House of Commons Hansard #68 of the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was women.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
The hon. member is not in a position to respond at this time, but what we will do is wait, if she wants to respond later.
Again, I want to remind hon. members that we can debate ideas but we do not want to call each other names, on one side or the other.
The hon. member for Sarnia—Lambton.
Marilyn Gladu Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order with respect to the vote. The voting application showed that I was on the app. I was ready to vote for Bill C-14 and would have voted against it, but it did not give me the opportunity to vote at all. I see the vote has been counted, so I ask you to investigate that for the future.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
I thank the hon. member for pointing that out. We will look into it, on a technical basis, to find out exactly what happened.
I want to remind all members to please raise their hand if that comes up to make sure their vote is counted.
The hon. member for Richmond Centre has a point of order.
Alice Wong Conservative Richmond Centre, BC
Mr. Speaker, all of us, probably including those in the public, heard someone on the government side swearing. He forgot to mute himself. That is not parliamentary, whether someone is in the House or in public, and I want to draw the Speaker's attention to it. The member should apologize.
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
I did not hear it, but does the hon. member who used unparliamentary language while their microphone was off want to apologize?
Could the hon. member for Richmond Centre identify who it was?
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
I will leave it to the honour of the member, whichever side they are on. I thank the hon. member for bringing that up.
Maryam Monsef LiberalMinister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development
Mr. Speaker, I wish a happy International Women's Day to my hon. colleagues and every woman in this great country.
I would like to begin my remarks with some gratitude. I will speak about where we are at with respect to the status of women and put forward an invitation for my colleagues in wrapping up.
This day provides us all an opportunity to be grateful and to give thanks to those who have come before us, who have paved the way for the rest of us, who fought the fights we cannot imagine and who were much lonelier than we could ever comprehend in those fights; those who never gave up; those who persisted; and those who believed in each and every single one of us.
The Senate of Canada is close to gender balance. For the first time ever, there are 100 strong women in the House of Commons, and each of us got here because someone or many believed in us. Today we thank them.
I would like to thank our teams, including my own, and the great women and feminists in my own family. This year, we owe great thanks to the women on the front lines of the fight against COVID, the essential workers: health care workers, personal support workers, nurses, technicians, administrators, cleaning staff, teachers, child care workers and charitable sector workers, including those working to support those fleeing violence and abuse.
We thank the moms who have had to take on many extra responsibilities; the sisters, aunties and grandmothers who are struggling and helping to keep it all together for others; and community leaders and women in politics in all orders of government. We appreciate them. They are holding it all together for all of us.
I also think it is important that on a day like today to acknowledge the women for whom the mere act of survival is a heroic act. These are the women stuck in abusive relationships right now, doing everything they can to keep their kids safe and looking for a way out, and the women living with mental health challenges or caring for those who are struggling. We see them, we hear them and we will do everything we can to support them.
There are also great women who are not here with us this International Women's Day. They are great women we all grieve but have not had a chance to come together collectively to remember. These are women like Sister Ruth Hennessey in Peterborough—Kawartha, women like my own grandmother and mothers who have lost their battle to cancer and now leave behind young ones. We see them and remember them, and our job is to do everything we can to make the world a better place for their daughters and granddaughters.
It is well documented that women have been hit hardest by COVID, with jobs lost, unpaid care responsibilities and increases in gender-based violence. Of course, they have been on the front lines of the fight against the pandemic.
The path ahead will be a difficult one. The path ahead will require all of us to work together in solidarity like never before. However, I am hopeful and optimistic about the status of women in Canada, first and foremost because we are counting women in ways we have never done before, with disaggregated gender data.
Canada has the best intersectional feminist response in its COVID measures. We also have a gendered budget. There are more women at the table now than ever before. A national housing strategy exists, and because of it, when we told Canadians to stay home, a million families had a safe and affordable roof over their heads.
The child poverty rate was cut by 40% before the pandemic because of the child benefit. We were able to provide additional supports to families when they needed it most during the pandemic. About 40,000 child care spaces were created in our first mandate, and we are looking forward to building a child care system that is universal and worthy of our children and our parents.
This International Women's Day we also have an opportunity to benefit from the $100-million feminist response and recovery fund. That money is available for partners who want to make sure women are safe and healthy and to improve their workforce participation. As we speak, and until tomorrow, the largest virtual feminist gathering that we know of is happening this International Women's Day: the Feminist Response and Recovery Summit. The Government of Canada is hosting it. It is meant to be the beginning of many conversations to ensure that women's voices are shaping their futures.
The finance minister and the associate finance minister have announced their action task force on women's economic participation. Also, our Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry has announced that 1,000 companies have signed up to our 50-30 challenge to ensure greater diversity on our corporate boards.
We are currently seeking nominations of women of impact in communities across the country. I encourage Canadians to nominate women they believe in. We have a response coming forward on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, and we are working to implement our anti-racism strategy.
COVID-19 is the worst public health crisis in history. It has highlighted fundamental flaws in our society that disproportionately affect people who are already vulnerable.
Women have been hit by heavy job losses. During this crisis, many women courageously served on the front lines in our communities. They carried the burden of providing unpaid care at home. This International Women's Day, we salute the women on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19.
We acknowledge all the ways that women, particularly racialized women, have been hit hardest by the pandemic. We welcome applications to our $100-million feminist response and recovery fund.
Our government will continue to work with strong feminists to create one million jobs and to improve health and safety outcomes for all women.
There has never been a more important time for our country to come together in a team Canada approach. Our daughters are counting on us, as are my nieces, including little Leila, who taught me French because my tutor has care responsibilities at home. They are looking to us.
I urge all my hon. colleagues to work together and seize the opportunities that have come with the social reckoning upon us. Let us work together to ensure that we close the gender wage gap, to ensure that our women are safe in every workplace and to ensure that the vaccine rollout is done equitably so that someday we can hold our loved ones close again and tell the stories of how an unprecedented pandemic allowed us to build back better.
Jag Sahota Conservative Calgary Skyview, AB
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in the House today to mark International Women's Day.
Women's Day was first celebrated in 1911. In 1975, the United Nations passed a resolution declaring March 8 as International Women's Day. This is a day when we reflect on the progress we have made toward women's equality both here in Canada and around the world.
Just a few months ago, we were recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. We discussed how vital this report was at highlighting many of the inequalities that women were still facing in society and how the government responded to them. However, as I said in my speech, working toward equality in Canada is never done. We need to continue to build on what has been done and work toward building a better future for the women yet to come.
As a female member of Parliament in the Conservative Party of Canada, I am proud of our continued advocacy and our long history of supporting women across our country. Not only was it under a Conservative government that a woman's right to vote was recognized, but women play a vital and leading role in our party today.
However, I have been disheartened by the continued lack of action by the Liberal government. The Liberal government says that it stands up for women. It wants to eliminate gender disparity and end violence against women, yet these sentiments appear to be nothing more than just words from the government. The Liberal Party added to its platform that it would develop and release a national action plan to combat gender-based violence, yet there is nothing.
One in three women and girls in Canada will face some sort of gender-based violence in their lifetime. With the ongoing pandemic, the detrimental effects of COVID and the restrictions that have largely confined us to our homes over the past year have resulted in women who are in abusive relationships being stuck in their homes with their abusers. This is heartbreaking to hear about. It is concerning that women continue to face this sort of degrading and brutalizing crime, both mentally and physically. No person should ever be subjected to that sort of treatment.
As the Conservative shadow minister for women and gender equality, I want to help contribute to the discussion about gender-based violence and work with my caucus toward developing policies that we can use to help eradicate gender-based violence in Canada. This is why for the past several months I have been meeting with organizations and individuals across Canada who work with and help individuals escape this abusive life.
The pandemic has also highlighted many of the inequalities that still exist in our society today. At the status of women committee, we have been hearing from witnesses that women are disproportionately represented in the numbers of people unemployed, not only because they work predominately in industries that have been hit the hardest, such as the retail and hospitality industries, but also because with children staying home from school or elderly parents who are at high risk of catching COVID, many women have left the workforce to take on the role of at-home caregiver. While people have started going back into the workforce, many women have chosen to remain at home.
We have heard from many witnesses how this is a concerning trend. Women play a vital and very important role in our economy and the risk of women not returning to the workforce can set women's advancement back decades. One of the advancements at risk is pay equity, an issue that was a major pillar in the first International Women's Day and in the royal commission.
Just the other day, the status of women committee was reviewing the implementation of the Pay Equity Act and had the Minister of Labour appear before committee. My Conservative colleagues and I were consistently asking the minister why it had taken so long to implement. We pointed to the fact that it was the Liberals' legislation, which even the PBO confirmed could have been implemented faster. The only response from the Minister of Labour on why it was taking over three years, with a minimum of another three years, to fully implement it was to not rush it.
Taking over three years to implement is not rushing; it is delaying. The government and the Prime Minister like to say that they stand up for women, but when it comes to actually standing up for and representing women, the government frequently and consistently turns its back on women.
Today, on International Women's Day and every day, Canada's Conservatives will continue to call on the Liberal government to take real, meaningful action to support women across Canada as we focus on securing our future. I know that under a Conservative government, led by the member for Durham, Canadian women will not only be well represented but heard by us and will see real action on the issues that matter the most.
I wish all women in Canada and across the world a happy International Women's Day.
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
Mr. Speaker, a year ago, we were taking turns speaking in the House to mark March 8. It was a March 8 like any other, as our political parties took turns praising the work women do and the achievements that have been made. It was a March 8 like any other, with all the parties proclaiming themselves as feminists.
A year later, everything has changed in Canada, in Quebec and around the world. Men and women, but especially women, are at serious risk of losing 25 years' worth of gains for women's rights. The coronavirus has impacted the lives of women more than anyone else. Over the past year of this pandemic, women have given and received more than their fair share.
What have women given? They have cared for seniors in long-term care homes and in our hospitals, providing front-line care, up close with the enemy, day after day.
Eighty-two percent of health workers are women. We have relied on those women and we are relying on them now because the vaccine will not administer itself. Once again it will be women leading the charge. They have given their time. Balancing work and family has shifted to balancing telework and family. Who takes care of the children at home during a lockdown? The mental burden and invisible work have only increased for them.
They have given and gotten more than their fair share. But what is it that they got for their efforts? Again and again they got paid less than men, and women in federally regulated jobs have still not gotten pay equity. Senior women got an extra old age security cheque, a single cheque to cover the increased cost of groceries and delivery. The young people delivering the purchases want a tip and seniors want to give them that tip. They also want to contribute to the economic recovery and assert their gray power.
What these women got in spades this year was slaps to the face and brazen insults. It is important to acknowledge that. There was a 40% increase in cases of domestic violence. That is some serious indexing. Our way of thanking women this year was to subject them to almost unprecedented violence. Unable to get out of the house, they are stuck at home with the man who is holding the belt, clenching his fist and raising his voice.
What women got this year has seldom been seen before. The result is an increase in femicide. For all they have given, they deserve to be thanked. For all they have gotten, they deserve our apologies and, more importantly, they deserve seeing us take action. They deserve seeing us get to work. They deserve seeing us increase health care transfers because they are working on the front lines and, without the necessary funding, they will be the ones who will be overworked, the ones who will have to work the infamous mandatory overtime, the ones who are underpaid.
Senior women deserve to have decent living conditions and enough buying power to be able to make ends meet at the end of the month and stop having to choose between toilet paper and paper towels. Seniors deserve to have a good life. I do not think that is too much to ask.
Women's shelters have been there for women. They have done crucial, essential work, and they deserve more support. Violence will not end the day the last person is vaccinated. Shelters need predictable, long-term support.
Unemployed women need a system that meets their needs. Even now, in 2021, it is too hard for them to qualify. Unemployed women who are sick need sickness benefits that last longer than 15 weeks so they can take the time to take care of themselves with compassion and without having to worry as much.
Women deserve more than sorrys and thank yous. The recovery is about to start, and, at long last, women deserve a female-focused recovery. We will not recover from this pandemic without women and their leadership. Everyone knows that, but I refuse to go back to the old normal if it means living in a society where women are second-class, underpaid citizens, a society with programs that do not meet women's needs and are out of touch with reality.
We can make next March 8 as different from this one as this one is from last March 8. That means we have to listen to women, so let us listen to women.
Lindsay Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Mr. Speaker, I also want to wish all women a happy International Women's Day. In particular I salute all my female colleagues who were elected to this chamber since 2019 and in the years prior to that who have helped break down barriers for us all.
Of course, it goes without saying that we need more women in this House. Last Friday, I had the opportunity to address the delegates of Daughters of the Vote. This program brings young women from all over the country to fill every seat in the House, and although they had to complete this program virtually this year, there were 338 representatives who filled those seats. They are 338 incredible women excited about politics and excited to make change to improve the lives of all women in Canada. I spoke to some of the daughters and they told me that they wanted to eradicate barriers to women's full economic, social and political participation in society by fully enacting pay equity, creating an affordable national universal child care program, building an adequate amount of safe affordable housing, addressing violence against women and rejecting all restrictions on women's reproductive rights, and improving the lives of indigenous women and girls by enacting all of the calls for justice and addressing the specific challenges faced by women of colour and members of the LGBTQI2S+ and disability communities.
Members should make no mistake: these barriers are real and significant. We cannot accept virtue signalling while doing little to break down these barriers. A piecemeal approach is no longer acceptable. Less than a third of MPs in this chamber in 2021 are women, and, frankly, the number of women of colour, members from the LGBTQI2S+ and the disability communities is embarrassingly low. That is why it is so important in my role as the NDP critic for women and gender equality, but also as an MP, to share with young women what it is to have this job, to be frank about the hurdles, to be supportive and to be there to answer those all-important questions. The only way we will have more women fill these seats in the House and to ensure that women have a real opportunity to join us here is to support and encourage all women mentally, emotionally and especially financially.
A part of that support, and a part that I love, is to talk to women who are interested in government from all different groups and backgrounds and ages, and last week I got to speak to nine-year-old Sophia. I went to university with her mother far too many years ago. Sophia started to learn about politics in school, and she wanted to do more research on her own, so she and her mother went online, and that is when her mother realized that I was elected, so her mom reached out to tell me about Sophia. I got to speak to her, and I was thrilled to do so.
At first, Sophia's questions were very familiar. They were ones that I receive often. They include questions like, “What got you involved in politics?”, “How do you become an MP?” and “What do you most like about the job?” We talked about that job of being an MP: the hard days, the good days, the successes and the losses. Then, Sophia asked me if I get nervous when people disagreed with me, because she does. I told her that I do sometimes, especially when I was younger, but the more I do this job and the more people I help, the more I know that the work I do is meaningful and the less nervous I get. I also take comfort in the fact that I am not alone, that I have incredible colleagues who share my ideals and beliefs who stand with me, and equally importantly, I am not alone because I stand on the shoulders of giants, women who have fought for the chance to speak, to be heard or have influence. They have fought for their grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters and daughters to have a fair chance.
I told Sophia that standing up for what we believe in is not always easy. Political courage is not easy, especially when some people are not respectful, kind or open-minded, and often women are put down more when they stand up, simply because they are women, and even more so if they are women of colour, lesbian women, transgendered women, indigenous women or women living with disabilities. Women are silenced, but I told Sophia that one of the many things I love about my job is that I am there to fight for her to be heard, and in turn in the future she will have to fight for other women to be heard. As a woman, I must be well and thoroughly researched, and I have to be absolute in the proof I have to support what I believe in. I have to be better, stronger, louder and more just, but when I know I am right, I have to stand up, especially as a woman.
Sophia took a little time to process that. Then she asked why women do not have the same opportunities as men and why progress is so slow. I told her that change is slow because too often those in positions of power have shied away from making those hard choices, or they genuinely believed they were not the right choices at the time. Again, that is where having proof, researching one's ideas, listening to all sides and remaining open-minded must always be at the centre of one's choices. We talked about the supports that can make life better for women and the choices made by those in power that could give women the same opportunities as men. We talked about universal affordable child care, pay equity, violence against women, affordable housing, clean drinking water and justice for indigenous people. We talked about the importance of women have a true choice, to have access to all services and to be able to have that power of choice.
Sophia's final question was how she could help make a change, so I knew she was hooked. I am so excited to see what she will do as she grows up. Sophia will help to make that progress we are too slow to make now. Whether the change she makes is at her school, with her friends and family, in her community or an environmental or political group, I know she will make change. When she sees more women in the House of Commons voicing the concerns of women fighting for equality, universal child care, affordable housing and pay equity, when she sees more women being able to stand up and speak their truth and have the courage to make those tough choices, and when she sees how they succeed, I believe she will not be nervous when she is challenged, but will stand up, use her voice and will succeed because she will not be alone.
Jenica Atwin Green Fredericton, NB
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am seeking unanimous consent to reply to the minister's statement.
Jenica Atwin Green Fredericton, NB
Madam Speaker, it is always an honour to speak in the House of Commons. The magnitude of this reality is not lost on me, especially today on International Women's Day, a day when we celebrate and advocate for women's rights around the world. I wish I could simply deliver pleasantries, highlight the work of some incredible women and wish all present a happy International Women's Day, but based on the real experiences of women across the country and around the globe that would not be enough.
I would like to begin by exploring some of the history of the women's rights movement. It is rooted in struggle and conflict, intertwined with colonialism and racism. Before the suffragettes, colonists arrived in North America and deliberately tore apart the fabric of the matriarchal leadership of the first peoples of this land. The intergenerational trauma of these acts continues to ripple through indigenous communities today.
International Women's Day can be traced back to 1908, when thousands of working women in New York City marched to protest their working conditions. These women worked at low wages with no protection and regularly experienced sexual harassment and abuse. This uprising continued for more than a year, leading to National Woman's Day in the U.S. in 1909.
At an international conference of working women in 1910, the idea for an international movement advocating universal suffrage was born. The day took on a truly revolutionary form in Russia in 1917, in a country exhausted by war, widespread food shortages and escalating popular protests. Russian women demanded and gained the right to vote in 1917 as a direct consequence of the March protest.
Suffragettes in the U.K., and their counterparts in the U.S. and Canada, looked to Russia as an example. White women in Canada were enfranchised in 1918, but this right would not be extended to women of colour or indigenous women until decades later.
We have yet to fully embrace the layers of intersectionality in feminism and tear down the many ways women continue to be oppressed. The pandemic has plainly demonstrated how race, gender, class, disability and immigration status intersect and compound risk, resulting in worse health outcomes, increased rates of domestic violence and greater economic struggle.
International Women's Day remains steeped in the fight for all women's rights. I think about the women facing violence in their homes. I addressed the House regarding gender-based violence on February 25. That same day, a woman from my home province was murdered by her intimate partner. In Quebec, five women were killed by their partners in just one month.
The government has put money into supporting shelters and services for women fleeing domestic violence, but it is not enough. I think about the survivors of sexual assault being retraumatized and stigmatized, again and again, by a court system that was designed to protect property. Bill C-3 will finally require judges to receive sensitivity training on sexual assault, which is a step forward, but our judicial system is so deeply flawed that this is not enough.
I think of Chantel Moore and of Joyce Echaquan. These women's final moments on earth were spent facing down racism and misogyny. Our policing and health systems let them down. We let them down.
The government has initiated an anti-racism secretariat, but it seems to be operating quietly behind closed doors. This is not enough. I am discouraged by the failings of our systems, reinforced by almost every statistic and by almost every headline. I am discouraged that I hold a seat of power, yet I often feel powerless to right what remains so very wrong.
I look to what brings me hope. I think of my sisters, my friends and the women I work with. Through their trauma, I see their strength. I see their resilience. This year they have given birth without their loved ones present. They have loved and supported family members in mental health crises. They have taken in their adult children who could no longer support themselves financially. They have bravely served, overrepresented on the front lines of this pandemic. They have left abusive jobs, they have left abusive relationships and they stand strong but not unscathed. What I need from the government is leadership that sees their resilience and meets it with equal force.
International Women's Day has always been as much about struggle and solidarity as it is about celebration. Today, for women across the country, the struggle is real. With some direct action perhaps next year we will have more to celebrate.
The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes
I wish to inform the House that because of the deferred recorded divisions and ministerial statements, Government Orders will be extended by 61 minutes.
Order. It is my duty, pursuant to Standing Order 38, to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Regina—Lewvan, Air Transportation; the hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable, Finance; the hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, Telecommunications.
Judy Sgro Liberal Humber River—Black Creek, ON
Madam Speaker, happy International Women's Day.
I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on International Trade in relation to Bill C-18, an act to implement the agreement on trade continuity between Canada and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House without amendments.
Emmanuel Dubourg Liberal Bourassa, QC
Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Official Languages in relation to the motion adopted on Thursday, February 18 regarding support to educational institutions providing official language instruction.
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Madam Speaker, I wish you a happy International Women's Day.
There have been discussions among the parties, and if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That, notwithstanding any Standing or Special Order or usual practice of the House, Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Bills of Exchange Act, the Interpretation Act and the Canada Labour Code concerning a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, be deemed concurred in at the report stage; that the House continue to sit beyond the ordinary hour of daily adjournment for the purpose of considering Bill C-5 at third reading; that, when no further member rises to speak or at 12 a.m., whichever is earlier, the Speaker shall interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith and successively every question necessary to dispose of the said stage of the said bill; that, if a recorded division is requested, it shall stand deferred until the conclusion of Oral Questions tomorrow, March 9; and that the House shall adjourn to the next sitting day.
The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes
All those opposed to the hon. member moving the motion will please say nay.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Madam Speaker, I have five petitions to present today. The first is particularly pertinent in light of it being International Women's Day. It draws the attention of the House to the horrific violence against Uighur women that is taking place as part of the genocide happening in China as we speak. Members of the Canada-Uighur Parliamentary Friendship Group were particularly struck and moved last week by the story of a survivor. We know that this campaign of genocide includes forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced insertion of IUDs, and sexual violence. The petitioners call on the House and the government to recognize that Uighurs in China have been and are being subjected to genocide. It also calls for the use of the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, or Magnitsky Act, to sanction those who are responsible for these heinous crimes.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Madam Speaker, the second petition is with respect to Bill C-6. The petitioners want to express that they support efforts to ban conversion therapy. They are, however, concerned by the definition of conversion therapy that is used by the bill. They note that certain drafting problems in the bill in fact define as conversion therapy things that have never been called conversion therapy and do not align with any existing definition of it. The petitioners call on the House to ban coercive, degrading practices that are designed to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, and to amend Bill C-6 to fix the definition of conversion therapy, thus banning conversion therapy without banning voluntary counselling or criminalizing conversations, and to allow parents to speak with their own children about sexuality and gender and to set house rules about sex and relationships.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Madam Speaker, the third petition is about the carbon tax. It highlights the significant economic challenges that have been created and exacerbated by the government's decision to increase the carbon tax. It announced that increase in the middle of a pandemic. The petitioners call on the government to repeal the decision to increase the federal carbon tax to $170 per tonne and to have the carbon tax shown as a separate expense when buying products so that citizens are aware of exactly how much money they are paying in carbon tax at a given time.