Status of Women committee  If they are self-employed, there should be a mandatory in place that they can contribute. I don't know if I want to call it mandatory, but I think the opportunity should be there to allow them to contribute. Because sometimes people can barely break even, even if they're self-emp

Status of Women committee  Yes: a lot of people are not employed and are not contributing.

Status of Women committee  At the same time, they do have certain needs. Some cannot contribute because they do not have the opportunity to contribute. They cannot find the employment they need that would allow them to generate the revenue, that would allow them to participate in the system, that would all

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  Of course. You'll have them contributing more into the system.

Status of Women committee  I do as long as the eligibility criteria are fair toward women.

Status of Women committee  For the training; no artificial barriers should be set up to prevent them from accessing the training.

Status of Women committee  For some women, they have to be on EI in order to access certain types of training. We're saying that we need to remove that particular barrier. If our intent is to make sure that women can access and have the opportunities they require to help them integrate, we have to ensure

Status of Women committee  For all women, yes.

Status of Women committee  Men are also parents. I'm not here to promote the men's side of the issue, but we have men who are single fathers, who are single parents, who also do need some assistance. It's not a matter of telling men that they can't access this system. It's making sure that you look at it f

Status of Women committee  No, I'm not saying a separate system. No matter what system is in place, there's also a place for modification. There's also a place to create additions. We should look at the realities out in our community. You've heard from one immigrant woman here today. Look at what people

Status of Women committee  But some part-time people are paying into the system. And let us not forget, we are 54% of the population. Therefore, we would take a bit more out of it, I believe.

Status of Women committee  One of the things, and I think I mentioned it earlier, is that there are some immigrant women who come into the country where their skills, their education, etc., are part of that whole processing system. However, when they get here, they can't find employment on their own. Some

Status of Women committee  I'm not too clear on the last part of your question. Are you asking if live-in caregivers are experiencing greater problems or difficulties because of the EI situation?

Status of Women committee  Has their situation improved? No. And I'm saying no because, as I said earlier, a lot of our information comes from the clientele we see in the various agencies. I don't know how OCASI gathered the information, but my understanding is that there was a discussion among some agen