Status of Women committee  The member has very rightly underscored the reason a complaint-based system is completely inappropriate for addressing gender inequality in wage circumstances. I know about those cases the member is speaking about, the toll it has taken and the amount of money that has been kept

Status of Women committee  Yes. That relates really to the previous question. The consultations with small businesses and large businesses across Canada have led me to believe that even before the pandemic there were concerns about the challenges associated with implementing pay equity. As I indicated, it'

Status of Women committee  Could I clarify? Are you talking about how pay equity influences the effects of the pandemic?

Status of Women committee  You want to know how the government sector influences the private sector?

Status of Women committee  I do indeed believe that this legislation will significantly impact not only federally regulated private-sector employers, but also the other provinces in Canada where there is no proactive pay equity legislation. It's obviously important for the government to take this seriousl

Status of Women committee  Absolutely, I'm very happy to do that. When I first assumed this role as pay equity commissioner in 2019, I was very eager to speak directly with all of the various people involved in the federal jurisdiction—employers, employees, unions, non-governmental organizations such as L

Status of Women committee  That's a very interesting question. It really does cause me to reflect on almost three decades now of work that I've been doing in the area of pay equity. As I mentioned, I saw the toll that this kind of litigation took on the women themselves and also on the employers, who some

Status of Women committee  The act provides that each employer has three years to develop a pay equity plan. Parliament made that choice when it drafted the legislation.

Status of Women committee  The regulations were pre-published in the Canada Gazette, part I, on November 14, 2020, as I'm sure the member knows. As a pay equity division of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, we have been actively involved in examining those regulations and working with ESDC—Employment a

Status of Women committee  Yes. Thank you for that question. Most employees who are eligible to receive a pay equity adjustment will receive that adjustment the day after the posting of the pay equity plan, which is three years after the coming into force of the legislation. If the act comes into force in

Status of Women committee  I am delighted to talk about our tools. We are actually developing very useful tools that will significantly help small and medium enterprises to develop their pay equity plans. With one of these tools, which uses Excel, employers will be able to enter their data by job categor

Status of Women committee  The concept of pay equity is certainly based on the fact that there are myths about the value of the work done by women in the labour market. However, I would not say that the myths and stereotypes have an effect on the implementation progress of the act. Rather, I would say that

Status of Women committee  Yes, indeed, and thank you for the question. We believe that the proactive pay equity regime is particularly likely to benefit women with intersecting identities, such as newcomer women, racialized women, indigenous women and women with disabilities. Research indicates that wome

Status of Women committee  Thank you for that question. Indeed, the Pay Equity Act applies to all federally regulated workplaces. To the extent that older women find themselves in federally regulated workplaces and are continuing to work, yes, they most certainly will be eligible for pay equity adjustment

Status of Women committee  Yes, indeed, I'm happy to do that. I would just like to clarify that in fact the federal legislation is really the third proactive piece of pay equity legislation in the country. Both Quebec and Ontario have had proactive pay equity legislation for some time. This is the first p