Human Resources committee  Good evening, and thank you very much for this opportunity to speak on Bill C-65 on behalf of the National Association of Women and the Law. NAWL is an incorporated not-for-profit feminist organization that promotes equality rights of women in Canada through legal education, research, and law reform advocacy.

Human Resources committee  No, just again to reaffirm the importance of ensuring that the multiplicity of mechanisms remains available to complainants, and in part because of the differences in remedies that are available under the various mechanisms. What we would not want to see is that the remedy proposed under Bill C-65 ends up actually limiting the access to justice that those who are victim survivors of harassment, violence have available to them.

Human Resources committee  I think there is some benefit to having that kind of language, but then again we go back to that is the beauty of having a multiplicity of mechanisms available. Say, for instance, there is a decision made not to pursue a complaint under a particular process, others will remain. I think flexibility is a positive element that can be considered.

Human Resources committee  There are two intentions. First of all, we know that what is counted, counts. We need to have the data on exactly what is the incidence of sexual harassment, violence, and harassment in workplaces. It's incredibly important to have that data. The second reason is to be able to understand whether or not the measures that have been put in place are effective.

Human Resources committee  No. Indeed, confidentiality in relation to the particular complainants would be incredibly important, but it should be an employer responsibility to be able to track the number of incidents of harassment, of violence, of sexual harassment that are taking place, and to be clear about understanding how they've been resolved, and to be transparent about that as well.

Human Resources committee  I'll be happy to start. I think some of the points that we made in our submission include the fact that competent persons have to have specific expertise on human rights, on violence, including the spectrum of gender-based violence, and on sexual harassment. The other aspect of being a competent person that has been debated using different language is there has to be confidence on the part of the complainant that the competent person is going to be unbiased.

Human Resources committee  On this exact topic, having a requirement that the first complaint go to the supervisor when it's an MP in a very small office obviously presents a very difficult situation for complainants. I think that has to be given very specific consideration. One of the points that we tried to raise in our submission is that the explicitly political nature of the way in which the Hill works and the perception and/or reality of partisanship being at play in the investigation and/or resolution of complaints really speaks to the need for neutral, independent persons to be in charge of the investigation and the decision-making.

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to speak on the subject matter of Bill C-86 on behalf of the National Association of Women and the Law. I think most of the members of this committee are familiar with NAWL, which is an incorporated, not-for-profit feminist organization that promotes the equality rights of women in Canada through legal education, research and law reform advocacy.

Finance committee  Thank you. We are also part of the pay equity coalition and support all the positions that were put forward by the coalition in terms of the concerns with some of the specific provisions, but we also applaud the measures to finally introduce pay equity legislation after such a long period of time.

Justice committee  I'm going to hazard a guess that I may be more fascinating. Let's see. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Good evening and thank you very much for this opportunity to speak on Bill C-78, on behalf of the National Association of Women and the Law. As I think most of you know, NAWL is an incorporated, not-for-profit, feminist organization that promotes women's equality in Canada through legal education, research and law reform advocacy.

Justice committee  Thank you for the question. We actually are not in disagreement. The starting point for us is that there should not be an automatic exclusion of ADR because it does work for some women. They are able to get the kinds of outcomes they're looking for. However, there are many cases involving family violence where ADR may not be appropriate.

Justice committee  Did you want to add anything?

Justice committee  No, in fact we hope it will have the opposite effect. The reason that we've asked for that change is to centre the best interests of the child again in all the considerations. One of the things that we have put forward in the brief is that keeping women safe, keeping mothers safe is also in the best interests of the child.