Status of Women committee  I think the one thing, if we don't implement a quota for all parties, is to work within your parties to increase women's representation and to enforce the mechanisms that you are putting in place in your own political party to increase women's representation overall, because we know it's not just a one-party issue.

Status of Women committee  I think it definitely made it more likely, because through that experience I now have mentors. I now have a network of 337 daughters across Canada who I know I can go to. I can ask questions. I can lend support. They'll help me in terms of helping with the media that I put out. They will provide me with their ideas and the experiences that they've had.

Status of Women committee  I think it would it be interesting. I think from my own experience with the Canadian Women Voters Congress, we saw a number of women go on to run successful campaigns. However, I don't think it's necessarily just important for women to go on as candidates, but that they just get politically involved, whether that's working on a campaign, door knocking, or whatever that looks like.

Status of Women committee  I think one of them is putting more funding towards these already ongoing opportunities. I think, again, a lot of it comes down to as leaders, the language and ways we talk about women in politics. For example, in those model parliament sessions, I saw a lot of what we don't like about federal politics being recreated and mirrored in those simulations.

Status of Women committee  Yes, in general, but I think that if the government did come out with its own training programs, that would be a great step. But, as I said, I think it's also important to recognize that this work is already happening, albeit in understaffed and underfunded organizations. If we boost the funding, there are opportunities to expand these programs.

Status of Women committee  First of all, I think government has the opportunity to provide funding to these underfunded organizations that already do this really great work. For example, the Canadian Women Voters Congress unfortunately disbanded in November, so Equal Voice has committed to taking up those opportunities of having boot camp training, three days when women can come together and explore different issues and actually attempt to run their own campaign and talk about what that looks like and take on questions from the media, which is really great.

Status of Women committee  There are a number of strategies that can be employed to have an impact in the short term. I think one could be a quota. For example, Rwanda has a constitutional quota. There are various different types. Legislative quotas have also been proven to be successful. Again, it depends on the context and the countries in which you're implementing them, because they'll have different social and cultural factors that you need to take into consideration.

Status of Women committee  When it comes to media, the most important thing is the language we're using, as leaders, to talk about women in politics. For example, during the U.S. election, which I paid attention to, Donald Trump said that Hillary Clinton did not look presidential. What does that mean, and what does it really just support this idea that women need to look a particular way to be in political office, which has many different negative connotations?

Status of Women committee  Sorry?

Status of Women committee  Yes. I think we need to take preventive or disciplinary actions. I know that Samara Canada commented on different types that have been looked at. I think it could come down to training—when you're elected into political office, sitting down and having conversations about ways to respectfully engage when you disagree with your colleague.

Status of Women committee  I'm not familiar with Bill C-76, but I can expand on what I'm talking about in terms of nomination races. It starts with your recruitment. I know, for example, that the Liberal Party of Canada has set voluntary internal targets, but has had issues in terms of being able to fulfill them.

Status of Women committee  I think that training is really important. We know that women in Canada are far more likely to agree with a statement like, “Sometimes politics and government seem too complicated for a person like me to really understand what's going on.” I think by having training sessions....

Status of Women committee  My time with the Together Against Poverty Society began when I was introduced to it while I was taking my social justice studies diploma at the University of Victoria. There was a practicum element, so I decided to be part of Together Against Poverty Society as a disability advocate.

Status of Women committee  I was sent the link to participate in Daughters of the Vote by my female boss, who said that because I do a lot of work in politics, she thought I'd be really great at this. I thought about it, and said I thought this was a really great opportunity for me to meet other like-minded women to discuss barriers that we collectively experience in politics and to come up with strategies for how to overcome these barriers moving forward.

Status of Women committee  Through the experience of Daughters of the Vote?