ÿþ<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?> <html> <head> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="data:text/css;base64,77u/Ym9keSB7IA0KCWZvbnQtZmFtaWx5OnNlcmlmOyANCgltYXJnaW46MCBhdXRvOyANCgl3aWR0aDo5NjBweDsgDQp9DQp0YWJsZSB7IA0KCXdpZHRoOjEwMCU7IA0KCWJvcmRlci1ib3R0b206MnB4IHNvbGlkICMwMDA7IA0KfQ0KdGFibGUgdHI6Zmlyc3QtY2hpbGQgdGQgeyANCglib3JkZXItYm90dG9tOjFweCBzb2xpZCAjMDAwOyANCn0NCmRpdi5jb250ZW50IHsgDQoJd2lkdGg6ODAwcHg7IA0KCW1hcmdpbjoyMHB4IGF1dG8gMCBhdXRvOyANCn0NCmRpdi5jb250ZW50IHRhYmxlLCBkaXYuY29udGVudCB0YWJsZSB0ZCB7DQoJYm9yZGVyOm5vbmU7DQp9DQouaGlnaGxpZ2h0IHsNCgliYWNrZ3JvdW5kLWNvbG9yOiNGQ0YxOUE7DQp9" /> </head> <body> <div class="content"> <h3>Forty-sixth session</h3> <p>12-30 July 2010</p> <h2>Information provided in follow-up to the concluding observations of the Committee</h2> <h3>Canada</h3> <h2>Response by Canada to the recommendations contained in the concluding observations of the Committee following the examination of the combined sixth and seventh periodic report of Canada on 22 October 2008</h2> <h3>Introduction</h3> <p>1.On 22 October 2008, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women considered the combined sixth and seventh periodic report of Canada (CEDAW/C/ CAN/7). In its concluding observations, the Committee requested Canada to provide, within one year, written information on the steps undertaken to implement the recommendations contained in paragraphs 14 and 32 (CEDAW/C/CAN/CO/7). Additional information can be found in the combined sixth and seventh periodic report, available at www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/pdp-hrp/docs/cedaw-eng.cfm.</p> <h3>Paragraph 14</h3> <p>The Committee calls upon the State party to establish minimum standards for the provision of funding to social assistance programmes, applicable at the federal, provincial and territorial levels, and a monitoring mechanism to ensure the accountability of provincial and territorial governments for the use of such funds so as to ensure that funding decisions meet the needs of the most vulnerable groups of women and do not result in discrimination against women. The Committee also calls upon the State party to carry out an impact assessment of social programmes related to women s rights.</p> <h3>Social assistance programmes and services</h3> <p>2.In Canada, the Constitution confers legislative and executive powers on two levels of government, each of them sovereign in its own sphere. The Canadian federation includes a central Government for all of Canada and a government for each of the provinces and territories. The Constitution of Canada assigns a range of exclusive legislative powers to the federal and provincial orders of government. It also explicitly provides for joint federal and provincial jurisdiction in such areas as immigration, pensions and agriculture. </p> <p>3.Social assistance and social services are areas in which provincial governments have exclusive legislative authority. The Government of Canada provides financial support to provinces and territories for the provision of these services, through the Canada Social Transfer, a block cash transfer that also provides support for post-secondary education and programmes for children. The Canada Social Transfer has one condition, namely that recipient jurisdictions not have a minimum residency requirement whereby a person can be refused social assistance by a province or territory because she or he has not lived a sufficient amount of time in the province or territory.</p> <p>4.The Government of Canada does not set national minimum standards for the provision of funding to social assistance programmes as a condition of this block transfer. This gives provincial and territorial governments greater flexibility in designing and administering their social assistance and social services according to the needs of their citizens. </p> <p>5.However, in order to reflect the Government s commitment to ensure that general-purpose transfers provide equal support for all Canadians, the Canada Social Transfer is calculated on an equal per capita cash basis. The Government has also increased the transparency of support provided through the Transfer by providing information on the notional allocation of federal support among the three priority areas, based on provincial and territorial spending patterns and existing childcare agreements as well as further investments from recent budgets.</p> <p>6.To facilitate the functioning of a multilevel system of governance, ad hoc and standing federal-provincial/territorial forums meet on a myriad of topics to discuss and cooperate on a variety of areas of mutual interest, such as social services, key issues for seniors and for aboriginal women including violence against aboriginal women and women s economic security. For example, the Federal, Provincial, Territorial Ministers responsible for the Status of Women meet annually to examine ways to improve the situation of women and to exchange information on issues affecting women in Canada, specifically in the areas of economic security, violence and human rights. In 2007, they agreed to promote women s economic self&#8209;sufficiency, safety and security and to work towards improving the situation of Inuit, First Nations and Métis women in Canada. </p> <h3>Accountability</h3> <p>7.Provincial and territorial governments are accountable to their own provincial and territorial legislative assemblies, their citizens and their stakeholders on expenditure of public funds, including federal transfers. The use of public funds by provincial and territorial governments may be subject to audit by their respective auditors, who assist in holding the governments and their administrators accountable for the quality of stewardship over public funds and for the achievement of value for money in government operations. Provinces and territories do not account to the federal Government on how they spend the funds received through the Canada Social Transfer. </p> <h3>Assessment of social assistance programmes</h3> <p>8.In Canada, social assistance programmes and services are reviewed and assessed regularly. The social and economic impact on women and on vulnerable groups of women is taken into consideration through various assessments and other forms of analysis, such as research, statistical analysis, client surveys, stakeholder reviews and feedback, province-wide public consultations, meta-analysis and gender-based analysis. Examples of measures undertaken by federal, provincial and territorial governments are outlined below.</p> <p>9.The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador conducts regular, ongoing evaluations of the effectiveness of social assistance programmes and services in responding to economic conditions. The social and economic impact on women and vulnerable groups of women are taken into account, as a matter of course, in the ongoing reviews of the sufficiency of social assistance programmes and services. The province has a Women s Policy Office that provides guidance on specific gender-based issues that may affect the establishment of benefits under social assistance programmes and services. These ongoing reviews have led to an increase in the province s minimum wage and increases in social assistance contributions, in particular to defray living and rental expenses. </p> <p>10.In the province of Prince Edward Island, the social assistance rate structure is reviewed annually and the Government s service delivery model is reviewed informally, as part of the ongoing management process, to ensure that it meets the needs of clients. Programmes and services are also improved through research, the use of promising practices and work with community partners representing vulnerable groups, such as the Prince Edward Island Newcomers to Canada Association, the Prince Edward Island Council for People with Disabilities and the Mi kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edward Island. As a result of such initiatives, persons with disabilities do not have to be recipients of social assistance to qualify for the Disability Support.</p> <p>11.In the province of Quebec, an evaluation service was established in 1984 in the Ministère de l Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale, which is in charge of social assistance programmes. Over the course of the last few decades, employment and social assistance services have been evaluated numerous times, to facilitate decision-making. Programme evaluation is an integral part of the development and monitoring of social assistance policies and programmes in Quebec and plays an important role in accountability and reporting. Each year, nearly 30 evaluations are conducted on a large number of measures, programmes and initiatives, using qualitative and quantitative methodologies.</p> <p>12.Several of the evaluations and research exercises undertaken on social assistance programmes took into consideration the impacts on women or specific groups of women. For example, in measuring the impact of assistance programmes for unemployed people in Quebec, consideration was given to the different effects on men and women. The impact on women was also taken into account in several studies on programmes for persons with disabilities, older workers, immigrants and single-parent families.</p> <p>13.Section 7 of the Act to combat poverty and social exclusion states that actions in that regard  must [& ] in their conception and implementation, take into account realities specific to women and men, in particular through gender-based analysis . The Quebec ministries and agencies in charge of developing measures as part of the Government Action Plan to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion must comply with that provision.</p> <p>14.Certain evaluations conducted in Quebec confirm that social assistance programmes affect men and women differently. Two studies on the impact of the work premium (a refundable tax credit to improve the situation of low-income workers) reveal that the premium encourages women to seek employment and that it has contributed to an increase in women s participation in the labour market. The premium has had a more significant impact on single mothers, compared to other types of households. Combined with other fiscal measures, it has also led to an increase in the income of families with children, especially single-parent families, thereby reducing their poverty level.</p> <p>15.The Government of Quebec conducted two studies on self-employment support and wage subsidy programmes, using gender-based analysis; certain adjustments were made to the programmes, based on the results of those studies. According to the study on the Self-Employment Support Measure, which helps individuals become independent in the labour market by creating or developing their own business, women are, slightly less likely to create a business than men. Women businessowners are also less likely to employ other people and the survival rate of their businesses tends to be slightly lower. The study also revealed that women and men have different needs with respect to project development. While men are more in need of support measures for the development of a business plan, women are more in need of simple financial assistance.</p> <p>16.The results of social assistance programme evaluations are shared with the people responsible for those programmes, to enable discussions on follow-up measures. For example, the Government of Quebec implemented a programme designed specifically for young single mothers called  Ma place au soleil , which provides training to help them obtain a diploma and access day-care and transportation services.</p> <p>17.Other follow-up measures included the collection of statistical data to identify the characteristics of the clients reached by the programmes, and to monitor the programmes evolution, in particular by differentiating between the situations of men and women. In the past ten years, changes in the structure of the households benefiting from the social assistance programmes were observed in Quebec, including a significant decrease in the number of single-parent families, the vast majority of which are headed by women.</p> <p>18.The Government of Ontario regularly reviews social assistance programmes to assess and improve their effectiveness in helping the province s most vulnerable people, including persons with disabilities. When doing so, it looks at the differential impact of its policies and programmes on different categories of people and family groups, including sole support families generally headed by women, persons with disabilities and children. </p> <p>19.Reviews and assessments of Ontario s social assistance programmes have helped to improve the province s response to the needs of women recipients. For example, a review of the Ontario Works programme and the Learning, Earning and Parenting Programme led to improvements that benefit the participants, many of whom are single mothers. The province of Ontario has also made changes to streamline and enhance access to social assistance for victims of domestic violence, so that their safety is not at risk.</p> <p>20.Policy changes stemming from the Government of Ontario s poverty reduction strategy have also addressed the needs of women by exempting the earnings of full-time post-secondary students and increasing the flexibility of childcare benefits.</p> <p>21.The Government of Manitoba s Employment and Income Assistance Programme is reviewed as part of the province s annual report, budget and estimates process, in compliance with the province s Treasury Board guidelines on fiscal management and performance reporting. Manitoba social assistance programmes and services are also regularly reviewed by non-governmental organizations and research centres, such as the National Council of Welfare, the Canadian Council on Social Development, the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, the Fraser Institute and the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg. </p> <p>22.The province of Manitoba also has a Status of Women Division that partners with other government departments to ensure that women continue to achieve and participate fully in all aspects of Manitoba life. For example, it sits on the interdepartmental working group for  AllAboard: Manitoba s Poverty Reduction Strategy , bringing a gender perspective to the ongoing work of the strategy, which includes initiatives to reduce poverty for all Manitobans. The Government of Manitoba Seniors Directorate and the Manitoba Disabilities Issues Office play a role similar to that of the Manitoba Status of Women Division, with respect to the poverty issues of women in such groups. </p> <p>23.In the province of Manitoba, 95 per cent of single-parent low-income families are headed by women and Manitoba has targeted a number of initiatives to improve their income security. For example, the Manitoba Child Benefit was created and the provincial clawback of the federal Child Tax Benefit was ended. A range of government interventions targeting poverty in general and single-parent families in particular are also aimed at improving the income security of vulnerable groups of women. Based on the Market Basket Measure, the incidence of poverty in female-headed single-parent families fell from 43.8 per cent to 26.3 per cent between 1999 and 2006. </p> <p>24.The Government of Manitoba recently conducted province-wide public consultations on women s health. Participants provided feedback on the impact of poverty on women s health, which is being used to guide the direction of a renewed Women s Health Strategy for Manitoba. </p> <p>25.The Government of Saskatchewan reviews and evaluates its income assistance programmes on an ongoing basis to ensure that quality service and accountability is maintained or increased. Regulatory and policy amendments are made on a regular basis in response to changing social and economic conditions, concerns raised by clients, community stakeholders and appeal tribunals and in support of provincial and federal government initiatives. The province takes the circumstances of all vulnerable groups into consideration