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.