Status of Women Committee on Feb. 11th, 2022

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I call this meeting to order.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on Tuesday, February 4, the committee will resume its study of intimate partner and domestic violence in Canada.

Given the ongoing pandemic situation and in light of the recommendations from public health authorities, as well as the directive of the Board of Internal Economy of October 19, 2021, to remain healthy and safe, the following is recommended for all those attending the meeting in person.

Anyone with symptoms should participate by Zoom and not attend the meeting in person. Everyone must maintain two metres of physical distance, whether seated or standing. Everyone must wear a non-medical mask when circulating in the room. It is recommended in the strongest possible terms that members wear their mask at all times, including when seated. Non-medical masks, which provide better clarity over cloth masks, are available in the room. Everyone present must maintain proper hand hygiene by using the hand sanitizer at the room entrance. Committee rooms are cleaned before and after each meeting. To maintain this, everyone is encouraged to clean surfaces such as the desk, chair and microphone with the provided disinfectant wipes when vacating or taking a seat.

For those participating virtually, I would like to outline a few rules to follow.

You may speak in the official language of your choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have a choice, at the bottom of your screen, of floor, English or French. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately and we will ensure interpretation is properly restored before resuming the proceedings.

Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute your microphone. For those in the room, your mike will be controlled as normal by the proceedings and verification officer.

I remind everyone that all comments should be addressed through the chair. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you're not speaking, your mike should be muted.

Before we welcome our witnesses, I would like to provide this trigger warning. We will be discussing experiences related to violence and assault. This may be triggering to viewers with similar experiences. If you feel distressed or if you need help, please advise the clerk.

I would now like to welcome our first panel of witnesses for today's meeting.

For the first panel, we have a witness who has chosen to remain anonymous. She will be referred to as “Witness 1”. I kindly ask that members refer to her as such. She has also indicated she is from the organization grouping sexual assault help centres in Quebec.

I would also like to welcome, from the DisAbled Women's Network of Canada, the executive director, Bonnie Brayton. Thank you so much for joining us, Bonnie.

From the Shield of Athena Family Services, we have Melpa Kamateros, who is the executive director. Melpa, I hope you can help me with my pronunciation.

All of our panellists will begin with five minutes of opening remarks. At four minutes, I will provide you with this beautiful little sign for one minute just to let you know, and then we'll be going on to our members for our first round of six minutes.

I would like to begin today's meeting with Bonnie Brayton.

Bonnie, you have the floor.

[Bonnie Brayton, National Executive Director, DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada, DAWN Canada]

Thank you, Karen.

I want to thank the committee.

I'm joining you today from the unceded territory of the Kanienkehaka in Montreal.

I'd like to move quickly, because we have limited time.

I'll remind the panel and the committee today that the rate of disability for women, according to Statistics Canada, is 24%. Of course, that rate for Black and indigenous women is above 30%.

In terms of some of the important data that we need to look at today, I'll remind the panel again, in terms of some of those statistics, that 39% of women with disabilities have experienced spousal violence, and 46% have been physically injured because of violence. There are a number of other statistics, including that women with cognitive disabilities are more likely to be victims of violence from a common-law partner.

Where violence and abuse are concerned, with respect to disability, there are interrelated elements at play, including violence as both the cause of disability and disability as a factor in increasing the risk of victimization. Towards this point, one of the important statistics I want to share with you today is that it has been estimated that each year as many as 276,000 women in Canada will experience a traumatic brain injury as a result of intimate partner violence. Please think about this number. Also, 71% of women with disabilities report contacting or using formal support services due to intimate partner violence. Women with disabilities face more barriers in leaving abusive situations, as both disability-related services and services for victims of abuse are often not able to respond to their needs.

Gender-based violence remains a critical issue for women and girls with disabilities, as the research above highlights. The other research we will share in our brief, which I urge you to read next week, with all the important data and facts, confirms this. As the research highlights, this issue is pressing and reflects the need for us to collectively address the realities of gender-based violence over the life course for women and girls with disabilities.

In terms of what I've seen, a number of your witnesses, of course, are from the shelter community, so I want to speak directly to that and to the idea that, while we understand that, there is an important distinction between accessibility and accessing shelters in terms of the kind of language and reflections we need today. DAWN Canada and our partners at Women’s Shelters Canada, and the vast majority of shelters themselves, recognize that there are gaps. This continues to be compounded by COVID-19, because women with disabilities are now faced with policies that bring them into even greater contact with the sites and people associated with their disproportionately high rates of abuse. Shelters, however, are already overwhelmed and under-resourced because of this pandemic.

What all this information is telling us now for the national action plan and next steps is that systemic discrimination, including ableism, sexism and racism, pervades our research, our policies, our programs and our responses. The reflex to focus on the current resources is strong, but it will not result in the kind of systemic change that is required to rid our society of gender-based violence.

On the key recommendations, I'll go to the topics first, and then with the time I have I hope to cover them all.

To make it more inclusive, update and revise the definition of “intimate partner violence” to “interpersonal violence” to better reflect that for women with disabilities, for example, the perpetrator can also be a family member, a friend, a health care provider or an attendant.

Second, and so important to DAWN's work and such a reflection of what we really need to hear today, is peer support. While the issue of gender-based violence against women with disabilities clearly establishes that women with disabilities require unique supports, as previously noted, systemic and attitudinal barriers continue to prevent access. There are women-serving and disability-service organizations that have been built for and by the people they serve, and reflect the power of peer support when shared oppressions and shared resilience are organized into solutions. These are the folks whose results need to be examined first and then replicated, and not in separate silos but together.

Another is instruments of hope. Systemic change is only possible by taking the long view and staying the course. The national housing strategy, the national action plan to end gender-based violence and the national early learning and child care plan are just some of the examples of federal initiatives that could be coordinated and should be coordinated. There are funding mechanisms at ESDC, at WAGE and other departments that work well now, or could, if we could see the results in pilot communities in each of the regions. I'm telling you all to think about the fact that you have in front of you the possibility of effecting change by really thinking about these instruments of hope and what they could do if we start to think across government. The silent approach has not worked for women and girls with disabilities.

I know I'm nearly out of time here, but I will talk about addressing childhood sexual abuse. Just today, statistics were released that confirmed childhood sexual victimization has increased by 95% in the last five years.

Root resilience, root change, root justice.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much, Bonnie.

Thank you for that last segment. I think that's a very important matter for all of us to discuss as well.

I'm going to pass it over to the organization grouping sexual assault help centres in Quebec.

You have five minutes.

[Witness-Témoin 1, Organization grouping sexual assault help centres in Quebec]

Madam Chair, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for this invitation to provide you with our testimony.

Before I begin my presentation, I would like to acknowledge that the territory I am on is traditional, unceded First Nations territory. I am grateful for that.

The organization I am representing today brings together 26 sexual assault help centres. These centres are located in every corner of the province of Quebec. Our organization was founded in 1979. For 43 years, therefore, our centres have been providing the province with expertise in responding to and preventing sexual violence and in standing up for the rights of women.

To start my presentation, I would like to remind you that 86.3% of victims know their abusers and that 70% of sexual assaults take place in a private residence. The depictions often shown in movies and the media, in which sexual assaults take place when a woman is attacked by a stranger when she is walking alone outdoors, are not at all the norm.

In fact, in most cases, sexual violence takes place in a family unit, in romantic relationships, or with former intimate partners. It is therefore essential, if we want to tackle the problem of sexual violence, to consider the gender-specific nature of this violence. We know that 94% of the perpetrators are men. We also know that the violence happens primarily within a family or within intimate relationships.

For victory over that violence, in our view, it is important to emphasize prevention with the students and staff in high schools, and to combat the obstacles to reporting sexual violence.

Our expertise in prevention has shown us that one of the most effective strategies is to work with young people. Since 2014, when we joined forces with some researchers, we have been offering a series of workshops in high schools, for students, their parents and the school staff.

We already provide classroom workshops for students to address matters like the importance of free and informed consent. We provide training to both teaching staff and non-teaching staff to address myths and false assumptions, such as that rape is the only type of sexual assault. We also provide online videos for parents. We feel that both parents and school staff must know how to identify these kinds of situations and, above all, how to intervene in situations where they suspect or witness assault of a sexual nature.

According to our observations, the second problem that absolutely must be tackled involves the obstacles to reporting sexual violence. Let's talk about that. The most common obstacle is that victim is afraid. If she reports her abuser, it becomes her word against his. She is afraid that no one will believe her and that making the report will change nothing. In fact, it is important for the entire country to receive the clear message that victims will be believed and that they can trust their governments if they decide to break their silence.

It is a myth that it is very probable and very frequent for a woman to accuse her abuser falsely. Our estimate is that victims actually make false accusations in only 2% of the cases. The risk of situations of that kind is greatly overestimated and should not guide or determine each victim's path through the Canadian legal system.

Another obstacle to reporting affects the victims whose immigration status is uncertain. They are afraid that, if they file a complaint, the police will check their status and report them to the border authorities, with the result that they will then be expelled from Canada. That is the case for migrant women, but it is also the case for women who have been sponsored by their spouse and who are therefore afraid of being expelled from Canada if they report the violence they suffer in their home.

In Quebec at least, we are seeing some weakness in the measure that prohibits police from inquiring into the immigration status of victims who come to report the violence they have suffered. All women should have the right of protection against sexual violence in Canada, regardless of their immigration status, their past, their age or their sexual orientation.

That ends my presentation. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you.

We're going to pass it over to Melpa Kamateros from Shield of Athena Family Services. You have five minutes.

You're on mute.

Madam Clerk, did we check to see if she has the right microphone on?

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

Yes, it worked previously.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

It was showing green before.

Not that I'm a technological genius, but if you could go down to your button where it shows “mute”, there is an arrow pointing up. That provides you with an option to select a microphone. Ensure that it's on the headset microphone. If it's on that, it should be okay.

Madam Clerk, I'm going to pass this to you.

[The Clerk]

Ms. Kamateros, can you disconnect your microphone from your computer and reconnect it?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Ms. Kamateros, we can now hear you.

You have five minutes.

[Melpa Kamateros, Executive Director, Shield of Athena Family Services]

After all that drama, I represent an organization that has been in existence for over 30 years. We presently have three points of service in Quebec, which are an emergency shelter and two external centres. We also have a community outreach department where we go out actively and raise awareness on family violence.

We are also building a second-stage resource that will be our fourth point of service. We are members of the alliance of second-step shelters in Quebec.

I'm here today to speak about certain situations that we have seen from the trenches. We think that talking today about what we've seen will possibly benefit victims of violence, affect public policy, enact legislation and, hopefully, change societal perceptions on such violence.

I'm not going to go into it too lengthily, but we all know the effects of the global pandemic on women victims of violence and on women in general. They were the most affected. Certain issues, however, such as unequal access to services, lack of spaces in shelters, ineffective laws, not enough prevention programs or awareness of the issue of conjugal violence, as well as the minimization or normalization of conjugal violence all existed prior to the global COVID pandemic.

For immigrant women and women coming from ethnic cultural communities—which presents linguistic barriers—and for those with many children, the situation of attaining basic information, never mind services, became even more difficult. Their isolation was even more pronounced.

The increase in gender-based violence worldwide was not caused solely by the pandemic, but by the underlying factors that were already there, which have not been resolved. We would like therefore to propose a more global perspective on dealing with conjugal violence.

What do we mean? We mean that we want pertinent legislation that encompasses a broader definition of what conjugal violence is and that stresses the illegality of this violence. We do not want to go to the Criminal Code of Canada and extrapolate certain articles that refer to sexual and physical violence, because conjugal violence is a much deeper subject. It has traumatic effects for women and children, so we want the legislation.

We also feel that the prevention programs should be more analyzed. The statistics show that women going into shelters are younger and younger. This means that there are younger and younger perpetrators of this type of abuse, which means that societal perceptions regarding normalization of violence have not changed at all.

Finally, we want integrated services providing for more continuity for the victim, for the children exposed to the violence and for the abusers.

We would also like greater access to housing at all levels of the victims' timeline. There is a timeline to abuse, in terms of housing. It doesn't stop with the initial call to 911. First, there's the entry to the shelter. There's a huge problem there. I remember testifying before this committee a couple of years ago. Then, we had the issue of the second-step housing. It is a big issue. Thousands of women and children in Quebec are leaving emergency shelters. There are 500 spaces in the second-step housing. If we compare the situation to what we had, it took us 12 years to go into our second step that is presently being built.

We need a greater access to housing at the emergency and at the second step, as well as the social housing after. Two weeks ago, one of our clients came and she was very happy. She was happy because after four years she finally got her social housing unit with three children in tow. Obviously, there is a situation where this is lacking.

The other thing we want to propose is the granting of a certain status for women who are victims of conjugal violence. What do we mean by special status? The issue of financial dependency is a huge issue in conjugal violence cases. On the issue of autonomy, we're supposed to be guiding women towards autonomy and non-dependence. That's a huge issue as well. Giving the woman an allowance and a recognition of her status as a vulnerable woman who is a victim of conjugal violence.... Need I say that for immigrant women who can't speak the language, don't have a social network and don't have any means of support, this really is a necessity?

We would like to propose that this financial stipend be given to women who are victims of conjugal violence. It can tide them over the worse parts of the abuse, so that they can eventually become autonomous. This type of financial assistance should be given to all victims of conjugal violence, be they single women or single mothers with their children.

Finally, I would like the committee to believe me—please believe me because we work with the victims—that there's a huge potential for victims to go back to an abusive partner or to become homeless if they are left with no recourse, little money and no accessible housing to go to.

We thank the committee for hearing us. Thank you very much.

I should point out that I can answer questions in French.

I spoke only English because I was nervous and because my time was limited.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's just fine. Thank you very much.

I'm sure you will be receiving some questions in French too.

We're going to start off with our first round, for six minutes each. Once again, I will be giving you the reminder of your last minute, so I just want everybody to recognize that the last minute is for the question to be asked and the answer to be answered.

The first six minutes go to Laila.

Laila, you have the floor.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just want to say a big thank you to all of today's witnesses for giving such impactful testimony here today. I can't speak on behalf of all committee members, but we believe you, so thank you. Thanks for the work that you do in your communities and across Canada.

Just to start out, Ms. Brayton, you touched on the ideas around accessibility and accessing supports. I was just wondering if you could expand a little bit on that, because I think it's critically important for our committee to hear that piece of it.

[Bonnie Brayton]

Thank you very much for asking.

I want to explain that more, because I think it's very important. As I said, I've noted that lot of the witnesses you're going to hear from, of course, are people who are doing direct service, including the shelter community. While it certainly is clear and true that there's a problem with accessibility of shelters, that's not the problem that we need to look at right now.

The national action plan is a 10-year plan that allows us to look at these from a more structural place, and that's where we need to begin. I want to remind everybody that shelters and transition houses, just like the ones described by my colleagues—my good colleague from Quebec, in terms of the work of Athena, and other incredible organizations across the country—were built in communities by women with whatever they had—whatever old building, whatever old structure, any old thing they could get—because they were trying to meet the needs that weren't being met anywhere else. Women are the reason we have a shelter network. Women are the reason we have second-stage housing. Women in communities are the reasons we have that.

DAWN Canada is not sitting here with the idea that that's what we need to point to. What we need to address is the fact that for women from diverse communities, including women with disabilities, Black women, indigenous women and women from all kinds of marginalized communities, these solutions haven't worked. It's not a reflection of the shelters. It's a reflection of needing to start again, using the instruments of hope, thinking over the long term and beginning to rethink how we provide those services.

Accessibility is.... Again, I spoke about peer support. A number of different things have to be done in a stepped way for these solutions to have an impact on women and girls with disabilities, because it isn't about building ramps. This is something we said 25 years ago.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you for that.

You touched on the definitions regarding gender-based violence. Because I have such a limited amount of time, I was wondering if you could possibly submit your suggestions in writing to the committee for our consideration on how you think that definition should be updated or changed, because I think that would be very useful.

[Bonnie Brayton]

Thank you.

It has an impact on funding, and I think that's the key point for the committee to hear from me now. If you don't understand the difference between intimate partner violence and interpersonal violence in a funding space, then the people who don't fit that don't get funded.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

I really do appreciate that. If you could provide that in writing, that would be great.

I am now going to turn to Witness 1, who was actually the second witness to appear.

You touched on many things, but I have a question about the challenges you face.

Are you familiar with Clare's Law, which is in effect in Alberta and Saskatchewan?

[Witness-Témoin 1]

No, I am not familiar with it at all.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Okay, thank you.

So I will turn to Ms. Kamateros.

I was just wondering if you have heard of or have any information on Clare's Law, or any other legislative solutions?

[Melpa Kamateros]

Of course.

In Quebec, we recently produced a report, and I was in the group of 21 experts. The whole purpose of the report—it was called “Rebuild the Confidence”—was rebuilding the confidence of victims of sexual assault and victims of conjugal violence.

We were looking over the solutions that were being proposed, and one of them was Clare's Law, which allows for information to be given to a woman regarding the violent antecedents of her partner, spouse, boyfriend or whatever. It was developed from the law in the United Kingdom, where a woman by the name of Clare was killed for exactly that reason; she didn't know of the violent past of her partner.

We think it's a good thing. It's been passed in several provinces here in Canada. Along with issuing ankle bracelets, it was looked upon as a possible reinforcing measure for victims of conjugal violence. I have no problem with it, and I don't think people elsewhere have an issue with it, either. However, having said that, we would have to see it in an integrated fashion with laws and services as well.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

In addition to having it in an integrated fashion with laws and services, do you have any recommendations on how we could possibly strengthen Clare's Law? Do you think that one of the recommendations coming out of the committee should be to look at ways of having Clare's Law brought forward across the country?

[Melpa Kamateros]

Anything that reinforces the rights of the victim.... I see this as potentially reinforcing the rights of the victim and the responsibility of the abuser, because it goes two ways. On the one hand, you're protecting the victim, but on the other hand, you're giving a sense of responsibility to the perpetrator. That's a good thing and we're all for it.

You should read the report—it's called “Rebâtir la confiance”—and you will get an idea of how it's being pursued here in Quebec.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're going to move to our next six minutes, with Anita Vandenbeld.

Anita, you have the floor.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you very much.

I also want to thank all of the witnesses for bringing us their expertise on these issues.

I'd like to start with Ms. Brayton. You said something that is very key when it comes to people with disabilities and intimate partner violence. You talked about brain injury, but you also talked about the cycle.

We think of people who were perhaps born with disabilities or who had a disability when they entered the relationship, but we have also seen that it could be the violence itself that then creates the disability, particularly violence that leads to brain injury, head trauma and other injuries. How do we break that cycle?

Also, considering that when it comes to brain injury, it is something that is often very much misunderstood, misdiagnosed and stigmatized, how do we make sure that we can prevent it from happening and creating that cycle?

[Bonnie Brayton]

Thank you so much for the question, Anita, and for putting a focus on this because it is very important for the committee. It is part of the newer and emerging research, but it is something that DAWN Canada has been saying for decades. Women becoming disabled through violence is a fact.

The other point I'll make, since we're in this space, is that the rates of disability among indigenous and Black women being higher points to the fact that there are all kinds of reasons that women become disabled through violence, and how these things link up.

To speak specifically to the brain injury piece, this is the hidden tsunami that we must speak about, because this new data, the numbers I was talking about, with fully over a quarter of a million women, in terms of brain injury by itself...and understanding that studies in Canada show that upwards of 50% of women who are going into a shelter or a transition house today have a brain injury.

It doesn't get screened; it doesn't get diagnosed. She goes back out there, and what happens? Well, I can share statistics on the number of women in the homeless population who had a pre-existing brain injury before they became homeless, or the number of imprisoned women who had a pre-existing brain injury before they landed in prison. These connections have to be made when we start to talk about the long view and policy, and improving the supports for women who sustain traumatic and acquired brain injuries because of abuse, because both are true. Acquired brain injury is from long-term abuse and isn't necessarily from a blow to the head; it can be from sustained abuse.

These kinds of things are really critical right now as we start to build out the national action plan. Shelters and all frontline services need to understand how big this is. The disability community and rights holders need to understand how big it is, because we are talking about a tsunami in terms of the size and scope of brain injury and its connections to gender-based violence.