Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A Slow Process

The United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women exists since 1946. The 1953 Convention on the Political Rights of Women adopted by the UN General Assembly is the first international treaty guaranteeing that women be entitled to vote in all elections, be eligible for election to all publicly elected bodies, and be entitled to hold public office on equal terms with men.

In 1979, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women was adopted by the UN General Assembly and ratified by 189 states, including Canada. One of its 16 core provisions guarantees women equality in voting and participation in government and organizations concerned with public and political life of a country.

The 2011 UN General Assembly Resolution on Women's Political Participation expressed concern that women worldwide continue to be marginalized from political activities due to "discriminatory laws, practices, attitudes, and gender stereotypes, low levels of education, lack of access to healthcare, and the disproportionate effect of poverty on women." This resolution reaffirms obligations of all states to protect human rights, recognizes the role of UN women, its goal of gender equality and empowerment of women, and recognizes the important contributions "women have made toward the achievement of representative, transparent, and accountable governments in many countries."

Several indexes have been developed to measure gender equity worldwide. The UN Gender-related Development Index, the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index, the International Save the Children Alliance Mothers' Index, and the Social Watch Gender Equity Index all rank countries by the number of women in parliament. The rankings are reported on the Inter-Parliamentary Union's website, http://www.ipu.org.

The pace at which women have been elected to legislatures worldwide has been called "glacial."

What We Have Heard

We heard that the essential voices of women are missing in the NWT Legislative Assembly, its committees, and Cabinet. The special committee received passionate and well-informed calls for the Assembly to take action to increase women's participation.

We also heard that equal representation can make a difference and that there is awareness that women's leadership gives strength to and improves political decision-making. When women are equally represented, multiple viewpoints are taken into account and conduct tends to be more respectful.

Cultural barriers, financial and other challenges to campaigning, access to information and knowledge on consensus government, and uncertainty about the responsibilities of Members of the Legislative Assembly were among the most common topics to arise during conversations in public hearings conducted by the special committee.

Encouragement and social support for candidates, more consideration for women's roles in the care of children and family, workshops on campaigning, helping young women to see politics as a career choice, and enhancing the Northern Studies curriculum were among the concrete suggestions to help overcome the obstacles women see on their path toward equal political participation.

The committee has received specific requests to identify how the NWT Legislative Assembly's building can be changed to better accommodate women, and how policies could be improved to create a more women- and family-friendly environment.

Women's Candidacy

Canadian federal elections show that the most important factor in women getting elected is the decision to run for office in the first place. In 2015, of all Parliamentary candidates, 29.9 percent were women. Today, nearly the same amount, 27 percent, of Canada's Members of Parliament are women.

Since 1999, NWT elections have had women candidates in only eight, nine, or 10 of the 19 ridings. The high was 10 candidates in 2007. In 2015, there were nine women candidates in nine of the 19 ridings, and two were elected.

Women must be willing to stand as candidates in order to be elected. The decision to become a candidate and run for a seat in an election is an individual choice, but women report many obstacles they must consider when choosing to run.

A 2014 study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union found that, globally, the top five factors deterring women from entering politics are:

• Domestic responsibilities;
• Prevailing cultural attitudes regarding the roles of women in society;
• Lack of support from family;
• Lack of confidence; and
• Lack of finance.

Media can also play a role in women's participation in public life and politics, whether at the local, regional, or national level. Gendered comments, sexist jokes, labelling of women politicians, focusing on a woman's physical attributes, and using stereotypes detract from women candidates' platforms and achievements.

Discussion is ongoing on how Indigenous communities are impacted by the gendered process of colonization, including the failure of mainstream Indigenous organizations to mobilize around these impacts. Indigenous women's experiences of colonization have had particularly negative impacts on their ability to achieve positions of power within Canadian or Indigenous governments or organizations, according to research.

Research has attempted to connect the historical stereotyping of Indigenous women to the current high numbers of unsolved crimes against them. Colonialist interpretations and misinterpretations based on ethnocentric views have contributed to stereotypes that, in turn, are said to have led to negligence in solving crimes against Indigenous women. Understanding how gender roles changed during the history of contact with a patriarchal European colonial society, how it has contributed to today's high rate of violence against Indigenous women, and how this in turn has contributed to the low representation of Indigenous women in political leadership is at the heart of some most recent research.

I will now hand over the report to the honourable Member for Deh Cho. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.