Status of Women committee  On the whole notion that there are more groups, so there are constraints on funding, I might suggest you stop funding for-profit groups and the private sector through Status of Women, and find the money that way to re-distribute to the new groups that ask for it.

Status of Women committee  I meant that “one” might want to consider doing that. On the closure of regional offices, I believe that is a problem in particular. If so many new groups are getting funding, without that one-on-one kind of contact with a regional office, making sure that projects are on task, you may run into problems of less accountability, which runs contrary to the government's stated aims.

Status of Women committee  There's no call for proposals.

Status of Women committee  We've never faced any of those kinds of restrictions. We are pretty roundly viewed as a fairly credible voice in the community, and we've demonstrated to the community accountability in using funds and direct results.

Status of Women committee  There's nothing that precludes new organizations from applying; however, when old organizations fit the criteria, they should also be funded. As to the anecdote, I do not think it's fair to paint us as authors of our own demise. We have done many fundraisers. We have relationships with the credit unions.

Status of Women committee  I'm sure mental health is doing wonderful work. They are not a women's organization, but nobody is saying that new organizations shouldn't qualify. What we are saying is that 25 years of accountable use of Status of Women funds and successful completion of projects should count for something.

Status of Women committee  I'll try to do it quickly. To this notion that we have an ability to move forward, well, we have a great deal of support in the community, but there are no other avenues of funding. As to the Alberta women's groups and other groups—because Mental Health is not a women's group, but they did receive funding—there has been no regional representation here because there's no one in southern Alberta, south of Calgary, who has been funded.

Status of Women committee  We set the priorities for what we were going to ask for, for phase one, which then led to the phase two application that was denied. We set those priorities by working in the community for 20 years, working with low-income women and advocating on their behalf. It was almost like 20 years of focus grouping on where we saw gaps in service and gaps in full participation in economic life.

Status of Women committee  For us, that would be disappointing, if it were the case, because it would mean that 25 years of relationship-building with people who work at Status of Women, of our long record of service among people who have institutional memory of that—all of that—would have been lost, and applications would have been decided upon somewhat arbitrarily.

Status of Women committee  They have asked us for some revisions in the past, and we have taken less money in the past. Those are conversations that have been held. There was no conversation in this instance.

Status of Women committee  Concerning the application criteria, nowhere in the application does it say that being a new group is part of the funding criteria. If that has become part of the funding criteria, it should be made apparent to everyone asking for money. That was never part of any conversation we had with Status of Women, it is not written anywhere on the application, and it would have been good information to have.

Status of Women committee  For us, an enormous amount of time, both paid and unpaid, is taken up writing grants. Yes, for something such as our financial information program, it would seem to me that running that as a project first to see if it would work would be a great idea, and then, because we identified such a need, running it as an ongoing core-funded program that works on the full participation of women in economic life.

Status of Women committee  Well, $317,000 is almost precisely what we asked for, for phase two of our project. We would have served thousands of women with that in southern Alberta. For us, that is alarming, What I really want to make sure people take home today is that these decisions have consequences, and they have very serious consequences in southern Alberta for the thousands of women we serve.

Status of Women committee  Absolutely. The work of equality is not done.

Status of Women committee  For us it was very alarming that private sector groups and other for-profit organizations were receiving funding when an organization that pays its staff less than a living wage for the hours that we put in to serve low-income women did not get funded. As far as I know, we had a multi-billion-dollar economic stimulus package in this country for private business; I'm not sure why they also have to knock on the door of Status of Women Canada.