Status of Women Committee on April 16th, 2026

[Meseret Haileyesus]

Economic and financial abuse—

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

My sincerest apologies, but that concludes your time.

Meseret, if possible, can you perhaps provide a written submission with your answer?

[Meseret Haileyesus]

Okay.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Chen, please go ahead. You have six minutes.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you to all our witnesses today for coming to speak on this very important topic.

I would like to begin by asking Ms. Meseret Haileyesus to complete sharing with us her third recommendation. She started talking about long-term investment in funding for organizations but ran out of time.

You have the floor.

[Meseret Haileyesus]

Our demand is that the federal government, in budget 2026, specifically focuses on economic abuse services that include culturally responsible support for under-serviced populations, training on preventing and responding to economic abuse, and public education on prevention.

We know that in budget 2025, economic abuse was mentioned 17 times. We're very grateful for that. Now the Canadian government and Finance Canada are mobilizing many organizations to address economic and financial abuse, but this investment must be continuous. It must be sustainable.

We are in the initial stage, so that's what we are demanding right now.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

Thank you very much.

You also talked about the particular challenges that are faced by immigrant, indigenous and racialized women seniors. You mentioned the need, as you spoke just now, for long-term investment in organizations doing work on the ground, as well as protecting federal income support programs.

What specific recommendations do you have for the government to ensure that all women, including those who have different lived experiences, can be supported and to ensure that their unique challenges are also uniquely addressed?

[Meseret Haileyesus]

I would like to recommend investment in survivor-led initiatives. Survivors have a story. Survivors have a passion. Survivors have an understanding from lived experience. To change some policies is the most important thing.

We also need to continue investing in data. Data is very important. Canada is one of the countries that lack data on financial and economic abuse. I think investment in research is very important.

We also need to see equitable intersectional engagement in public policy. Women who look like me—I'm also a survivor—must be included in those conversations. I think that's the most important thing. We need to be included.

The other thing is that we need to include and expand our digital literacy and financial literacy. This is very important, especially for newcomers and immigrants to this country.

These are my recommendations on survivors and also how to make change.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

I'll turn to another issue.

Economic abuse is often linked to coercive control. From your experience, how important is legislation like Bill C-16, which strengthens responses to coercive control and intimate partner violence, in recognizing financial abuse as a serious form of violence?

[Meseret Haileyesus]

As we know, an abuser's best friend is isolation and power, and power is money. This is a tactic most abusers use to cripple women in many ways. We really would love to see the criminalization of and supports for coercive control.

We want to also make sure that our justice system is in place for Black and indigenous survivors. As you know, there are a number of gaps and issues in our justice system. I think that's the most important thing: addressing both coercive control and economic abuse. It really helps in addressing any gender-based violence in this country.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

I'll turn to Mr. Vishal Khanna.

The work you do at the food bank has, I'm sure, provided you with insight on this issue. From your perspective, how important are federal investments like supports for shelters, housing and family literacy programs and income supports like OAS and GIS in helping women who are experiencing economic abuse to safely leave harmful situations they might find themselves in? Have you come across any situations you would like to provide some insight on?

[Vishal Khanna]

Mr. Chen, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to talk about this.

As I said before, we have to go a bit deeper and away from just this. Where does it start? Where does everything begin? It begins with experiencing emotional distress and isolation, where women just break down. When they have nothing to talk about, it makes a difference.

If we have something that combines health services, shelters and an area where education can be brought to them, it will help them a lot. We also have to see if there is any way that isolation can be fought and medical services can be fought...emotional distance. A weakness for any woman or any mother is emotions. Fraudulent people can only come forward when they find that vacuum...and are able to get to somebody and break that emotional breakdown. It's easy.

As you recommended, it would be a huge help to educate them, guide them and provide a special number, like we have with 811. Can we have something for women? Can we reconfirm a number just for them and find some solutions for our mothers who are fighting all of that?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

That concludes your time, Mr. Chen. Thank you very much.

We're moving on to Madame Larouche for six minutes.

Ms. Larouche, you have the floor.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I thank my colleague Mrs. Roberts for proposing this study, which I was very pleased to support. Excuse me, it was actually Ms. Cody.

Before being elected, I was a project manager raising awareness about elder abuse and intimidation. I spoke on a daily basis with firefighters, police officers, people at city halls and people working at financial institutions to educate them about abuse. June 15 is an important day. It's World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. That's why I encourage people to wear a purple ribbon on June 15.

However, before that, April 7, if I remember correctly, was a very important day for AFEAS, whose representatives are with us today. I acknowledge the decades of struggle and fight to have invisible work recognized. Unfortunately, there is still no official day. AFEAS had asked that the first Tuesday of April be designated to recognize invisible work. It wouldn't be just a date on the calendar. It would be a national day of collective reflection on the measures that could be implemented.

Ms. Courteau, in your opening remarks, you identified invisible work as the second factor contributing to the impoverishment of women.

Why, in 2026, is there still no official invisible work day on the first Tuesday of April?

What could such a day change?

Ms. Cornellier, you can also answer my questions.

[Hélène Cornellier]

AFEAS established that day in 2001 and designated the first Tuesday of April as the day of recognition. I must admit, after all these years, despite a motion put forward in 2010 by a person whose name escapes me—

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

It was Nicole Demers.

[Hélène Cornellier]

Nicole Demers, who has since passed away, was a member of Parliament for the Bloc Québécois. A motion was unanimously adopted to recognize that day, but there was no follow-up on the motion. Motions can be adopted, but they don't necessarily go any further.

We've continued the work since then. The campaign has now been going on for 26 years, and we've been asking both Quebec and the federal government to create this national day. It would make people think about unpaid and invisible work, so the census and social surveys can properly take it into account over time. The goal is to have measures that recognize this contribution to society.

It's not true that having children or being a caregiver is merely a private matter. It's also a social matter. If we didn't have children, society wouldn't exist. We wouldn't be here today. What will happen if we don't take care of our caregivers? Health systems don't have the capacity to care for loved ones the way women and community agencies do.

All this work needs to be recognized and compensated in some way. For instance, women could be compensated for the years spent away from the labour market through pension income or other similar measures.

Despite all our requests to the federal and Quebec ministers responsible for the status of women, we haven't received any response to date.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

I know that you want to implement measures to continue putting pressure on the federal government. I will help you. I want to acknowledge the wonderful group from AFEAS Granby, with whom I had a great lunch and discussion last Tuesday. That's how I celebrated invisible work day.

That said, in your opening remarks, you also talked about the issue of lower income in retirement. At this time, there still hasn't been an increase for senior women between the ages of 65 and 74.

What impact does this have?

The Bloc Québécois has just introduced Bill C‑261, to at least ensure that women aged 65 to 74 receive the same amount as women aged 75 and over.

Why does this discrimination exist?

How does this impact the financial situation of senior women?

[Hélène Cornellier]

When the measure was adopted, under Mr. Trudeau's government, seniors aged 75 and over were thought to have higher expenses than seniors aged 65 to 74, if I recall correctly. Moreover, they are generally no longer working, whereas many seniors aged 65 to 74 work, which is not often the case for women. That's what we see in the literature.

However, that's not a real argument. What I read everywhere and what I've heard from other witnesses today is that women aged 65 to 74, like those from 75 to 106—there's a woman in Quebec who is now 106 years old—have difficulty making ends meet. The 10% increase in the pension, which is not huge, would help these women and prevent discrimination among pensioners. In any case, the 10% increase would go to both men and women aged 65 to 74.

AFEAS had supported Bill C‑319, and if it's brought back, we'll also support the new bill.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

It has been brought back, in the form of Bill C‑261.

I apologize again to my colleague Ms. Cody.

[The Vice‑Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you very much.

We are now going to Ms. Roberts for five minutes.

Please go ahead, Ms. Roberts.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

My questions will be addressed to Mr. Vishal Khanna.

First of all, it's so nice to see you again. I love your mission statement for your food bank, and I want the committee to know what it is. It's “No one should go to bed hungry”. What an amazing idea.

I would like to first say thank you to you and to the Sai Dham team for your commitment and dedication to our community. I've had the pleasure of visiting your food bank several times over the years.

I would like to share with the committee the program you have implemented for our seniors. Seniors who are unable to drive to your location can order their preferred meals for delivery through your program. I believe this benefit is a fantastic choice for our seniors. Thank you for this program. I also understand that, since inception, you have provided support for more than 3,625 seniors across the GTA and the GTHA. Your program supports 26 cities.

As of March 2025, there have been nearly 2.2 million visits to food banks in Canada, the highest number in history. It is shocking to hear from so many seniors every day, who have worked hard to support their families and build this country, that they are now being forced to rely on wonderful organizations like yours to feed themselves. Would you say that the current supports from the government are failing to ensure that seniors in this country can live in dignity?

[Vishal Khanna]

Madam Anna Roberts, thank you so much for that question, and thank you for always putting a light on what we do.

We came up with two parts of it. The first is that nobody should go to bed hungry, and we thought of another one recently, which is that no child should go to school hungry. These are two things we started.

If we look at today's scenario and the way we are getting calls and anticipating new seniors being added to the pipeline of delivery, we see that there are huge issues and gaps—and not only when talking about services or senior living. The focus that we need to talk about is the aging at home concept. What seniors need today is more services where their experiences and isolation can be taken care of. They need somewhere where health services can be handled better than what they go through today and where they have more opportunities to interact and live happily.

Today, for those who have lost their partners, it is very difficult to live. They need to find new ways to connect and talk, but it is very painful, and the services and support they have today are not sufficient for them to live.

Culturally, medical needs are very different. Medical conditions put them in such a situation that they have to have only organic or whole foods—items like that. It's very hard for them to sustain themselves.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

I'm going to present something to you, Mr. Khanna. If we look at a couple—a senior husband and wife, or partners—earning $50,000 and look at a single senior earning $50,000, I will tell you that because of income splitting, the couple pays $1,172 in taxes while the single senior pays $6,521 in taxes.

Would you agree with me that even for seniors who are going back to work so they can sustain the opportunity to live in dignity, that's not currently happening? Nineteen per cent of food bank clients report employment as their main source of income, compared to 12% in 2019. This year, the cumulative impact of inflation has further eroded the purchasing power of people who are employed.

What recommendations do you have for this government to assist senior Canadians—who built this country—when living expenses are out of control? They deserve better during their retirement years.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

You have 15 seconds to answer that question. If not, you can provide it to us in writing.