Foreign Affairs committee  I would point out in response that we have no control over what those companies charge for vaccines. Now it's this price; by next year, it could be double the amount. Keeping the pharma monopolies in power also undermines our ability, possibly in the future, to be able to purchas

Foreign Affairs committee  I can jump in on this issue. A study by MSF has already shown that about 100 companies are ready to manufacture these vaccines around the world. Obviously, nothing is going to happen overnight and there need to be adjustments made. These are companies that are already producing

Foreign Affairs committee  I can elaborate on that, which also includes the situation in Hong Kong. China has pursued a policy of zero COVID cases. From the start the Chinese policy was they're not going to let it in; they're going to focus on the testing. As soon as there was a case, they kept it isolate

Foreign Affairs committee  If I could add to that, the thing is that we knew that would happen, because this is how it has happened in the past and this is just how the world works, right? That's why COVAX was set up. That's the thing about it: COVAX, in its conception, was a brilliant idea to try to avoid

Foreign Affairs committee  I can jump in. That's a tricky question. That's what we're trying to find out as well. It has been very nebulous. On the one hand, they are saying they're not supporting it, but they're also not opposing it. They've basically been standing on the fence on this issue for many mon

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Chair. It is my pleasure to be here before the committee. Oxfam supports long-term development, advocacy and emergency response programs in more than 90 countries around the world. The low- and lower middle-income countries we work in have suffered tremendously from t

Status of Women committee  I could add to that. If you're trying to make a profit out of providing care, the only way you can really do that is by cutting wages. In care, it can't be substituted, automated and so on, so if you want to make a profit from that, you're cutting people's wages. That's what's be

Status of Women committee  This is one of the reasons the child care sector is continuously struggling with this retention and hiring crisis. Because the working conditions are so poor, women just burn out. No benefits are available to them. It's one of the lowest paid and most precarious jobs in Canada. W

Status of Women committee  I think a big part of that is a lack of paid sick leave for many workers in our economy. I talked about the double burden of care: paid work and unpaid work. If you can't take a day off from your work because you don't have paid sick leave, that absolutely adds to the stress and

Status of Women committee  That is actually something that the child care movement has been calling for for many years now—to actually legislate child care. I think that goes back to that point that care is a right, but also to shift our economic thinking around what is an investment and what is a cost. Th

Status of Women committee  This was really the impetus of why Oxfam Canada conducted the survey in June, because we felt there just wasn't enough data and understanding of how things have shifted throughout the pandemic. As I mentioned, the burden has definitely increased, but again, it hasn't been equally

Status of Women committee  What I would like to add is around how this money is spent. Obviously, this is going to provinces and territories through their transfers. At the current time, there just aren't enough measurements and targets put in place to ensure that this money is actually spent in a way that

Status of Women committee  Thank you so much. Dear committee members, thank you for inviting Oxfam Canada to present on the important issue of women's unpaid work. At Oxfam Canada, we put women's rights and gender justice at the heart of everything we do, both here in Canada and in our work with some o