shanker]

I'm sorry. I don't understand.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

The question is for Brittany, so it's okay, Dr. Shanker.

[Dr. Stuart Shanker]

That's why I didn't understand. I haven't done that.

[Brittany McMillan]

Yes, I think there are two folds to the #MeToo movement. One would be that women feel empowered. We can now come out and say that we're survivors of sexual violence. However, the other thing to think about is how triggering it is for individuals to hear about everyone's experiences with regard to sexual violence. Although we want people to feel empowered to come forward and to get the support they need, I think there is some trauma that is created within each.... Because it's so public, it becomes quite traumatic for individuals who have experienced something similar or for them to just know that there is such a risk. Every day, women are faced with the risk of being sexually assaulted, and that just came more to light with the #MeToo movement and, similarly, right now with Hockey Canada.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're now going to move back online to Jenna Sudds.

Jenna, you have the floor for five minutes.

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

Excellent. Thank you so much, Chair.

Thank you to all of the witnesses for being here today, and of course for the incredible work you do every day in our communities.

I just want to confirm—I can't see on the screen—that Debbie and Jaime are still in the room.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

They're in the room, yes.

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

Okay, that's perfect. I was hoping I'd catch them before they left. I'm going to direct my questions to either of them or both of them.

In your opening statement, you mentioned the mental health impacts on 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, girls and women. I'm wondering if you can elaborate and share with us what some of the impacts are and what difference there is in providing a supportive and accepting environment.

[Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah]

Yes. It's a really good question. You want to know what the differences are in providing a supportive environment. I just want to clarify the question, if that's okay.

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

Yes.

[Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah]

Okay.

What we've seen—of course, I could provide some additional information after this—is the gender component of it. What girls are experiencing, of course, is compounded by the intersection of misogyny or trans misogyny, and then the bullying that's directed based on their gender or sexual orientation. To this day, the majority of the supports for LGBTQ people tend to be centred on cisgender male experiences, which means that the additional nuance of being affirming is lost, still. It causes those additional stresses. That's what we're seeing.

There is some more information that I'd gladly share after this.

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

That's incredible. Yes, thank you. That would be very helpful, I think, for the committee.

There's another area I want to ask some questions on, and again this is for either Jaime or Debbie. Recently, in some of the work I've been doing as parliamentary secretary, I've had the opportunity to visit both Pride Fredericton and Yukon Pride. In those conversations, I heard about how important gender-affirming care is for the mental health of trans and non-binary youth—something as simple but as important as gender-affirming care and gender-affirming gear and how those can contribute to gender euphoria for an individual.

I'm wondering what other challenges you can share or point to that trans and non-binary young people face and that impact their mental health, and what we can do better to support them.

[Jaime Sadgrove]

That's a really good question.

Talking about gender-affirming care and gender-affirming gear is really interesting and really important. I think one challenge is that over the last few years we've seen a real rise in misinformation and disinformation about what gender-affirming care is and means, especially as it relates to gender-affirming care for people who are under 18.

There's this idea that youth are maybe coming out as trans and immediately accessing gender-affirming care that's irreversible, which is not true. First of all, the reality is that the waiting lists for gender-affirming care in this country are very long and are getting longer. That goes for gender-affirming care at children's hospitals, in youth clinics and for adults. I think there's a lack of understanding that sometimes gender-affirming care can be having support and changing the gender marker on your passport or on your driver's licence, or having support in a legal name change. It's not health care per se, but it's still something that impacts your mental health, not having to see a name or a gender marker that could be difficult.

Going back to what I was talking about before with regard to mental health care, it's having access to providers who understand what it means to be gender-affirming so that youth aren't coming out and then either having to do research online or having to advocate for themselves to providers, who maybe have an outdated understanding of what it means to be trans.

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

That's incredible. Thank you for that. That's very helpful.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 10 more seconds.

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

Okay. Thank you.

As I said, I appreciate the insights and everyone's being here today. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're now moving to two and a half minutes with Andréanne Larouche.

Andréanne, you have the floor.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Couture, we ended our conversation by talking about the increase in mental health cases observed during the pandemic. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, hospitalizations for eating disorders among young women jumped by more than 50% during the COVID‑19 pandemic.

In addition, the pandemic has led to an increased presence of young people on social media. Do you think that the online hate and hypersexualization that this increased presence has caused could have an impact on the mental health of girls and women?

[Véronique Couture]

Yes, absolutely. Our organization is currently helping a young woman who has been completely devastated by social media.

We have to raise awareness on the social media used by young people. Messages have to be quick and free of advertising. The companies and people who provide our youth access to social media should be better regulated.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

If I understand correctly, you believe that the federal government should legislate to set guidelines for online hate. There should be such legislation.