Debates of March 25th, 2021

Gender-Based Violence

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for London—Fanshawe.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Madam Chair, in my speech I talked about support for my colleague from Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke's private member's bill, Bill C-247, which would make coercive and controlling behaviour a criminal offence. Does the member support the bill and could she could tell us why?

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Madam Chair, the bill the member refers to has been top of mind to me and members of the justice committee as we have endeavoured over the past number of weeks to study the issue of coercive and controlling behaviours as leading up to potentially lethal violence against women. I wholeheartedly support measures that we can take as Parliament to address what coercive and controlling behaviour is. We heard from many police forces across our country that changes to our Criminal Code to include a criminal offence for coercive and controlling behaviour is something they are looking forward to. I also believe that in all of our Criminal Code provisions that deal directly or indirectly with gender-based violence, we need to have a gender-based analysis conducted of them so that we can fill in the gaps as—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Madam Chair, as someone who has also experienced violence and spoken to many other women who have experienced the same thing, we say that it is like putting a frog in a pot of water on the stove and then turning the heat up very slowly until the frog stays there and boils. That is why violence and abuse is not something that we can just put our finger on. The behaviour is gradual, which is what I believe the member was talking about.

When it comes to toxic masculinity and violence against women, how would she suggest that we deal with the warning signs to teach women and men the signs of early abuse that could lead to violence?

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Madam Chair, that question ties in very much with the one by the previous member about coercive and controlling behaviour.

I think we are dealing with a culture within our country that accepts and condones violence against women. Until and unless we are able to really teach boys and men and really teach girls and women what consent is, what autonomy over one's own body is, what economic empowerment is, and what the ability to be considered equal on one's merit regardless of gender is, then we really cannot move past intimate-partner violence.

I look forward to continuing to work with all members in the House to ensure that we are putting forward policies and adjusting our laws and regulations so that we can do this from the top down. I also encourage, from the bottom up, our community leaders and all levels of government to ensure that we are working to address this very serious issue within each and every corner of our country.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Madam Chair, certainly one of the most profound things we do in the House sometimes is to speak in these take-note debates. Tonight, of course, is no different in terms of the incredible speeches and passion that we are hearing.

Certainly we all have a shared responsibility to protect our mothers, daughters and sisters across this country. Women, girls and members of the LGBTQ+ community continue to face violence or harassment in their homes, schools, workplaces, online and in the streets. Of course, that is just unacceptable.

I grew up in a household where I always say my dad was a feminist before his time. He had four daughters. I was very fortunate and perhaps naive. It was only when I headed into the nursing profession that I started to realize the scope and challenges of the problem of violence against women and domestic violence. As a young nurse working in rural and indigenous communities, my first time with a rape victim was when she had been found unconscious, lying nude in a ball diamond down the street. Then there was the first time someone came in who had been stabbed by a partner in the evening, and the first time I saw bruises on a person I knew from the community. She was wearing a turtleneck to cover-up the bruises from the abuse, in the middle of summer, and too ashamed to talk about it. I started to realize the profound scope of the issue we are facing. Certainly it continues.

I was looking at statistics before this debate. It is a little bit hard to say whether the situation is actually getting any better or worse. Going through the statistics, it is really hard to compare apples with apples, but we do know that COVID is really making things more challenging.

I believe I mentioned this at the start, but I am splitting my time with the member for Yorkton—Melville.

Marylène Levesque died in 2020 right before COVID struck. In this case, someone out on probation was told to take care of his needs and murdered her as part of doing that. How can we have someone going out on probation with that sort of opportunity and those sort of instructions?

We do know that this problem is not new, but we also know that with COVID, we certainly have a new crisis and a new sense of urgency. Maybe what we need to do is to have a special focus right now. It is a global problem, but we really need to talk about having a special something happening right now for those with intimate partners who are trapped in their homes with their abusers. The abusers are using COVID to further control and isolate people from friends and families. Again, the statistics are all very different, but one in three women will experience physical or sexual harassment and violence in their lifetime, so we have a problem in Canada. I heard one of our colleagues earlier talk about 2.5 women are killed every week by intimate partners.

I think we have talked about the negatives, and so I do want to spend a bit of time talking about some of the things that it has been my privilege to be a part of. Who has not been part of a take back the night march and had the opportunity to see incredible power? Who has not put on a white ribbon as we look at that campaign for women? Moose Hide is a really important campaign.

One campaign that people might not have heard of is the Angel Street campaign, which started in Iqaluit. It was a project to name streets after women. I had the honour to be part of a march in one of the indigenous communities in my area. Lesós is the Secwepemc word for “angel”. We marched and renamed the street. What was most powerful about march was—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I am sorry to interrupt, but the hon. member has reached the end of her time.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Madam Chair, I want to thank everybody participating tonight in a historic and vitally important debate. It is the first time the House of Commons is having a take-note debate on the issue of gender-based violence.

I know there has been a lot of mention of control, but we also know there is economic abuse. When women are being controlled financially, that can happen with or without violence, but it is absolutely a contributing factor to domestic violence. I wonder if my colleague could talk a bit about the intersection of financial abuse, economic abuse and domestic violence.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Madam Chair, as we know, abuse takes so many forms. The member is right that economic abuse is part of control, but it is also part of control with diminished options for women in terms of escape. It is tough enough for a woman to escape a very abusive domestic violence situation, but when she has economic challenges, and does not know if she will be able to put food on the table or what will happen with her children, it becomes a compounding issue, absolutely.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Madam Chair, for women who are newcomers, abusers can control immigration documents and passports. Women can struggle to access the information they need to get much-needed services, and organizations in my riding have told me that sponsorship breakdown is very difficult to report to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Also, some women arrive in Canada and are shocked to learn they do not have status. Their husbands promise to sponsor them, then their visas expire or something limits their ability to separate from their husbands. This is just one of the many reasons for status for all.

What does the member think needs to be done to support newcomer women and those without status to ensure they are safe and supported?

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Madam Chair, the part of my speech I did not get to was what we as parliamentarians need to do. I had it broken into a number of different categories. One of them is our laws, expectations and policies and we are directly responsible for ensuring women newcomers to Canada are safe. It has gotten better, but we need to be continually vigilant in monitoring it.

Something else on my list is that we need take care of our own House. I have never been in a Parliament yet where there have not been issues in our own House. We know that the current situation with our military is absolutely appalling and we need to take care of our own House, but there are so many other areas, as privileged parliamentarians, that we can focus on in terms of improving the situation, and it should be our commitment to do so.

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Chair, we have heard some really horrific statistics during this debate. My friends who work for Haven Society, an organization that deals with gender-based violence, said that during the pandemic there was an eerie silence in our community. The fact that the phones were not ringing told them there was a serious problem.

This is not a women's issue. This is a men's issue. Toxic masculinity is a men's issue and is something that needs to be addressed with peer-to-peer work and the bystander approach of not standing by but ensuring that men speak up, talk to young men and boys, and talk to each other.

Could the hon. member could comment on that and the kind of programs that need to be implemented and funded to ensure that this toxic masculinity ends?

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Madam Chair, I started to talk about the Angel Street campaign. What was really poignant for me when I participated was that a husband and wife led the initiative. The husband talked frankly to all the school children and people who were at the ceremony to rename the street about his pattern and history of domestic violence. What was most uplifting was that he made changes through support, programs and services and was now a mentor. He was very willing to talk to the young students about how wrong and ashamed he was for what he had done and how he had made those changes. Those things that support—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

We have to resume debate.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Yorkton—Melville.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Madam Chair, I appreciate the opportunity this evening, even if it is just a very few minutes, to express my heartfelt sympathies and concern for the families of those who have lost their lives in these past months, specifically as they relate to this conversation and this take-note debate tonight.

These are heinous crimes and deserve the full weight of the law applied to them. We truly do mourn every woman who was lost. Over 160 women have been lost in the last year alone to femicide in Canada. It is very disturbing to consider that this is happening in our country, of all places, yet we cannot help but ask ourselves what the underlying cause is of this type of behaviour.

We heard tonight of different circumstances where I think we are not really doing what is best in our society to develop our young boys into men, who then become husbands and fathers. We hear about the after-effects a lot of times of the lives of people facing circumstances where maybe they were not taught properly about the values they needed.

When I went to the YWCA in Saskatoon to talk with the people there about their programs, they talked about how a lot of the young boys who come into their facility are very rough around the edges. We ask ourselves what is causing this. We want to just set that aside when really one of the things, as we talked about that day, is having easy access to pornography at a very young age.

On the Hill, we had an opportunity to see a film done about a wholesome family. The children were home-schooled, sitting at the table doing their homework, and this little boy, at a young age, clicked on a button that said he had to be 18 years old to click on the button but did not stop him from clicking on it. Over time, this young boy began to really act out and treat his mother and sister with an incredible level of disrespect. This was happening very quickly, in the midst of doing homework at the kitchen table while his mom was preparing a meal.

These are things in our society that are impacting the quality of our young men as they are growing up. In fairness, it is not just young men. We have to look at the deeper-rooted issues around violence in games. We hear all the time that we cannot deal with that, but these are things impacting future husbands and fathers, and it all starts at that level within a family.

I also want to make the point that we want to be developing solid relationships among people. We spend an incredible amount of time on our careers, or on getting Ph.D.s, or on things such as maybe developing a very strong ability to ski, but how much time do we spend developing ourselves into the people we would want other people to enjoy being with, and choosing to be the kinds of people other people would choose to marry?

I said once when I was giving a talk that, as a young woman, I had my picture of what I would want in a man. Yes, it was strong masculinity, but not toxic masculinity. It was someone who appreciated and valued me as an individual. There are all of these types of things we want to see in those we are looking for, but we have to remember those people are also looking for that in the person they are looking to have long-term relationships with as well.

This level of violence in relationships, where a partner is killed or controlled, does not happen in the later times. It happens over the time of preparing an individual to have character in life. Churches, gurdwaras and all of our religious institutions play a significant role in building into young people what those relationships should look like and what kind of people they want to be, as well as having character and values, choosing to tell the truth and being caring and compassionate.

These are all character traits that people need to have in their lives, so where—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I am sorry, but we have to go to questions and comments.

The hon. member for Malpeque.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Madam Chair, there have been some very remarkable, heartfelt remarks tonight. I have a staffer who volunteers at a women's shelter in Charlottetown. There is no question that during the pandemic, the domestic intimate partner violence has gone up.

We know the problem, and the last speaker hit on a really important point. What is the underlying cause for this behaviour and this violence? Some of us are lucky that we were born into the families we were. Many situations are not like that.

My key question is for the last speaker, and really for anyone. What do we need to be focusing on. We can all outline the problems, and they are serious. Is it education? Is it training? Is it funding? Is it family relationships and working on that? Where we do have to go? We need to be targeting the solution here.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Madam Chair, that question resonates a great deal with me. Being a pastor's wife, we deal a great deal with a lot of the hurts that people experience in their lives, and life is full of those. I do not know if this is a government responsibility actually. I am on the veterans affairs committee, and VAC has its role, but veterans helping veterans is where it is at.

We need to be investing in relationships at a young age. Building community is so key. Of course, with the COVID scenario we are in, isolation is absolutely a horrific scenario. One of the individuals who talked to me about Bill C-7 is a psychiatrist and he works at the University of Toronto and with the hospital. He is in favour of the bill, but even he said the number of seniors—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I have to give other members opportunities.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Saint-Jean.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for her speech.

I have noticed that unfortunately, when the Conservatives talk about certain social issues, they often focus on enforcement measures, such as increased penalties.

I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts this evening on some positive measures that could be implemented to support women, to boost their self-confidence and to promote the idea that they are more than just objects. I would also like to hear her talk about how women can become empowered and embrace bodily autonomy.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Madam Chair, I feel very free in my own body. I am very proud of who I am as a woman. Part of being in that state requires people to come the realization that they have incredible inherent value regardless of other people and that they choose to make themselves the best self that they can be.

I am very proud of my relationship with my husband. I married my best friend. I would encourage young people who happen to be political junkies and are listening to any of this, although it is a good topic, to realize that to be the kind of people someone else wants them to be is not as important as ensuring they have that sense of value within themselves. That is not something other people can give them. That is something they need to develop on their own.

I have a lot of memories of my husband and I trying to assist people who have gone through very difficult circumstances. Life is hard, but everybody has value. The United Nations Commission on Status of Women is about that. I was there tonight. It is the inherent value of every human being. The fact that we are all different and that we have different perspectives is the icing on the cake.

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Madam Chair, I would first like to mention that I will be sharing my time with the member for Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle.

They were rays of sunshine, daughters, sisters, fantastic mothers. They were women. COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on women. During the pandemic, twice as many women as men lost their jobs. It is primarily women who work in essential services. They are working on the front lines and are exhausted.

The problem has become much more serious. Organizations on the ground have told us that the pandemic has deepened the isolation of women who are experiencing abusive and violent behaviour, that it has made it harder for women to leave their abusive spouses, and that it has increased factors associated with violence, such as alcohol consumption, financial insecurity and mental health problems. Lockdowns have meant less contact with friends and family, contributing to women's isolation and removing their social safety net.

In less than six weeks, seven femicides have occurred in Quebec. This problem is nothing new, but the crisis that has been raging for over a year has highlighted issues related to gender-based violence. The motion that was moved today was born of a concern that my colleagues and I have. The resulting discussion this evening is of vital importance. I thank everyone who has risen to speak.

We must speak out about the deaths of these women and about all victims of violence. We need to be aware of the problem. I am sure that I am not the only one here who feels uncomfortable walking or running at certain times or in certain places. Sometimes I even have to change my route when I am running because I feel as though I am being followed or because I need to avoid people who look threatening. Unfortunately, too many women can relate.

In Sherbrooke, a manifesto for the safety of women garnered 1,102 signatures. I want to commend Guylaine Cliche for this initiative. These situations are just one part of the problem.

For many, it is not even possible to be safe at home. That is unacceptable. Since the beginning of the crisis, I have been in contact with social workers in Sherbrooke to stay abreast of their reality and their needs. Organizations such as CALACS and l'Escale saw their requests for support increase and their work become more complicated. I saw the challenges they are facing: the lack of funding, the staffing shortage and the lack of volunteers. Needs are growing and the services are not keeping pace. That is why I am proud to have announced last September with my colleague Minister Bibeau, nearly $130,000 to support them. These organizations are a lifeline for women and victims, but we know that the work does not stop there and that more needs to be done.

This evening's discussion, initiated at the unanimous request of the House, is proof that awareness of this issue is growing. That is definitely a step in the right direction. I also want to say that the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights has been discussing this issue for two months now. Interesting ideas have emerged from that, such as including the notions of cyber-violence and former intimate partners in the definitions in the bill. These are potential solutions that came out of expert recommendations, and they offer hope. I am very much looking forward to continuing our work on this because it will help the women of Sherbrooke and of Canada.

The witnesses who appeared before the committee reminded us that few women turn to formal support resources and that many never report their situation. That may be because they are unaware of existing services, because of barriers to access or because they fear worsening violence after they report. These findings suggest that we have a lot of work to do to get rid of the stigma associated with gender-based violence. We need to be proactive. We need to work with teens on prevention and raise public awareness of this insidious form of violence.

Before closing, I want to share this message. We all have a role to play in combatting this type of violence. Anyone who is a victim of intimate partner violence or gender-based violence should talk to someone they trust and ask for help—

[The Deputy Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member. Her time is up. I even gave her a little extra time.

The hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan for questions and comments.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for her important speech.

I would like to ask about the bystanders, people who may see things going on in their environment and may have some questions whether there is an abusive situation going on. One thing we can do as members of Parliament is to encourage people who are bystanders and who see situations around them that are problematic to be supportive of victims.

Does the member have any advice or suggestions for people who might be potential bystanders on how to intervene and how to support people in vulnerable situations?