Status of Women Committee on June 2nd, 2026

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I first want to thank Ms. Decker, Ms. Singh and Ms. Fiddes.

The more I listen to the witnesses, the more I see connections with the study we are currently conducting at the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. Here, we are specifically discussing shelter spaces for women who are victims of violence, and at the other committee, we are considering the issue of homelessness more generally. In both cases, we're hearing about the importance of having a continuum of services and working proactively, all the way through to support services.

Ms. Fiddes, you said that you've lost funding for your shelter spaces, but I didn't quite understand the reason. Could you explain that to me a little more?

[Julia Fiddes]

The region of Durham used to fund our gender-based violence shelter $91,000 for our work on housing. We lost that funding because we are not considered, now, to be working with homeless folks. We are considered to be working specifically with gender-based violence survivors. The region decided to separate these.

As Ms. Decker, I think, said earlier, there is a very clear divide—in more recent years, in my experience—between funding going to gender-based violence survivors and funding going to folks experiencing homelessness, which we all know is the same. We also know women in the homeless sector were most definitely survivors of gender-based violence at some point in their lives.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

The goal is to achieve better alignment and a better understanding. In other words, we need to understand that your work is complementary, not separate, and funding should not be reduced. I hear what you're saying. Once again, the goal is to have a continuum of services that includes services for women who are victims of violence and services for people experiencing homelessness, rather than pitting them against each other. That's very important.

I have less than 30 seconds left.

Yesterday, witnesses told us that, despite them having found spaces to accommodate more homeless people, the waiting list and the need for services have nearly doubled. That's sort of what I'm hearing from you, as well, Ms. Decker. You're confirming that the waiting lists are getting longer, aren't you?

[Kim Decker]

That's exactly correct. What's happening is that women are staying longer in the shelter. We cannot move women out and into—

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you, Ms. Decker.

Mr. Davies, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Singh, regarding economic conditions—particularly in our current situation here in Canada—is there a correlation between affordability and shelter usage?

[Sunder Singh]

Again, we're looking at the long-term impact on women who break away from violence and come to a shelter.

Yes, there is definitely a correlation. The cost of living has gone up.

However, there are opportunities for women to combat the cost of living. If we take a few months—whether it's two months, four months or six months—to train them in a skill, they become immediately employable and start to contribute to the economy of the country, making the country more prosperous. Women, once trained, are able to combat affordability issues. It's very important that we look at what we can do. What kinds of skills can we provide to these women once they come to the shelter? What can we do to make them employable?

We talked about the epidemic in Durham region, but it's all over the country. Six thousand women and children are staying in emergency shelters on a typical day, but many thousands of them are waiting. This is an epidemic. If there is an epidemic, what does a government do? It has to create a task force. It has to get a group of people together from government sources to go throughout Canada and see why vulnerable women are ignored. Why are there limited funds available for these women to break away from violence? Then, it can come back with a report and a recommendation.

This is what I recommend should take place.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Thank you, Ms. Singh. I have limited time. I want to get to a pretty broad question.

In my previous incarnation, before coming here as a member of Parliament, I was a regional councillor in the region of Niagara. We declared a state of emergency regarding homelessness and addiction in the region, as did many regions and municipalities. It was across the province, not just in Niagara. We knew it was fundamentally outside some of our jurisdictions. It was an effort—as you said, Ms. Singh—to get people together to start talking about some solutions.

I want to ask all of you whether you could briefly tell me how we can bridge the gaps among funding, policy and delivery. Every level of government has tried to play a role, but we struggle with infrastructure and funding. If you had a wish list, what would your three top priorities be for solving the key problems you encounter? Give me your top three suggestions for government.

I'll start with you, Ms. Fiddes.

[Julia Fiddes]

For me, it would be deeply affordable housing, putting funding towards actually affordable housing; funding towards transitional housing so that women are actually getting the life skills and the employment training that they need; and funding towards prevention. I think we need to put a lot more money towards prevention so that shelters like ours and services like ours don't exist anymore.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Ms. Singh, could you go next, please?

[Sunder Singh]

Sure.

The three top priorities would be increasing housing to be able to help the women break away from violence smoothly; partnering with unions, universities and colleges so that training can start to build the skills of the women; and then getting the women into employment as soon as possible.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Thank you.

Who do we have next?

Go ahead, Ms. Decker.

[Kim Decker]

I think that three things for us, and specifically related to homelessness, are that the federal Reaching Home program must formally include hidden homelessness so that allocation formulas reflect the true scale of women's housing needs; that we hold the CMHC accountable to its promise that at least 25% of national—

[The Chair, Conservative, Dominique Vien]

Thank you very much, Ms. Decker. I'm sorry to interrupt you again.

We'll now move on to the last exchange.

Ms. Ménard, you have the floor.

[Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, Liberal, Hochelaga—Rosemont-Est, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the witnesses who are joining us.

I'll pick up where you left off by quoting you, Ms. Fiddes. You've made it clear: Support for prevention is essential.

I'd like to urge us to be cautious because, in the context of this study, there's a lot of talk about the housing crisis, and I get the impression that we're reducing this crisis to having a roof over one's head. As we've heard from a number of witnesses, shelters are not dormitories. Women fleeing violence also need space and support to rebuild their lives.

Could you elaborate on your response and reframe the issue of the services provided?

Even if we add a lot of affordable housing, families escaping violence need support to rebuild their lives.

I invite you to respond first, Ms. Fiddes, and then I will have the opportunity to pass the microphone to your colleagues Ms. Singh and Ms. Decker.

[Julia Fiddes]

I appreciate the question.

I think part of the prevention issue is about teaching girls and boys what it means to be non-violent. It goes deeper than just saying, “Don't hit.” We need to train our children to understand what it means to have confidence, to have self-worth and to give other people the same things. Respect is taught. It is not something that we are born with. I think prevention goes much deeper than just going into the schools and talking about this. It starts at home. It also is a community issue.

I think a huge part of what we need to do is to take the prevention issue deeper, because, yes, putting a roof over someone's head is not the answer. We need to teach people that they deserve to be respected and what that truly looks like, and we need to have it at all levels of government and every level of society.

[Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, Liberal, Hochelaga—Rosemont-Est, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Fiddes.

Ms. Decker, would you like to add your thoughts to this comment?

[Kim Decker]

Yes, there are a couple of comments I would make.

One of the largest pieces of work that we do at the YWCA is around gender-based violence prevention. We're one of the only organizations that start working with kids around eight years old, and we do it in an age-appropriate way that looks at consent, at bystander intervention and at healthy relationships. If we're ever going to break the cycle of violence, starting with kids as young as we can to develop those skills is really important.

[Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, Liberal, Hochelaga—Rosemont-Est, QC]

Ms. Singh, would you like to speak?

[Sunder Singh]

We partner with a university in Toronto. Every woman who faces domestic violence needs psychological support. She needs to let it out of her system. Through the associate professor there at York University, every student who is going through that psychological training is connected with the women of the centre so that these women can get psychological help while they are breaking away from violence. This is a solutions-based organization, and we always look at innovative ways to help women.

[Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, Liberal, Hochelaga—Rosemont-Est, QC]

In that regard, this same committee has just completed its study on the consequences of the rise of anti-feminism. The focus was on the root causes of gender-based violence. I think there's likely a point of intersection between these two studies.

The Department of Justice has really been working closely with the Department for Women and Gender Equality, in particular, as well as the Department of Public Safety, to develop Bill C‑16. We're almost at the finish line.

In your opinion, is strengthening the Criminal Code alone sufficient to combat gender-based violence?

Ms. Singh, you can start.

[Sunder Singh]

Absolutely. Severe punishment has to be in place in Canada. It's heavily lacking, causing a lot of criminal activities where women are hurting, children are hurting and seniors are hurting.

[Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, Liberal, Hochelaga—Rosemont-Est, QC]

Ms. Decker, do you want to answer?

[Kim Decker]

I think this is an issue that can't be siloed. It needs to work across ministries. There's a role for a number of ministries in the federal government to work on this collectively.

[Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, Liberal, Hochelaga—Rosemont-Est, QC]

I'll quickly follow up.

Yesterday, I was with Caroline Desrochers, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure. We announced the construction of a new shelter—