Status of Women Committee on June 2nd, 2026

[Kristina Tesser Derksen, Liberal, Milton East—Halton Hills South, ON]

Thank you so much for that. It's much appreciated.

I also want to ask about the role of second-stage or transitional housing. I'm a former municipal councillor. Oftentimes, we will get calls or emails from people in the community who had seen folks who were unhoused and were looking for help. In my community, the region was responsible for emergency housing. We have several organizations, but one really great one, Milton Transitional Housing, which has had tremendous success in filling that gap between emergency housing and stable long-term housing.

How underfunded is that gap, that transitional space? There's always room for more funding and support in these spaces, but what I think has happened is that the emergency housing and the shelters have been overstretched because people just automatically think that's going to be the long-term fix.

Can you comment about the role that second-stage and transitional housing plays, and perhaps a little bit, as well, about the roles municipalities and other levels of government play and the dialogue they share amongst themselves to get this gap filled?

[Julia Fiddes]

Transitional housing, as I said in my speech, is probably my favourite topic right now. We can't do this work and we can't change gender-based violence if we don't have transitional housing. Shelters have become de facto transitional homes. It is not ideal to live in a room no bigger than this table with your children for more than three months. We have women staying in our shelters for eight, nine, 10 and 12 months now. We don't have the capacity to do that kind of work and help women move through it.

Our shelter has asked for permission from the ministry, and we've received permission, to turn two of our beds into transitional beds, so we can connect women with employment programs, get them connected with life skills and help them move out of the shelter system permanently.

Municipalities, like Durham Region, do not fund.... I heard my colleagues describe the difference between gender-based violence and homelessness. It's very real. These women are homeless women, but regions don't fund gender-based violence. There is a huge lack of—

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

I'm sorry to have to interrupt you, colleague, but your time is already up. That's the frustration we all share here—time goes by too quickly.

Ms. Larouche, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Ms. Singh, Ms. Fiddes and Ms. Decker, thank you so much for joining us today for this study.

What are we doing for these shelters and these women who are victims of violence? That seems to be the key question right now. You work in the shadows, but you work miracles—and you do so with inadequate resources. You're changing people's lives.

In fact, I've seen the impact of your work first-hand. Just last weekend, at the Granby Book Fair, I presented the intercollegiate youth literature award to Erika Soucy for her book, La maison cachette. It's the story of an eight-year-old girl who lives with her mother in a shelter for women who are victims of domestic violence, but it's told from the girl's perspective. We tend to forget, but there are collateral victims of violence against women. It's an absolutely magnificent story, and the intercollegiate youth literature award was well deserved. This book sheds light on that reality, and I like the title: La maison cachette, or the hideaway house. That's what it becomes: a safe haven where women can finally rest.

I'd also like to thank the witnesses for reminding us that it takes a whole continuum of services, and I'll come back to that.

Ms. Decker, you spoke about senior women who also find themselves in these situations. We're hearing more and more about senior women who find themselves experiencing housing insecurity following a separation, the death of a spouse or a violent situation. We're also trying to think outside the box and see how we can ensure a continuum of services earlier on.

In your view, is the income currently available to people aged 65 to 74 sufficient for them to secure adequate housing?

Do you see any links between inadequate income and the increase in requests for assistance from your organizations?

[Kim Decker]

What we are seeing with senior women who are accessing homeless shelters is the result of the gender wage gap. We are seeing women who stayed at home to raise their children, women who worked in low-paying jobs and couldn't save money for retirement, women who worked in jobs with no pensions, or women who were married and their partners passed away, so they no longer have an income and can't afford to live in the housing they were in. They find themselves homeless for the very first time.

We need to have a closer look at—and my colleagues have talked about it—building out a continuum of housing for women and deeply affordable housing.

For the women in our shelter who are leaving and moving into housing, even with their pensions, ODSP and OW, would they still require a rent supplement? Without that, they can't afford housing. We need to really invest in deeply affordable housing for all women in our community.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much for your comments, Ms. Decker.

Ms. Fiddes or Ms. Singh, do you have anything to add regarding this particular trend, increasingly observed among senior women?

[Sunder Singh]

What I would like to say is that in a country called Bhutan, the monarchy measures the public not through gross domestic product but through gross domestic happiness, and it makes sure that every citizen gets the feeling they are useful in the society. Therefore, when we build shelters, we must have room for the seniors who need housing, who need shelter space, but there are children in the shelters as well. A program needs to be created where the seniors feel useful while they are in the shelters. They can look after the children while the women are focusing on building skills. When we build shelters, the shelters should be open for senior women as well, so that then they are given responsibilities as well and they feel useful, and are not just in the homes. That's my take on it.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Ms. Singh.

I may revisit this during the second round of questions, but since I only have one minute left, I'd really like to talk about the importance of having a continuum of services.

Even with a magic wand, we wouldn't be able to solve the problem with the shelter situation. As Ms. Fiddes said, what's needed first and foremost is greater economic empowerment for women. That's the starting point.

Next, we clearly need shelter beds—and we need them at the right time. Yes, we need emergency shelter beds, but we have to think about the second stage and the stages that follow. I'm thinking specifically of supportive housing. It also requires a justice system that is prepared to support victims, provide help with children and offer income assistance. In short, there must be a continuum of services.

Ms. Fiddes, what can we do upstream to improve women's economic empowerment?

[Julia Fiddes]

Prevention work is very important. We are doing a lot of catch-up work. We're doing a lot of band-aid solutions. We're doing a lot of fixing the problem. The best thing we can do is alleviate and eliminate the problem.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you very much.

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

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to all our witnesses for being here today.

I want to start out on something you said, Ms. Singh, in your opening statement and that you elaborated on, which is the importance of getting women into the trades. I'm the member of Parliament for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake. I am the proud daughter of two spectacular tradespeople, two Red Seal tradespeople, and I have been able to see in my community women entering the trades since long before I was born and the value that organizations like Women Building Futures have on not just that woman but her entire family unit.

Often it's women leaving poverty or abuse, so I was wondering if you could speak to some of the important things being done and the things that perhaps the government could do a little better.

[Sunder Singh]

There are organizations, such as Toronto Community Benefits Network, that encourage women to join skilled trades. There are unions, such as LIUNA Local 183, which has a huge training centre where women are given the chance to be trained as skilled trade workers. Not only that, but we spoke to the union, LIUNA Local 183, about how women who come into shelters can be trained while school-going children are sent to school. Right after they're sent to school, the mothers can take the shuttle bus, go to the training centre and get the basic construction or craftsmanship training. It could be a couple of months. If the cost is $400, for example, they are willing to waive that cost so the women can get the training. Maybe the economy is down right now, but as soon as it picks up, the demand for the construction work will become heavy.

During the COVID time and after, we continued to hear that there was a lack of carpenters, welders and lots of the skilled trades. If the women are ready and trained, they can be taken into apprenticeship immediately. They get paid. They get benefits.

The best and easiest way to empower women after they have experienced violence is to get them into employment so that they can start earning income. That starts the dream of owning a home. It starts the dream of owning a car. It starts the dream of looking after their children, giving them a better education and building their career. It's a long-term goal, but it works. Once the government focuses on building the skills of the women who are breaking away from violence, then the empowerment starts.

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

I couldn't agree more. I think it's so spectacularly important. I've had the privilege of seeing first-hand in my own community the difference it makes in not just the lives of those women but the community writ large. Frankly, oftentimes those women are some of the best tradespeople out there, because they're a bit better at attention to detail or different pieces like that. They bring a different skill set to the workplace.

In the last panel, I asked a question about the cost of living and how that is impacting shelters. Recently we've seen gas prices just skyrocket right across the country. That's having an immediate impact on a lot of shelters and their ability to operate and also on the people who are accessing those services. As Conservatives, we brought forward a proposal to immediately cut all gas taxes, which would save Canadians 25¢ a litre for the rest of the year.

Ms. Fiddes, do you believe that this would be a good temporary solution?

[Julia Fiddes]

It's definitely a step in the right direction. When women—and people—who are fleeing violence, living in our shelters and staying longer are given any opportunity to save money and put it in their pocket toward their housing, that moves them toward a life free from violence. There's nothing that can be said negatively about that. Any penny saved is a penny that gets a woman out of our building.

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

Ms. Decker, really quickly, do you have any ideas or thoughts on that ?

[Kim Decker]

Sure. I would agree with my colleague that any opportunity for women to have access to more funding leads them to have more success in finding affordable housing, so—

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Ms. Decker, I'm sorry but Mrs. Goodridge's time is up. You may have an opportunity to expand on your thoughts later.

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

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. Through you, I want to thank all of the witnesses here today for their testimony.

Ms. Fiddes, thank you for being here. You mentioned that in 2023, the Durham Region declared IPV to be an epidemic. Can you talk a bit about that?

You talked about the community organizations, the municipalities and the service providers coming together in mobilizing a response for this. Can you talk a bit about if and how that made a change in tackling this problem?

[Julia Fiddes]

I think that having what we in the sector know—that gender-based violence is an epidemic—said publicly to the people who don't work in our field and aren't part of this work is very important. It normalizes it. It makes it not just happening behind closed doors or to “those women” or “those people”. It's happening to everyone. It's happening to every social demographic. I think that's very important for people to hear. It also brings different people to the table. Oftentimes, at our tables, it's us. It's the women doing this work, and we are talking to each other over and over and saying the same things. It's about bringing different people to the table.

I'm on several regional tables in Durham, and we have different people at the table now. It's not just the people who are doing only gender-based violence work, because now people realize that if you're doing work in employment or you're doing work in health care, you are doing work with intimate partner violence survivors. You need to come together to talk with us so we can help you. That's not to teach you, necessarily, but to help you do your work better. I think that declaration was very important.

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

Thank you.

In a tiered government, the region is usually responsible for building or making available more deeply affordable housing. Are you seeing that in Durham region? Is the region building more affordable houses and are you able to access them for the women who are in the shelter?

[Julia Fiddes]

Frankly, no. On what we are seeing in Durham region, I'll speak from our experience at the Denise House. We recently lost the almost $100,000 in funding for our shelter that we were getting from the region. We were the only gender-based violence shelter getting this funding, but we lost it because we were considered, as my colleague said, “gender-based violence” versus “homeless”, and they only fund homeless. No, we are not seeing that housing being built for the women and children we work with. It's an unfortunate reality. We try really hard to work with the region, but no, we are not seeing it.

Also, on the housing that is being built, when we say “deeply affordable”, market rent is not affordable to the people we work with. Market rent is not affordable to a woman who has children and one income or to an elderly woman who has recently left her 50-year relationship. No, realistically, we are not seeing a positive impact on housing in Durham region.

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

Thank you.

You talked about women who are seeking shelter staying there for a period of time. Now you're seeing people there for eight months and 12 months. What does this mean for the new people seeking shelter? How many people have you turned away because you're not able to accommodate them? What is the number like for the other shelters in the region?

[Julia Fiddes]

In Durham region, we have four gender-based violence shelters. We are the largest. We are a very close-knit group. Our shelter served almost 200 women last year. We turned away close to double that.

That's our shelter, so if you add the other three shelters who are seeing many of the same people.... Durham region, for those who don't know, is quite large. Many of the people who are reaching out to the Ajax shelter are probably going to Toronto, not us, and they are seeing at least the same number of turnaways that we are.

I heard someone say it in the earlier panel: that has a very huge impact on our staff. Knowing that a woman's life is potentially at risk—and when I say “at risk”, I mean death—and having to say no to her is probably one of the harder parts of this work, and working in this field is hard enough.

Yes, we're seeing a huge number, and that's because we can't move women out, quite frankly.

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

I know that in Durham, it being in the 401 corridor, we see a lot of trafficking in that region. The average age of recruitment into sex trafficking is often cited as about 13, although I've heard another witness talk about an 8-year-old and much younger. Durham organizations continue to report significant numbers of youth victims and at-risk youth—

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Ms. Nathan, I am so sorry to interrupt you, but your time is up. I know it flies by.

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