Status of Women Committee on Feb. 6th, 2024

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

It's the chair of the national advisory council on early learning and child care, as well as the minister. Ideally we would have the minister as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Just hold on for one moment.

I absolutely appreciate this. We could put that into writing, but we could also address it in committee business, which I have scheduled for Thursday, when we're doing the human trafficking report, version two.

Let's ensure that we bring that back, because I think it's a very important point and we will be able to have a really good discussion.

I'm going to turn the clock back on. You have 40 seconds left. Go for it, lady.

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

Thank you.

Thanks for your input on that. I know you've worked very hard on that, Ms. Hannen.

I want to wrap up with Mr. Maddox.

Mr. Maddox, how would the Liberal policy on natural supplements, pulling them back and regulating them, impact your industry—women in particular and economic empowerment for women?

[Peter Maddox]

It's expected to have a significant impact. The fact is that if it costs a lot more to launch a product in Canada and to market a product in Canada, then fewer of those products will become available. Either companies will stop selling certain products or they'll completely withdraw from the Canadian market.

As I mentioned in my talk, it takes away—

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

Just because I have such a short time, do you have an actual number that you could table to the committee of what that would look like economically?

[Peter Maddox]

I do not have a number with me now. I work with some other associations, and they've done research on that, so I can supply that.

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

Perfect. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're now going to move it over to Emmanuella, and there might be some time split.

Emmanuella, you have five minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair, and I will be splitting my time with Ms. Vandenbeld.

My question is for Ms. Miller.

I really liked your testimony, and I actually looked up the Township of Pelee, because it's somewhere I'd consider moving, given the description I heard.

I do not represent a rural riding, so when you speak about child care and day care and you say that there are no public or private day care or senior care facilities, I am wondering what exactly the barriers are specifically and why these facilities are not present in the community.

Can you clarify what specific barriers are in place? What do you find is most difficult in being able to have people open a day care or to...? What is the actual barrier in place that you think is the most important?

[Catherine Miller]

Sure. I can tell you that it is very hard to attract young families and young women to Pelee Island for these reasons. Further to that, it's extremely challenging to even be able to attract maybe a small business entrepreneur who would want to run a day care for four to eight children. The women who are on the island work at home. Many of them work at home. There are many of us who work outside the home and who don't have kids at home, but many of the women who have children are not starting these businesses outside their home, because they are in the home.

There are barriers in the way of how we can attract people. There are barriers in infrastructure. We don't have suitable spaces. It's a challenge to build. In addition to the things I have indicated, infrastructure is lacking. We have to rely on the existing infrastructure that's there.

The barrier, I think, to truly enabling women to have access to a day care is that it very likely would not be a profitable model or one that women on Pelee Island could afford. The cost of living is already about 30% higher than it would be on the mainland.

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

What specifically do you think the government would be able to help with? Is it a program catered specifically to rural communities such as yours that would be eligible for, let's say, building a centre such as this? What exactly is it that you think would help your community and other communities like Pelee?

[Catherine Miller]

It would be specialized funding that would be distinct, I think. Supporting those independent operators who may want to start a business on Pelee Island with different grants or different subsidies at a greater level would enable them to move to a place like Pelee and start a business. Further, if there's a public option, there should be something considered for the existing school system, although I understand that is provincial.

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

Thank you very much.

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

Thank you, Ms. Miller.

I would like to pick up on something you said. It struck me when you were talking about the number of women in leadership in your community. You said something like, imagine if it had been for the last 100 years. Obviously, you're saying that despite the fact that women are there, in the last 100 years it hasn't been women. This means there are structures in place, practices and procedures that have been very masculine and are obviously limiting.

I wonder if you could talk a bit about these structural barriers.

[Catherine Miller]

I can speak specifically to the fact that, for example, our senior leadership team is female. Currently our township administrator, referred to in many other municipalities as their CAO, is out on family leave. We reached across to all our neighbouring municipalities to understand what family leave might look like for a senior administrator, but no one could help us. There's never been a CAO in our region who's left with a child.

Those types of things, even though they sound small, are impactful. When that person, who is very much needed, wants to return to the workplace, we have to think about the types of flexible policies we need to make sure are in place to support them. We realize that on our level, it's those types of things, but they've just never been discussed. There hasn't been a need. We don't have access to that multi-generational network of experienced women in leadership on those issues that continue to come up. We see it plainly.

Some other types of structures that exist, I would say, are.... Truthfully, it's just the traditional gender roles that we all know, that many of us in this room know, are challenging.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We'll now move over to Andréanne Larouche.

You have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Once again, I want to thank the three witnesses who are with us for this second hour.

I'll now turn to Mr. Maddox.

In your opening remarks, you spoke about the impact of bureaucracy fees on women who own a direct sales business.

Could you elaborate on the flexibility in the bureaucracy, or specifically the lack of flexibility of certain programs, which don't take women's entrepreneurship into account, for example?

I'm thinking of the emergency account, where people asked for flexibility when it came to repayment. This affects many small businesses.

Could you elaborate on the importance of making certain programs more flexible to help women go into business?

[Peter Maddox]

I believe government still largely looks at the question of labour and employment as people going into an office and working nine to five. They build their programs around that sort of relationship. For a lot of people now, that's not how they make their living. That's not how they make an income. I think there definitely needs to be some work done in terms of looking at the new structure of the workplace. Many people now don't do one job. They do four or five different things. They might do direct selling for one of our companies. They might drive for Uber. They might work in a bar. They might teach piano and all those sorts of things. How do things like EI and those sorts of mechanisms work with that evolving workforce?

Whether you think that evolving workforce is ideal or not, there definitely needs to be some change to look at the ways in which we can encourage people to be entrepreneurial and get into the workforce. For women in particular, if they're worried about child care or about looking after their parents, the Canadian economy suffers. The more people who can, by their choice, get involved in entrepreneurship and the economy, the better it is for all Canadians.

That's a very general answer, but I think it covers a lot of what we've talked about today.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you for addressing the employment insurance issue.

To help women in the workforce, the employment insurance system must be reviewed to take into account the specific nature of women's jobs. These jobs may be a bit more precarious or may require non‑standard schedules.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I don't think there was a question there—or was there?

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

No.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

We were out of time, but if any of you have anything you'd like to share on that, I would ask you to send it in. That would be wonderful.

I'll now pass it over for the last two and a half minutes to Leah Gazan.

Leah, you have the floor.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much, Chair.

I'll go back to you, Mayor Miller. You spoke about issues around gender-based violence. You said that if we want to talk about economic empowerment, then one area we need to address is gender-based violence. I'm concerned about the fact that we know that rates of violence have increased since the pandemic. Funding that was provided during the pandemic, particularly for shelters, has been pulled back—$150 million. It's something that I've been pushing. The pandemic is over, but the gender-based violence crisis continues.

How is the lack of funding to address gender-based violence, which many places have called an epidemic in their areas, impacting economic empowerment?

[Catherine Miller]

I can tell you that it's an even more basic or even more root-level issue on our island, when I speak about women not feeling safe perhaps in their own homes or in their communities. Because we're an isolated community, we do not have policing on the island. Police officers come as called, maybe through our provincial marine unit. They are on the island during certain parts of the year and certain parts of the week, but it isn't 24-7.

They are able to respond, but, you know, not in bad weather or in different circumstances. When we don't have access to even a room for someone to go to be safe, or to be supported—something that could be delivered potentially through funding directly to the municipality, or something that could be funded through our health care providers—it puts women in a space where I don't need to explain that they probably simply won't call the police. They might just carry on and hope for the best.

Personally, I feel that this is a gap in a rural community. Specific funding to municipalities to support programs or bring in programs through health care providers that would create a safe space for women in crisis and high need would be appropriate.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much.

This brings us to the end of our time. On behalf of the committee, I would really like to thank the three of you for bringing forward such fantastic testimony today. Thank you very much.

A reminder to the committee that starting on Thursday we will be doing version two of the human trafficking study. Please ensure you bring your report. It was just updated. It should have been received in your office on Thursday.

If you have not done so, make sure you send in for the red dress study that's coming up. Our deadline is Friday, February 16, for witnesses for red dress alert.

Seeing no further questions or comments, today's meeting is adjourned.