Status of Women committee  Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to begin by thanking the members of the Standing Committee of the House of Commons on the Status of Women for the invitation to appear. It is very important for us to come before you to talk about the repercussions for our organization of

Status of Women committee  Fine. I don't have any time left? All right.

Status of Women committee  I do not claim to speak for all women's groups in Quebec. However, I can tell you that these changes have been very badly received in Quebec. This is the only federal program for women's groups in Quebec, and reaction is extremely negative. We have the feeling that this is an att

Status of Women committee  The regional offices are extremely important because WP program officers would follow up on our files, both in terms of developing our applications and throughout the follow-up process. It was an extremely important relationship. As well, there were people at SWC with expertise

Status of Women committee  That is certainly a possibility. As far as we are concerned, the changes to the Women's Program mandate are really budget cuts, and nothing less. We are working not only to ensure that we can play a greater role within society—which is the new Program objective—but also to achiev

Status of Women committee  Quite recently, the Quebec Pay Equity Commission published its report, some 10 years after the legislation was passed. I invite you to read it, because it is extremely interesting. It is surely available in English. It includes observations regarding the effects of proactive pay

Status of Women committee  I talked about direct budget cuts representing 66 per cent of our organization's core funding. We received about $75,000 annually, per initiative, under the Women's Program. I could table with the Committee a list of what we have done in the last two years. We spearheaded a cam

Status of Women committee  In fact, there is no inconsistency between policy work and services provided on the ground. Our members are funded by Employment Quebec and the Ministry of Health and Social Services. I believe we have made very specific gains. Through our work, we now have a parental leave syste

Status of Women committee  I believe we already have.

Status of Women committee  We are suggesting the following four measures: that the Minister immediately restore Status of Women Canada's budget; that regional offices be re-opened and that the responsibilities of the current team be restored; that the primary mission of the Women's Program, which is the ac

Status of Women committee  We have done a great deal of research in recent years. In Quebec, the Women's Labour Development Advisory Committee has done some research, and the most recent statistics show that in some categories, we are moving towards equality.

Status of Women committee  She could also read the new Quebec policy that sets out 63 specific steps and five major policy thrusts, 10 of which deal with the economic autonomy and equality of women.

Status of Women committee  I referred earlier to the four priority demands we had passed on to the Minister, and now I would like to speak straight from the heart. Our organization will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and yet, it is in a climate of tremendous uncertainty that we approach ou

Status of Women committee  It's a fine project, isn't it? For these project, we have felt for some years that there needs to be mobilization on this important issue in Quebec. We need a report card on access to equality programs and the various legislation we have on this subject. Various government depar

Status of Women committee  Last year, we were told, in Quebec, that occupational diversification for women was one of the leading objectives in the invitation to submit proposals that year under the Women's Program by the Women's Community Program. After three or four tries, we submitted an application fo