Status of Women Committee on May 26th, 2026

[Andrea Silverstone]

I think in the best-case scenario, we would be looking at multi-year funding so that organizations can plan appropriately and can plan from a long-term perspective. I think what we ultimately need to be looking at in terms of financing for any organization, or investment in any non-profit organization, is what the needs of the survivors are. The funding should follow the needs of the survivors, first and foremost.

I think it's a combination of that as well as, of course, long-term and multi-year investment. Then, as I think Ms. Dugal stated, there needs to be a living wage, a good wage, for people who do work in this sector, because it is a high-burnout job.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

I have 30 seconds left.

Do you see any specific needs among women in rural areas, indigenous women or women living with mental health or addiction issues? Are you able to identify those needs?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

I'm sorry, Ms. Larouche, but we've run out of time. That's all for now. You'll have an opportunity to come back to it.

I'll now start the second round of questions.

Mrs. Goodridge, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd also like to thank the witnesses for joining us today.

I want to start off by thanking all the witnesses. The work you do for such a vulnerable community is remarkable, as is the fact that you do it each and every day. You talked a little bit about the burnout issues. I think that's so critically important to highlight.

Before I was here in Ottawa, I was an MLA in Alberta, where we brought forward Clare's Law.

Ms. Silverstone, your organization is one of the organizations that provide that. Can you explain why Clare's Law has been so important in Alberta's context and exactly what it does?

[Andrea Silverstone]

Sagesse is actually the organization that was advocating, along with survivors, to bring Clare's Law to Alberta. For many years, we were the ones who were delivering the Clare's Law social service network.

Clare's Law is a “right to know and right to ask” piece of legislation. If somebody is in a relationship where they suspect the partner might have a history of domestic abuse, they can make a request to the police to get that information. The way it used to work was that when they would make a request to the police, an application would also come into Sagesse, where we could provide supports and services with the Clare's Law network. If you're already asking, it means you're already concerned, which means you probably shouldn't be waiting for the police to tell you whether it is high, medium or low. Your spidey senses are already going off, and you need the supports and services. There's also the right to know. If the police do know that somebody has a history of domestic abuse that can put somebody at risk, they have the right to inform survivors, or people who were in abusive relationships, that they might be at risk.

Clare's Law is excellent, but the excellent part of Clare's Law is not necessarily the police disclosure. It is the social support network that comes along with that Clare's Law application. Unfortunately, in Alberta there is not now, in the same way that there was, the social support network. It's now going through a different system. In my opinion, no matter what, there needs to be some sort of social support network response to go along with Clare's Law, because it's not just about what the police can tell a survivor. That's actually not the defining factor of what helps a survivor and keep themselves and their children safe.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you for that.

Ms. Dugal, there are a number of different women's shelters under the umbrella of Women's Shelters Canada. I know that as each new women's shelter gets built, it brings in new ideas and innovations. The newest women's shelter in my riding of Fort McMurray—Cold Lake is the Stepping Stones shelter. It's in the city of Cold Lake. It has something really innovative, a kennel, so that people who are fleeing violence can bring their pets with them. That had been identified as quite a barrier for many people.

Can you list some of the women's shelters doing exceptional work across this country that we could look to, so that we're not always just looking at the worst situations, but at some of the best of the best?

[Anuradha Dugal]

I want to point out that the Cold Lake program is one that we supported in our project management program for new builds. We also support pet-ready sheltering to encourage shelters to build spaces exactly like that kennel to welcome domestic animals, which are essential in the healing process.

As for some of the very interesting programs I've seen across the country, in Saskatchewan, I've seen a second-stage shelter called Sophia's Place. It has a relationship with an at-market build to provide apartments for women at zero or minimal cost. Rather than build it themselves, they have worked with a developer to insert themselves into an existing build. I think that's a very interesting model.

Also, many of the new YWCAs across Canada, whether in Vancouver, Regina or here in Montreal, include many new kinds of spaces. They include child care support, so they can run a for-profit model, or at least a not-for-profit model, that increases their funding and offers them a hub environment. Community spaces are very important.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

I have a few minutes left.

Ms. Silverstone touched on bail reform. Do you believe that bail reform is required and that the Liberals have failed on it?

[Anuradha Dugal]

Absolutely. Yes, I do. It is very important.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you very much, Ms. Dugal and Mrs. Goodridge.

Ms. Nathan, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Juanita Nathan, Liberal, Pickering—Brooklin, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to share my time with Leslie. I know she was not able to get a question in, so I'll let her continue first.

[Leslie Church, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

Thank you so much.

Marc, to jump straight to my question, based on the work you're doing and what you're seeing, how could government better recognize safe relocation and the costs associated with it, as part of the way we comprehensively look at our response system to gender-based violence?

[Marc Hull-Jacquin]

When we talk about housing, what's lost in the conversation are the basic effects of living. It's important to have a place to live. If your home is completely empty, where does the child sleep at night? It's quite a simple and basic question that every parent thinks about.

Shelter Movers fills this critical gap by ensuring that survivors are able to take what belongs to them when they leave. That sounds logistically complicated, and it is, but it's really a statement by the survivor that what belongs to her, belongs to her and her children. We think about the psychological and emotional benefit for children who sleep on sheets where they recognize their smell. That is, we recognize the value of putting sheets on a mattress a child lays down on in a different place they're not familiar with, but where they can smell what they know and what they recognize. Something as simple as that is what our volunteers and staff can provide our clients.

A system that recognizes the very difficult decision to leave and the intimidation that many of our clients experience, and that provides a practical solution at scale across the country, is one that will make an enormous difference and help break the cycle of violence. When survivors use Shelter Movers, they report being far less likely to return to their abuser. That is a long-term benefit. We are 10 years old. We have served children who were eight years old and are now becoming adults. I think about those children very often. I wonder if they are going to become the survivors and abusers themselves, or was the presence of Shelter Movers on that fateful night, when the mother made that phone call, a turning point in the trajectory of those people's lives?

We are one component of the ecosystem of services. We work with shelters very closely, but because we fill that critical gap, it is the scaling of our system that will allow us to provide more value across more locations, particularly in rural and indigenous communities.

[Juanita Nathan, Liberal, Pickering—Brooklin, ON]

Thank you.

My first question is for Andrea.

I know that shelters usually thrive on anonymity. Even though they are located in busy cities or streets, they normally don't advertise themselves. They take security precautions very seriously. Have you experienced intimate partners being let out of prison and coming to shelters to look for their partner?

[Andrea Silverstone]

My experience is that there's a hybrid of different models. Some shelters think anonymity is the way that they should be presenting themselves in the community, while others don't do that at all. There are good reasons for both of those choices.

In my career, I have only twice had abusers show up at shelters looking for someone, with intent to harm them. For the most part, if a perpetrator is looking for the person they have victimized, they're generally going to do it in places where they're more likely to have access. There was recently a terrible case in Calgary where the perpetrator went to the school. That is one of the biggest risk places. Workplaces, schools and faith communities, I think, are the places where we most see perpetrators showing up with the intent to terrorize the victim.

[Juanita Nathan, Liberal, Pickering—Brooklin, ON]

Thank you.

I'm going to speak solely for Ontario and for Toronto specifically. They have a central intake. However, for women to find housing.... The people who are in shelters are prioritized to find housing, but the housing list is so long that it's hard for them to find housing right away.

Can you suggest what changes would be beneficial to women even before going into a shelter if they could secure housing? For example, a lot of times they may be seeking community supports in organizations that do counselling or other types of supports. Would it be beneficial for them to get on the list from that time onwards?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you very much, Ms. Nathan.

Ms. Silverstone, if you don't mention it in your next answer, I recommend you send an answer in written format. Thank you for this exchange.

Ms. Larouche, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Ms. Dugal, I'll be directing my questions to you during these last two and a half minutes that I have left for this very interesting and important study.

How can we reconcile potential federal leadership with respect for Quebec's jurisdiction over social services and housing?

[Anuradha Dugal]

If I understand correctly, you want me to state whether the federal government should oversee Quebec's shelter system. Is that it?

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

We're talking about this file as part of a federal study, whereas shelter and social services are under Quebec's jurisdiction. How can we reconcile these two things?

[Anuradha Dugal]

Yes, I understand.

First, I would mention the three Quebec organizations that indeed are responsible for helping and supporting shelters in Quebec. Quebec is leading some consultations and already has an action plan to prevent domestic and sexual violence. Right now, I think organizations in Quebec need more consultation with the Quebec government. If something is missing, they turn to the federal government, because they are heard.

Federal policies influence Quebec's policies in that the national action plan to end gender-based violence is a mechanism that helps prevent violence across Canada. Therefore, I completely support the autonomy of Quebec's organizations who have been doing this work for years. In fact, they do it very well.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

I have 30 seconds left. I'll ask my question in 15 seconds, and you'll answer in 15 seconds.

Many groups decry the fact that senior women aged 65 to 74 remain in violent situations because they simply don't have the financial means to leave, especially due to insufficient retirement income and high housing costs. Have you observed this lack of financial means?

You have 10 seconds to answer my question.

[Anuradha Dugal]

Yes, absolutely. I think pensions for this group of women should be increased and paid in addition to their housing benefits.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you very much, Ms. Dugal.

Mrs. Roberts, the floor is yours for five minutes.

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

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for all the great work that is being done to help women.

I want to ask a question to all three of them, and it's a yes-or-no answer.

This morning I had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful women. I call them heroes. The organization that they represent is called Our Heart on Our Sleeve. These women have gone through sexual violence, violence at a very young age, and their concerns are twofold. One is that they don't feel that the bail reform laws protect them. The second is that there should be a registry for all individuals who have committed these crimes.

I'm going to start with you, Marc. Do you feel that the bail reforms sufficiently support and protect women, yes or no?