Part III - Measures Adopted by the Governments of the Provinces - Québec

Article 2: Anti-Discrimination Measures

324. Between 1998 and 2006, the Government of Québec passed or amended 15 pieces of legislation affecting the rights and living conditions of women and designed to counter discrimination against them. In addition to those described under the various headings in this report are the following:

  • The Act to amend various legislative provisions concerning de facto spouses, which entered into force in 1999, modified the definitions of de facto spouse in all of Québec's legislation, giving legal recognition to de facto unions, without regard to sex.
  • Under the Act instituting civil unions and establishing new rules of filiation, since 2002, de facto spouses have been recognized without regard to sex as being the legal spouse and can, in some cases, receive benefits that they would not otherwise have received, such as surviving spouse's pensions. Accordingly, the Québec Pension Plan was amended to recognize the entitlement of same-sex spouses to surviving spouse's benefits for deaths having occurred since April 4, 1985.

Legal aid

325. The levels of financial eligibility for legal aid in Québec were raised in January 2006 and will continue to rise gradually until 2010, thus providing greater access to the justice system for less affluent individuals. The increase represents 36.3 percent for single people and will increase potential clients of the system to about 900,000 new recipients in the coming years. Of the 213,302 people who accessed legal aid in 2004-2005, 43.4 percent were women.

Complaints of gender-related discrimination

326. Between 2002 to 2006, 419 of the 3,370 files opened by the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, or 12.4 percent of the total, concerned complaints regarding discrimination or harassment based on gender or pregnancy. This represented a decrease of 7.6 percent compared with the period of 1998 to 2001. With respect to discrimination or harassment complaints brought before the courts, 38 legal actions were brought by the Commission and 24 settlements were reached on grounds related to gender, pregnancy or civil status during the same period.

Aboriginal women

327. Since 2001, the Government of Québec has provided funding of $180,000 annually to the overall mission of Aboriginal Women of Québec Inc., an organization devoted to defending the rights of Aboriginal women and improving their living conditions by promoting non-violence, justice, equal rights and health, and supporting them in community involvement. This represents an increase of $30,000 over the $150,000 in annual support provided to the organization since 1998. Punctual funding may also be provided for projects submitted by the organization.

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Article 3: Measures to Ensure the Advancement of Women

328. The period covered by this report coincides with the implementation of the second and third phases of Sharing a Future: Policy Statement on the Status of Women, namely the Action Plan for Women Throughout Québec 1997-2000 and the Action Plan 2000-2003: Equality for all Women of Québec.

Gender-based analysis

329. Gender-based analysis (GBA) was introduced in the Government of Québec on an experimental basis from 1997 to 2004, with the participation of 11 departments and agencies, in order to determine best practices and suggest flexible solutions to ensure effective, efficient introduction of GBA into Government activities.

330. The experimental phase of GBA in the Government of Québec has had repercussions extending far beyond the projects themselves. For example, a number of measures adopted during this period, such as the Québec science and innovation policy (2001), the Government policy on adult education and continuing education(2002) and the Intervention strategy for workers aged 45 and over (2003) take into consideration the different experiences of men and women. Moreover, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, which began phasing GBA into health and social services planning, has been providing GBA training to managers and professional staff in its network since 2003.

331. Further to the report entitled Experimentation with Gender-Based Analysis in the Government of Québec: Its Lessons and Effect, published in 2005, the Government of Québec undertook to have all departments and agencies include GBA in at least 15 government policies, measures, reforms and services by 2008.

Violence against women and girls

332. In Québec, as elsewhere in Canada, certain forms of spousal abuse, as well as sexual abuse, are considered criminal offences. Since 2004, the Minister responsible for the Status of Women, along with the Minister of Justice, is responsible for coordinating government intervention in the area of spousal and sexual abuse.

333. The multisectoral intervention policy on spousal abuse entitled Prévenir, dépister, contrer la violence conjugale [Prevent, detect and halt spousal abuse] (1995) was updated by the implementation of the Government action plan 2004- 2009 on Domestic V iolence . The action plan contains 72 commitments, many of which concern the groups most vulnerable to spousal abuse, including immigrant women, women from cultural communities, elderly women and women with disabilities. Twenty commitments relate specifically to preventing and eliminating spousal abuse among Aboriginal women. A two-year spousal abuse awareness campaign, targeting vulnerable women in particular, was launched in March 2006 with a budget of $1.4 million.

334. With respect to legislation, the implementation of the Action Plan resulted in the Government's adoption in 2005 of the Act to Insert Article 1974.1 in the Civil Code, making it possible for a victim to break her lease if, on account of violence on the part of a spouse or former spouse, or abuse of a sexual nature, her safety or that of a child is jeopardized.

335. In 2001, the Government of Québec released the Government Directions concerning Sexual Assault and the related 2001-2006 action plan. In these guidelines, the Government recognizes the socially unacceptable and criminal nature of all forms of sexual assault. The implementation of these guidelines is designed specifically to encourage the reporting of these crimes, to provide assistance and protection services better suited to the many needs of the victims, the vast majority of whom are women, in all regions of Québec, and to promote better supervision of sexual abusers in order to reduce the likelihood of repeat offences.

336. The Government of Québec has provided new funding amounting to $21 million to implement these guidelines. In 2005-2006, an additional $1.2 million was allocated to 38 Centres d'aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel (CALACS) whose mandate is to combat sexual abuse, bringing their total funding to $7.2 million. Some of these centres are located close to Aboriginal communities and provide services to women and teenaged girls from these communities. CALACS located in urban centres also offer services to women and teenaged girls from cultural communities.

337. The Government also supports the 13 ESPACE agencies mandated to prevent child abuse, including sexual abuse. These agencies received funding of more than $1.7 million in 2005-2006.

338. The Centres d'aide aux victimes d'actes criminels (CAVACS) provide multiple services for the victims of criminal acts and their families and for witnesses, including information on the legal process on victims' rights and recourses. Nearly 70 percent of CAVACS clients are women.

339. The Government of Québec subsidizes 16 CAVACS throughout the province. Funding to these centres increased in 2005-2006 to $7 million, compared to $2.5 million in 2002-2003. Some of these centres are located close to Aboriginal communities (one is in Québec's far north), and provide services tailored to Aboriginal and Inuit female victims of criminal acts.

Shelters for victims of violence

340. The Government of Québec has considerably increased its support in the fight against spousal abuse: expenditures amounting to $90 million will have been allocated for the 2003-2009 period. Of this amount, $17 million was given to the 106 shelters for women victims of spousal abuse and their children, bringing total funding to $47.4 million annually, in 2005-2006. In addition, $3.5 million was provided to 122 women's centres, bringing the total funding to $14.8 million in 2005-2006. The Government also contributed $1.5 million to 32 services for abusive spouses, bringing total funding to $4.5 million in 2005-2006.

341. The increased support for women's shelters and crisis centres is evidence of the recognition extended by the Government of Québec to this network of services for victims of spousal abuse. Ten houses in the proximity of Aboriginal communities are receiving amounts additional to their annual core funding. In addition, two urban shelters, one of them established in 2005, are providing services specifically for Aboriginal women and their children.

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Article 6: Trafficking of Women and Exploitation

342. In 2005, the Government of Québec established an interdepartmental working committee to examine protective measures offered to migrant women victims of trafficking and to propose mechanisms to combat trafficking.

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Article 7: Women in Politics and Public Life

343. The percentage of women in Québec's National Assembly rose from 21.8 in 1998 to 32.7 in 2005. During the same years, the percentage of women ministers rose from 22.7 to 37. At the municipal level, women in mayoral positions rose from 10.1 percent in 1998 to 13.1 percent in 2005, and female city councillors, from 22.4 percent to 26.6 percent.

344. The percentage of women among senior full-time positions in government departments and agencies also increased between 1998 and 2006, from 26.8 to 35.8. The number of women judges also increased significantly, from an average of 18.8 percent in 1998 in the Québec Court to 30.4 percent in 2006.

345. Among the incentives created by the Government of Québec to interest women in positions of authority is the program Equal Access to Decision-making . Created in 1999, this financial assistance program, with an annual budget of one million dollars, is designed to support local and regional non-profit organizations in projects designed to increase the number of women in local and regional decision-making positions throughout Québec. In 2004, the program's eligibility was extended to projects for Aboriginal women.

346. A consultative partnership group on women and municipal politics, Table des partenaires – Femmes et politique municipale, was also created in 2004. It comprises a number of organizations including the Québec Union of Municipalities, the Québec Federation of Municipalities, the Chief Electoral Officer, the Women, Politics and Democracy Group and a network of regional women's consultative groups. Its purpose is to share tools aimed at encouraging involvement of women in municipal politics.

347. The Regional Conferences of Elected Officers, instituted by the Act respecting the Ministère du Développement économique, de l'Innovation et de l'Exportation (2004), are consultative forums composed of mayors of municipalities with a population over 5,000, wardens and socio-economic groups, such as women's groups. The conferences have become the Government of Québec's chief interlocutor in regional development. Article 99 of the Act calls for each regional conference to establish a five-year regional development plan giving priority to women's participation in democratic life according to the principles of equality and equity. Some have already taken initiatives in this direction, in addition to applying gender-based analysis.

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Article 10: Education

348. In recent years, women have constituted a majority at the college and university graduate and undergraduate levels. The percentage of degrees awarded to women has remained relatively stable at all levels. In 2003-2004, the college success rate was 59.2 percent among women, which was 22.3 points higher than among men. The rate of success in obtaining an undergraduate university degree was 36.4 percent among women in 2004, which was 14.2 points higher than among men. At the graduate level, both men and women stood at around nine percent in terms of success in obtaining a degree.

349. The Government of Québec has established measures and programs to accelerate the advancement of Québec women in science, technological innovation and information and communications technologies. For example, the Excelle Science competition, launched in 2000-2001, recognizes and encourages female role models in fields in which women have typically shown little interest.

350. This competition is additional to the Chapeau, les filles! initiative, which was in its tenth edition in 2005. Excelle Science and Chapeau, les filles! appear to have had a positive effect on the advancement of women in male-dominated fields (MDF). Since the initiative was introduced, an increase of eight percent has been seen in registrations by women for vocational training in an MDF, while in the technical training area, the relative number of women in training for an MDF has also increased. The number of women obtaining degrees in training in an MDF has more than doubled in the vocational training area and has increased in nearly all sectors of technical training.

351. In addition, a cyber mentoring bank was created in 2002-2003 between the winners of these competitions and young women making career choices to facilitate information exchanges and offer them female role models.

352. The Government of Québec has undertaken a number of measures aimed at finding a balance between education and maternity. Among these are the updating in 2003 of the training session Un nourrisson… et de l'ambition, designed to raise awareness among school board personnel about the consequences of teenage pregnancy and motherhood, and to prepare them to help girls in this situation to continue their schooling.

353. The Government is also offering training for young parents wishing to continue or resume secondary school. Since 2002, Ma place au soleil has provided training to assist 3,158 people, most of them women, obtain a diploma and enter the workforce.

354. Changes have been made to the Government of Québec's loans and scholarships program since 2001 to more effectively meet the financial needs of young parents. Since 2002, for example, students who are pregnant or who have given birth and their spouses are eligible for this program even if they are studying part time.

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Article 11: Employment

Employment measures

355. Women made up 46.5 percent of the labour force in Québec in 2005. Their situation has improved in a number of ways. Since 2000, for example, 63 percent of the 390,000 jobs created in Québec have been obtained by women. Of this number, 70 percent are full-time jobs, of which 65 percent, or 178,000, have gone to women.

356. In 2001, the Government of Québec introduced its intervention strategy for women workers, Stratégie d'interven­tion à l'égard de la main-d'œuvre feminine, to promote and support the integration of women in the workforce and their continuous employment. It comprises two central objectives: the recognition and consideration of the problems faced by women workers, and the organization and supplying of services to respond to their needs. In adopting this strategy, the Government of Québec recognizes the specific nature of the problems faced by some women in the labour market, in particular Aboriginal women, immigrant women, women members of visible minorities, heads of single-parent families, pregnant teenagers or young mothers, and women with disabilities.

357. Measures undertaken within this strategy include:

  • awareness raising and training sessions on women's employment issues provided for the principal stakeholders in the area of employment support;
  • short-term training giving women an opportunity to acquire additional qualifications;
  • information and awareness workshops, notably on non-traditional employment, aimed at diversifying women's professional choices.

358. The Act to Facilitate the Establishment of a Pension Plan for Employees Working in Child Care Services, which entered into force in 2002, has improved economic conditions for child care employees, a majority of whom are women.

359. The Act to Amend the Act respecting Labour Standards and Other Legislative Provisions, adopted in 2002, improves the working conditions of domestic workers, agricultural workers and the caregivers of children, persons with disabilities, the sick, and the elderly. This Act introduces the right to enjoy a workplace free of harassment, to take leave to take care of an immediate family member or child, and to refuse to work more than a certain number of hours. Other provisions concern minimum rest periods, sick leave, accident leave, family obligation leave, group insurance and retirement plans and reintegration of an employee into his or her customary position with the same benefits. Modifications in calculating holiday pay are also included, primarily to benefit part-time wage earners.

360. Women are more likely to be involved in non-standard employment, such as part-time, temporary or self-employment. In 2005, the Government created a working group to examine the social protection needs of people working for temporary employment agencies. The working group is mandated to take stock of the contractual practices of the temporary placement industry and suggest social protection measures.

361. The Québec Parental Insurance Plan has been in effect since January 1, 2006, and provides better access to maternity and parental leave. It provides more generous allowances for the beneficiaries of this leave over the first 12 months of the child's life at home, which represents a longer period than before. Eligibility for the plan has also expanded to include self-employed workers, and paternity benefits are provided for fathers. Close to $1.08 billion is devoted annually to the plan.

Affordable childcare

362. Access to low cost care for children under five, set at $7 per day, represents a fundamental means of support for parents who are working or who wish to pursue their studies. Subsidized childcare was extended to a further 33,000 children since 2003, bringing to about 200,000 the number of childcare openings subsidized by the Government of Québec in 2006.

363. Mindful of the need to serve all of Québec's population, the Government is working toward opening early childhood centres in each Aboriginal community, while giving consideration to indigenous institutions and cultures. Funding provided for Aboriginal childcare services in 2005-2006 totalled $18.5 million, compared to $16.8 million in 2004-2005.

364. In all, in 2005-2006, the Government of Québec provided operating subsidies of close to $1.6 billion to early childhood centres, for-profit day cares and family child care services, an increase of 35 percent over the close to $1.2 billion provided in 2002-2003.

Pay equity

365. The Government of Québec has deployed additional measures to enable companies that have not yet completed their pay equity exercises to expedite their efforts. In the case of companies whose labour force is primarily female, the Government has recognized that the absence of predominantly male employment categories does not mean that no gender-based pay discrimination exists. Thus, regulations were applied in 2005 to provide two predominantly male job categories for companies lacking them, for the purposes of comparison. Moreover, since 2004, the Government has allowed an employer and a number of accredited associations to enter into an agreement to establish a separate pay equity program for the job categories that they represent.

366. The application of the Pay Equity Act in Québec companies has yielded significant results. Preliminary data indicates that one third of the completed pay equity exercises will lead to salary adjustments representing on average increases of between 3.9 percent and 8.1 percent. Other positive results include improved working climate and relations, increased productivity, a more positive perception of fairness within companies, a better knowledge of the jobs involved and updated or newly introduced wage policies.

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Article 12: Health

367. Further to the Action Plan 1997-2000: Women's health, well‑being and living conditions, the Government of Québec set out new objectives for the health and well-being of women in the document Au féminin… à l'écoute de nos besoins. Objectifs ministériels et stratégie d'action en santé et bien-être des femmes (2002-2009). The objectives are to (a) integrate the needs of women into provincial and regional care and services planning; (b) adapt care and services to women's needs; and (c) improve understanding of the female population and its needs. In 2005, a monograph was produced which outlined the health and social problems and other needs specific to women.

Specific health issues

368. The National public health program – 2003-2012 provides for a wide range of measures related to the monitoring, promotion, prevention and protection of women's health. For example, the Québec breast cancer screening program is a structured program offered to women aged 50 to 69 throughout Québec.

369. Between April 2002 and September 2004, 23 percent of the 1,294 people who underwent HIV testing were women. Since 2001, the Government of Québec has provided integrated, anonymous screening services for infections transmitted sexually and via blood, such as HIV and other forms of viral hepatitis, to individuals at risk, including young people and women earning income from sexual activities. The Stratégie québécoise de lutte contre l'infection par le VIH et le sida, l'infection par le virus de l'hépatite C et les infections transmissibles sexuellement (ITS) – Orientations 2003-2009, also sets out a number of specific measures to assist women, in particular the systematic offer of HIV screening for pregnant women.

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Article 13: Economic and Social Life

Measures to fight poverty

370. The Act to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion, adopted in 2002, impacts the living conditions of women experiencing poverty or social exclusion. Statistics show an improvement in the situation of women for the period covered by this report: the percentage of low-income women stood at 17 percent in 2004, compared to 24.4 percent in 1998.

371. The Act to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion is innovative in that it takes into account gender differences in poverty. Since 2004, the Act has been accompanied by the Government action plan to combat poverty and social exclusion, which brings together measures representing a total investment of $2.5 billion over the next five years.

372. Since 2002, the Government of Québec has been using a new mechanism to annually review the minimum wage, the main indicator for which is the ratio between the minimum wage and the average hourly wage. This has a positive effect on women, who outnumber men among minimum wage earners. Moreover, since 2004, in some sectors of the garment industry, where most of the jobs are held by women, new regulations have established working condition standards superior to the general standards set out in the Act respecting Labour Standards (1979).

373. The Government of Québec supports six regional agencies, known by the name of ORSEF, whose mandate is to assist women entrepreneurs. Creased between 2002 and 2003, these regional agencies are non-profit bodies promoting funding access for women through loans and assisting women entrepreneurs in business planning. The Government of Québec provides $165,000 annually for each fund. By August 31, 2005, 142 loan applications had been accepted, 361 jobs created and another 196 consolidated. Since the establishment of the agencies, loans have accounted for more than $2.4 million, for projects totalling close to $11.9 million.

Support programs and services

374. Since 2005, employment assistance benefits have been indexed to January 1 of each year, for a five-year period, on the basis of criteria related to temporary or severe employment constraints.

375. In the spirit of the Government action plan to combat poverty and social exclusion, in 2005, the Government of Québec passed the Individual and Family Assistance Act allowing recipients of employment assistance who are able to work to receive additional financial assistance of $130 per month to assist in employment integration or social participation efforts. The Social aid and accompaniment program was established in January 2006 to expand services to beneficiaries of the Employment assistance program.

376. Since January 1, 2006, the Government of Québec has been extending to families with a dependent child that are receiving employment assistance a monthly exemption of $100 from child support income in the calculation of benefits. This expanded eligibility for exemption, which was formerly allowed only for recipient families with dependent children under five years old, will have a significant impact on many women, especially the heads of single-parent families.

377. The Québec support payment collection program is an effective tool enabling women, who are support payment recipients in 95.6 percent of cases, to receive the amounts owing to them. In 2004-2005, 79 percent of support payments were made in time and in full.

378. In force since 2005, the Refundable tax credit for child assistance (CIRSE) is a universal measure providing financial support for families, especially low-income families. Close to $2 billion is provided annually, an increase of $547 million over the funding of the measures in place in previous years. An employment premium also exists to supplement the income earned by low- and middle-income workers. These measures are especially beneficial to women, who are more numerous than men to live with low incomes.

Women's access to housing

379. In its 2005-2006 budget, the Government of Québec announced supplementary expenditures of $145 million for the construction of 2,600 new housing units under the AccèsLogis program for low-income households, plus $15 million to renovate existing social housing. These expenditures will be of particular benefit to women, a larger proportion of whom, compared to men, have to spend 30 percent or more of their income on housing.

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