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Results: 91 - 105 of 342
Charles Castonguay
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Charles Castonguay
2021-03-09 19:45
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
Our language policies are failing to preserve both Canada's English-French linguistic duality and the French character of Quebec itself. My conclusion is based on close to a half-century of census data.
First, I'll say a word on why our language policies are failing us. The more a minority language group is concentrated within a given territory, the better it resists assimilation to the majority language. A language policy aimed at preserving the French-speaking component of Canada's population should therefore have aimed first and foremost at maintaining and promoting the French character of the province of Quebec.
Canada's Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism rejected such an approach. It opted instead for individual freedom of choice between two official languages and for the free circulation of individuals from coast to coast, unhindered by any linguistic measures that might possibly restrict such mobility. This kind of linguistic free trade principle has guided Canada's language policy ever since.
It is a striking fact that at the same time, Quebec's Gendron commission was grappling with how to ensure the free circulation of unilingual French-speaking Quebeckers within Quebec, which was gravely impeded by the domination of English in Montreal's work world. Quebec, therefore, opted for a policy with French as sole official language and with a Charter of the French Language geared to make French the default language of public communication between all Quebeckers, including at work.
Conflict was inevitable between Canada's free trade “official language of your choice” policy and Quebec's protectionist “one official and common language” approach. The outcome was equally inevitable. The courts have left precious little of Quebec's charter intact. This has had dire consequences for French in Quebec, and automatically for French in Canada as a whole.
Now I will turn to some statistics. The French mother-tongue component of Canada's population plummeted from 29% in 1951 to 21%, according to the last census, that of 2016. Since Canada's Official Languages Act, the percentage of Canadians speaking French as their main home language has declined just as rapidly. In contrast, Canada's English-speaking component has just about held its own.
The crushingly superior power of assimilation of English is the principal explanation for this. The assimilation of Canada's French mother-tongue population to English as their main home language increased steadily from less than 300,000 in 1971 to over 400,000 in 2016. At the same time, the assimilation of non-official mother-tongue Canadians to English rose from 1.2 million in 1971 to 2.7 million at the last census, whereas their assimilation to French has reached a mere quarter million, a large number of whom derive from Quebec's selection of immigrants who had adopted French as their main home language abroad before coming to Quebec.
On the whole, the overall gain that English draws from assimilation of all kinds in Canada increased from less than 1.5 million persons in 1971 to over three million in 2016. French, by contrast, still remains mired in an overall loss, due to assimilation, in the order of 180,000 at the last census.
At the level of Canada as a whole, therefore, Canada's language policy and Quebec's sorely weakened charter have, taken together, in no way stopped the erosion of Canada's French-speaking component.
Lately, things are not any rosier for French in Quebec. Indeed, between 2001 and 2016, the last 15 years, Quebec's French-speaking majority has plunged at record speed to a record low. In contrast, in Quebec, for the first time in census history, English has roughly maintained its weight in Quebec as a mother tongue, and increased its weight somewhat in terms of the main home language.
The most stunning development is on Montreal Island, where French mother tongue youth have become more bilingual than their English counterparts and are now adopting English as the main home language at the rate of 6%.
As for the rest of Canada, the anglicization rate of the French mother tongue population outside Quebec has steadily increased, from 27% in 1971 to 40% in 2016.
The most eloquent evidence of the failure of Canada's language policy is, however, the anglicization rate of Francophones in Canada's very capital. It has exactly doubled since Canada's initial Official Languages Act, rising from 17% to 34%. It even topped 40% in 2016 among the capital's younger French mother tongue adults, a proven forerunner of greater anglicization yet to come.
It is high time, therefore, to aim Canada's language policy more squarely at preventing further erosion of Canada's fading linguistic duality.
View Leah Gazan Profile
NDP (MB)
I know you mentioned women, but what other groups are more likely to be excluded from claiming EI benefits and what kinds of barriers do they face? Are there any other specific groups that are falling through the cracks?
Hassan Yussuff
View Hassan Yussuff Profile
Hassan Yussuff
2021-03-09 16:29
Well, workers of colour and young people are the two other groups we should be very concerned about.
Prior to the pandemic, we finally got youth unemployment into the single digits. Now it's back up in the double digits, and we don't want this to be another lost generation that doesn't come back. Equally, I think in many urban centres, workers of colour who have been on the front line providing services to Canadians during this pandemic—and I think we have seen this in the statistics that StatsCan has been providing every month—are not doing so well in the recovery and are not doing so well in the unemployment levels of this country. We're going to have to take that into consideration if we want to lift those communities out of poverty and equally ensure that people aren't falling further behind because they end up being on employment insurance because they've lost their job.
View Raquel Dancho Profile
CPC (MB)
I know that youth employment, particularly in the tourism sector in summer, is pretty big. How are the youth doing in P.E.I.?
Carl Pursey
View Carl Pursey Profile
Carl Pursey
2021-03-09 17:25
Not too bad, with all these programs; it's great that the federal government has been there with the money and has handed it out to people as quickly as they have. I know that some of the other people in Ottawa figure there's too much money being handed out and we've got to cut everybody back. That is not the way to go. I think we have to help people out through these hard times. I think that's why these other programs and changes to EI would help people out in hard times.
Josée Bégin
View Josée Bégin Profile
Josée Bégin
2021-02-23 15:37
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, members of the committee. Thank you for inviting Statistics Canada to speak today as part of the study on employment insurance.
Statistics Canada has many data sources, such as the Labour Force Survey, or LFS, and employment insurance, or EI, statistics, that are used to paint a more complete portrait of labour market-related events. Many of the indicators I will cite today are drawn from these sources. Each data source has its benefits and drawbacks, for example, in terms of coverage, sample size and how quickly data are published.
The pandemic has caused unprecedented job losses in Canada. Total employment fell by more than three million during the worst of the crisis in March and April. Within three months, the unemployment rate almost tripled, reaching 13.7% in May. Although the labour market has improved since then, most labour market indicators have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. Their recovery has been slowed by the public health measures in place.
In January 2021, the unemployment rate stood at 9.4%, compared with 5.7% in February 2020. The number of long-term unemployed workers, in other words, people who have been looking for work or on temporary layoff for 27 weeks or more, remained at a record high of 512,000.
New experimental data show that COVID-19 has significantly impacted groups designated as visible minorities. In January, the unemployment rate of Black Canadians was 5.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier, versus an increase of 3.7 percentage points for Canadians who did not identify as indigenous or did not belong to a group designated as a visible minority. This more precarious labour market situation for population groups designated as visible minorities is partly due to the higher concentration of these workers in some of the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 economic crisis, such as accommodation and food services.
Looking at age groups, youth employment in January 2021 was the furthest, -14%, from the pre-pandemic levels of February 2020, when compared with other demographic groups, particularly employment among young women, -17%.
Last December, 1.3 million Canadians were receiving regular EI benefits, almost triple the number from February 2020, which was 446,000.
The results of the LFS show that 1.8 million people were unemployed in December, including 1.5 million who were looking for work and 300,000 who had a connection to a job, either because they had been laid off temporarily or because they had arrangements to start a new job in the near future.
There is always a proportion of unemployed who are not eligible for EI benefits. Some unemployed people have not contributed to the program because they have not worked in the past 12 months or because their job was not insured. Others contributed to the program, but they do not meet the eligibility criteria.
In December, 13% of all regular EI beneficiaries were eligible as a result of temporary changes made to the eligibility rules in September 2020. This proportion was higher in Quebec and in the Atlantic provinces than in the other provinces.
The December LFS results revealed that the industries where employment remained furthest from pre-pandemic levels included accommodation and food services, information, culture and recreation, and what is known as other services, including personal services and laundry services. The challenges facing these industries are reflected in the profile of regular EI beneficiaries. For example, in December, more than one in four regular EI beneficiaries had last worked in one of these three sectors.
The uneven impact of COVID-19 across industries, combined with relaxation of the rules for accessing the EI program, has also driven the proportion of women who receive regular benefits upward, which rose from 37% in February to 48% in December.
My colleague Vincent and I would be happy to answer any of your questions.
This concludes my presentation, Mr. Chair. I hope this overview of the Canadian labour market will be useful to the committee.
Marie Rochette
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Marie Rochette
2021-02-23 11:11
Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for inviting me to be part of this study on food security in northern communities.
Last December, Adamie Delisle Alaku, one of the vice presidents of the Makivik Corporation, had the opportunity to give you some information on the beautiful region of Nunavik and on the challenges resulting from its remoteness. I won't repeat the information that he provided during that presentation.
I want to talk about the Parnasimautik report, which was prepared following an extensive consultation with Nunavik Inuit in 2013. The report referred to growing concerns about food insecurity, which affects an alarming proportion of the population; the decline of certain animal species; and climate change. The report emphasized the key role played by the land's resources in the region's food, way of life and economy. It reiterated the need to protect the land and its resources to ensure food security.
These concerns and aspirations aren't new. Local and regional organizations have been focusing their efforts on these issues for several decades. Nevertheless, food insecurity remains very high in the region.
I'll provide some preliminary data from the 2017 Quanuilirpitaa survey. The data is preliminary because the final report should be released in summer 2021.
The survey repeated a question that had been asked in the previous survey in 2004. Participants were asked whether they had experienced, in the month prior to the survey, a period in which there wasn't enough to eat in their home. Almost 34% of Inuit reported that this situation had occurred in 2017. In comparison, the figure was 24% in 2004. The situation doesn't seem to have improved over time.
To explore the issue further, in 2017, a scale with different questions was used to try to better define the proportion of Nunavimiut considered food insecure. If we include individuals who experienced mild food insecurity, over three-quarters of Nunavimiut reported that they experienced food insecurity in the previous year. The concern is that this proportion is higher among youth. The rate is 87% among youth aged 16 to 19. It's even higher among pregnant women, at 89%.
The Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services has been providing support to organizations for several years to help create initiatives that contribute to food security, health and well-being. This support may include professional support, funding, training, networking opportunities, toolbox-type resources or recipes, for example. Some of the initiatives involve activities run by community kitchens that use both traditional and market foods. There are activities to encourage people to make healthier food choices, such as in-store activities and nutrition activities in family homes.
Food assistance, such as food hampers and meal distribution, is being provided to people who have difficulty obtaining food. Gardening activities and greenhouse projects are currently being carried out in four Nunavik communities. There's also a growing interest in these types of projects.
Regional resources or projects are being run not only by the regional board, but also by several partners, such as the food coupon program for pregnant women and school meal and snack programs. Emergency food assistance is being provided to people who are currently in quarantine or isolation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. There's also the hunter support program, along with the community freezers found in each community.
To take these initiatives even further, a food security policy is being developed. A regional task force was created in 2015 upon the initiative of the Makivik Corporation, the Kativik Regional Government and the regional board.
The task force has partnered with various regional organizations in Nunavik. The task force's goal is to find short-term, medium-term and long-term solutions to improve the accessibility and availability of nutritious food. Four engagement sessions were held in 2017 and 2018. Over 150 people from all the Nunavik communities took part in these sessions. The following topics were discussed: access to traditional foods; promotion of healthy eating; accessibility and availability of nutritious market foods; and local production and processing.
With these topics in mind, the following issues were identified as priorities for policy: improving access to traditional foods; improving the accessibility, quality and availability of nutritious market foods; supporting the development of knowledge and skills; and promoting community partnership, engagement and decision-making.
The next step is to develop the policy. I must admit that the COVID-19 pandemic has unfortunately put a halt to this initiative. We hope to be able to start work again soon. We must then prepare a five-year action plan and secure the commitment of all stakeholders at the local, regional, provincial or federal level.
I'll conclude by saying that the vision, which is supported by the policy and the stakeholders contributing to it, consists of a food system that includes both traditional and non-traditional foods. The system will be rooted in the land, local resources, and Inuit culture and values.
Thank you for your attention.
View Sonia Sidhu Profile
Lib. (ON)
Dr. Bernstein, there are few groups that were not part of vaccine trials, such as teens or pregnant women. Can you provide insight on any research that has been done to make sure these vulnerable groups are protected?
Alan Bernstein
View Alan Bernstein Profile
Alan Bernstein
2021-02-22 12:38
Typically in vaccine trials, teens and pregnant women are not included in the first instance because they represent a high-risk group. There's a concern that they not be exposed to a vaccine until it's been tested to be safe and effective by the regulator. However, as we speak, there are now trials going on with younger-aged volunteers in those trials to see whether the vaccines are safe, as well as being effective in younger children.
I think the same will be true for pregnant women shortly. Both the WHO and that U.S. FDA have issued guidelines around that, which are somewhat contradictory. On balance, I think the view is that it's probably safe and effective for pregnant women to take the vaccine, especially because there is good evidence that being affected with the virus when you're pregnant makes you particularly susceptible to a serious disease outcome.
Again, the trial has not yet been done.
Francis Fortin
View Francis Fortin Profile
Francis Fortin
2021-02-19 15:37
Good afternoon.
Madam Clerk and members of the committee, I am very glad to be here this afternoon.
My name is Francis Fortin, and I am an assistant professor at the Université de Montréal's school of criminology, as well as a researcher at the International Centre for Comparative Criminology. The focus of my research is cybercrime and the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet. Before getting into research, I spent 12 years working in cyber investigation and criminal intelligence at the Sûreté du Québec. I've authored a number of scholarly articles and three books, as well as a dozen or so chapters on cyberpedophiles.
Having a limited amount of time, I chose to divide my presentation into three parts. First, I will discuss options to encourage corporate compliance. Second, I will talk about ways to support and guide victims. Third and finally, I will address prevention and research.
Before I get into that, though, I want to say a few words about the current context. If you ask law enforcement agencies to break down the cases they deal with, two main categories emerge. The first category involves minors, and in those cases, a fast lane of sorts exists. Canada has a series of legal measures that make it easier to remove some child pornography content.
The second category involves adults, and the law is more vague in relation to those cases. For example, an adult who files a police complaint can be told that their case is a civil litigation matter. One of the witnesses gave such an example earlier. Basically, it's considered a civil matter, and the burden of taking the necessary steps falls on the complainant. As I see it, that's problematic.
Keep in mind that the revenge porn trend emerged a few years ago and shows no signs of slowing. As far as I know, Canada still has no active measures that allow authorities to take action in those cases.
Now I will turn to solutions, or ways to encourage corporate compliance. The key is to hold adult content providers accountable. One of this morning's witnesses mentioned the use of digital signatures. A number of worthwhile initiatives exist and are deployed mainly by law enforcement. Police keep child pornography databases and rely on digital signatures. Someone alluded to electronic fingerprinting earlier. These images have to be able to be shared on all platforms, including Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, the GAFA platforms. I know that Google and Facebook use lists they obtain in the United States. These platforms should be required to block content that has previously been deemed illegal.
The requirement to report content is another option, although it remains a thorny issue. A tremendous effort is needed to educate web giants on the importance of reporting. The current approach tends to involve removing the content and claiming that nothing can be done. Things are even worse on the platforms of the web giants. They refuse to even remove the content. That is a far cry from relying on the platforms for co-operation and encouraging them to report issues to the authorities. Reporting is essential to investigate suspects who repeatedly engage in this behaviour.
Another option is to prevent content from being shared anonymously. It's easy to see how knowing and validating the identity of individuals who spread this content would significantly decrease the risks associated with illegal content. That would result in platforms having trustworthy content providers, since new users would ultimately have to undergo verification to gain platforms' trust.
Litigation is another avenue, as one of the witnesses mentioned. One of the benefits of involving the police is that they assess the complaint to determine whether it is founded.
I think that's an important step. I don't think platforms, content providers or anyone else should be doing an assessment of the complaint, especially in cases where there is a consensus. I'll come back to that point later.
The prompt removal of the content in question is an important consideration.
In all the cases you've heard about, there's one thing to remember: it's a race against time. In order for the parties to satisfy their legal obligations, it may be appropriate for companies to immediately suspend access to the content once it has been confirmed that there are reasonable grounds for doing so. That would happen even before guilt had been established. In this scenario, reasonable grounds would lead to the prompt suspension of content access.
I think it's important to consider issuing an operating licence as a way to support all of these measures. Companies would have to satisfy those compliance requirements in order to operate. It could be done through the adoption of an ISO standard or the issuing of a licence to operate in Canada.
The second thing I'd like to talk about is support and guidance for victims.
It's clear from their stories that they found themselves fighting the situation on their own. They were up against something that they didn't understand, something that had never happened to them. Obviously, that's extremely difficult.
Basically, there has to be a shift towards victim support. That means creating a new position, a victim liaison of sorts, who would help and guide victims. As soon as problematic content on a platform was flagged, that liaison would get involved.
Whenever a new case came to the attention of police or other front-line workers, they would contact the person designated to guide and support the victim. That person's role would be to quickly assess the complaint, and respond accordingly and swiftly. Establishing such a role would help victims because the liaison worker would be familiar with the process, know what steps to take and know who to contact at the main providers. That would prevent the cat-and mouse-game the victim gets caught up in, figuring out on her own what to do and who is responsible under the law. There would be a single person dealing with the different platforms.
A list could be drawn up outlining the steps to take when an incident of this nature occurs, similar to the process in the case of an accident. On one hand, police handle the investigation and deal with the criminal aspect, and on the other, the liaison steps in to manage the accident, so to speak. Furthermore, that person could—should, in fact—have the necessary powers to be effective.
The liaison could work with police and organizations involved in preventing sexual exploitation. In fact, I could readily see victims groups, even the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, taking on that role in the future.
A novel approach would be to establish a special victims task force, which would bring together police and liaison workers, and have all of the necessary legal tools to track down content. The task force would, of course, uncover information about suspects, but would not be responsible for the follow-up. The information would be turned over to the appropriate investigative authorities, and the task force would focus on tracking down content and ensuring platforms comply with the new measures. If Canada were to introduce an operating licence system, as I mentioned earlier, it would make the task force's job easier, as would having the contact information of those in charge.
That brings me to my third point. I want to underscore the importance of focusing on prevention in schools.
A continued focus on awareness is needed to make sure young people understand the significance of pictures and videos. Victims readily put their trust in people or technology. Many cases involve young people who trusted apps and sites like Snapchat because they felt secure knowing that the content would be removed. They ended up realizing, however, that their pictures and videos were shared without their consent.
Lastly, I want to stress how relevant research is.
In Canada and the U.S., we have no evidence focused on the phenomenon. The sexual exploitation of children on the Internet is hard to measure. I recommend that the government adopt measures to make it easier to access data, so that researchers like myself can build a body of evidence to effectively inform public policy.
I have been working on this problem for nearly 20 years now. I don't think we can rely on the industry to regulate itself. That's quite clear from the stories you've heard.
View Charlie Angus Profile
NDP (ON)
Thank you.
Ms. Walker, I read some of Pornhub's—I don't even know what to call them—tickertape issues, how they draw views on runaway teens, homeless teen abuse, teens destroyed and teens manipulated.
When I read subsection 163.1(3) of the Criminal Code, it looks to me like this is trafficking in child pornography. Mr. Tassillo, though, said I didn't understand the word “teen”. He said that normally, when you're using the English language, “teen” is used for someone 13 to 19 years old. We have 13-year-olds and 14-year-olds and 15-year-olds, and the word “teen” is in each of those words.
However, he said that in the adult entertainment world it actually means 18 to 25 or 18 to 27. He says it's understood that when you say “teen”—when you're talking about a “crying teen”, I guess, or “teen destroyed” or “stolen teen sex tape”—we would normally understand that as people who are legally able to consent and would be up to 27 years of age.
Given your work with victims and given your work with the law, would you say that's a correct or incorrect interpretation of what a teen represents?
Megan Walker
View Megan Walker Profile
Megan Walker
2021-02-19 16:40
That's incorrect. When they advertise for teens, oftentimes they are teens under the age of 18. Also, the regular Joe or Josephine who is going to be clicking to watch it does not have an understanding that it would mean 18 or 19. That individual or individuals would have an understanding that it is a young girl.
The other point is, whether that woman or girl is over or under 18, in my experience, a number of women who have disclosed that they have been raped on video were not consenting either to the rape they endured or the posting of that rape publicly.
View Jaime Battiste Profile
Lib. (NS)
I'm glad you brought up youth. I was on the Assembly of First Nations Youth Council many years ago. I've talked to people from northern Manitoba, and they have mentioned the lack of connection with the environment, and the mental health impact that is having.
Can you speak about the impact that is having on the mental health of youth, and whether you're getting a lot of outmigration, namely, youth leaving the communities?
Garrison Settee
View Garrison Settee Profile
Garrison Settee
2021-02-18 11:37
Yes, that is the challenge in first nations. When you have the reality of 85% unemployment, there is very little opportunity, and that escalates into a lot of things. They try to alleviate their pain, and they turn to drugs and alcohol. They leave the community. When they leave the community, it sets up a cycle of homelessness, and all kinds of challenges if they don't have the education to secure a job.
COVID has really shone the light on a lot of the deficiencies and inadequate programs that we have in first nations, because the youth are the largest demographic. They're the ones who suffer the most. In a first nations community where they're isolated, they are now in quarantine. It exacerbates the problems. As a result, there are many mental health issues.
Being out on the land, and having access to the land, is the way our people heal themselves. That's all connected with food security. It's all connected, and everything is interrelated in our culture.
View Rachel Blaney Profile
NDP (BC)
The other thing you talked about was education, and the supports that are required for youth and mental health. I imagine that food sovereignty has a huge impact on the mental health of young people. Are you getting the appropriate supports, and how is food sovereignty specifically impacting the mental health of young people?
Results: 91 - 105 of 342 | Page: 7 of 23

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