Committee
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 1 - 31 of 31
View Lindsay Mathyssen Profile
NDP (ON)
Yes, unfortunately, and it was mentioned, as well, that when those leaders come out and are racist, it gives permission almost. I've certainly heard that. My office has heard that, unfortunately. We are trying to report that as much as possible. I think it was stated by my leader that hate is like a fire. If you don't extinguish it quickly, it does spread far too quickly.
I want to expand on some of those pieces of legislation that we were talking about before and that you just mentioned. One of the things that we often hear about, too, is the Employment Equity Act. We know that women are still paid a great deal less, but it's even more so when you are a racialized woman. Could you talk about the strengthening of the federal Employment Equity Act and attaching equity measures to all federal investments and recovery programs that we're seeing coming out of COVID to ensure that racialized groups and other under-represented groups have that equality and access to employment, as well as to those resources?
Samya Hasan
View Samya Hasan Profile
Samya Hasan
2021-06-17 12:32
Thank you for that question, MP Mathyssen.
That is very much connected to the anti-racism efforts that we really need to step up on. On employment equity, as you know, during the pandemic we've seen racialized communities being disproportionately impacted by COVID, partly as a result of their being overrepresented in front-line precarious labour. CASSA did a study over the last three years on South Asian immigrants in Toronto and their trying to secure decent employment. One thing we found was that despite having amazing credentials, having a great education either from here or from back home, they're still struggling to secure decent employment. I'm talking about even something that is above minimum wage, so it's very difficult.
You are right about the gendered aspect of employment equity. Women face even more barriers, especially women who have language barriers, women who are not as fluent in English or who are at home for a long time to take care of household responsibilities and then want to go back into the workforce. There are not a lot of training opportunities for women who have scheduling conflicts. There are a lot of barriers that racialized women face. I think that should be an important part of the employment equity legislation, and there's also working with the province on employment equity legislation.
We know that at the federal level it will only cover a certain portion of the Canadian public. It won't cover all of the population. Work with the provinces as well to push for employment equity legislation on that front.
View Joël Lightbound Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses as well.
I represent the riding where, unfortunately, the Quebec City mosque attack occurred on January 29, 2017. The mosque is in the heart of my riding.
I can tell you one thing: Quebec City's Muslim community was experiencing fear long before January 29, 2017. Groups like La Meute were behind a number of incidents. For example, group members would hand out cards at halal markets and in front of mosques. They wouldn't give their names, but they would tell people they were keeping an eye on them, watching them. They put a pig's head at the front door of a mosque. They were responsible for all kinds of incidents that contributed to a climate of fear, something no one in the country should have to experience because of their faith.
I don't think it was a lack of good faith on the police force's part. I just think it was a lack of training and awareness. Police likely did not have the necessary level of trust or the resources to properly support a community that very clearly felt threatened in its day-to-day activities. Unfortunately, the community still feels that way at times. I think that's true right across the country.
I want both Mr. Fogel and Mr. Farooq to talk about best practices police can apply to build trust with communities. Do you have any examples of things we can do at the federal level? You talked a bit about that in your opening statements, but I'd like you to elaborate.
Mustafa Farooq
View Mustafa Farooq Profile
Mustafa Farooq
2021-06-16 17:33
Thank you.
This is an important question. I think there are a number of best practices that do need to be undertaken. Part of those best practices involve a lot of community listening and working with local communities in an authentic way. I mean if we look at the Quebec City police, for instance.... I remember, in 2019, the Quebec City police put forward the notion that hate incidents had significantly decreased. That wasn't true, and when we talked to folks, we were able to clarify quite quickly that they had calculated their statistics wrong in terms of the fact that hate crimes were much higher than what they said they were. When police agencies are working with local communities, when they're listening to local communities, when they're listening to those who are saying that we can't police our way out of this problem and that there needs to be a multifactorial approach while, of course, maintaining that there has to be a role for effective law enforcement, I think that's really when we start to come to solutions.
Shimon Koffler Fogel
View Shimon Koffler Fogel Profile
Shimon Koffler Fogel
2021-06-16 17:34
I'm hesitant, but I'm going to be a little provocative over here.
Mustafa, if I get it wrong, then please tell me.
Here's part of the challenge. Different communities have different relationships and histories with law enforcement. When you ask how law enforcement, police services can play a more constructive or more effective role, the answer is going to be different based on the experience of a particular community. For Muslim Canadians who may have felt racially profiled, or for indigenous peoples, or for women who have felt that police have been generally dismissive, there's a first step that has to take place before everybody can be aligned in the same place to move forward. I think it's a really complicated question that speaks to the need for this to be assessed and managed at the granular level, which is why municipalities are so important to the solution.
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, members of the committee, good morning.
I would first like to acknowledge that I am joining you from Montreal, on the traditional territory of the Mohawk and other Haudenosaunee peoples.
Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. With me, as you said, are Joëlle Montminy, senior assistant deputy minister, cultural affairs, and Pierre-Marc Perreault, acting director, digital citizen initiative.
Like you and many other Canadians, I am concerned by the disturbing rise and spread of hateful, violent and exploitive content online and on social media.
As a legislator and father of four children, I find some of the content of these platforms to be profoundly inhuman.
I am also deeply troubled by the consequences and the echoes of that content in the real world.
The overall benefits of the digital economy and social media are without question. In fact, I published a book, shortly before I took up politics, wherein I talked about the benefits of the digital economy, of artificial intelligence in particular, but also about some unintended negative consequences.
In Canada, more than 9 out of 10 adults use at least one online platform, and since the beginning of the pandemic, online platforms have played an even more important role in our lives.
We use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to stay connected to our families, friends and colleagues. We use them to work, to conduct business, to reach new markets and audiences, to make our voices and opinions heard, and to engage in necessary and vital democratic debate. However, we have also seen how social media can have negative and very harmful impacts.
On a daily basis, there are Internet users who share damaging content, either to spread hate speech, the sexual exploitation of children, terrorist propaganda, or words meant to incite violence.
This content has led and contributed to violent outbursts such as the attack on the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City in 2017, and similar attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.
Canadians and people all over the world have watched these events and others unfold on the news with shock and fear. We all understand the connections between these events and hateful, harmful online discourse. We worry about our own safety and security online. We worry about what our children and our loved ones will be exposed to.
According to a recent poll by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, an overwhelming 93% of Canadians believe that online hate and racism are a problem, and at least 60% believe that the government has an obligation to prevent the spread of hateful and racist content online.
In addition, the poll revealed that racialized groups in Canada are more than three times more likely to experience racism online than non-racialized Canadians.
Since the beginning of the COVID‑19 pandemic, we have seen a rise in anti-Asian hate speech on the Internet and a steady increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric, further fuelled by recent events.
A June 2020 study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that Canadians use more than 6,600 online services, pages and accounts hosted on various social media platforms to convey ideologies tinged with white supremacism, misogyny or extremism. This type of content wreaks havoc and destroys lives. It is intimidating and undermines constructive exchange. In doing so, it prevents us from having a true democratic debate and undermines free speech.
The facts speak for themselves. We must act, and we must act now. We believe that every person has the right to express themselves and participate in Internet exchanges to the fullest extent possible, without fear and without intimidation or concern for their safety. We believe that the Internet should be an inclusive place where we can safely express ourselves.
Our government is therefore committed to taking concrete steps to address harmful content online, particularly if the content advocates child sexual exploitation, terrorism, violence, hate speech, and non-consensual sharing of intimate images.
In fact, this is one of the priorities outlined in the mandate letter given to me by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. So we have begun the process to develop legislation that will address the concerns of Canadians.
Over the past few months my office and I have engaged with over 140 stakeholders from both civil society organizations and the digital technology sector regarding this issue. This has included seven round-table discussions. We also spoke with indigenous groups, racialized Canadians, elected provincial officials, municipal officials and our international partners to assess our options and begin to develop a proposed approach.
In addition, given the global nature of the problem, I have hosted a virtual meeting with my counterparts from Australia, Finland, France and Germany—who were part of the multi-stakeholder working group on diversity of content online—to discuss the importance of a healthy digital ecosystem and how to work collectively.
I am also working closely with my colleagues the ministers of Justice, Public Safety, Women and Gender Equality,Diversity and Inclusion and Youthas well asInnovation, Science and Industry to find the best possible solution.
Our collaborative work aims to ensure that Canada's approach is focused on protecting Canadians and continued respect for their rights, including freedom of opinion and expression under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The goal is to develop a proposal that establishes an appropriate balance between protecting speech and preventing harm.
Let me be clear. Our objective is not to reduce freedom of expression but to increase it for all users, and to ensure that no voices are being suppressed because of harmful content.
We want to build a society where radicalization, hatred, and violence have no place, where everyone is free to express themselves, where exchanges are not divisive, but an opportunity to connect, understand, and help each other. We are continuing our work and hope to act as quickly and effectively as possible. I sincerely hope that I can count on the committee's support and move forward to build a more transparent, accountable and equitable digital world.
I thank you for your attention and will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Debra Shime
View Debra Shime Profile
Debra Shime
2021-06-03 16:41
Good afternoon. Let me start by recognizing and thanking the committee and the government for the critical and important work you are doing to support people across Canada and to support the essential community services that are helping our families and communities.
United Way Centraide is Canada's largest funder of vital community services. We focus on eliminating poverty and ensuring vulnerable Canadians have the support they need to build sustainable livelihoods.
Each year United Way invests over $500 million to support over 3,500 organizations in over 5,000 communities across all provinces and territories. Of that, over $23 million is invested in specific seniors programs that help 330,000 people annually. In addition, we know that thousands of other seniors attend many other types of programs addressing such things as food security, disability services and general community well-being. With the support of our donors and corporate partners, we mobilized during the pandemic an additional $47 million, which aggregates both our initial investment in community and the government's investment.
In June 2020, with the support of the federal government through the new horizons for seniors program, we rapidly expanded funding to over 870 organizations that supported isolated seniors. These programs offered a total of 1.3 million services to over 700,000 vulnerable seniors during the pandemic. They were offered by a network of community agencies in every province and territory. These programs were enabled to reconfigure existing services to meet public health guidelines, expand existing services and support previously underserved areas. Over the course of the last year, we also funded over 5,200 community service programs through the emergency community services fund, of which 2,000 were services specifically for seniors.
To ensure that every person had access to services, with support from the federal government, we rapidly expanded our 211 navigation service to all regions of Canada so that every Canadian could get help finding the services in their community. The 211 service saw a staggering 39% increase in contacts over prior years. Many of those callers were and continue to be seniors or those seeking support for their [Technical difficulty—Editor] particularly vulnerable group. The extended shutdown of public activities affected the many community programs and services that those already vulnerable seniors relied on to combat isolation, build social networks, access culturally appropriate food, receive mental health support and stay active.
United Ways worked with municipalities, public health entities, foundations and front-line agencies to coordinate pandemic community responses. We collectively mobilized quickly around community response tables to problem solve such things as how to maintain Meals on Wheels deliveries, transition in-person contact to phone check-ins, assist seniors with prescription and grocery delivery and pivot seniors to online gatherings to maintain vital social connections.
Based on the context of each community, Centraides identified and responded to the needs of those who face barriers. Some of the barriers that we identified are living on a low income, being a member of a minority group or being over the age of 80. Those were identified as considerations of overall vulnerability. The most frequently funded programs were food and grocery support; outreach to prevent and address isolation, and hygiene and cleaning supports.
I'd like to leave you today with five key takeaways.
First, the last year has shown the level of innovation and agility that is possible within the community services sector. We do not want to lose that spirit of innovation and collaboration as we emerge from the pandemic.
Second, it is important to focus on the role that caretakers play as part of the continuum of care. It is an essential part of our response going forward that caretakers have the supports they need to keep seniors safe, secure and healthy at home.
Third, partnerships and collaborations have been the foundation of the innovation and response that we have seen over this past year. We can and should encourage collaboration and coordination between organizations, rather than foster competition. Seniors and their caregivers will be better off for it.
Fourth, we would be remiss to not mention the disproportionate impact of COVID on communities of colour—Black, indigenous and South Asian specifically. Our efforts must double to address systemic racism and the barriers and inequities they create.
Finally, one of the lessons for funders is the need for flexibility. Local leadership knows what they need, and with the right supports they will find the right solutions. We expect that services are going to start costing more and that agencies will not be able to deliver the same level of services over the coming months. These organizations have stepped up during this crisis and they are under great stress. We need to help them maintain their operations.
The United Way Centraide network remains committed to supporting seniors as Canada emerges from the third wave and as we turn our attention towards building back better. If we want a strong and equitable recovery that supports healthy aging, we need to support the community-based and community-led organizations that support seniors where they live.
This is particularly true for seniors from the most marginalized communities, including Black and indigenous communities, and those living in vulnerable circumstances.
I am happy to speak further to any of these issues, as requested.
Thank you very much for your time and attention today.
Theresa Tam
View Theresa Tam Profile
Theresa Tam
2021-05-21 11:09
Thank you, Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Health, for inviting me to speak to you today.
The Government of Canada has taken a whole-of-government approach in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every day we are achieving important milestones in Canada's vaccine rollout. In just five weeks, we have doubled the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses given across Canada, from 10 million doses administered by mid-April to almost 20 million doses administered to date. As of May 15, 55% of eligible adults have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
As outlined in Canada's COVID-19 immunization plan, the goal throughout our campaign has been to enable as many Canadians as possible to be immunized as quickly as possible against COVID-19 while ensuring that high-risk populations are prioritized. In doing so, we will reduce serious illness and death while minimizing societal disruption.
To meet these goals, we have conscientiously relied on the accumulating scientific data, the emerging evidence and the guidance of public health experts to inform our decisions, strategies and recommendations. The Public Health Agency of Canada's vaccine rollout task force has been guided by committees of immunization experts such as the National Advisory Committee on Immunization and through close collaboration with provincial and territorial partners.
Grounding our approach in public health science and equity resulted in the identification of priority populations and the extended dose strategy currently in place. These strategies have been instrumental in meeting our public health goals and maximizing protection both for at-risk groups and the population overall.
Although the national daily number of COVID-19 cases remains high as we continue to feel the effects of a variant-driven third wave, there is reason to be optimistic, as public health measures are demonstrating an impact and vaccination coverage broadens. Over the past seven days, there has been a more than 25% decrease in daily cases, and compared to last week, the number of patients in hospitals has dropped by 10%. Nationally, deaths have decreased by 15% compared to last week.
The success of vaccinating priority populations first, specifically people 70 years of age and older and those living in congregate settings, is borne out by the observation that this age group has the lowest case rate nationally, and its hospitalization rate is also decreasing.
While nationally all age groups are seeing a decline in case rates, people aged 20 to 39 years old now represent the highest rate of infection. As additional age groups become eligible to book vaccines in different jurisdictions across the country, this highlights the importance of everyone stepping up to get their shot as soon as it becomes available to them.
We are committed to removing barriers to vaccination and building vaccine confidence. The success of the vaccination campaign relies on as many people as possible taking part. We are broadcasting this message loud and clear through the nationwide “Ripple Effect” communications campaign launched this week, which uses multiple multiple mass media formats to encourage vaccine uptake. I, myself, am reaching out to key priority groups such as personal support workers and key influencers such as faith leaders and YouTube personalities popular amongst younger adults.
The good news is that a strong majority of adults in Canada have indicated an intention to become vaccinated. However, despite this encouraging finding, we know that we must sustain our pace of vaccination even as coverage rates climb. As case rates come down and there is pressure to relax health measures, there remains a risk that those who face barriers to accessing vaccines will be left behind.
In this regard, community-based efforts to encourage vaccination will be crucial in the coming months. We know from experience that those approaches are effective. For instance, we have seen positive results in vaccine uptake using approaches that engage indigenous leaders and supporting, for instance, urban vaccine clinics operated by indigenous organizations, and we have seen success in reaching racialized and marginalized communities with information about vaccines by engaging individuals in their own languages and on platforms they already use.
Through dedicated funding, we are doing more to support the efforts of those with the expertise and capacity to promote vaccine confidence in their communities, especially in those communities experiencing health and social inequities or that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The immunization partnership fund has provided $3 million per year since 2016, supporting 22 projects to increase vaccine uptake. In 2020 an additional $30.25 million was confirmed to fund more than 100 projects focused on capacity for health care providers and community-based programs, specifically social media campaigns, targeted resources and frontline interventions.
The vaccine community innovation challenge, funded with $1.5 million, supports projects in diverse communities to help spread the word about vaccines, increasing vaccine confidence through creative, community-driven and culturally appropriate means.
There is reason to be hopeful as we begin to feel the impacts of widening vaccine coverage across Canada, but we're not yet in the clear. Long-range modelling suggests that new cases will continue to decrease if current measures are sustained. We have an important window of opportunity to bring COVID-19 under control in Canada very soon, but it requires two key actions. The first is getting vaccinated as soon as it is possible to do so. The second is continuing to follow public health measures until it is truly safe for them to be relaxed. These two elements will provide the vaccination campaign the environment it needs to yield the highest possible results to protect Canadians and support the reopening that we all so eagerly await.
Thank you.
Traci Anderson
View Traci Anderson Profile
Traci Anderson
2021-04-27 11:55
Yes, for new immigrants, indigenous communities and women in those communities, I think it's very challenging. Again, I think back to the lack of opportunities and being defined in those traditional roles.
Aside from our platform around child care and Internet, I feel that there need to be better opportunities for those women, such as jobs, connections to culture and just opportunities to connect into communities. I think of a project that we're doing locally here where we're providing recreational activities for youth, children and their moms who identify as immigrants in Canada.
I don't know, Shealah, if you would want to touch on that.
Shealah Hart
View Shealah Hart Profile
Shealah Hart
2021-04-27 11:56
Sure, Traci.
I believe, of course, that we look at someone's identity and we start looking at the intersections, and that of course things like race and language present barriers for families. Whether they're indigenous folks or immigrants or they belong to a racialized population, we see even more struggles for those people than we do for the people who don't have those identities.
I think that in rural communities sometimes those people are further marginalized than they would be in urban centres. I think there's sometimes more wariness about new people coming into the community. Sometimes it's difficult to fit in or to be accepted when people seem so different from you. I think we definitely see more struggles when it comes to those populations, and we need to work hard to ensure that people who belong to those groups have the same opportunities that others in our rural communities have available to them.
As well, I think we need to pay special attention when we're considering the opportunities we're creating in our rural communities to make sure that they are fitting with the needs of unique families with unique circumstances and backgrounds, not only in recognizing their uniqueness as a wonderful thing, but in looking at those families and those individuals and saying, “Hey, we're going to help you, and what can you do to help us?” How can they both benefit so that they have a great learning exchange there, with everyone benefiting, growing and taking something incredible away from the opportunities that their partnerships are able to create?
View Sonia Sidhu Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses for being here.
I know that Punjabi Community Health Services is providing important services to Bramptonians. Thank you for that.
I would like to direct my question to Ms. Dhillon.
Ms. Dhillon, we live in the same community. We see the impact of the pandemic every day in Brampton. We have heard in this committee how racialized communities have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. How can we ensure that they have access to health services and are supported as we recover economically?
Puneet Dhillon
View Puneet Dhillon Profile
Puneet Dhillon
2021-04-27 12:46
Thank you, Ms. Sidhu. This is a very important and much-needed question at this time. I'll try to answer it to the best of my capacities.
First, what I see as the solution to the problem that we Torontonians are all facing is that one barrier to accessing the services could be a lack of awareness about the resources that are present.
Another important barrier is lack of knowledge of the language, because most South Asian women who are homebound and are working at home and do not have access to any of those language instruction classes have very big barriers. Being a South Asian woman myself, I have also met many others who do not even know how to navigate with a GPS, how to connect to these resources, or even how to make a phone call, so language has become a huge barrier.
A third barrier, which has come since COVID-19, is mobility, because when we come here as immigrants, the major problem is that there is always a barrier to mobility, both from a financial point of view and physically. Sometimes South Asian women, especially Punjabi women, who want to go from here to there have to depend on their male counterparts in the family. They have to wait for them to come home from work and then for them to take them somewhere. This is one of the problems. I think awareness and education about all the resources available are the key. More connection between the community service organizations and the communities and a more diverse touch to these types of services will help us remove at least some of these barriers. This is my belief.
View Andréanne Larouche Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I thank the witnesses for being with us today to talk about the realities of women in our country, and specifically the experience of immigrant women and the different realities they face depending on whether they are settling in a rural or urban setting.
First, I would like to hear more about invisible work. As we know, invisible work is already disproportionately taken on by women. All three of you have addressed this issue in your own way.
Ms. Chouakri, can you tell us in what ways this reality manifests itself more for immigrant and racialized women?
Yasmina Chouakri
View Yasmina Chouakri Profile
Yasmina Chouakri
2021-04-27 12:54
As I said, they share the same problems as all women in terms of invisible work, that is, all of the domestic tasks, and child care or care for a dependent relative; however, all of the barriers they face increase this invisible work and the mental burden that comes with it. This is especially true for newcomers, women who have been in the country for less than five years. For them, there is also the obligation to understand the functioning of the host society, the labour market, the francization system or the education system, for example, if they want to return to school. They have to deal with all of this, while they have lost the traditional support network they had in their country of origin. Often the traditional networks are based on an extended family model or a larger family structure, where raising children is not the responsibility of one couple, but of the whole family. They have lost all that and have not had time to rebuild a new support network. They don't necessarily know the networks that are in place, either.
At the Réseau d'action pour l'égalité des femmes immigrées et racisées du Québec, the organization I work for, we conducted an investigation about the impact of the pandemic on immigrant women.
In the first instance, several immigrant women reported that they found it extremely difficult and burdensome to cope with the family overload of caring for children and schooling at home, especially during the total lockdown. These women were in great need of respite and support from the school system, child care, homework help, and so on. They were not necessarily prepared to live with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I would like to highlight another of the most important findings that came out of our survey. This was briefly discussed earlier. In fact, many immigrant women who are not fluent in the host country's language told the stakeholders we interviewed that they do not have access to information about resources available in their language. Thus, the only information they can get is from a family member, which does not guarantee access to the right information. Many of these women therefore made a joint request. Since these women often have not yet had the opportunity to learn the language of the host country, they would like to have access to information in languages other than French and English about the range of resources that are available to them, whether it is government assistance or resources that are available to them if they are ever abused, for example.
View Lenore Zann Profile
Lib. (NS)
Thank you, everybody, for being here, and thank you for your comments in the House at second reading. They were very interesting.
I'd also like to thank Dr. Waldron for being here today, because she really has been the inspiration for me for presenting this bill, Bill C-230, the National Strategy to Redress Environmental Racism Act
Colleagues, like systemic racism, environmental racism is something that, sadly, has been part of the fabric of Canada for too many years. Environmental racism refers to the fact that communities of colour are disproportionately burdened with health hazards due to policies and practices that have been forced upon them and forced them to live in proximity to sources of toxic waste, such as dumps, toxic waste sites, sewage works, mines, landfills, power stations, chemical plants, major roads and emitters of airborne particulate matter. As a result, these communities suffer greatly and they suffer greater rates of health problems attendant on hazardous pollutants.
Although the term “environmental racism” seems new to some, it was actually coined in 1982 by African American civil rights leader Benjamin Chavez, who described it as “racial discrimination in environmental policy-making, the enforcement of regulations and laws, the deliberate targeting of communities of colour for toxic waste facilities, the official sanctioning of the life-threatening presence of poisons and pollutants in our communities, and the history of excluding people of colour from leadership of the ecology movements.”
Public awareness has grown about this issue in the last number of years and there is no doubt in my mind that the time has come for government to act both to acknowledge and address the issue. Surely we owe this to all Canadians.
I am sure that as lawmakers we all can agree it is a human right for all Canadians to have clean air and water in their communities. I know our government is working very hard to make sure that happens.
I did become aware of this issue only about seven years ago when I first met Dr. Ingrid Waldron when she explained what her research and data collecting was proving about the existence of environmental racism in Nova Scotia. If anyone still questions the reality of environmental racism, I really recommend Dr. Waldron's book, There's Something In The Water, or to watch the Netflix documentary based on the book.
The short summary of the bill requires that the Minister of Environment, in consultation with representatives of provincial and municipal governments of indigenous communities and other affected communities develop a national strategy to promote efforts across Canada to redress the harm caused by environmental racism. It also provides for reporting requirements in relation to the strategy and collecting data, including on the socio-economic circumstances and the physical and mental effects on communities across Canada that are affected by environmental racism.
We know that these effects are wide-ranging, from skin rashes and upset stomachs, to more serious illness, such as respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, reproductive morbidity, including pre-term births and babies born with Down's syndrome, as well as various cancers that disproportionately affect women.
There is evidence that many chronic diseases in indigenous communities, for instance, are not primarily due to genetics or internal factors, but actually to external factors, that is, what's in the air, in the water, in our environment.
I am grateful to members who have already supported my bill thus far, including the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, who seconded Bill C-230.
I would suggest that this is an example of what Canadians truly want to see in their government, especially in these dangerous times, parliamentarians working together to improve life for all Canadians.
Bill C-230 is a bill that would make Canada an international leader in addressing environmental, social and public health issues that impact indigenous, Black and other racialized and vulnerable communities from coast to coast to coast.
This issue has become even more urgent, I would say, in light of the growing public awareness of systemic racism and the epidemic of racism, misogyny, gender-based violence and femicide that the COVID-19 pandemic has stoked, since it has disproportionately impacted vulnerable communities.
Please do the right thing, colleagues, and support Bill C-230.
The strategy must include measures to: examine the link between race and socio-economic status and environmental risk; collect information and statistics relating to the location of environmental hazards; collect information and statistics relating to negative health outcomes in communities that have been affected; and assess the administration and enforcement of environmental laws in each province.
It must also include measures to address environmental racism, including: possible amendments to federal laws, policies and programs; the involvement of community groups in environmental policy-making; compensation for individuals or communities; ongoing funding for affected communities; and access of affected communities to clean air and water.
With that, colleagues, I will leave it there.
Dr. Waldron will continue.
David Morin
View David Morin Profile
David Morin
2021-04-14 17:52
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. Good afternoon.
As my colleague, Laura Farquharson, indicated, my name is David Morin. I am the director general of the safe environments directorate at Health Canada.
I welcome this opportunity to discuss Health Canada's role in protecting the health of Canadians from environmental risks.
Specifically, I would like to spend the next few minutes speaking to Health Canada's activities related to the health of indigenous peoples and racialized communities and the environmental health risks they face. This includes risks associated with exposure to toxic chemicals, air pollution and water pollution.
Exposure to toxic chemicals represents an ongoing health risk facing indigenous peoples and racialized communities, as well as other vulnerable populations.
In response, Health Canada has been working to better integrate specific considerations for vulnerable populations when conducting chemical risk assessments and implementing risk management activities under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. These improvements include the establishment of a vulnerable populations panel to help better understand the real-life exposures of vulnerable populations to chemicals.
In parallel with these efforts, Health Canada has also undertaken science and research initiatives targeting the environmental health risks facing Canada's indigenous populations. For example, Health Canada, in partnership with the Nishnawbe Aski Nation as well as Indigenous Services Canada and other partners, recently completed the Sioux Lookout zone children's environmental health study.
The multi-year study was undertaken to characterize indoor and outdoor air quality in first nations communities in Canada because of the high levels of respiratory illness, such as bronchitis and pneumonia, in children.
The study provides valuable insights into the linkages between housing, indoor air quality and health.
We now better understand the current state of housing in the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, but we also have a better understanding of issues related to air quality.
Finally, since 1991, Health Canada, along with other federal departments, has supported the northern contaminants program. The objective of this program is to reduce or eliminate contaminants in traditional foods and to provide information on contaminants to individuals and communities so they can better protect themselves. This program includes biomonitoring of contaminant levels in northern populations.
I wish to thank the committee for the opportunity to highlight examples of activities Health Canada has undertaken to address the environmental health risks faced by segments of the population.
Thank you very much for your attention.
View Kirsty Duncan Profile
Lib. (ON)
Do some neighbourhoods, for example, in Toronto, have a higher test positivity rate than the 6.1% you just gave?
View Kirsty Duncan Profile
Lib. (ON)
Are different types of housing associated with different types of case growth?
David Williams
View David Williams Profile
David Williams
2020-12-10 11:26
We're finding that it was more varied where you have high neighbourhood ethnic variation and you have multi-generational families in one residence. That seems to be more of a factor than socio-economic status per se. It does play a part. We see a higher risk in lower SES as well as a much bigger difference, almost, from the quintiles of racial diversity, the lowest being around 15 per 100,000 and the highest at the moment being 170 per 100,000.
View Kirsty Duncan Profile
Lib. (ON)
David Williams
View David Williams Profile
David Williams
2020-12-10 11:27
That means when we take our data and break it down to areas that have certain definitions, from the statisticians who do it, that have quintiles of neighbourhood racial diversity in areas, under postal codes. It goes from the lowest to the highest, and so the highest quintile has a rate, at the moment, that has increased up to 170 per 100,000, from the data we have from testing that, knowing that the testing penetration varies from area to area depending on cultural issues, access to testing facilities, etc.
View Tony Van Bynen Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for joining us again today, Minister. It's been a very busy time for you and the health officials who are here today, particularly Dr. Tam. I really appreciate your virtually stopping by York Region recently and for joining us a second time here in committee. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to ask you the questions that I consider to be important to my constituents.
Minister, we are all aware of the heavy toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on Canadians, and especially on their mental health. I'm seriously concerned about this, which is why I introduced a motion for us to study the impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health of Canadians. These are uncertain times, and there's no doubt that many Canadians are facing new and increased concerns with their mental health.
Could you please explain to the committee what your department is doing to help Canadians access mental health services?
View Patty Hajdu Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you to the member for the focus on mental health and people who use substances.
We know that this pandemic is creating a high degree of anxiety, loneliness, stress and grief for Canadians as they work through the many aspects of living through a pandemic. In fact, early on, drawing from experiences of countries that were ahead of us, we knew that we needed to rapidly act to put together supports for Canadians, no matter where they lived, no matter what supports they already had in place, because so many Canadians don't have access to mental health services or substance-use services where they live.
That's why we launched the Wellness Together portal this spring. It's completely free. It's completely confidential. It's available in both official languages. In fact, there's translation for folks who don't speak either official language. As of November 17, more than 613,000 Canadians across the country have used this portal, with over 1.7 million distinct web sessions.
The main thing about the portal is it actually connects people to professionals, as well as providing some self-assessments and self-help tools. People can actually get help from professionals through texting, telephone and virtual visits. I know there's more to do, but certainly this can help support people, especially folks who don't have access or trusted providers in other parts of their life.
View Tony Van Bynen Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Minister. There's no doubt that COVID-19 has changed our lives. It's increasingly apparent that some groups are feeling the mental health impacts of COVID-19 much harder than others.
There's also an increased awareness of the need to address inequities among Canadians. It's my understanding that you've announced a fund specifically to address mental health among Black Canadians and other racialized groups. Could you please elaborate on that?
View Patty Hajdu Profile
Lib. (ON)
The member is absolutely right. The impact of the pandemic, although we're all in it together, has different factors for different groups. One thing we have seen is the anti-Black racism that many people from the community have spoken about. It's not just during the context of the pandemic, clearly, but as part of their everyday experience.
Groups that are racialized, stigmatized, as a result of their backgrounds and their experiences.... It is a public health threat. That is why we're investing $10 million through the mental health of Black Canadians fund. This funding will support 16 community-based projects across the country doing very important work to support Black Canadians in these challenging times.
We've also extended applications specifically for projects to support Black LGBTQ2+ Canadians, which is another gap, by the way, that's very specific and very unique. Again, this is really about supporting organizations and community projects that are run by Black Canadians for Black Canadians and of course have the opportunity to help support people who are struggling in this particular time.
Kent Roach
View Kent Roach Profile
Kent Roach
2020-11-16 16:29
Well, I think it's very important to empower racialized people within the RCMP so that there are support groups. I know that's in the Toronto Police Service and the Ottawa Police Service, where groups of racialized police officers not only can mentor but can also respond to problems that they have within the organization. That's one thing.
The second thing is that I think we need to have consultative community committees, but we also need to realize that speaking to two or three people in one community is never enough, and we need to have town hall meetings. I think that in some cases the commissioner needs to listen—and I know she's very busy—but she also needs to have people within various communities who she can have a continuing relationship with, but who then can also take her to different communities in order to have a town hall.
Policing has to be democratic, and the commissioner has to realize that. As with any police chief, the police chief works for the board or, in this case, the commissioner works for the minister, and if it's not working out, then, as in all cases, it's maybe time to find someone who has a different vision.
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
In recognizing that, does that also extend to racialized communities?
Yves Giroux
View Yves Giroux Profile
Yves Giroux
2020-05-29 11:56
That's also a good point, but it's not something I've looked into personally.
View Don Davies Profile
NDP (BC)
Dr. Liu, reports are emerging that COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting racialized communities in the United States. In Chicago, for example, more than half of all confirmed cases and 72% of recorded deaths have been among African Americans, who make up just 32% of the population of that city. Are we seeing similar disparities in Canada? You spoke of vulnerable communities. Do we even have the data to make that determination?
Joanne Liu
View Joanne Liu Profile
Joanne Liu
2020-04-15 15:32
Thank you very much for the question. It's a very good question.
I don't think that we have that granularity yet in terms of information on racial backgrounds. The only thing we have is on elders being more hit than the rest of the population.
Results: 1 - 31 of 31

Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data