Status of Women Committee on May 18th, 2023

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I call the meeting to order.

Good afternoon, and welcome to meeting number 68 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

Today’s meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of June 23, 2022. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely by using the Zoom application.

I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses and members.

Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mike, and please mute it when you're not speaking.

For interpretation for those on Zoom, you have the choice at the bottom of your screen of floor, English or French. For those in the room, you can use your earpiece and select the desired channel.

This is a reminder that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

For members in the room, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand. For members on Zoom, please use the “raise hand” function. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can.

In accordance with the committee's routine motion concerning connection tests for witnesses, I'm informing the committee that all witnesses appearing virtually have completed their required connection tests.

Today, pursuant to Standing Order 81(4), the committee is commencing its consideration of the main estimates for 2023-24 with votes 1 and 5 under the Department for Women and Gender Equality, which were referred to the committee on Wednesday, February 15, 2023.

I would now like to welcome our witnesses.

We're honoured to have the Honourable Marci Ien here, the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth. With her are members from the Department for Women and Gender Equality.

We have in person Frances McRae, who is the deputy minister; Gail Mitchell, who is the assistant deputy minister of departmental programs and operations; and Stéphane Lavigne, who is the chief financial officer and director general of corporate services.

Online, we have Crystal Garrett-Baird, who is the director general of the gender-based violence branch.

Minister, I am going to give you the floor for five minutes. You know me. When I start going crazy, it's time for you to wrap it up.

Minister, you have five minutes.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth]

Thank you for inviting me to appear before the committee.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair, for the opportunity to discuss the main estimates of the Department for Women and Gender Equality Canada.

Before I continue, I want to take a moment to highlight the excellent work that the members of this committee do, and their important role in moving gender equality forward in Canada.

I appreciate your sharing all of your insights.

It is such an honour to meet with you today on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

Canadians deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and there is a clear link between social and economic prosperity and gender equality. I'm here to speak about how Women and Gender Equality Canada’s main estimates put that perspective into concrete action.

WAGE is receiving $290 million via the main estimates, of which $225 million is in grants and contributions. This funding supports our work and, more importantly, will go toward equity-seeking organizations that help to drive systemic change.

We've been tested these last few years, but we've seen who we are and what we're capable of as Canadians. The pandemic made clear where we have challenges, and it shone a light on who has been disproportionately impacted and who our most vulnerable are. It strengthened our resolve as to why we are in this work. It revealed opportunities: How do we build back better and stronger? How do we embrace what full inclusivity looks like?

It also reinforced the core of our most important policies and inspired the design of new ones. The truth is that dental care, rental affordability, child care and support and funding for women, girls, youth and the 2SLGBTQI+ community are not just good policy; they are vital parts of a just and equal society.

We are moving full speed ahead. Budget 2023 included $160 million for the women's program that is to go to grassroots organizations. We stepped up and provided $300 million in emergency funding to organizations across the country. This funding has reached more than 1,400 frontline organizations and helped more than two million people experiencing violence get the support they need. It helped them find a safe place to stay and it helped them get out of unsafe situations.

The work continues. Emergency funding was necessary to address real challenges, but without ever losing sight of finding longer-term solutions, which is why our work with provinces and territories is so vital. We have worked to support crisis hotlines across the country. We've signed agreements with nine provinces and territories for a total of $23.2 million.

I want to highlight this because it's really important. Why? Because 24-7, 365 days a year, if women and children are fleeing violence, someone will answer the phone at any time of the day, any time of the year, and they'll hear their own language on the other side. These crisis hotlines will save lives.

The 10-year national action plan to end gender-based violence is a key partnership between our government, provinces and territories. It is specifically designed to stabilize the gender-based violence sector. We provided half a billion dollars for the first five years to support provinces and territories in implementing it. We're negotiating right now. We're at the table right now.

These plans must show what's needed and where to end GBV, because each province and territory is unique.

They must be aligned with our agreed upon principles, and once they are signed off, the funds will flow quickly.

Talks are going well. This summer, when I meet with my provincial and territorial counterparts, we're looking forward to a done deal.

Thank you.

I'm happy to answer questions from members of the committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much, Minister.

We'll be going around for our first round. Our first round is six minutes each, and we'll be starting online with Dominique Vien.

Dominique, you have the floor for six minutes.

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

Good afternoon, Minister.

Welcome to all of you. I'm not sure whether we have any men in the room, but if we do, welcome to them as well.

Thank you for your opening remarks, Minister. I'd like to talk about something very specific. Last year, if I'm not mistaken, $25 million of the 2022‑23 health care budget was earmarked for you to develop a pilot project, a national menstrual equity fund. The pilot started a year ago, and my understanding is that it will continue next year. We are talking about a significant amount of money, $25 million.

Can you give us an overview of the pilot—where it's been rolled out, how much has been spent and who has benefited?

Have you transferred funding to various organizations?

Could you give us an idea of what you've done so far with the $25 million, Minister?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you for your question.

It's a really good question.

You're talking about the menstrual equity fund. Yes, $25 million was ascribed to it; it is a pilot project. Our parliamentary secretary, Jenna Sudds, and her team—our teams—have done tremendous work on this. As a federal government, we are leading in this area.

The Minister of Labour—and this is a cohesive effort—has rolled out plans to make sure that menstrual products are available in all federally regulated areas, businesses and organizations. We have to lead by example. This fund puts those most vulnerable at the centre of it. I cannot tell you how many places I've gone to across this country where women—young women in particular—can't afford menstrual products. There's a stigma around that. This is why this fund is so very important. There will be a national organization that will roll this out for us. We are in the midst, right now, of accepting—

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

Thank you, Minister.

The program you're talking about is for public servants. The measure that appears in chapter 6 of budget 2022 seeks to “make menstrual products available to Canadians in need”. Presumably, that refers to women and girls who can't afford to buy menstrual products.

Where are you in rolling out that program, for the public, not just for public servants?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you for your question.

I am going to go to my deputy minister because we're getting into the process here, Dominique, and I want to roll this out for you.

[Frances McRae, Deputy Minister, Women and Gender Equality and Youth, Department for Women and Gender Equality]

Thank you for your question.

As the minister and you yourself said, it's a national pilot that we were asked to set up. Budget 2022 was released in April. As the minister and Ms. Sudds, the parliamentary secretary, pointed out, we've done a lot of research to identify best practices around the world.

The pilot is meant to help the most vulnerable segments of the population, which is especially important. We are at the point now of working with a national organization. We have a call for proposals out and should be able to make a more formal announcement soon.

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

Thank you, Deputy Minister.

[Frances McRae]

We will be discussing the next phase of the rollout in the next few weeks.

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

Madam Chair, I'd like to ask the minister's team to provide the committee with detailed information on the research the deputy minister talked about regarding best practices around the world.

Can you tell us a bit more about the national organization that will be selected to deliver the pilot?

You have been working on this for a year. How much money have you spent so far, and which organization will be in charge of delivering it?

[Frances McRae]

In our consultations, we noted that a number of national organizations were interested in working with us on the pilot.

You're right, $25 million is a significant amount of money, but we are talking about a national pilot. We need to be able to draw lessons from the pilot, so we are working with an organization that will help us explore that further.

An organization hasn't been selected yet. We are in talks with the organizations that are interested in participating.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's excellent. Thank you very much, Madam Deputy.

I'm now going to pass the floor over. We have both Jenna Sudds and Sonia Sidhu for the next round.

Jenna, I'm passing the floor to you. You have six minutes.

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

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Minister, last week in the House we were discussing Bill C-311, and a week ago today, we also witnessed the March for Life here on Parliament Hill.

You are on record multiple times as saying how important it is for women to have the right to choose and how important access to vital health care decisions is for women and how we can't go back in time. We know collectively that we need to speak up when we see these rights threatened. At the same time, there was, of course, talk about how Bill C-311 does not explicitly mention abortion.

Can I ask you to explain, from your perspective, how the two are linked, and can you share why this issue sparks so much resolve in you?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you so much for the question, Jenna.

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

I have a point of order, Madam Chair.

Listen, we have a great committee here. I really think we do. We've been really clear about where we sit. I do not think it is fair to be opening up a waste of time when none of us wants to talk about abortion. We want to hear about the programs the minister has to offer. I think this is not the political climate we've built in this committee. I think we're very collaborative, but this question feels very underhanded.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Perhaps, Ms. Ien, we can stick to.... I understand the question on Bill C-311, but I do not believe it is in the scope of this committee. It will not be coming to this committee. It is a justice issue, so I would ask that we continue.

I know there was spending announced last week. Perhaps that's something we can talk about. I would question trying to define a bill under this committee and I would say that it seems out of scope with regard to funding. There is no funding. You will not find it in the main estimates.

I will carry on. Thank you.

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

With respect to my colleagues, no disrespect was intended to anyone. I'm simply raising an issue that I think is important to everyone. I know it is important to the minister and the work that we do day in, day out. I'm happy to reposition that question as suggested, Chair. Thank you for that.

We know as well that just last week, Minister, you were making an announcement in B.C. with respect to women's reproductive rights and health funding. Perhaps you'd like to comment on your resolve around that.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you so much for the question.

We indeed made these funding announcements. What I'd like to briefly talk about here are the people behind the numbers that we see. One announcement is for a crisis line. Another one looks at underfunded communities with regard to sexual health and reproductive rights. The points that were made by those who attended were to put forward the people behind the numbers and the case studies and all of these things.

Something that stuck with me was that mothers have abortions too.

I'm going to get a little bit personal, but it is important, and without getting into this whole debate, I have to say it.

I have an 11-year-old boy, and before I had him, I miscarried. I was thinking about this last week. When that happened, I was given a choice, and that choice was to pass this at home or go to the hospital to get a D and C. I was thinking about it because when we look at this, it's not always about 14-year-old or 15-year-old girls. It's about moms too.

When I look at what's happening in the States and see that there are women who are going into septic shock because they can't go to a hospital before a certain period of time or get the treatment they need, I think we need to talk about these things here, so I put myself up as an example.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

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

Thank you so much, Minister.

I will turn it over to Sonia Sidhu.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Sonia, you have about a minute and a half.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Jenna.

Thank you, Minister Ien, for your unwavering commitment to supporting women, girls and gender-diverse people in this country.

Minister, on International Women's Day, my municipal colleagues at the City of Brampton unanimously passed a motion to implement mandatory gender-based analysis-plus training for all senior staff, using our federal tool.

We both had the chance to attend the UN Commission on the Status of Women, where Canada is a world leader on gender equality and GBA+. As Canada is a leading international model, can you please provide an update on the government's effort to promote the use of GBA+?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thanks so much, Sonia.

I know that your riding and my riding in Toronto Centre are a lot alike, in that they are so diverse

That's just it. Your experience are my experience are not the same. When we're dealing with refugees and newcomers, racialized people, indigenous people, Black Canadians and gender-diverse people, those experiences are all different. That's where GBA+ comes in, because it's disaggregated data. It's saying that we are not living in homogeneous societies.

We need to understand who people are and make sure that we have culturally appropriate supports and understand that experiences are different. Not one of us is the same, but we're stronger because we are this way.

You are right. Canada is seen as a leader when it comes to GBA+.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Awesome. Thank you so much.

We're now going to move it over to Andréanne Larouche.

Andréanne, you have six minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for being here this afternoon, Minister.

I have a lot of questions, so if you could keep your answers as brief as possible, it would be much appreciated. I'd like to cover an array of issues. Women are facing major challenges right now, and the causes are many.

In your opening statement, you said you had set up crisis hotlines all over the country, signing $23.2 million worth of agreements with nine provinces and territories.

Which provinces and territories have not signed an agreement, and why?