Manitoba

Introduction

  1. This Report updates, to March 1998, the information contained in Manitoba's submission to Canada's Fourth Report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Article 2: Anti-Discrimination Measures

  1. The Manitoba Human Rights Commission administers and enforces the Human Rights Code, 1987. The Code specifically protects against discrimination on the basis of ancestry, nationality/national origin, ethnic background/origin, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy), gender-determined characteristics, sexual orientation, marital/family status, source of income, political belief, and physical or mental disability.

  2. Discrimination on the basis of sex was the most frequently cited ground of complaints filed in the years 1994 through 1997. It comprised 26 percent of all formal complaints filed in 1994, 30 percent in 1995, 38 percent in 1996 and 36 percent of those filed in 1997. In 1994, 56 percent (32 cases) of sex discrimination complaints were allegations of sexual harassment. In 1995, 58 percent (29 cases), in 1996, 54 percent (47 cases) and in 1997, 52 percent (33 cases) of sex discrimination complaints were allegations of sexual harassment.

  3. In 1997, the Manitoba Human Rights Commission implemented a new series of Employment Seminars. These cover all forms of employment discrimination which have an impact on women, including sex, pregnancy and pregnancy-related discrimination. Included in the topics presented is a section on sexual harassment. The Commission's objective is to positively educate employers to prevent harassment in the workplace which is where the majority of harassment complaints arise. The Commission responds to numerous requests from business and service organizations for seminars on sexual harassment, and assists with the development and implementation of workplace sexual harassment policies.

  4. In March 1998, the Manitoba Civil Service, in its principles and policies for managing human resources, implemented general policies, including:
  1. The staff of the Employee Assistance Program, a department within the Civil Service Commission, provide counselling and support to employees affected by incidents of sexual harassment.

  2. In the summer of 1994 the Manitoba Department of Justice released Family Law in Manitoba, 1994, a public information booklet which was widely distributed and made available to the public in courts, child protection agencies, Maintenance Enforcement, Family Conciliation and numerous other government offices, Legal Aid Manitoba, women's shelters and other locations throughout Manitoba.

  3. In 1994 and 1995, a comprehensive set of new legislative amendments and changes to regulations were developed and passed to implement a wide range of innovative maintenance enforcement mechanisms (garnishment of joint assets, ongoing garnishment of monies other than wages, pension benefit credit garnishment, driver's licence suspension/non-renewal). These new remedies greatly enhanced the ability of the province's Maintenance Enforcement Program to collect support payments.

Article 2 - Links to Convention and other sections
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Article 3: Measures to Ensure the Advancement of Women

  1. Amendments to the Family Maintenance Act were passed in 1997 and a regulation approved to establish a provincial support guidelines system which came into effect June 1, 1998.

  2. New legislation, The Domestic Violence and Stalking Prevention, Protection and Compensation Act was introduced, which subsequently became law in June 1998. This Act provides civil remedies to victims of stalking and expands the civil remedies available to victims of domestic violence. The legislation was in part based on recommendations contained in the Manitoba Law Reform Commission's 1997 Report on Stalking and in the Study of Domestic Violence and the Justice System of Manitoba, the Report of the Honorable Mr. Justice Schulman Respecting the Commission of Inquiry into the Deaths of Rhonda Lavoie and Roy Lavoie (also released in 1997).

  3. The Community and Youth Correctional Services, of the Manitoba Department of Justice, and the Department of Culture and Tourism have developed a new program to address domestic violence from a multicultural perspective. While the previous domestic violence program had input from various communities, it was developed and delivered to all communities by representatives from within the Department. A multicultural domestic violence program addresses the special ethnic, linguistic and cultural needs of domestic violence offenders by offering the services of interpreters who have received training in domestic violence to provide program information in the offender's native language. Enabling communities to meet their own specific needs has resulted in a more culturally-aware delivery of programs to address domestic violence.

  4. The Manitoba Department of Education and Training has identified Aboriginal education and training as a priority and is taking steps that its policy of inclusion is being applied to Aboriginal education and training in all areas of the Department, which includes Kindergarten to Senior 4, training and post-secondary education. While the policy is not directly focused on Aboriginal women, it will have a significant impact on improving their educational outcomes.

  5. As of 1998, family violence services included 33 community-based agencies throughout Manitoba. Services in Winnipeg (the largest urban centre in the province) included second-stage housing, and long-term counselling for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal victims of abuse, their children, and abusers.

  6. Within Manitoba Education and Training's policy and support documents, an emphasis on gender equality, anti-racism/multiculturalism, Aboriginal perspectives, inclusivity and equity is stressed.

  7. Other family violence services include women's resource centres and long-term counselling for incest victims who have had addiction problems. Services throughout the province include crisis accommodation, counselling, public education, and crisis telephone lines. It is estimated that 4,700 women sought shelter in the 1997-98 fiscal year.

  8. As of 1998, there are ten crisis shelters for victims of domestic violence situated in nine communities throughout Manitoba. The shelters were developed under the Federal-Provincial Public Non-Profit Special Purpose Housing Program. The Department of Housing of Manitoba has assumed all housing-related management functions for these shelters as of April 1993. Minimum building standards for crisis shelters have been developed.

  9. In September of 1996, the Manitoba Women's Directorate launched "Keeping Safe at Work," in partnership with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Workers Compensation, the RCMP, and the province's Police Services. This province-wide initiative focuses on the safety of those who work alone, or who travel to and from work alone. It provides tips on awareness of potential risks as well as what to do about them, to maximize personal safety. Information sessions are provided on-site at workplaces or training centres and pamphlets have been distributed across the province.

  10. The 1996 Census of Canada indicates that 83.5 percent (31,260) of single-parent families in Manitoba were led by women.

  11. The social assistance regulations were also amended to exempt some additional financial resources from consideration in the calculation of social assistance benefits for the family. With the introduction of the National Child Benefit (NCB) in 1998, social assistance regulations continue to exempt the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB), except for the portion known as the NCB Supplement. Savings in assistance costs from this increased federal contribution to lower-income families is reinvested in programs and services for lower-income families, many of whom are headed by women. In the fall of 1998, it is intended that the Women and Infant Nutrition program be introduced, to provide nutritional counselling and a financial benefit to purchase healthy foods for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and parents with children under one year of age.

Article 3 - Links to Convention text and other sections
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Article 5: Elimination of Stereotypes

  1. The Manitoba Women's Directorate, in partnership with Education and Training, and Red River Community College, developed and produced Training for Tomorrow: A Role Model Video and Curriculum Guide, for use in Senior 1-4 schools. The video portrays young women working in technology-related fields and encourages students to consider training and careers in high-tech occupations.

Article 5 - Links to Convention and other sections
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Article 7: Women in Politics and Public Life

  1. Of Manitoba's 70 full-time judges, 16 are women. The Chief Judge of the Provincial Court is a woman. Between April 1, 1994 and March 1998, of the eight judges appointed to the Court of Queen's Bench, five of them were women. For the same time period, of the six judges appointed to the Provincial Court, two of them were women.

  2. Women hold 11 of the 57 seats in the Manitoba Legislature, a decrease of one from the last report. Of 17 cabinet minister positions, four are held by women, an increase of one from the previous report. These are two female deputy ministers of a total of 20, again an increase of one.

  3. Women hold three of the 15 Winnipeg City Councillor positions.

  4. One of the three community college presidents in Manitoba is a woman, a decrease of one from the last report.

Article 7 - Links to Convention and other sections
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Article 10: Education

  1. The Department of Education and Training curriculum initiatives for Kindergarten to Senior 4 schools include a focus on the integration of specific equity-related strategies, with one important aspect being gender fairness. The strategies are designed to help promote an inclusive education system in the province by ensuring that attention and sensitivity to gender fairness is reflected in the curricula for all subject areas.

  2. To date, new curricula for mathematics, language arts (Kindergarten to Senior 3) and science (Kindergarten to Grade 4) have been released for implementation. The initial phase of curriculum development for each of these subject areas occurred as a collaborative inter-jurisdictional project under the Western Canadian (mathematics and language arts) and Pan-Canadian (science) protocols. Because there was general agreement about the importance of curricula that addressed the diversity of Canadian and world communities -- that specifically challenged discrimination against women and supported a fair and equitable society -- the common curriculum frameworks that resulted from these projects contain specific student learning outcomes that set out expectations in these areas. Manitoba's curricula are aligned with these common curriculum frameworks.

  3. Curriculum development teams in Manitoba are inclusive, with women playing important leadership roles in all aspects of curriculum development.

  4. Today's vision for scientific literacy (as reflected in the Pan-Canadian Science Framework and Manitoba's K-4 Framework) reflects an inclusive stance related to gender and varying cultural perspectives, including an Aboriginal perspective. This is in contrast to the previous view of science as the domain of white male scientists from the Western world. Manitoba has incorporated this vision into General Learning Outcomes that reflect student expectations for the end of their Kindergarten to Senior 4 schooling. One particularly relevant example (from the Kindergarten to Grade 4 Science: Manitoba Curriculum Framework of Outcomes, p. 2.6) is as follows:

"Identify and appreciate contributions made by women and men from many societies and cultural backgrounds towards increasing our understanding of the world and in bringing about technological innovation."

  1. Teachers involved in the Interdisciplinary Middle Years Multimedia Project (IMYM) have observed equitable participation between male and female students in their IMYM classrooms. The best teaching practices encouraged in an IMYM classroom, such as real world connections, cooperative learning, attention to learning style and exercise of multiple intelligence, have produced an inclusive learning environment where classroom diversity is celebrated. Both genders are equally involved in the production and construction of their own frames of knowledge using a variety of learning resources to achieve curriculum outcomes in an interdisciplinary context. The IMYM Project provides a model whereby both male and female Middle Years students can demonstrate appropriate use of information technology in meaningful ways.

  2. All textbook and support materials from Kindergarten to Senior 4 level are screened on an ongoing basis through materials selection procedures that are based on the three-stage Canadian Exchange of Instructual Materials Analysis model. Non-sexist language is one of the many criteria used in the process. Other criteria include: age, race, ethnicity, religion, handicap, socioeconomic status, political belief and tolerance.

  3. Curriculum assessment and examination committees screen Kindergarten to Senior 4 level items and questions on an ongoing basis for racial and sexual bias.

  4. The Student Financial Assistance Program of Manitoba administers the Study Assistance for Social Allowance Recipients Program. This program provides student loans to cover educational costs to single parents who are receiving social assistance and who wish to pursue post-secondary education while continuing to receive social assistance. More than 80 percent of single parents in Manitoba are women

  5. .Since January 1991, the University of Winnipeg has implemented several programs or policies which have reduced or eliminated forms of discrimination against women. These include:
  1. Changes to the collective agreements between the University of Winnipeg and its employee groups have benefited women. These include changes to:
  1. The University of Manitoba completed a two-part study on gender-based discrimination in the salaries of its full-time faculty members, which resulted in adjusting the salaries of women in 1995. The total adjustments to salaries of women academics as a result of this two-part study amounted to $600,000.

  2. The University of Manitoba successfully completed a compliance review of its employment equity program by the federal government. Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) completed its second review of the University's employment equity program in November 1994. By April 1997, the University had improved its representation of women in its work force, despite experiencing an overall reduction in the number of employees due to severe economic constraints. The representation of women increased to 21 percent of full-time academics with tenures, probationary or continuing appointments; 25 percent of senior administrators; 45 percent of professional and managerial staff; and 60 percent of support staff.

  3. The University of Manitoba also revised its policy and procedures for recruiting academic staff by implementing equity procedures while maintaining its objective of hiring the best qualified candidates. The University also initiated training for its search committee on recruitment procedures, including employment equity procedures. Recruitment of women increased to 45 percent of academic staff and 64 percent of support staff, enabling the University to exceed its staffing goals for women.

  4. In 1994-95, female students accounted for 51.9 percent of the total enrolment of full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. In 1997-98, this number had increased to 53.6 percent.

  5. From 1994-95 to 1997-98, there were increases in the percentages of female students enrolled in traditionally male-dominated programs. As examples, the percentages of female students enrolled in agriculture and food science increased from 43.2 percent to 50.4 percent; in engineering from 17.0 percent to 20.2 percent; in law from 42.3 percent to 49.1 percent; and in science from 40.3 percent to 43.1 percent.

Article 10 - Links to Convention and other sections
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Article 11: Employment

  1. The Manitoba Women's Directorate is working collaboratively with Manitoba Education and Training, Labour Force Services and Apprenticeship Branches, the alliance of Manufacturers and Exporters, and Technical Vocational High School, to develop a pre-employment apprenticeship training program entitled Trade Up to Your Future to encourage women to enter apprenticeship training. The program is scheduled to run its first pilot in the fall of 1999.

Article 11 - Links to Convention and other sections
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Article 13: Economic and Social Life

  1. The Manitoba Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism has a Business Development Consultant available to provide information, counselling and training services through the Women's Entrepreneurial Initiative. Its objective is to foster the success of women in developing and expanding businesses. This Initiative integrates entrepreneurial education and training, access to start-up and expansion capital, as well as expert advice for support.

  2. The Manitoba Women's Directorate partnered with four government departments, three women's organizations and private business to host "Manitoba Women in Business: Voices of Experience," a conference for women entrepreneurs. The conference included strategies for marketing, decision making, contracting out, use of the Internet, and provided an opportunity for mentorship contacts. There was also an interactive video conference link between Winnipeg (the site of the conference) and Flin Flon's women's community.

  3. In March 1995, the Manitoba Women's Directorate launched an ongoing umbrella program designed to encourage young women to make responsible and healthy life choices. It included measures to encourage girls to widen their career horizons (e.g., Training for Tomorrow Scholarship Awards, the Role Model video and Trade Up to Your Future), as well as initiatives to encourage adopting healthy lifestyles (On the Move, to encourage physical activity, speaking engagements in schools to present the importance of physical activities to girls, and Perspectives in Women's Leadership workshop training sessions, to encourage women to increase their leadership influence). "Do It For You," a motivational poster, and a "Role Models" poster were distributed to schools across the province.

Article 13 - Links to Convention and other sections
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Article 14: Rural Women

  1. A toll-free women's information line has been established to provide women from any part of Manitoba with easily accessible information on government and community programs and services.

  2. The Manitoba Women's Directorate, in partnership with Manitoba Education and Training, developed the Power Up! computer training initiative to provide training to Manitoba women across the province, who are in need of basic computer literacy skills. The initiative will promote the importance of technology for women in today's marketplace and provide training that will build computer and Internet skills in adult women participants throughout Manitoba who have had limited exposure to computers. Training begins in June of 1999.

Article 14 - Links to Convention and other sections
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Article 16: Women and the Family

  1. Manitoba previously reported on the case of Vogel and North v. Government of Manitoba. This case involved the issue of whether denying spousal benefits to same-sex partners under the Government of Manitoba's Spousal Benefit Plan is discrimination based on sexual orientation, marital and family status, and/or sex. The case had implications for women in same-sex spousal relationships and their families. Earlier decisions by the Adjudicator (1991) and in the Court of Queen's Bench (1992) had held that such policies were not discriminatory. In 1995, the Court of Appeal overturned those decisions and referred the matter back to the Adjudicator in order to provide the Government with an opportunity to attempt to demonstrate that there was a bona fide and reasonable cause for the discriminatory treatment. In a decision released in November 1997, Adjudicator Goodman determined that the government had failed to establish reasonable cause for the discriminatory treatment, and he directed that coverage be extended in all of the benefit plans with the exception of pension benefits (because the definition of "spouse" in the federal Income Tax Act may have resulted in the deregistration of the Plan). This decision was not appealed by the Government of Manitoba.

Article 16 - Links to Convention and other sections
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