Karen Vecchio

[Questions on the Order Paper, November 19th, 2024]

With regard to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and the cost of raising a child in Canada: (a) what is the benchmark used within ESDC regarding the minimum cost of raising a child in Canada, broken down by the (i) age, (ii) province or territory of residence, of the child; (b) where does the benchmark in (a) originate; (c) how often is the benchmark updated; and (d) what formula is used to determine the benchmark?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, October 30th, 2024]

With regard to carbon pricing on government administration, including the Carbon Tax and the Carbon Rebate, since January 1, 2019: (a) how much did the Government of Canada collect in each riding and province during each calendar year in carbon tax, broken down by (i) federal administration, (ii) provincial administration, (iii) municipal administration; (b) how much did the Government of Canada return in each riding and province during each calendar year through the Carbon Rebate, broken down by (i) federal administration, (ii) provincial administration, (iii) municipal administration; (c) of (a)(i) and (b)(i), what is the breakdown of the movement of funds from (i) central agencies, (ii) ministerial departments, (iii) separate agencies with direct ministerial oversight, (iv) independent agencies and offices, (v) independent review bodies, (vi) branches of the Canadian Armed Forces, (vii) the Senate of Canada, (viii) the House of Commons, (ix) federal courts, (x) special operating agencies, (xi) Crown corporations, (xii) Canadian Coast guard auxiliary, (xiii) federal infrastructure projects; (d) of (a)(ii) and (b)(ii), what is the breakdown of the movement of funds from (i) provincial agencies, (ii) ministerial departments, (iii) separate agencies with direct ministerial oversight, (iv) independent agencies and offices, (v) independent review bodies, (vi) provincial legislatures, (vii) provincial courts, (viii) special operating agencies, (ix) Crown corporations, (x) provincial courts, (xi) school boards and school divisions, (xii) health authorities, (xiii) public post-secondary institutions, (xiv) provincial infrastructure projects; and (e) of (a)(iii) and (b)(iii), what is the breakdown of the movement of funds from (i) municipal administration, (ii) museums and art galleries, (iii) curling rinks, (iv) hockey arenas, (v) pools, (vi) recreational centres, (vii) stadiums, (viii) community centres, (ix) municipal infrastructure projects, (x) visitor centres, (xi) homeless shelters, (xii) parks, (xiii) emergency response, (xiv) enforcement services?

[Questions on the Order Paper, October 30th, 2024]

With regard to the safety of novel therapeutic products approved by Health Canada (HC) through Agile Licensing: (a) does HC determine the specifications required to be completed by the manufacturer to determine a therapeutic product’s safety for use by Canadians based primarily on its (i) therapeutic indication, (ii) pharmacological mechanism of action; (b) how does HC determine that a therapeutic product is safe; (c) what clinical and pre-clinical criteria are used by HC to make a safety assessment in regards to (i) vaccines, (ii) modified mRNA products, (iii) lipid nanotechnology, (iv) medications, (v) other biologics; (d) based on the pharmacological phase of the COVID-19 vaccines (i.e. from administration to spike protein expression), (i) are adverse events following immunizations adequately detected based on the Brighton Collaboration Criteria, (ii) what are the anticipated adverse events; (e) if the answer to (d)(i) is affirmative, how has this been confirmed; (f) what specific criteria were used to confirm the COVID-19 vaccines’ safety profile at their time of (i) approval, (ii) authorization; (g) based on the requirements in (b), (c) and (f), was that information adequate to categorically declare the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines for all cohorts at the time of their (i) approval, (ii) authorization; (h) does approval of a novel therapeutic product based on the Agile Licensing pathway require criteria that are equivalent to that required under C.08.001(2) of the Food and Drug Regulations; (i) if the answer to (g) or (h) is negative, who approved the messaging from government, public health officials, and other authorities that “COVID-19 vaccines do not get approval from HC unless they are safe” or that “all vaccines authorized in Canada are safe”; (j) how has safety of the COVID-19 vaccines been re-evaluated based on detected impurities, including (i) residual DNA, (ii) residual dsRNA, (iii) SV-40 enhancer sequence, (iv) endotoxins, (v) unknown peptides resulting from frameshifting; and (k) how has safety of the COVID-19 vaccine been evaluated based on remaining excessive intracellular N1-methylpseudouridine following degradation of the synthetic modified mRNA?

[Questions on the Order Paper, October 30th, 2024]

With regard to federally funded research for children’s illnesses: (a) how much federal funding was given out since 2015, broken down (i) year, (ii) province, (iii) illness, (iv) organization type; (b) which organizations received funding; (c) of (b), how much did each organization received, broken down by total amount (i) under $1000, (ii) $1,000 to $4,999, (iii) $5,000 to $9,999, (iv) $10 000 to $24,999, (v) $25,000 to $49,9999, (vi) $50,000 to $99,999, (vii) $100,000 to $249,999, (viii) $250,000 to $499,999, (ix) $500,000 to $999,999, (x) more than $1,000,000; (d) how many funding opportunities were available; (e) how many applications were received; (f) how many applications were accepted; (g) how much did Health Canada spend in-house; and (h) what reports were provided to the Government of Canada?

[Criminal Code, June 4th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I am thankful that this bill has been brought forward. This is a really important bill that we need to discuss. In my time here in the House of Commons, I have had the opportunity to do a lot of work when it comes to violence against women, domestic violence, intergenerational trauma and impact to families.

American forensic social worker Evan Stark is at the leading edge on this. According to Lagdon et al., “coercive control is characterised by a pattern of negative behaviours which aim to intimidate, threaten and humiliate a person or restrict a person’s liberty (e.g. isolating a person from friends and family; taking control over aspects of everyday life such as where a person can go and who they can see; repeatedly putting a person down; making credible threats of violence; or economic oppression) entrapping them within an abusive cycle”.

Bill C-332, an act to amend the Criminal Code, recognizes the dynamic between this and intimate partner violence and how intimate partner violence is different from other forms of harassment or assault. When it comes to a trusting relationship between partners, we know it is a very different relationship when a person is a subordinate to someone in charge or when a person has any vulnerability. Although the Criminal Code does recognize sexual assault and violence, it does not dig deep enough when it comes to coercive control.

I would like to talk about this bill a little bit. The amendments the committee made are very well done. I specifically looked at these amendments because the bill had to get into the language regarding what coercive control was. Getting into the details, we have to understand the pattern of conduct; we need to understand that it is not just a single event. Many times, police are called to a single event of a physical nature, but coercive control is something that happens time and time again. Seeing that it is fully detailed in here, I would really like to thank the members of the committee who did great work on this. We need to make sure that when we are talking about it, if we are going to educate on it, if we want to ensure that the police know how to enforce it, we need to have a good understanding of it. The committee has done a great job on that.

The exact issue is when it comes to reporting. Education has to be paramount here. One of the greatest tragedies we have is that when abuse does happen, especially to women, they do not call. We know that, in over 90% of cases of violence against women, the victims are not calling the police to report. We have to look at the group of people who are not reporting. In that group we find more marginalized women who are becoming more vulnerable. Often, they are not reporting because of trust. If somebody has reported once or twice before, will they call back if it continues to happen? Without coercive control in the Criminal Code, this will not happen.

It is so hard to prove what coercive control is. By indicating specifically in the bill what it is, it gives much greater depth to the courts and to the police to make sure that we are actually laying the charges that are necessary. To survivors, though, this is a very difficult thing for them. Survivors of coercive control are fighting between trying to protect their children and protect themselves; they are making sure that they do not lose their children, making sure that they are protecting their children from their perpetrator. In many cases, we are looking at revictimization. We have heard time and time again of people going into the courts after accusing somebody and being revictimized. The NDP member who sponsored this bill saw what impact coercive control can have.

We need to ensure that our courts are trauma-informed and that those working with victims of violence and intergenerational trauma are trained, because these are very vulnerable people. It is not just about a person being hit and getting bruised, but it is also about what that does to a person inside. Many of these victims who have come forward are already ripped apart, so making sure that we can support these people is very important.

I would like to read a few quotes from women's organizations because, when it comes to their support of this bill or some of their concerns, they have been very active. I would really like to thank these women's organizations that are out there working day in and day out to make sure that women, when they are looking for shelters and financial support, receive support. Luke's Place is one of these organizations. The legal director at Luke's Place, a family law support centre for abused women in Oshawa, says the majority of women who are abused do not report it to police and therefore would not benefit by this new law.

That is one of the concerns that they brought forward, and that is why it is important that we have all of this information. She worries that with this law, women who defend themselves from abusive partners might themselves be accused of coercive control. That is why we have to talk about coercive control and parental alienation, and understand how all of these pieces come together to create a really complex issue.

We also have to wonder, will the police be able to enforce this? When victims are making these phone calls, it may be the first call or it may be their 11th call. We do not know. We know that it usually takes up to 11 times for a woman to make that first call after being violated. We do not know what call that is. However, if they have lost trust in the system, there is an issue.

As we are moving forward, we need to see what is positive and what is negative. How can we control this to ensure that when victims are coming forward, they do not, in turn, get forced into coercive control, that the tables do not get turned on them?

We have heard so much testimony from women across Canada, whether it is at the justice committee or at the status of women committee. We have heard from women who have come forward and shared their stories about the tables being turned on them. When they came forward, they were talking about not having money, being followed, being stalked, and a variety of different things that could happen, such as name-calling, all of these abuses, and the fact that at the end of the day they did not have that support. These are the things that we need to talk about.

One of the biggest things, and this is what I think this legislation does, is that it provides a tool. It provides something to go back on and to lean on. This would allow early intervention. If people are educated, they may be more aware of it. They may be more aware of what is going on in a person's life.

Only 30% of women, of people, have visible injuries as a result of domestic violence, and only a certain number of people experience, perhaps, emotional, sexual or financial parts of this abuse. When we know that 30% have bruises, what about the other 70%? What does that look like?

Why do we need to do this? Just moments ago, people were talking about the correlation between women and femicide. These things are happening. Between 2011 and 2021, police reported 1,125 gender-related homicides of women and girls in Canada. Of these homicides, two-thirds were perpetrated by an intimate partner, 28% by a family member, 5% by a friend or an acquaintance, and the remaining 1% by a stranger. We know that, in many cases, women are victims of their own partner, the people they trust the most in their lives.

Between 2011 and 2021, in all the gender-related homicides of women and girls, the largest proportion died by stabbing. Now we have to look at this. Is this a first-time incident? What happened prior to this? When we look at this, we will find that this would not have been the first time of violence. It is much greater than that. Although most homicide victims are men and boys, women and girls are disproportionately killed by someone they know. That is exactly what we need to talk about when we are looking at coercive control.

I want to end this with one last example. This is the case of Daniella Mallia. She went to the police three days before her death to report that her ex-boyfriend was harassing and threatening her via text. She repeatedly told police that her ex-boyfriend's behaviour caused her to fear for her safety. This was three days before this young woman was murdered.

We can do more. We can do better. I fully support this bill. I look forward to its passing in this House today.

[Criminal Code, June 4th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I am grateful for this very important bill. I got out of a meeting just moments ago with somebody who was talking about parental alienation.

Can the member share her thoughts on that? What does parental alienation look like? What are things that we should be aware of, especially when it comes to coercive control and understanding the complexity of it?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, June 3rd, 2024]

With regard to the Canada Child Benefit: (a) how many recipients currently receive the Canada child benefit; (b) of the recipients in (a), what is the breakdown between (i) spouses or common-law partners who reside in the same home as the child, (ii) individuals in child custody arrangements; (c) of the recipients in (b)(ii), what is the breakdown of (i) individuals who about equally split the time spent with the child with another individual (between 40% and 60%), (ii) individuals who spent most of the time with the child (more than 60%), (iii) individuals who spent less of the time with the child (less than 60%), (iv) individuals who only spent a temporary period (e.g. summer period) with the child?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, June 3rd, 2024]

With regard to the eligibility review process of the Canada Child Benefit for shared custody arrangements: (a) what measures are being taken by the Government of Canada to verify the appropriate payment amount based on the percentage of time the child spends with each individual; (b) what guidelines are in place to prevent inequality between recipients; and (c) if completed, what were the findings of the Gender-based Analysis Plus?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, May 29th, 2024]

With regard to the revocation of government security clearances for ministerial exempt staff, including those from the Office of the Prime Minister, between January 1, 2016, and April 11, 2024: (a) how many individuals have had their security clearances revoked for cause (and not as a result of retirement or resignation); and (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by (i) year, (ii) minister whom they were working for at the time of revocation, (iii) reason for revocation?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, May 29th, 2024]

With regard to the revocation of government security clearances between January 1, 2023, and April 11, 2024: (a) how many individuals have had their security clearances revoked for cause (and not as a result of retirement or resignation); (b) of the revocations in (a), how many were due to the individual spying or otherwise acting on behalf of a foreign government; and (c) what is the breakdown of (a) and (b) by department, agency, Crown corporation, or other government entity?