Status of Women Committee on Dec. 7th, 2023

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

Thank you for clarifying that.

Very quickly, because I have only 10 seconds, Food Banks Canada is paying only $106,000 to administer the program. Under your operating grants here, you're saying $537,000. It is the food banks that are really doing this, but they're spending only $106,000. Why is the government using $537,000 of taxpayer money to administer this?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

We are over time.

Perhaps you could table that.

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

That would be great. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

We're going to go online, to Emmanuella.

Emmanuella, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Minister, for being here with us today.

The first question I don't think you'll necessarily be able to answer, but I would also like documents tabled, if possible. Women's health is a major concern of mine. There's a huge gap when it comes to women and men being misdiagnosed. Women are misdiagnosed 30% more often than men. Because, for years, women were left out of research, very little is known about many women's conditions, such as endometriosis, ovarian cancer, etc.

I did a lot of work trying to push Minister Duclos, when he was the health minister, to change the guidelines that are put in place for breast cancer, so that women across the country could get screened as of age 40 instead of 50. I know that it's more the health minister's job to do that, but is there any way you can help us get the information to committee to say if there's been a gender-based analysis put on the budget that we put forward last year on health? There was a big chunk of money going into health. If we could see how much of that was going towards women, if there was a gender-based analysis done on that, I think that would be really helpful.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

You're absolutely right. Thank you for the question, Emmanuella.

I will say that on breast cancer screening, this is where intersectionality becomes an issue as well. For Black women in particular, the screening ages can be deadly. When it comes to the intersectionality of when we screen, whether it's 40 or whether it's 50, that is real. All of that will be tabled.

Yes, as far as GBA+ is concerned, it is applied to each and every ministry across government.

Thanks so much.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you. If you could table any information you have on the money that was put into health last year, that would be great.

I know that you kicked off the 16 days of activism to end gender-based violence in Quebec. I'm wondering if you can go into a little more detail about what the Province of Quebec is planning to do to help combat gender-based violence.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thanks so much.

We actually kicked it off with Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and it's been ongoing, but you're right, Emmanuella, Quebec was last week. Minister Biron was talking about those who are impacted most. It's important to state again that each province and territory has autonomy when it comes to what they feel their province or territory needs. Minister Biron talked a lot about indigenous communities. She talked a lot about prevention. She talked about men and boys.

My colleague, Minister Duclos, who is the MP for Quebec, talked about the importance and what it means for men and boys not only to be at the table but also to understand that they are and can beat the root causes of this violence. Minister Biron has a plan that will continue to be rolled out, but having indigenous people focus on strengthening the sector as well is a big part of that plan.

If you like, Emmanuella, we can connect you to Minister Biron and her team. As well, we will be putting on our website the framework for this plan. What that means is a breakdown of each province and territory, how much money has been received and where they are targeting those funds. You can see which province is doing what, who is targeting what, what their plan is and whether they're sticking to their goals. On an annual basis, they will be before our department to look at what they've accomplished. That is contingent on whether or not the money continues.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 45 seconds.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thanks.

I know that this will be a loaded question for 45 seconds, but violence against indigenous women and girls and two-spirit people does continue to be the biggest tragedy in this country. You did speak a bit about what we've done. You said 30% of the funding has gone there.

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

It's 31% of all WAGE funding.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

What does that equate to?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

It's a lot of things. There's a capacity fund that is $55 million. What it's meant to do, Emmanuella, is bolster the capacity of 2SLGBTQI+ people as a whole. It addresses violence and addresses all these things.

I'm getting the wrap-up sign, so let's chat more about this. We can get all the information to you, okay?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Yes, you were getting the wrap-up sign because her five minutes were up, but we do have one minute left, and that's why you're going to be stuck with me for a question, because Emmanuella got me thinking big time.

I was sitting on the health committee last night, where we were talking about random tests. In terms of the majority of the people who were being used in these random tests on breast cancer, I believe that 98% was the number for white women.

We know that for people who are racialized it's those greater than the age of 40 who should be screening, and for white women, I believe it's at the age of 60 that they're more prone.

It needs to start earlier. I cannot see that a gender-based analysis was actually done on the 2018 guidelines. Can you please table that if possible?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Absolutely, and with pleasure.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you. I really appreciate it.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank Minister Ien for coming here.

We will be remaining here with Ms. Butt and Ms. McRae. We will have them for the remaining hour, but on behalf of the committee, thank you very much, Minister Ien, for being here.

We will suspend for about two minutes, just so we can get back on track.

Thank you very much, Minister Ien.

We're suspended.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

We're back, committee. We will continue with our rounds of questioning.

We are starting our second round. We'll start with the CPC. We'll have Dominique Vien...after her next bite.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Okay. We'll switch over to Michelle Ferreri for the beginning of our second round.

Michelle, you have the floor.

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

Enjoy your meal, Dominique.

Thank you so much to everybody for being here and for answering our questions.

I think one of the biggest concerns that is on the floor right now is just the efficient use of money. I think that is the number one concern when we have a cost of living crisis. I'm hoping you guys can shed some light on supplementary estimates (B) 2023-24 and the funds advocating “gender equality”.

Just under $7 million was allocated to this in grants and contributions, but $537,612 of that goes to departmental operating costs. My question is, why is this operating cost so high? That's almost 10% on an operating budget. What is that money going to? How is it an efficient use of money?

[Frances McRae]

I was looking for the chair, to answer the question, but perhaps I'll just start.

I just want to make sure I know what you're looking at, which is the supplementary estimates for this year, and the columns you're looking at, which are “Operating expenditures”, “Grants and contributions”, and then “Statutory”. Is that what you're looking at?

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

Yes, I believe so. It's the $160 million budgeted over three years, but then underneath the supplementary estimates (B) 2023-24, on the funds advancing “gender equality” in particular, it's just under $7 million. The exact number is $6,837,612.

[Frances McRae]

Yes.

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

Then the operating costs are $537,612. That's my question. I just want to know how that money is broken down.

[Frances McRae]

Sure. Generally speaking, when we do grants and contributions, it does take a fair bit of time for us to run a process, for example.

I will just mention one of our latest processes on the women's programs, which closed on November 7. We had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of applications, which is great, but it does take time to do the assessment and advice on which ones get funded. We are always oversubscribed, so that, really, the operating money is to enable our folks to go through properly, do the assessments and then manage the contribution agreement process.