Committee
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 1 - 15 of 704
Yan Hamel
View Yan Hamel Profile
Yan Hamel
2020-08-10 12:28
Out of respect for Mr. Sébastien Lemire, the member who invited me, my presentation will be in French.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I'm the president and chief executive officer of Canada's largest cruise line. We operate 25 ships. In 2019, we carried 600,000 passengers, 65% of whom were from outside Canada. We had 750 employees. However, as of March 15, we were down to 33 employees. As a result of the Canada emergency wage subsidy, or the CEWS, we now have 250 employees.
I'm also a member of the board of directors of the Alliance de l'industrie touristique du Québec, which represents 10,000 businesses in 40 regional and sectoral tourism associations and belongs to the business leaders' group.
I want to thank the Honourable Sherry Romanado, the chair of the committee. I also want to acknowledge the committee members along with my colleagues from the Quebec and Canadian tourism associations.
I want to thank the federal government for the programs that it has developed and implemented to date. I also want to say that we greatly appreciate the fact that the government is actively paying attention to our current situation.
The tourism industry has some unique characteristics. First, labour is key to our tourism product. The customer experience is largely made possible as a result of the human assets of our employees. These employees have been severely affected by the pandemic. In a few moments, I'll outline some measures to help them in this area. Next, we operate throughout Canada. Lastly, we have a strong seasonal component, both summer and winter, and our production cycle is very different from the cycle of other companies. Our inventory is perishable. Every time we lose a working day, we can't get it back later. The tourists won't be there. The current crisis constitutes a major challenge for us. We're living in an unprecedented atmosphere of uncertainty. We need government support, since our industry will take a long time to recover from the crisis. However, our industry has the potential to make a major contribution to Canada's economic recovery.
According to the Destination Canada estimates, in the province of Quebec alone, we can expect a loss of over 120,000 tourism-related jobs and economic losses of $11 billion during the pandemic.
Our recommendations are simple and they boil down to two things. They directly concern two existing programs. We're asking for changes to two existing programs. The first relates to labour, and the second involves the cash flow of tourism businesses.
We recommend that the wage subsidy be extended to August 2021. Tourism businesses will be in survival mode until spring 2021, when the recovery begins. We need major support in this area. The program is currently scheduled to end on November 21. However, we need lasting support.
We'll then need a review of the calculation method. Under the old system, a 30% loss made us eligible for a 75% subsidy. Under the new system, a 30% loss will qualify us for only a 12% subsidy in the new program period starting in November. Our recommendation is that the safe harbour rule of 75% be extended to August 2021 or that the declining multiplier be maintained at 1.2 for the loss of revenue on the base subsidy, while the top-up subsidy remains in place. As you know, the new wage subsidy now consists of a base subsidy and a top-up subsidy. All this would have a major structuring effect on the entire industry.
Another significant component of an existing program is the expansion of eligibility for the regional relief and recovery fund, or the RRRF. The alliance recommends the addition of a third category of financial assistance for large structuring tourism companies with a turnover of at least $5 million that have suffered a minimum loss of 30% between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, compared to the same period in 2019-20.
These companies stand out for their multiplier effect in the tourism ecosystem, the regional economic engine. The companies attract travellers, who spend locally when they visit nearby businesses. The maximum amount of financial assistance would be $5 million in the form of a subordinated loan.
The proportion of financial assistance—
Martin Vézina
View Martin Vézina Profile
Martin Vézina
2020-08-10 12:34
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I also want to thank the committee members for having me here today so that I can talk about our industry.
The Association Restauration Québec is the oldest restaurant association in Canada and the largest in Quebec. Founded in 1938, it brings together over 5,600 managers of all types of restaurant services.
In Quebec, the industry generated annual sales of $14 billion and consisted of over 21,000 companies that employed approximately 230,000 people. I should specify that this was before the current crisis. We played a key role in the economic, bio-food and tourism development of all regions of Quebec. We hope to continue to do so.
First, we must note that restaurants are being hit very hard by the storm that we're all experiencing. Restaurants will likely continue to be heavily affected for many months to come.
In the first few weeks of the lockdown, 80% of our members had to suspend their activities completely, which means that they had to fully shut down. Our colleagues at Restaurants Canada also made an assessment. In Quebec alone, approximately 175,000 workers in the restaurant industry were laid off at the end of March.
In April, restaurant sales in Quebec, for all categories combined, plummeted by 70%. For restaurants with table service, the drop was obviously sharper, with a decrease in sales of over 83%. Of course, the situation improved in June, as a result of the gradual reopening of dining rooms in Quebec. However, it's utopian to think that we'll return to normal and recover 100% of our usual sales.
The reason is very simple. The dining rooms can't be filled to their maximum capacity because of physical distancing standards, and many customers have disappeared as well. Think about tourists from abroad who can't come to Canada, workers who are staying home and who aren't in the city centres, and people who normally attend all the major sporting and cultural events such as the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Montreal or the Festival d'été de Québec in Quebec City.
When we surveyed 580 food service managers in early July, 61% of respondents expressed concern about their ability to survive. They said that, if nothing changes, they won't be able to survive for more than six months. This means that we must fear the worst for thousands of food service businesses, but also for thousands of families with members who depend on an income or employment in a food service business.
Of course, we welcome the assistance measures implemented by the Government of Canada. We're very pleased to see that the Government of Canada stepped up to the plate with a number of different measures, such as the Canada emergency business account, the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance.
Some of these measures continue to serve as critical lifelines for all restaurant owners across the country.
The Canada emergency response benefit or its student equivalent was needed for people who ended up with no income overnight, including many restaurant owners.
However, let's face it. Along the way, the benefits have become a real headache for thousands of employers, who are unable to recruit and employ the workers that they so desperately need to serve customers.
While a great deal has been accomplished to date to assist Canadian businesses, more must be done to help the food service industry get through this crisis.
We made 28 recommendations to various levels of government to help get our businesses back on track.
First, we believe that it's perfectly legitimate to ask for a financial assistance program—we're not talking about a loan, but about financial assistance—specifically for the food service industry to offset operating losses or, at least, to cover the many major costs arising from the new health regulations.
Second, in the coming months, the suspension of the GST and QST collection in Quebec should be considered. This could be a good way to encourage consumers, who have also had economic difficulties, to support restaurants in their community.
We obviously also support better oversight of the fees charged to merchants by payment card network operators. These fees are commonly known as interchange fees.
Lastly, because the impact of the pandemic on the profitability of restaurants will last longer than in many other sectors, the federal programs already in place must be maintained for as long as necessary. The Canada emergency wage subsidy remains critical and must be maintained. However, the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance must be changed, since many tenants can't benefit from it and because the 70% drop in income criterion is too stringent. This must change.
As a result of your assistance and concern, restaurant owners will be able to get back on their feet and continue to welcome you to their establishments across Canada.
Thank you for listening.
Christina Franc
View Christina Franc Profile
Christina Franc
2020-08-10 12:40
That's fantastic. I'm from CAFE. I'll get us started.
Thank you for inviting us to speak today on behalf of the Canadian Association of Fairs and Exhibitions. We represent almost 800 non-profit organizations, as well as service providers who support these organizations with entertainment, food, security, logistics and activities.
Many of you have likely been to a fair before, enjoyed the cotton candy, seen the sights from the Ferris wheel and maybe even enjoyed an on-site concert. What you may not know is that behind this event there is a non-profit organization, often called an agricultural society, and often led almost entirely by volunteers who are passionate about their community and who want to support its vibrancy, economy and quality of life.
These NPOs are much more than an annual event. They run spaghetti suppers; lend their grounds for weddings, funerals, trade shows and fundraisers; and may have campgrounds, curling clubs or hockey arenas. We have become integral parts of the communities we are in, whether it's Vancouver or Hants County, and we support community sustainability as a result. For every dollar our organizations earn, on average, $4.54 is put back into the surrounding community.
We are advocating to ensure that the heritage and the physical, social and mental health of our communities are protected.
Unfortunately, the programs that have been put in place by the federal government related to COVID-19 to date have proven to be almost useless to us. A wage subsidy does little for a volunteer-run organization. The short time frame in which a loan has to be repaid is nearly impossible for a non-profit to meet. We have been rejected by regional programs and redirected from one department to another.
Ultimately, as you will hear from others today, we have a very short seasonal window that has now all but passed. Events have specifically one shot to generate revenue for the next 365 days, and we've lost that.
We've been working with TIAC and fully support their comprehensive recovery plan. These measures include 100% backed loans, extending work visas and developing funding programs to support events.
Finally we are urging the government to provide $74 million in solvency support for our 743 organizations. This would support non-deferrable expenses to carry our industry through to May 2021, when we could generate revenue again.
There is a blatant gap for non-profit tourism support, and we hope you will seriously consider the suggestions above as well as how to adapt the current programs to meet industry needs.
Rest assured that this isn't about making a profit. It very literally is about surviving. Recovery is going to start locally, and that means with us, so we need to make sure we are there and ready when the time is right. By investing in us, you are investing in communities across Canada.
Once again, thank you for your time. I'll hand it over to Monsieur Roy.
Martin Roy
View Martin Roy Profile
Martin Roy
2020-08-10 12:43
Thank you.
Excluding fairs and our friends at the CAFE, the festival and events industry in Canada generates an estimated $1.5 billion in annual sales. Its annual economic spin-offs in terms of wealth creation and contribution to the GDP amount to over $2 billion. According to our estimates, at least 30,000 jobs are created or maintained.
In recent weeks, FAME submitted a brief to the Standing Committee on Finance that urges the government to focus on festivals and events to boost the economy and tourism. We made five recommendations in the brief. First, we believe that the Canadian government must take financial action through a fund designed to address the deficits of cultural organizations, including festivals and events. In our sector alone, we're talking about at least $150 million. These organizations are very often non-profit organizations that don't have any reserves or capitalization and that were unable to generate any revenue this year. A significant percentage of our members say that they're unable to resume operations or that they're uncertain whether they'll be able to do so without this assistance.
At this point, of the $500 million announced for culture and sports, only $15 million has been set aside for presenters in general, which includes festivals and events, in the form of an increase to the usual grant. This isn't enough.
We also emphasized the importance of extending the emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency response benefit or equivalent benefits tailored specifically to the culture and tourism sectors. We urged the federal government to implement a program based on the marquee tourism events program and to allocate $225 million over three years. I can expand on this idea during our discussions. It would help attract more tourism, not only from Canada under the current circumstances, but also from other countries, as soon as that becomes possible again.
I'll finish by saying that we also asked the government to renew the additional $15 million per year allocated in 2019 to the two programs, which support over 1,300 festivals and events. This addition was planned for only two years. Lastly, we suggested that the government expand the security infrastructure program so that festivals and events can access it.
Thank you. I look forward to speaking with you in a few minutes.
Susie Grynol
View Susie Grynol Profile
Susie Grynol
2020-08-10 12:45
Thank you very much.
Madam Chair and members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to testify today.
The hotel industry represents more than 8,000 hotels, motels and resorts. We employ more than 300,000 Canadians. We play an essential role in the Canadian economy, and we contribute taxes to the tune of $10 billion to all three levels of government.
Hotels in Canada are mostly small and medium-sized businesses with owners who are usually located in the community they serve. These are local entrepreneurs of often family-run businesses who have invested their entire livelihoods into a hotel or a local inn.
Our industry has been there for our communities throughout the COVID-19 crisis. We made our rooms available to front-line workers and Canadians to self-isolate. We assisted public health in the mandatory quarantining of returning Canadians. We allowed vulnerable Canadians to take shelter and prepared several hotels to welcome post-surgical patients to assist with hospital overflow. We helped flatten the curve.
Our 300,000 employees are made up of some of Canada's most vulnerable people—women, immigrants, visible minorities and young people—and they have been seriously impacted by the pandemic and the economic slowdown.
The hotel industry has been devastated by this pandemic. We were hit first, hit hardest and will be the last to recover. The limits on international and domestic travel, as well as restrictions on mass gatherings, are appropriate and necessary, but they do put us on the edge of survival. Most hotels in Canada have been operating at a revenue loss of between 70% and 90% since mid-March. If government support is not received, we will have bankruptcies and thousands of permanent job losses in the industry. According to our latest member survey, 40% have only four weeks left before cash runs out to cover fixed costs.
We are at a crossroads. That is why our association has issued a five-point plan to keep the hotel sector alive and transition it to recovery. A copy of this plan was circulated to members in advance of this meeting.
However, for the purposes of our dialogue here today, I'm going to focus on two key critical recommendations: One is liquidity that works, and the second is an increase to wage subsidy support for hard-hit businesses.
Our industry has been cut out of the government's loan program, BCAP. Banks are not willing to loan additional debt to businesses with heavy assets and an unclear line of sight to recovery. Unfortunately, our entire sector falls into that category. Hotels have had only a 6% success rate in accessing BCAP. Most hotels are being told not to apply.
Our recommendation is that the government fix this gap immediately and create a new loan program for hotels. It should include streamlined access with a 100% loan guarantee, a loan value of up to 20% of the annual revenues, a component equivalent to the commercial rent assistance program to cover three months of fixed mortgage payments, low interest, no hefty bank fees, repayment terms that make sense and no personal guarantees.
The CEWS program, on the other hand, is not just working; it has been a critical lifeline for hotels to keep employees on staff during the pandemic. The recent extension, and the addition of the top-up for hard-hit businesses, were most welcome, and they are in line with the recommendations HAC made during the CEWS consultation process. However, the drastic phase-out, which will begin in September, coincides with the exact moment when our occupancy levels from summer travel will drop and then flatline.
In September we will be forced to make the difficult decision to sever ties with the very employees we will need again in a few months' time. However, if the government maintained a 75% wage subsidy coverage, we could keep our employees on payroll and quickly ramp up when travel resumes. If the government is going to support these vulnerable Canadians either way, why not extend the subsidy further to hard-hit sectors and avoid the anxiety, uncertainty and expense of mass layoffs?
We are recommending the government maintain the 75% subsidy coverage until December by applying the safe harbour principle, as designed by finance, to periods seven, eight, nine and 10. This should apply only to businesses with severe and sustained revenue declines of 50% or more.
Our future is in your hands. The government will be making life and death decisions for many hotels. We hope you will recognize that not every sector is alike. It is time to transition into sector-specific support measures in order to bridge hard-hit industries like ours to the other side.
Thank you for your time today.
Charlotte Bell
View Charlotte Bell Profile
Charlotte Bell
2020-08-10 12:55
Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee. I’m pleased to be here.
Despite some businesses reopening during the summer season and talk of recovery, Canada’s tourism sector has remained stagnant since the onset of the pandemic. This sector was the first hit, the hardest hit and will be the last to recover. As other sectors and businesses see restrictions ease and revenues return, regulations that have handcuffed the tourism sector remain in place.
To give you a snapshot of the devastating impact on this sector, our latest survey in mid-July—normally our “high season”— revealed that 82% of all respondents experienced revenue declines between 61% and 100% in the last month compared with the previous year. Sixty-eight per cent of all respondents said that, without access to government-supported financing, they’ll be unable to stay in business. This survey includes all sectors of the visitor economy.
Let me be clear: Health and safety is paramount to this sector. It’s a key imperative for our industry to help rebuild consumer confidence and restore businesses, big and small. This industry has complied with all public health regulations, with many going above and beyond by implementing rigorous safety measures to ensure the health and safety of employees and guests. This includes hotels, air services, conference centres, tourism operators and others. This at a time when critical government support programs are nearing an end and our sector continues to be denied access to government-backed liquidity.
The visitor economy is unlike other sectors. We can’t provide curbside products or services, nor can we sell experiences online to keep the lights on.
Today I'm going to focus on a couple of the priorities.
First is sustaining tourism businesses. We know a vaccine will eventually come. Until then, we need dedicated, ongoing government support to bridge us into recovery. We can achieve this in a few ways, first, by extending the Canada emergency wage subsidy to next summer and applying the safe harbour provision to ensure the hardest-hit tourism businesses will continue to receive the 75% subsidy past the summer.
Charlotte Bell
View Charlotte Bell Profile
Charlotte Bell
2020-08-10 12:58
CEWS is one of the few support programs our sector has been able to access and is key to allowing businesses to keep their staff and avoid massive layoffs come September, not to mention bankruptcy.
Second, BCAP doesn’t work for the tourism sector, just like hotels, which are part of our sector. Across the spectrum, this is a problem. Forty-three per cent of our recent survey respondents were flat-out denied. More than 50% waited three months to hear back, and 38% are still waiting. Only 12%, all told, were approved. These businesses are deemed too risky to lend to and have been shut out of the program. Without access to government-backed liquidity, they won’t have the cash flow required to cover fixed costs or employee salaries, and they're just going to go bankrupt. BCAP needs to be amended, and it needs to be 100% government backed with a forgivable portion to cover fixed costs.
Second is reopening Canada and enticing travel. Pre-COVID, Canada was on track for another record year of inbound visitors bringing in more than $23 billion to the economy. Since March, we’ve seen a 98% decrease in inbound visitors each month. With borders closed, tourism businesses will not survive for the eventual return of regular travel, including international travel. Providing incentives to spend on tourism products will be key to making the transition a reality.
The loss of inbound tourism has had a substantial economic impact across the globe, including in Canada. Many countries offer significant inbound travel incentives to pique visitor interest. For now, we need incentives for Canadians to visit their own country through tax credits. When it’s safe to reopen our borders, we’ll also need to attract travellers in an internationally competitive market. Destination Canada and other government agencies will need dedicated funds to ensure we’re in a competitive marketplace.
Finally, the ongoing bans on mass gatherings have taken their toll and will only get worse come September, without business meetings, conventions and festivals this fall. This sector of the travel economy will need dedicated support to ensure events are able to meet expectations once they’re able to operate again.
My conclusion is this: The visitor economy has given much to Canada with 1.8 million jobs, more than $100 billion annually and a sense of cultural and national pride. We cannot afford to lose tourism. While we appreciate the programs in place so far, we continue to need government support to ensure we’re still here to welcome guests tomorrow and in the future.
Thank you.
View Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
First, I want to thank our guests for joining us today.
I want to emphasize the importance of the tourism industry in Quebec. This industry employs over 400,000 workers and generates close to 9% of jobs in the Quebec economy. We're talking about over 30,000 businesses. It should be noted that two-thirds of these 30,000 businesses are located outside the major centres, meaning outside the Quebec City and Montreal areas. Most of these businesses are small. Over 80% of these businesses have fewer than 20 employees.
Mr. Hamel, you spoke earlier about the importance of cash flow and possible moratoriums to help these businesses. We fully understand that small businesses have a more difficult time obtaining a large amount of cash flow. We completely agree with you regarding financial support for these businesses. You spoke of the changes to the regional relief and recovery fund, or the RRRF. Recently, changes were made to another program, the Canada emergency wage subsidy. As we know, this program has been very structuring for the tourism industry since the start of the pandemic. However, the new criteria for this program have put many tourism businesses in Quebec out of commission. The new criteria aren't necessarily adapted to tourism businesses.
Mr. Hamel, can you describe the negative impact of the new program criteria?
Yan Hamel
View Yan Hamel Profile
Yan Hamel
2020-08-10 13:53
Thank you for your question.
There's a major impact on the tourism industry in terms of subsidies. The tourism industry, which was the most affected, received payroll support of about 75%. Starting in September, this percentage will drop to 65%, then to 45%, and to almost 0% by the end of November.
In terms of impact, festival businesses won't have made enough money to get through the winter. Across Canada, seasonal businesses such as ski resorts won't have clients from outside Quebec, or even Canada, as they had in the past. Without these clients, sales will be very limited. Businesses won't be able to support their payroll, and therefore their employees, who are truly essential in the tourism industry.
We're really asking the Government of Canada to review the conditions of this program. Thank you.
View Anthony Housefather Profile
Lib. (QC)
My other question was about whether you have benefited from any of the government programs during the course of the pandemic.
Steve Cordes
View Steve Cordes Profile
Steve Cordes
2020-07-20 15:05
We're still exploring the wage subsidy.
I know there was an announcement last week around the 30% platform. We've lost significant earned revenue, but our government revenue, in the short term, has not dropped significantly. We're not quite at the 30%, so—
View Anthony Housefather Profile
Lib. (QC)
But you know you have the option.... I don't know enough about your organization, but non-profits generally have the option of disregarding government revenue.
If you need any help, please feel free to reach out to your MP on that.
Steve Cordes
View Steve Cordes Profile
Steve Cordes
2020-07-20 15:06
Perfect. Thank you so much.
I know that our finance team is working through the right option for us to pursue.
On the rental one, we're exploring that. Some of the properties we own ourselves, so that's the challenge. When you own your own property, you're not eligible for that. We rent some of the space, so we're exploring it with one of our landlords.
Ann Decter
View Ann Decter Profile
Ann Decter
2020-07-07 14:01
Good afternoon. I'm Ann Decter from the Canadian Women's Foundation, Canada's only national public foundation for women and girls and one of the 10 largest foundations in the world. Through three decades, our granting work has focused on moving women out of poverty and violence and into safety and confidence.
Thank you for the invitation to appear today on this urgent question—urgent because women in Canada have been impacted by the pandemic to an extent that threatens to roll back equality gains. Women's safety, livelihoods and well-being have all been put at risk, most severely for women from communities that are marginalized by systemic discrimination. The pandemic has shone a penetrating light on gender-based violence, women's economic security, care work and the central economic role of child care.
Economic losses have fallen heavily on women, and most dramatically on women living on low incomes who experience intersecting inequalities based on race, disability, education, colonization and migration and immigration status. A historic downturn in women's employment, compounded by uncertainty over the capacity of our fragile child care sector to fully reopen, is a potential perfect storm for women's economic security. Women in diverse and marginalized communities can be expected to have the greatest difficulty in emerging from this crisis.
The scale of women's job losses is enormous. At the end of May, 1.5 million women had lost their jobs and another 1.2 million had lost the majority of their work hours, impacting more than one quarter of all women workers. The lowest wage earners have been hit the hardest. Fifty-eight per cent of women earning $14 per hour or less were laid off or lost most of their work by April. Overall, women earning the lowest 10% of wages experienced job loss at 50 times the rate of the highest wage earners. This is the type of granular data revealed by the intersectional gender-based analysis that is needed to support decisions on next steps.
Mothers are experiencing disproportionate job loss. They account for 57% of parents who had lost their jobs or most of their hours by the end of May and for only 41% of employment gains. More than one quarter of mothers with children under 12 who were working in February were unemployed or working less than half-time by April's end. Mothers parenting on their own were more likely to lose work than those in two-parent families.
Women are leaving the labour market and increasing their care responsibilities at home. The number of women in core working years outside the labour market increased 34% from February to the end of April. That includes women who stopped looking for work due to soaring unemployment or to take up care responsibilities at home. This leaves women's economic security under threat.
Access to child care underpins mothers' access to the workforce, and without government intervention child care will be scarcer and more expensive. One out of three child care centres have not confirmed that they will reopen. Physical distancing requirements are reducing spaces. Personal protective equipment and sanitization will raise costs, increasing parent fees and putting child care financially out of reach for more families. Parents of all genders need child care to work, but for women, who still shoulder a disproportionate share of family care work, it is essential. Emergency closure of child care centres and schools placed a triple burden on mothers doing full-time jobs from home and managing both children and household tasks.
Care work has been central to pandemic response. Our primary and long-term care systems are staffed largely by women. More than one in three women workers are in high-risk jobs with greater exposure to COVID-19. Women make up more than two thirds of those who clean and disinfect buildings and almost 90% of personal support workers. After two decades of austerity in health care and community services, the most poorly paid workers—a highly racialized, women-majority workforce—form the first line of defence against catastrophic illness and economic depression. Canada's care economy is fractured, and women, largely racialized, black, migrant and undocumented women, are bearing the brunt.
Government withdrawal opened the door to the proliferation of for-profit chains in care work, which reduced quality of care, staff levels, job benefits and protections, with negative consequences for care recipients, the gendered racialized workforce and Canada's pandemic response.
Care work in Canada also has an entrenched reliance on highly skilled but low-paid migrant care workers who now fill positions in private homes and in health care facilities, yet face increasingly restricted chances of securing permanent residency and rights protections. Pandemic impacts on migrant care workers include dismissal by employers now working from home or laid off, 24-7 lockdown in employers' private homes and loss of immigration status due to government processing delays.
Stay-at-home orders increase the risk of domestic violence and decrease women's abilities to leave abusive homes for the safety of shelters—highlighting the importance of the violence prevention sector—while placing additional strain on already taxed anti-violence services. Closure of physical spaces and the shift to remote services created unique access barriers to sexual assault centres.
In the best of times, gender-based violence services are underfunded and oversubscribed. Demand for access to women's shelters consistently exceeds capacity. Significant gaps persist in shelter services for women with disabilities, deaf women, women in rural and remote areas and women in need of culture-specific services. Four out of five women's shelters across the country are accessed by first nation, Métis or Inuit women, yet only one in five can frequently provide culturally appropriate programs, and 70% of Inuit communities do not have access to a shelter.
With the rise of “Me Too”, sexual assault centres experienced significant increases in calls without matching increases in funding. As the pandemic arrived, sexual assault survivors, some at high risk of suicide, were stuck on a waiting list for counselling across Canada. One sexual assault centre executive described transitioning to remote work: “We had to invest in a phone system, as ours was a donation from 1980. We didn't have funds for PPE for staff and volunteers accompanying women to hospitals, police and doctors. ... As much as I'm grateful for the 25k, I must be honest with you: It's not enough. … We are running out of PPE, volunteers have begun to show signs of burnout, and we are averaging 60 to 80 crisis calls a day.”
As you're likely aware, the women's sector refers to non-profits and charities that provide women-specific services in order to advance women's equality through policy, advocacy and public engagement. That includes shelters for women, sexual assault centres and women's centres that provide a safety net to women and their families. These are essential to a healthy welfare state system and to achieving gender equality.
The pandemic lockdown exposed and exacerbated existing flaws in the women's sector funding model. The sector is funded partially and irregularly through an unpredictable combination of individual donations, corporate gifts and foundation and government grants. This is time-consuming and inefficient, requiring constant renewal and contact. Organizations constantly seek out, apply for and renew funding that is largely project-based and temporary. Reports from the women's sector indicate an impending future crisis.
Like the best of the pandemic emergency response from public health leaders, many of whom are women, recovery planning with women and gender equality in mind requires thorough analysis, clear evidence-supported outcome targets, methodical approaches to implementation and responsible leadership with vision and heart.
Should broad emergency measures need to be reimposed for another indefinite period, the Canadian Women's Foundation recommends the following actions, with a reminder that an inclusive gender-based analysis with an intersectional lens is essential to the design of all government recovery investments, short or long term: With regard to women's economic security, reinstate the Canada emergency response benefit throughout any economic shutdown; reinstate the Canada emergency wage supplement with a simpler administrative mechanism throughout any economic shutdown: broaden access to employment insurance so all women who pay in can access benefits; work with the provinces and territories to implement 10 paid sick days, as announced; ensure funding is in place to safely reopen the child care sector at pre-pandemic service levels and to continue to expand it until universal access is achieved.
As for women and care work, work with the provinces and territories to ensure—
Stéphane Lacroix
View Stéphane Lacroix Profile
Stéphane Lacroix
2020-07-06 12:36
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to participate in the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology.
First of all, a quick reminder about the Teamsters Union. We represent more than 125,000 workers in Canada in all industries that are crucial to the Canadian society. In the retail and grocery sector, we defend the interests of several thousand workers from one end of the country to the other.
For the Teamsters Union, the COVID-19 premium paid to grocery store workers was greatly appreciated. However, the withdrawal of this bonus sends a contradictory message to workers whose wages are largely insufficient to help them live and prosper.
Before I go any further in my reflections, I would like to take a little trip back in time to give you a quick snapshot of the situation in this industry. First, I must say that I worked in the industry for 11 years in the 1980s and 1990s. I held several positions and have fond memories of that time, but I knew very well that I wasn't going to make a career out of it. The salaries weren't bad when you went up the ladder, but the social benefits and pension plans weren't enough because I wanted to start a family and buy a house and a car. In short, this industry didn't allow me to realize my dreams.
For people of my generation, Generation X, working in grocery stores was also not highly valued. So I made the decision to go back to school. I was hired by the Teamsters, who increased my salary significantly, starting in my first year. This shows the difference between retail, grocery stores and the union world, of course.
Let's move forward now to the 2000s. At the time, I sat as a Teamsters Canada representative on the Canadian Food Industry Council, an organization made up of representatives of major grocery stores and unions. Our goal was to restore this industry's reputation in order to attract new talent.
The retention issues were exactly the same then as they were in the 1990s: inadequate salaries, poor promotion opportunities, low job value, an unattractive pension plan and inadequate group insurance. Here we are now in 2020, and the decision is made to withdraw the COVID-19 bonus from grocery store workers under the pretext that the pandemic is over, which is not the case, by the way.
It was recently pointed out to me that, now, it is not uncommon to observe that workers with more than 10 years of seniority earn barely more than minimum wage in Quebec. The example of one of our members comes to mind because, after more than 10 years of good and loyal service, she earns barely $14 an hour in a large grocery store chain. So I ask whether someone can live on $25,000 a year today, in 2020. I don't think so.
I have taken the time to take you on a 30-year journey back in time to make you understand that the issues we face in this industry are not limited to the COVID-19 bonus of $2 an hour. We all agree that the pandemic has highlighted how important these workers are to their fellow citizens. We believe that these men and women deserve better. We therefore recommend that premium be permanently integrated into salaries. We must also significantly improve pension plans and group insurance. These men and women have contributed a great deal to the well-being of the population, so I think we must return the favour.
Again, thank you for the invitation. I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Results: 1 - 15 of 704 | Page: 1 of 47

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
>
>|
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data