Status of Women Committee on June 2nd, 2026

[Catherine Champagne]

Last year, we were graciously given about $140,000 of additional transportation funding through the national action plan dollars. We actually have a report that came out. It's attached to my submission from today, and I would encourage you all to read it. It came out earlier this year. It talks about rural transportation and what some of those recommendations are.

One of the top recommendations from us is, first of all, more flexibility when it comes to transportation dollars. There are real restrictions. For example, you can pay for gas and for oil changes on a vehicle, but our funding doesn't allow you to buy a vehicle. That doesn't really align very well.

A second recommendation is that we have more service providers that we work with. We had a couple of organizations in Alberta that we worked with that were trained on how to do this specific type of transportation, where you would sometimes have respite care and be taking a mom for a few hours at the same time. We also recommend that all ride-sharing companies have domestic violence training, some type of training, so that they can better support survivors in that time.

Ultimately, we recommend just more injections of dollars into transportation. Then, without adding additional services, we can at least support some of those gaps with transportation as opposed to putting up a bunch more small services in small communities that might not have the full need that they respond to.

[Marilyn Gladu, Liberal, Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong, ON]

Excellent.

Now I'm going to try to hit transitional housing, which is so important in order to move people out of the shelter so there's capacity, but the question is always about what kind of transitional housing is going to be appropriate. Either of you could comment.

[Catherine Champagne]

I think transitional housing is important in many ways. I look at Alberta, and mine's more in the sector—as far as shelters go—where we would look to see more second-stage housing. I just feel that we're missing that piece of the housing continuum right now, where we don't have that next step from the second stage. We used to have what was called “third stage” to a point, which is more safe and affordable housing, but that has just disappeared, because women are filling the second-stage housing and we're filling emergency shelters.

I think “safe” is the big piece there. Even in small rural communities, there is affordable housing, but is it the type of place that a woman wants to go to? Is it something that's not maintained or where there are no safety precautions put into place? Even just looking at our current stock of housing and how we can make it more safe and accessible to women might increase that as well. That would be the biggest thing for me in transitional: more of the second stage.

[Marilyn Gladu, Liberal, Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong, ON]

Okay.

Quickly, Ms. Lee, I think I have only a few seconds.

[Erin Lee]

I would suggest looking at creative opportunities in investing. Attracting builders to want to build in our communities is really difficult.... That's all I have to say.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you, Ms. Lee, for paying close attention to my cues.

Ms. Larouche, you have the floor.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank the two witnesses, Ms. Lee and Ms. Champagne, for joining us today.

We are conducting this study at a time when we're hearing more and more about inflation and the cost of living, which are affecting women in all sorts of ways. This morning, I attended the presentation of Food Banks Canada's poverty report card, during which I was reminded how much harder it is to make ends meet, given the rising cost of living.

We know the connection to women who are victims of violence, because if they feel they won't be able to house and feed their families if they leave a cycle of domestic violence and go to a shelter, they will hesitate to do so, not knowing what lies ahead for them.

I'd like to revisit some questions that you were previously asked. To me, the figures I saw this morning confirm that it is difficult to break the cycle of violence right now, given the current inflationary environment.

Do you agree with that observation?

[Erin Lee]

I would agree with your remarks and the realities. I would suggest that revisiting basic income and investment in traditional support services would be a really good next step for the government to continue to pursue in terms of what basic income provides and how it develops the freedom for women who are living in abusive situations to make a choice to flee.

[Catherine Champagne]

I would echo that and agree 100%.

I agree that we need to look at some of those basic social services, at the income is provided through that. As I mentioned, when you look at Alberta Works, for example, that number hasn't changed. That number is barely enough to get a damage deposit, let alone all the things you need to support your family and children once you've moved in. It's reassessing the dollar amounts, reassessing those allocations and determining if they actually align with the cost of living and allow a woman to start her life over.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Have you noticed a change in the shelters' clientele?

For our part, we're raising awareness about the fact that women who haven't been able to work their whole lives and who are victims of violence, once they reach a certain age, can no longer make ends meet and end up on the streets. More and more people are struggling to make ends meet, even if they are working—especially older women.

Would it be important to promote women's economic empowerment early on so that they are financially stable enough to make the decision to break the cycle of violence?

Would it also be important to have programs to promote this and a social safety net that provides them with sufficient support?

[Erin Lee]

Again, I'm going to reiterate that I think it's really important to consider basic income. Basic income on all levels and in all life cycles is really important.

The reality is that our community is aging. We are seeing more femicides and more incidents of volatile violence that involve seniors. We need to be reaching out to hospitals. We need to be thinking about memory loss. We need to be thinking about how that triggers a change in behaviour that escalates violence, and how that will impact both of the members in that relationship in terms of their capacity to continue to afford to be together or separate. Heaven forbid that there be a femicide as a result of that.

Seniors are overrepresented, and we need to invest more money into protecting our seniors in aging communities.

[Catherine Champagne]

I would echo that.

We have two seniors shelters in Alberta that are ACWS members, one in Calgary and one in Edmonton. Most people don't know those even exist. They are spectacular. They make the best food. They are the best ladies. The shelters are overflowing. There's just not enough space there. Have more supports for women in community—but maybe not at the shelter level, because what we see at those seniors shelters, of course, is more about familial violence than intimate partner violence.

I will add another thing to the financial piece. In Alberta's recent 10-year strategy, one of the pillars is providing more financial stability for women. For example, some women do shift work. Add more ability for them to do that. It's not a Monday-to-Friday thing. How does a mom do respite care or day care when she works overnight? Look at those different facets, and look at different ways women make a living. How do we support them in all those different areas? It's not a cookie-cutter situation.

Again, I'm echoing that we need to look at the basics provided in social funding to support women.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

It is also necessary to review old-age benefits for older women and recognize that these are fixed incomes that do not keep pace with inflation. The methods used to index all these incomes are often inadequate.

I have one minute left to address the issue of transportation. Once again, thank you for sharing your very rural perspective with us. I represent a district located between Sherbrooke and Montreal that includes rural areas where transportation poses challenges for women, and for everyone.

An investment in public transit in Quebec was announced today, but these programs are often tailored to large cities. They're for subways and streetcars. They rarely seek to provide alternatives for more rural areas.

What needs to be developed in this respect?

[Catherine Champagne]

The biggest thing I would say is this: Look at the other individuals who can benefit from this. It's not just domestic violence survivors but also seniors, those with mental health concerns and those with transportation concerns. That's where we're going to see the volume. One of the biggest reasons we don't see a lot for transportation is that there isn't the volume. Shelter clients are transient, and it's not always what we expect.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you very much, Ms. Champagne.

Mrs. Roberts, you have the floor for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, witnesses, for what you do.

As you know, intimate partner violence is up 76%. I'm not sure if you've come across a young woman called Cait Alexander. She runs an organization called EVE, which stands for End Violence Everywhere.

She says, “I was nearly beaten to death with a rolling pin. Then the criminal justice system failed me” and “I should be dead. He should be behind bars. Remarkably, neither is true.” Cait had to leave this country because she did not feel safe.

Do you feel our justice system is letting women down because of weak laws?

If both of you could answer this, I'd appreciate it.

[Catherine Champagne]

I feel that, 100%. I worked in justice for 15 years before I moved to women's shelters, and that's the biggest intersect I see, over and over. They're being released on conditions, or bail is being provided to people who shouldn't have bail. It's a big reason we see these femicides. How many individuals arrested for domestic violence have a criminal history? They could have stayed in custody because they breached the conditions of their release document, which they needed to follow.

I think we are failing women in that capacity. There is more and more in the news about women who are subject to violence through someone who has a criminal record: He is out on bail or was not properly reintegrated back into society.

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

Thank you very much.

I'll give Ms. Lee the same opportunity to respond.

[Erin Lee]

I echo my colleague.

It is important for us to start considering the intersections between restorative and transformative justice as pathways to healing for victims of violence that are outside the criminal justice system.

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

Thank you for that.

I'm the shadow minister for seniors. I have to tell you that I'm a little disappointed. One thing I recently did was an undercover investigation of human trafficking. A police officer shared with me that they're now going after seniors because of the affordability crisis. The issue I'm concerned about is their going after the ones with either dementia or Alzheimer's, who are therefore not able to testify.

What suggestions would you have to ensure that we protect our seniors? Because of the affordability crisis, a lot of them are too ashamed to go to their families.

[Catherine Champagne]

In a situation where someone doesn't have the ability to testify.... We see this not just with seniors but also with victims in general. It's about compiling data that shows all the signs that lead to this. You just listed a lot of those things. When we're looking at financial availability.... We're talking about pensions. How much access do they have to dollars that could support them? How much are they supported by external supports, even just community supports? When I look at the domestic violence world in Alberta, I see that there are a lot of supports, but specific supports for seniors are not identified or made broad enough, so they're not aware of them.

We're at a point where we need to take care of our seniors. Maybe we need to do more on our end to make sure they have access to those specific supports, because they don't always know how to go out and get them. As I said before, it's not always intimate partner violence. Sometimes it's interfamily violence, where you have kids stopping them from accessing those. It's about more funding to support seniors shelters—not that I wish we had more seniors shelters. It's about doing that work for them when they don't have the ability to do it at that stage of their lives.

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

Thank you for saying that—and not because I'm a senior.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

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

We're all going to get there one day. We need to ensure that for the seniors in this country. They built this country. We learned from our seniors to be the people we are today. I have to say that we're not doing justice for them.

What can we do to support shelters? Better yet, the perpetrators should be financially responsible, so how can we change it to ensure that the perpetrators are financially responsible for the women they abuse?