Even rejected ideas from G7 gender advisory council will see light of day
OTTAWA — The gender equality advisory council the Liberal government set up to help bring feminism to the G7 summit will be publishing its full list of recommendations later this year — even the ones Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decides not to champion around the exclusive table.
Council members felt strongly that they be able to show they pushed for the causes that are dear to their organizations and the people they represent, rather than have any rejected ideas be buried, said Isabelle Hudon, Canada’s ambassador to France and the advisory council’s cochair.
She also said it did not take much negotiating to bring Trudeau and the Liberal government on board with that idea.
“I think that he does recognize that it will create positive tension and that we need to keep putting positive tension on society,” Hudon, the only member of the council who works for the federal government, said in an interview Thursday.
The Liberal government is making gender equality an overarching theme of its G7 presidency, which will include a focus on the economic empowerment of women as world leaders gather in early June in the Charlevoix region of Quebec. The advisory council, which includes such high-profile members as billionaire philanthropist Melinda Gates and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, is developing gender-related recommendations that touch on each one of the themes for the G7 summit.
The other themes have to do with the environment — specifically, climate change, protecting the oceans and clean energy — as well as peace and security, adapting to a rapidly changing job market, and inclusive economic growth.
Many of those sitting on the gender equality advisory council are strong advocates in the area of sexual and reproductive health rights, including access to abortion, and Hudon said she does think some recommendations on that topic will be passed along.
They could, however, end up being among those Trudeau does not bring to the G7 table, since arriving at a consensus could be challenging. Soon after coming to power, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order reinstating the so-called global gag rule on abortion, which forbids organizations getting U.S. funding from even mentioning the procedure, never mind ensuring access to it.
Hudon said the advisory council has discussed the need for pragmatism.
“We want to make sure that we are contributing to move the needle,” she said.
“We have to equip the prime minister with actionable and bold recommendations, but also recommendations (with) which he will be able to rally the six other leaders,” she said, adding that is why it is useful to be able to release the full report later down the road.
The gender equality advisory council is presenting its preliminary ideas to Trudeau during its first in-person meeting in Ottawa this week, but will not be submitting its final recommendations until a few days before the G7 summit, which is taking place June 8 and 9 at a resort in La Malbaie, Que.
That is not a lot of time, Hudon acknowledged: “If we were to start again, this council — and we’re inventing it from scratch — we would ask for more time, but we don’t have more time.”
Being able to sit down with Trudeau to go over the preliminary recommendations, and get his feedback, will help them focus on those that are most likely to make it to the G7 summit, she added.
“We are doing the best with the time that we have.”
The Liberal government hopes viewing everything through the lens of gender equality — such as by putting proposals through a gender-based analysis — will eventually become a permanent part of the G7 process. Trudeau said French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to pick up the baton, at least in some way, when he hosts the G7 summit in 2019.
“This focus on gender as an overarching theme throughout everything the G7 does is something that we want to establish, not just for this year and next year, but for many years to come,” Trudeau said Thursday.