Status of Women Committee on Nov. 14th, 2022

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

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister Ien, for all your hard work and for being here with us today.

There was a question that started down the line of what was happening with respect to the national action plan to end gender-based violence. I think we should underscore what a monumental achievement this national action plan is. I'd really love it if you could take a few moments to dive a little deeper into the impacts of violence on mental health for young women and girls and the impact or the outcome this national action plan to end gender-based violence will have for these young women and girls.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Jenna, thank you so much for the question.

It is not a small thing to have all of the provinces and territories sign on to something like this. It's not a small thing; it's a monumental thing, as you point out. The impact is huge—and it will be huge. We have seen, through this pandemic, who was disproportionately impacted. Women and girls—and then you put an intersectional lens on that—were at the head of the pack, which is why our government responded the way it did, with half a billion dollars towards ending gender-based violence.

I have to reiterate that this was born and we would not be at this point.... It was the community that came together and told us, grassroots organizations and survivors who said, “This is my story. How can we do better?” Provinces said that they really appreciated the way these discussions were going, but they needed to go back to their indigenous leaders in their various provinces and territories and talk to them, because this is about inclusivity. It's about getting it right. It's about doing it right and it's about saving lives. I cannot underscore enough how this is going to impact women, girls, men and boys across this country.

One example, if I might, is Velma's House in Winnipeg Centre, Leah Gazan's riding. When I visited last summer, there were women under the porch, on the porch, and it was at capacity inside. It is a low-barrier house that accepts anybody. Whether they have addictions, mental health issues, whatever, they're accepted—except they were full.

Weeks ago, Leah was so instrumental, and others as well. We were able to provide $1 million from our ministry to keep the doors open for the time being, and then Minister Hajdu, with $2 million dollars for Velma's House to buy a Ronald McDonald House that was bigger, which would give them the opportunity to help more women and have trauma-informed support and counsellors.

They are moving shortly. We made the announcement in the new Ronald McDonald House, the centre where they will be. Lives will be saved. That day, survivors spoke—survivors who are on the streets, who found Velma's, and who are now counsellors themselves.

That is one of many places that will be served by this action plan. There are so many others, but I'm happy to speak to that.

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

Thank you very much, Minister Ien.

That's a fantastic example, and there will be many more to come.

I think we have about a minute left—

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have about 13 seconds, actually, because you have a five-minute block.

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

Okay, well, maybe for the benefit of my colleagues, I did want to touch on the funding that you've announced for crisis hotlines, and an update on that. Maybe someone else will pick up that very important question as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Awesome. Thank you so much, and I'm sure we absolutely will.

Andréanne, you have two and a half minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister, thank you again for being here as part of our study of the mental health of women and girls.

In answering questions, you said that your department funded several programs to promote and protect mental health.

However, Quebec has its own measures and its own network of community resources specific to mental health. The network also involves the province's health and social services authorities. Since that's how it works, would it not better serve women and girls in Quebec for the Quebec government to manage the funds and programs, itself, instead of duplicating the work?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you for your question.

We have been pleased to sign agreements with Quebec. We are always pleased to be at the table with Quebec. As I said, my counterparts, Minister Biron and her team, were actively participating, actively listening, exchanging important information, exchanging ideas. I look forward to doing this. We will begin negotiations. We will always, always be at the table for Quebec and for each and every province and territory across the country.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Again, there must be assurance that this will not delay anything, which happens often.

I'd like to come back to sexual violence, because there's a link between partner violence and mental health.

When you appeared before the committee as part of our study of intimate partner violence, I mentioned to you that many witnesses were advocating for stable and recurring funding to address the problems. Once again, several mental health organizations were seeking the same thing.

InQuebec, community mental health organizations already receive funding from the Government of Quebec. If the federal government increased health transfers to Quebec and the other provinces to the requested levels, wouldn't that also help those community organizations increase their assistance to victims on the ground?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 20 seconds to respond.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you for your question.

As we have seen during the pandemic, we were able to transfer monies needed. We will always be at the table with Quebec. I completely understand and empathize with those you are speaking of—

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Perfect. Thank you so much.

We're now going to turn it over to Lisa Marie.

Lisa, you have two and a half minutes.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Minister.

I was pleased to hear you talking about Velma's House, in my colleague MP Leah Gazan's riding of Winnipeg Centre. I just want to acknowledge how much I'm celebrating that work, as it's been a critical call from the community for years to support women and gender-diverse individuals. It's that leadership and advocacy from the community that made this happen, so I'm happy to see the action that has resulted from that community advocacy and the funding that has resulted: a big applause on that.

I wanted to ask a question about missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and two-spirit people. I'll give you some context, and I know that this story is definitely not in isolation. My friend and local indigenous woman from Nanaimo, Lisa Marie Young, went missing in 2002 at the age of 21. I'll tell you that her family and loved ones continue to search for her, continue to have marches and awareness of her. It's so sad to see that there are still no answers as to what happened to her. There are just so many stories, as you know. I'm sure you're hearing about other women and girls going missing with no answers.

I wanted to see if you could speak to the $724.1 million that has been allocated as part of the National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which has been, as I'm sure you're aware, largely unused to date. As my colleague said, there's money sitting in the docket while women and girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals continue to die. I'm wondering if you can provide some specific timelines and commitments as to when this money is going to be spent, and how it's going to be spent.

Thank you very much, Minister.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 30 seconds to respond.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Goodness, okay.

Lisa Marie, thank you so very much.

Listen, the violence that we see all over this country is.... I don't even want to say “heartbreaking”, because it's more than heartbreaking. We wholeheartedly, in a fulsome way, support the MMIWG action plan and we supplement it with our national action plan to end gender-based violence—

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Fantastic. Thank you so much.

We're now going to go into our final round. In our final round, there are only two questions because this is the final for this, so we'll give four minutes to Michelle Ferreri and four minutes to Marc Serré.

Go ahead, for four minutes.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being here. I know you deeply care, as we all do.

Minister Ien, under the Liberals, when it comes to childhood welfare, we have fallen from 10th to 30th place. How do you respond to that?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Michelle, it is about, as I said before, supporting the caregivers. As a mom, I know my children don't do well if I'm not doing well, and I'm speaking from a mental standpoint, so—

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

I want to be quick, and I want to get through as many questions as I can.

Under your government, under the Liberals, we have fallen 20 spots. What could be done differently? What are we missing? Why have we fallen so much? I understand that. Are you saying that we're failing in caring for our caregivers?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

I'm saying that it matters how we take care of our caregivers and also our kids.

Last week I was at Acadia University in Wolfville, and I was talking about the fact that we have now eliminated interest on student loans—of course for the federal portion—and when I spoke about that, I spoke about mental health. I know what it's like to be in school and know that you have a burden of debt, that you have to work a job and that you can't ask your family for anything else. That impacts mental health. I had conversations with kids after who thanked me for mentioning that, because that's exactly—

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Minister Ien, I appreciate this. I have to get through as much as I can.

I think we're all aware of that. I was asking a direct question about what specifically has happened. We are 35th out of 38 in teen mental health and suicide.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

We continue to support our teens and our young people. That's exactly what we—

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

What I think people need to hear right now, Minister Ien, is that we can do better. That's what people really need to hear from you. I know you care. I know you're a mom. I know this is important to you, but I think people need to hear a bit more.

We have the highest use of food banks in history. We had Mr. Owen Charters here from the Boys and Girls Club. The cost of living and inflation are a massive stressor on our children. It is downloaded to them. It is impacting their mental health.

When you say you have a dental plan that nobody is going to be held accountable for, there's going to be no audit for that dental plan. It's a cheque going to parents, which is increasing inflationary spending. That is a problem. November 20th is the national day of the child.

Minister, I've watched you work, and this is a tough conversation, but people need to hear that you—

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

It's a conversation, Michelle, that I have every single day, and I'm having it with young people. I'm having it with people—

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

But it is worse. Things are worse.