Status of Women Committee on May 18th, 2023

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

It's a great question. Thank you so much, Leah.

It really has everything to do with the announcements that we made last week and the organizations that we fund, the crisis lines that I was talking about. In rural communities where, you're right, abortion services aren't always available—places like New Brunswick or rural Manitoba—people phone a number, and they are given transportation, they are given advice, and they are given everything that they need in order to get where they need to go.

We continue to work on this. I know we're not there yet, but we're funding grassroots organizations that can provide the advice, the travel and the money that's necessary. That is what's happening right now, and it's working very, very well.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I certainly don't oppose any advancement of rights, but I think people should be able to access reproductive health services, including safe abortions, where they live, and not have to travel across the country during a very traumatic time. We know that for many people, it's a very traumatic experience.

The federal housing advocate and the Women's National Housing and Homelessness Network called the current housing crisis a human rights crisis fuelled by government failure, saying that it is disproportionately impacting women, gender-diverse and indigenous people. I know that the government made a specific investment of $150 million during the pandemic. What I've shared often in the House of Commons is that we still have a pandemic, an ongoing crisis of gender-based violence. Maybe the pandemic has shifted, but gender-based violence has, in fact, increased.

I'm wondering if your government is exploring changing its decision about removing the $150 million from shelter funding. We know this is going to cost lives. I know, certainly in my riding, that some of the worst stories of gender-based violence in the country are coming out. This money that was provided during the pandemic literally kept women and diverse-gender people alive. People are panicking on the ground.

Is there any hope that your government is going to reverse that decision?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Leah, you and I have done some great work together. I think about Velma's House in Winnipeg Centre. When I first visited Velma's House, there were women sleeping under the porch. There were meals being churned out—I don't know how—on a rickety stove. I will never forget a woman named Swan, who said to me that this house can't go and that they need this place; it keeps them safe.

It was our government that stepped up and provided the funding needed for Velma's House to move into another facility.

Here's what I'm saying about that with regard to shelters and shelter space. When I saw that, I asked for half a billion dollars to support our national action plan to end gender-based violence and I got it. I saw that situation and I said that it can't continue. I said that we need it long term, that we need to put teeth behind our national action plan, and I got it.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Minister, I'm grateful for that and I know our community is, but we just had a woman, Linda Mary Beardy, who crawled into a garbage dumpster. I mention her out of respect for her family and the community because she didn't have a safe place to go.

I know that Velma's House was monumental. I'm not saying that.... It was monumental, but housing has been so underfunded. I do agree with what they're saying, particularly the Women's National Housing and Homelessness Network, which is that this is a critical area. This is going to result in the loss of life.

Again, I'm urging you and your government to reverse that decision, because I know it will cost lives.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You got your six minutes. You're good.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I thought I had 30 minutes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I know; next time. I'll make sure you get another two and a half. That's coming very shortly.

I'm now going to continue to our second round. We're going to start with Michelle Ferreri for five minutes.

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

Thanks, Madam Chair. Thank you, Minister.

I'm going to start with asking about WAGE. In 2015, WAGE had a head count of 92. As of 2022, this number has increased by 324%, to 390. However, the public service has grown by only 31%, which is smaller in comparison.

Why has WAGE seen its workforce increase this significantly, and what's its impact?

[Frances McRae]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Women and Gender Equality, as you may know, became a full department in December 2018 through legislation. We also grew that number that you're talking about essentially in the pandemic, when we received a significant influx of funds and other significant investments from the government for things like crisis lines and pandemic shelter support.

All those investments require people to advance them. The national action plan on gender-based violence and the 2SLGBTQI+ action plan, for example, were significant lifts for the organization. That explains the numbers going up the way that you see them.

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

Thanks.

I'm wondering if it's possible to table to the committee the breakdown of what that looks like. Could we get that information?

[Frances McRae]

What could I clarify? Is it the breakdown of...?

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

You gave generalizations. I'm wondering if we could see where the money is going for that employee increase. It's such a significant one compared to the public service. I'm looking for where it is and what it's doing. It's a breakdown of what you said, basically.

Budget 2023 proposes 3% spending cuts across the board for government departments. Minister, where do you think your 3% cut is going to be?

[Frances McRae]

Thank you for the question, Madam Chair.

As you will know, the expenditure review is being managed through the Treasury Board Secretariat. At this time, that organization is the one that will determine how all of us will participate in the expenditure exercise. The question is best directed there.

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

Minister, this is your file. This is tough. You have to decide who gets money and who doesn't. Everybody wants money.

Is there anything you can see that would be easier to remove when you're going to be mandated to cut?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

I can't at this time. It's hard, Michelle, to deal with hypotheticals.

We didn't see a pandemic coming. We don't know what's around the corner. It's hard to answer that. I'm here to answer all of your questions, but I wouldn't want to say yes or no to something because, literally, we don't know what's coming. We're not sure.

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

That's fair.

The mandate information for the Department of Women and Gender Equality says, “The mandate of Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) is to advance equality with respect to sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression through the inclusion of people of all genders, including women, in Canada’s economic, social, and political life.”

We have heard so much testimony about youth mental health, human trafficking and helping educate men, especially when we look at intimate partner violence. Under your mandate, when you say, “all genders”, is there a specific amount of funding set aside to help educate our young men?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you so much for this question.

When I first joined, I'll say, this ministry—because we're very much a team—one of the first questions I asked about was men and boys. I have had the honour of going to organizations like White Ribbon and others where that is the focus. In many indigenous communities—I'm thinking of Nunavut in particular—that is the focus. It really is a primary focus. It is part of our national action plan to end gender-based violence, because it's about prevention. This isn't about being reactive; it's being proactive. If we're going to do that, we have to fully engage men and boys.

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

I don't think I can get out much in 20 seconds. Thanks.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thanks very much. I'm now going to pass the floor over to Anita and then Sonia Sidhu.

Anita, you have five minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I do have a question, Minister, but before that, I want to address what just happened here in the last round of questioning.

My colleague opposite, Ms. Ferreri, interrupted my colleague Ms. Sudds, using the excuse of collegiality to silence her from asking a question that clearly mattered significantly to her and to a lot of women. I don't think it's very collegial to use a point of order to interrupt one of us on this committee on something we really, truly believe in. I want to get that on the record.

I also think defending a woman's right to choose is not politicizing.

Minister, I want to say to you that by telling your story in the courageous way you did today, you helped a lot of women. I want to thank you for doing that.

I did have a question that's unrelated, but I feel we have to make sure that when we are being collegial, it also means letting us talk about the things that matter to us and to very many women.

My question is about youth. I want to draw your attention back to a really happy day when you came to my riding of Ottawa West—Nepean and met with the Boys and Girls Club. We know that the young people we met there are diverse, as are many young people across the country. They are passionate, they care deeply about their communities, they want to make the world better and they are looking for the kinds of skills that are going to get them better jobs, good-quality jobs, so I want to ask you about the Canada summer jobs program.

I understand that around the entire country right now, especially in my riding, employers are hiring young people. I wonder if you could tell us a little bit more about the importance of the Canada summer jobs program.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thanks so much for the question, Anita.

The Canada summer jobs program is part of a suite of programs. It's the youth employment and skills strategy. There are several parts to it.

CSJ means that 70,000 jobs will go out across this country this year. Many of them will be to high school students or even to those who are just getting their footing back. They will be their first-time jobs—memorable jobs. They'll create experiences.

Also, part of that suite is work-integrated learning. The work-integrated learning initiative offers internships. We know that internships are very important, especially these days. When employers want to hire people, they will either put forward everything in their power to train that person, if they have those tools, or they will look for people who have those tools already. When you have those tools already, then you're in great shape.

You mentioned diversity, Anita, and that's really important. When it comes to these programs, we really do shine a light on those who are disabled, Black, indigenous, racialized and 2SLGBTQI youth, and it's working. We see the numbers, and it's working.

There's the student work placement program as well. There's the Canada service corps, which encourages volunteerism from our young people.

I will just mention that the last time I was here, we talked about the age of young people. We talked about 15 to 29 being the definition for youth. I said that's way too late. On my streets in Toronto Centre and on many streets across this country, our kids are gone or in places we don't want them to be by the age of 15. We are now piloting, in our Canada service corps, kids who are 12 years of age. We're doing that because of what happened here. I'm thankful for that.

I often say we should forget about the leaders of tomorrow; it's about today. These kids are fearless. I was with a group of 2SLGBTQI youth in my riding yesterday. It was the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. It was the first annual summit. I heard young people say that they felt like they were in a safe space for the first time. Teachers who brought their kids to that summit said that this wouldn't have happened a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. There were young people who were taking leadership roles within their schools who were standing up. They are not faint of heart, and that's for sure.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thanks so much.

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

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister, you talked about the Canada summer jobs program, so I have to take this opportunity to let you know that constituents in my area are not happy about the budget cuts to the program. You're going to tell me that the budget is simply back to prepandemic levels. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, the pandemic may be over, but the problems that young people, businesses and organizations are facing remain. We take issue with this year's budget cuts, which mean that far too many people won't have the chance to benefit from this great program.

Now, your government's LGBTQ+ action plan paved the way for promoting the rights and equality of members of that community. Has any funding been earmarked to support senior members of the community? As you rightly pointed out, yesterday was an important day, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. To mark the occasion, I met with the people who run Fondation Émergence, and they underscored the importance of raising awareness about elder abuse against members of the community. They talked about their disappointment over the lack of funding for an education campaign.

What is your department going to do to support senior members of the LGBTQ+ community?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

There are a couple of questions there. First it was CSJ and then we got to seniors, so maybe I will deal with the CSJ portion first.

I talked about recovery and I talked about the postpandemic situation. I like numbers and I like disaggregated data, so I want to look at some of those numbers.

In 2019, Canada summer jobs had 70,000 jobs. During the pandemic, those jobs were increased because student unemployment, or I should say youth unemployment, was at a high of 30% in this country. As it stands right now, youth unemployment is at 9.8%, so as we are on this road to recovery, we are now at 70,000 jobs.

While we just looked at 2019 prepandemic and those numbers, in the numbers for 2023, there's an additional, I believe, $15 million on top of what we had in 2019. Each riding, including yours, Andréanne, is actually getting more now than it did in 2019.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

It's 30% less, Minister.