Status of Women Canada

Maryam Monsef, Minister of Status of Women:

As the first Gender Equality Week in Canada wraps up, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who’s taken part in the conversation and in the actions that help advance equality here in this country and beyond our borders.

Some of the highlights for the week for me were two announcements that our government made. One, our Women Entrepreneurship strategy is financing women in business so that they can support our economy and help strengthen our communities – that announcement was made my Minister Ng. Minister Duclos made an announcement to support new parents; the new parental sharing benefit is now going to come into effect three months earlier, supporting an additional 24,000 new parents, and that will come into effect this March.

And of course Terry I’m sure you share with me the gratitude for women’s organizations and feminists who’ve worked so hard for decades. The hashtag for Gender Equality Week #EveryoneBenefits was trending this week, and that trending happened because so many advocates have worked so hard for so long to ensure it is top of mind as both a social and as an economic issue.

Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary for Status of Women

Well Maryam, it was a fantastic week. As you know, we kicked it off on Parliament Hill with a reception for parliamentarians. There were senators, there were MPs, civil society, women’s organizations were there in force, and they all played a role in bringing about Gender Equality Week, the first-ever in our history. Of course there’s going to be many more. A big shout-out to Sven Spengemann, Member of Parliament, who brought the legislation forward. But it just goes to show when you work together, all things are possible, and we have to continue to work together to advance equality in this country going forward.

Maryam Monsef, Minister of Status of Women:

That’s right. And as we go into Women’s History Month, we recognize that advancing gender equality and supporting women in this country and beyond isn’t just about doing the right thing. It absolutely is about doing the right thing, it’s also about growing the economy and supporting the middle class. So to all those who work hard to advance gender equality here at home and abroad, we say thank you.

Text on screen: Thank you, Canada. When we advance gender equality, #EveryoneBenefits.