Status of Women Committee on May 28th, 2026

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

I'm sorry. I don't mean to interrupt you, but I'm on a timeline.

It sounds like there's a desperate need in your community, which I appreciate and respect, but what do you think are the timelines for this to be fulfilled? Is there an incentive to encourage individuals in the trades to move up there to assist with the building of the homes?

[Laisa Audlaluk-Watsko]

There isn't, to my knowledge. We are too slow with the trades, and there are not enough college programs for the trades. That's what I'm seeing first-hand.

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

Is there any opportunity to encourage individuals who don't live there? Is there an incentive for them to come and assist?

[Laisa Audlaluk-Watsko]

We don't have much choice but to have help come from outside of Nunavut or Inuit Nunangat. We have been seeing that since that incentive.

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

Thank you very much.

My next question will be for Ms. McGregor.

Are you seeing any assistance with the funding announcements in your community to build more shelters? Are any of those funds coming to your organization?

[Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat]

I'm not directly familiar with funding coming to the communities I'm working with, but I know that there are other organizations like the Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services, the Aboriginal Housing Management Association and the Rural Development Network. Then there are organizations in Quebec that are working with indigenous people to create shelters and transition homes, so the answer is yes.

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

Have you had any conversations with the federal government?

[Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat]

No, I haven't had direct direct input.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you, Ms. McGregor Pitawanakwat. That will conclude your remarks for this turn.

Ms. Nguyen, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

Thanks very much to the witnesses for being here.

I want to ask a couple of questions. The other day, I learned about the Canada housing benefit for survivors, which provides portable housing benefits. I was wondering if this is a program that any of your organizations are familiar with, know of or are using in your supports for women.

It's a specific housing benefit for survivors that provides portable housing benefits—some dollars to help survivors. Is this something that you're aware of or something that has been talked about in your network?

[Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat]

I'm familiar with one example by a group called Keepers of the Circle, which is operating in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. They're building a modular panel factory, which will provide modular panels for constructing housing. This is a program that's women-led. The tradespeople working in the factory will be indigenous women and 2SLGBTQ people. They are now in the process of designing three shelters to be built using those modular panels from that factory.

That's one example that I'm aware of right now. As for other ones, I haven't yet been briefed on it. I know about that one.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

Thanks very much.

I'm going to switch tracks a little bit because my questions were a bit more directed to our witness from the Muskokas.

This is actually a great example, Ms. McGregor, that you just raised. I want to ask about other interesting innovations or practices that you think are helping or are really leading edge that we should be taking note of to make sure that as we develop programs and as we provide supports, we're building those practices in.

That's a question for both organizations.

[Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat]

I have a favourite hobby horse. It has to do with agency, independence and self-sufficiency. One of our studies, which was funded through CMHC, was the examination of natural alternative building materials as a way to use traditional teachings incorporated with natural materials so that indigenous women and two-spirit people can learn how to build their own homes again. Those five materials included stone, straw bale, timber frame, log and cordwood stackwall. That study was completed a couple of years ago. This summer, later, we'll be doing a demonstration build using two of those materials—straw bale and hempcrete.

We hope to demonstrate how physically demanding, how labour-intensive and how much hard work it is, yet at the same time, how much less cash you will have to put up front in order to build something. We also intend to demonstrate that needs are very different from wants. If people can be specific about what they need and how to meet those needs, then they can put together buildings for homes that will meet the needs.

That's another example of the activity that will be happening. Beyond that, the floor is open.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

Thank you very much.

Laisa, would you mind sharing if there's any innovative practices that you think we should be considering or thinking about continuing to resource?

[Laisa Audlaluk-Watsko]

I'm not too familiar with that area. We can look into it in our organization.

There has been talk in my community about modular homes being put into place for temporary housing. It was an organization that was separate from our area. I thought, “Wow, that's a great idea.” There are no real linkages from their program to ours, but I think that some innovations that are coming up north are also adaptable to what we're seeing and what we can do, because I think they're portable and they may work, heating-wise.

Otherwise, there are no real programs or projects with that yet, to my knowledge.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

Thank you.

Is my time finished? I was going to say that I just learned from my colleague that there is an agreement with Nunavut to help build out a facility that will help us build more modular homes in Nunavut and build them in the territories. That's coming online. We're really excited. It's something that we are supporting.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

There, the information has been conveyed.

Thank you very much to all the witnesses for making themselves available today.

I will suspend the meeting for a few moments while we welcome the next panel of witnesses.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

The meeting is resumed.

Before we begin, I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of members and witnesses.

Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mike and please mute yourself when you are not speaking. If you wish to speak, please raise your hand. For those on Zoom, please use the raise hand function.

For those on Zoom, at the bottom of your screen you can select the appropriate channel for interpretation: either floor, English or French. For those in the room, you can use the earpiece and select the desired channel.

I would like to remind witnesses that committee members may ask questions in either French or English. If you will need interpretation, please take a moment now to prepare your earpiece and select the listening channel you need in advance in order to take full advantage of the time allotted for questions and answers.

I remind you that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

I would now like to welcome our second panel of guests.

First, we have Ms. Sue Bookchin, executive director of the Be the Peace Institute.

Next, we're joined by Ms. Mylène Bigaouette, acting director of the Fédération des maisons d'hébergement pour femmes. She is accompanied by Julie St‑Pierre-Gaudreault, adviser, policy issues.

Finally, we welcome Jasmine De Fina, executive director of SafeHope Home.

We will begin with the opening statements.

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

[Sue Bookchin, Executive Director, Be the Peace Institute]

Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

Be the Peace Institute is a non-profit with a unique niche in Nova Scotia in tackling gender-based violence through a systemic lens versus individual service provision.

We are trying to strengthen the GBV sector so organizations can work more effectively together to create collaborative and customized arrays of services and supports that range from immediate safety to trauma-specialized healing and also prevention, and also the systemic change that is needed in all our traditional structures to alter the patterns that allow this to persist and also still marginalize and punish survivors.

This is a public health and public safety crisis with generational consequences. According to the Mass Casualty Commission, we need an essential investment in prevention and lifting women and girls out of poverty if we are to change the rates. It's an ecosystem view and many entities have a role.

Specifically, with regard to housing, transitional housing, poverty and gender-based violence, like all social determinants of health, these are inextricably and directly correlated in terms of risk and incidence of gender-based violence and require strategic connections when we're thinking about solutions. Domestic violence is a key factor in losing housing and a driver of poverty, homelessness and housing insecurity, increased vulnerability to abuse and things like exchanging sex for housing, and risks of human trafficking and exploitation, especially at the intersection of marginalized identities and discrimination against those who are BIPOC, gender-diverse, trans, people living with disabilities and newcomers.

I'm going to go directly to my recommendations in case I run out of time.

After 40 years of transition houses, we need to rethink how shelter and transition housing services are delivered, as the complexities and demands are growing. An ecosystem response means other services are also needed: women's centres, outreach services, and trauma-sensitive and domestic violence-informed mental health system navigators.

We have relied for too long on transition houses as the only or the primary providers in this sector, and they cannot meet all the needs. We need to consider how people who use violence can be the ones removed from the home rather than the ongoing burden of displacement on survivors.

Our systems continue to overburden women, both survivors and shelter workers. We should consider a guaranteed basic income so that survivors are not compelled to stay in abusive situations for lack of financial means to support themselves and their children. Also, according to the Mass Casualty Commission, resourcing and funding should be commensurate with the scope of the problem. We absolutely need investment in new, supported, affordable and safe housing for people in these vulnerable conditions. This should be a priority.

Another recommendation of the Mass Casualty Commission was a national gender-based violence commissioner, which we have seen no evidence of to date. Access to safe and stable housing has become a crisis in Nova Scotia. There is a desperate need for second-stage and longer-term supported housing that is safe, structurally sound and includes wraparound services, trauma-specialized counselling, employment readiness training and mental health supports for children and youth.

There's a distinction between transition houses or second-stage housing that is designed specifically for women and children fleeing relational violence and shelters that are not for that purpose. The latter rarely feel safe for women and gender-diverse or trans women, especially when children are involved. Even with transition houses, they are often the last resort for women who have no other options and are therefore the most vulnerable.

Many survivors trying to escape abusive relationships will never enter a transition house, but for those who do seek that shelter, there are still many barriers. There's stigma, especially in a small town in a rural area where everyone knows everyone; internalized shame; the paucity of services and shelters in rural and remote areas, where gender-based violence can be up to 75% higher than in urban areas; no public transportation; and often the fact of owning pets or livestock in rural areas dissuades women from leaving.

There is an absence of diverse representation among staff. In Nova Scotia almost all shelters are run by white women unless they are specifically run by indigenous women.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you very much, Ms. Bookchin. That concludes the time allotted for your opening remarks.

[Sue Bookchin]

That was fast.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

I want to be fair to everyone.

Ms. Bigaouette, you have the floor.

[Mylène Bigaouette, Acting Director, Fédération des maisons d’hébergement pour femmes]

Good morning.

The Fédération des maisons d'hébergement pour femmes is made up of 37 member shelters, representing 36 emergency assistance and shelter homes—that is, first-stage shelters—and 18 second-stage shelters, spread across 11 Quebec regions. We are actively working to defend the rights and promote the autonomy of all women. We represent and advocate for the policies, achievements and rights of our member shelters.

The federation's member shelters provide housing and support to abused women and their children, which means they address all forms of violence experienced by women—including violence from an intimate partner, as well as domestic violence, violence from a roommate or landlord, human trafficking, sexual exploitation and so on. They also recognize the strategies women employ to cope with violence and ensure their children's safety, as well as the repercussions of the violence they've experienced.

During the 2024–2025 period, among all women who were housed and supported, 81% experienced psychological violence, 54% experienced physical violence, and 49% experienced economic violence. This means that each woman may experience different forms of violence, regardless of the reason for her stay. It is from this perspective that the federation understands women's experiences and the challenges they face, particularly those related to mental health and substance use, as well as those related to housing instability and homelessness.

In addition to the primary reason for seeking shelter, which can vary, 54% of women in shelters had mental health issues, 12% used psychoactive substances, and, upon leaving the shelter, 39% of women moved to another unstable living situation. Many of them then found themselves at risk of homelessness. As my colleague will explain, difficulties in accessing housing make it very difficult for women to escape violence and expose them to the risk of experiencing or re-experiencing violence.

Ms. St‑Pierre‑Gaudreault, I'll turn the floor over to you.

[Julie St-Pierre-Gaudreault, Advisor, Policy Issues, Fédération des maisons d’hébergement pour femmes]

We are very pleased to have been invited to participate in this study, because it accurately reflects what shelters are telling us on the ground. What member shelters are seeing is that women's housing insecurity and the challenges associated with homelessness are a vicious cycle.

These women's journeys are always marked by violent experiences, whether it's violence suffered at a young age within the family or violence from a partner, roommate, or landlord. Most of the time, this pushes women into housing insecurity or into situations of hidden homelessness. This is often driven by violence.

In terms of the spiral or vicious cycle, we see that once women have experienced violence, they find themselves in precarious situations and feel direct impacts on their mental health and their ability to continue holding a job, for example. After experiencing violence or instability caused by having to constantly move from one place to another—whether as a survival strategy to avoid an abuser or because their living environment was violent—they will experience very complex traumas. This can affect their mental health and lead to addiction issues.

These three issues directly impact women's lives. Once they find themselves in a situation of financial insecurity, the vicious cycle begins again, because they risk experiencing violence or exploitation once more and will find themselves in vulnerable situations. Shelters then become essential, because they offer women direct support tailored to their multiple mental health needs, as well as to some of their addiction issues.

What we're really seeing right now is that shelters play a huge role and are stretched to the limit. As a result, they're unable to meet all these needs. As my colleague mentioned, shelters operate to address certain issues affecting women and help them break free from this vicious cycle. However, if they do not have access to affordable housing with community support, women find themselves in situations where they cannot leave the shelter, or in situations where, when they do leave, they will end up—

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Ms. St‑Pierre‑Gaudreault, that concludes your opening remarks. You will certainly have the opportunity to say more.

Ms. De Fina, welcome. You have the floor for five minutes.