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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

May/4/22 10:49:55 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is an honour to rise today toward the end of the debate. We have some time left and some more speakers, but I think this take-note debate has been one of sincerity and has been heartfelt. I think we have seen some real change in the way we are able to discuss things in this place and to accept the inquiry. I remember when the inquiry came out: it was not quite three years ago. When the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and two-spirited inquiry first said that this was a genocide, there was a great deal of response in the media as if that might not be the case. It has been stated by members on all sides of the House today without question. That gives a sense that we have made progress in understanding the scope, scale and gravity of the issue. I want to start by acknowledging that we are here on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples. I want to also acknowledge the territory that I am honoured to represent here in Parliament: My riding name of Saanich—Gulf Islands is a corrupted English pronunciation of W̱SÁNEĆ, the W̱SÁNEĆ nation of the Coast Salish peoples. I am deeply indebted to the peoples of our territory. I want to also begin by saying that I will be splitting my time with the honourable and terrific member of Parliament for Edmonton Griesbach. There is a lot that has been said. With the time remaining for me it would be hard to add a great deal more, but in preparing for this and whenever I think about the inquiry, I do not want to talk about statistics. I just want to say, as a settler culture woman, recognizing the privilege of the colour of my skin, that I am so lucky. I have a bunch of great women friends, but it is only my indigenous women friends who say things casually like, “I was left for dead in a dumpster”. I hardly know any close indigenous women friends who have not had the experience of losing close family members, particularly in the downtown east side in Vancouver. That statement, “I was left for dead in a dumpster,” was actually in the context of sitting in a circle after this report came out in Victoria with a woman who I thought I knew really well. Her anglicized name is Rose Henry. She goes by the Tsilhqot’in name now of Grandma Losah. I had no idea that my friend Rose, as a kid, had been left for dead in a dumpster after being beaten and abused. These experiences are not statistics. These are our friends, our mothers, our aunties and our children. The levels of abuse and casual violence against indigenous women and girls is appalling and a human rights abuse. We have not responded with the urgency that we must. We went for years, as I am sure colleagues will remember, demanding that we get an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. We got the inquiry. We got the recommendations, but women and girls are still going missing on a routine basis. Indigenous women and girls are still marginalized and at risk, and we have 231 calls for justice to make that not the case anymore. In the time remaining for me, I want to emphasize a few of them that stand out. Call for justice 4.5, which I have mentioned tonight in questions and comments, is a call for a guaranteed livable income that will end the marginalization and take women and girls from being in a position of great risk to being safer by the security of having enough money to not be in poverty. It is pretty straightforward. We also know from this inquiry that women who have gone missing are quite often, through their marginalized economic status, forced to hitchhike. They do not own cars. They are not going to be getting safe and affordable ground transportation because there is none. Our ground transportation system in this country is worse than that in most developing countries: Members should think about that. This report came out before Greyhound withdrew service right across Canada. I talk to my Nuu-chah-nulth friends, particularly Chief Judith Sayers of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation. She has been a prominent supporter of a local bus company called Wilson's bus lines that has been trying to stay afloat and trying to connect services. The government needs to acknowledge that we need VIA Rail to work for the marginalized. We also need to address the huge threat of wellness checks in which indigenous women and girls die. A wellness check should not result in an inquiry and a coroner's report. This also needs urgent attention.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

May/4/22 10:55:05 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have great respect for the member, but since she has brought us into a debate about the universal basic income, which I see as entailing a variety of different policy questions from the specific issue of combatting violence, I wonder if the member can share whether there is any data at all to suggest that somehow we are going to see a drop in violence associated with the particular implementation of this policy instrument. Would we not be better off addressing causes of poverty, as in providing the specific support that people who are in vulnerable situations need, rather than providing simply a guarantee that anybody who falls below a certain level automatically starts getting paid by the government? Does the member believe that we could finance this by cutting other social programs, or does she believe we could afford this on top of the existing social programs we are providing?

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Ms. Elizabeth May

May/4/22 10:56:04 p.m.
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Madam Chair, as I was calling out the calls for justice from the inquiry report, I will read it: 4.5 We call upon all governments to establish a guaranteed annual livable income for all Canadians, including indigenous peoples, to meet all their social and economic needs. I could go into this at great length. We have a poverty caucus in this place made up of members of Parliament and people from the other place. We have had expert testimony for years. I recommend to the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan a great book by the great Progressive Conservative Hugh Segal: Bootstraps Need Boots.

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Ms. Lori Idlout (Nunavut, NDP)

May/4/22 10:56:46 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I think the hon. member's speech was great. It has been interesting to sit here during this debate and hear all the empathy and understanding that apparently seems to be quite common about the realities and experiences of first nations, Métis and Inuit. Unfortunately, we are not hearing a lot of calls for accountability. I wonder this. Can the hon. member, with her long experience as a member of Parliament, share some examples of how accountability could be ensured, and to make sure we are seeing, with regard to the crisis of the murdered and missing indigenous women and diverse gendered people too, accountability from that perspective? Qujannamiik.

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Ms. Elizabeth May

May/4/22 10:57:33 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that reminds me of something that the great journalist Warner Troyer once said, which was that politicians are basically like single-celled organisms, susceptible only to heat, pressure and pain. We need more heat, more pressure and some more pain to make those who have the power to make these changes, make the changes.

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Ms. Andréanne Larouche (Shefford, BQ)

May/4/22 10:57:58 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my hon. colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands for her speech. We are nearing the end of the take-note debate. I agree with my colleague from Manicouagan. I too have a problem with the term “take-note”. There are 231 calls for justice, 231 ways to take action so that no more women or girls are murdered or go missing. I wonder if my colleague could comment on the fact that we are having a take-note debate when there are 231 calls for justice, for action.

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Ms. Elizabeth May

May/4/22 10:58:38 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my hon. colleague from Shefford. She is right. We are here, at this late hour, when there are over 200 calls for justice. We all understand what needs to be done, and yet we are having a take-note debate, which is not enough.

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Ms. Rachel Blaney (North Island—Powell River, NDP)

May/4/22 10:59:10 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I know that my granny went to residential school in Lejac from the age of four to 16. Unfortunately, when she was 16, the nuns arranged for a marriage for her and she was married to a 50-year-old white man. When he passed away not too long after, of course, she was rejected by the family and lost her status and was not able to go home. When I think about the history of Canada and how unsafe it makes indigenous women and girls, I am wondering this. Could the member talk about how this history continues to repeat itself?

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Ms. Elizabeth May

May/4/22 10:59:47 p.m.
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Madam Chair, these stories just break our hearts. History repeats itself because we do not take it on board as a situation. We would not tolerate this if, throughout society, at the same proportion of the population, women with my colour of skin were going missing at the same rate as indigenous women. We have to face facts. History repeats itself because racism remains systemic.

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

May/4/22 11:00:22 p.m.
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Madam Chair, today I want to acknowledge all my colleagues. Each and every one of them here today is participating in what has been a very difficult conversation for indigenous people not just here, but across the country. I want them to do more than sympathize, but to honestly ask themselves what it would be like without their mothers, what would it be like without their sisters, or what would it be like without their grandmothers. Every indigenous family in this country knows that pain, but I do not want to talk about the pain. We talked an awful lot today about the pain indigenous people have suffered, but I want to remind members that with this pain it was not the current government or any government in the country that kept us alive: it was indigenous women. Indigenous women kept our nations alive, and they still do today. That is precisely the reason the government, and every government in Canadian history, has persisted to ensure this problem is not addressed. By evidence of what has occurred thus far, is the fact that our indigenous women continue to go missing. How can we say to the contrary? I want to talk about the remarkable women in my life who have made a contribution to my presence here today. They are really the only reason I am here. Indigenous women have fought for our nations. They fought for every single child, and one woman who comes to my mind in particular is my mother. Her name is Grace Desjarlais. She is the sister of a woman named Brenda, who was taken through the sixties scoop. The sixties scoop, the residential schools system and every government policy to date has not consulted indigenous women; however, they expect their labour. When Brenda, my biological mother, was working as a sex worker after aging out of the terrible foster care system that this country still has, she fought. She had an option presented to her. She said she could have given up and gone down the road that so many of our sisters do, but she fought and she stayed alive. She was able to live to the age of 42: a feat that many indigenous women do not get the opportunity to do in this country. She asked her sister, a woman she barely knew, to do something courageous. She asked her to take her son and to save him from a system that would kill him. That was me. Women came together from my community and said “no”. We took a challenge against the court, and I was one of the very few children not apprehended even though the first person I met in this world was a social worker and an RCMP officer. The people who would save me were indigenous women. This is a holistic issue, my friends. When we support indigenous women, they will continue to save lives. They will save our nations. I know this because I have seen it. I am here because of it. There has been no government program, no government policy and no government that has done this work for us. When I see the work of the calls to action, the calls to justice, I see mothers, aunties and kokums who did everything they could to make sure that the government listens. Today, I hope this debate goes much further than just words. To every government member here today, I want them to imagine what it would be like not to have mothers, grandmothers or sisters and then ask themselves whether it is worth waiting and whether the government has succeeded. That is the one thing I hope they take from this debate.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

May/4/22 11:05:04 p.m.
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Madam Chair, hearing members in the House speak about their parents reminds us of how imminent some of the things are that we hear about: As younger members, they feel further away, yet they are not so far away. They are within living memory of so many people still alive: parents and members of the House. I want to ask the member a question with respect to the dialogue that has happened between his party and the Liberals around the confidence and supply agreement. I think it is a fair question to ask. There have been many criticisms from the NDP of the government approach with respect to aspects of this issue. At the same time, there was no mention in that confidence and supply agreement of specific commitments around indigenous issues. I wonder if the member could share some of his thinking around that. Are the NDP going to be pushing for other things in addition to what is in that agreement?

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais

May/4/22 11:06:06 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for the question, and I understand it to be one of political importance, considering where we are today. However, I would ask the member how one would go about doing the work that he proposes with a process and a system that are so entrenched in a deeply colonial, deeply harmful and deeply problematic system. What I mean to say is that this place, the building we are in right now and the governance system that we have are not conducive to the justice indigenous people deserve or need. There is no confidence and supply agreement that can fix this issue. What needs to be fixed is Canadians. Canadians need to understand that they are part of this problem and that we need a cultural shift. There is no confidence and supply agreement that can fix this issue. It requires that individuals and communities, including the member and his own family, understand their place in this country.

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Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

May/4/22 11:07:12 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is such a privilege and honour to listen to my very wise colleague. We share a common history, a history of family impacted by the child welfare system. Would my colleague agree with me that one of the areas we need to focus on is ensuring that kids aging out of care age into a home and supports rather than on the street?

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais

May/4/22 11:07:50 p.m.
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Madam Chair, my hon. colleague from Winnipeg Centre is a champion, and I do not have to tell anyone in this House how important the work she does is. I know many members who have aged out. What we mean by “aged out” is that our system here in Canada provides the kick-boot treatment to young indigenous children in particular. When they hit the age of 18, they get tossed out on the street, just like my mom. She fought, by herself, to get to where she was. However, many indigenous people, particularly indigenous children who age out of the system, need far more than that. I have a biological sister, the oldest of my family, whom I have never met. The only phone call I ever got was the phone call to tell me she passed away. That is the level of support we have in this country for families. I was told that she died and had a funeral, and no one was there. Members can imagine how that makes me feel. The supports that we have to date are zero. Anything beyond this is critical. I believe that supporting indigenous women, as I said in my statement, is the path, because they save communities, they save lives and they saved me.

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Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

May/4/22 11:09:09 p.m.
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Madam Chair, hearing the member for Edmonton Griesbach reminds me tonight, as always, how lucky we are to have him in this place. He was talking about accountability that he was looking for from the governing party. With the time remaining, would he like to share more in terms of the accountability he is looking for?

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais

May/4/22 11:09:28 p.m.
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Madam Chair, accountability is a process of understanding the harm, the pain and the true impact of what has happened to indigenous people in this country. It means digging deep into one's own family history and understanding that not everyone in this House has good ancestors. We all inherit something. My family inherited a significant amount of pain. Many other people, particularly the people who benefited most from this country, continue to benefit. They are some of the largest oligarch benefactors still today. We need justice. We need to tax them, and they need to pay their fair share.

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Ms. Andréanne Larouche (Shefford, BQ)

May/4/22 11:10:18 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it appears I have the thankless task of closing this evening's take-note debate. I am speaking, albeit with a great deal of disgust, as the Bloc Québécois critic for the status of women in this take-note debate on indigenous women and girls. This debate is taking place the night before Red Dress Day, a day to honour missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. It is sad to see that even now, in 2022, attacking women is still seen as a way to endanger the survival of a people. It is sad that we are still talking about mothers, daughters, sisters, friends who have disappeared, women who are no longer here, who will never come back. Nevertheless, I will approach my speech from three angles: the Liberal government's inaction, some of the issues discussed at the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, and finally, a bit about Quebec's perspective on this issue. After waiting more than three years, the Liberal government finally unveiled its action plan to end violence against indigenous women and girls last summer, yet indigenous women and many indigenous organizations feel the response is insufficient and long overdue. When asked at a press conference about the federal government's progress on the plan it presented last summer, two years late, regarding the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the Minister of Justice admitted that the government had fallen behind because of the federal election in September 2021 and because of the war in Ukraine, which started on February 24. The government is finding excuses to explain its inaction. Why is the government not stepping up? The federal government must take its share of the responsibility, but it is not doing so, especially with respect to the report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, on which the federal government has done little to follow up. The figures are staggering. Between 2004 and 2014, while the homicide rate across Canada was declining, the number of indigenous women and girls who were murdered was six times higher than the rate among non-indigenous women. According to the 2018 figures for Canada, 25.1% of non-indigenous women report having experiencing physical and sexual abuse by an intimate partner, but that figure rises to 43.7% among indigenous women. In addition, 38.2% of non-indigenous women report having experienced physical and sexual violence committed by someone other than an intimate partner, compared to 54.9% among indigenous women. The situation did not improve during the pandemic. Obviously, these are the official figures, and in cases where women were willing to come forward, of course it is not easy to admit it and speak out against it. It it hard to get out of a cycle of violence. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls stated that ending it “requires a new relationship and an equal partnership between all Canadians and Indigenous Peoples”. The calls for justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, presented as legal imperatives rather than voluntary recommendations, set out transformative measures in a number of areas including health, safety, justice, culture and ordinarily the following: We need to establish the position of a national indigenous and human rights ombudsperson and establish a national indigenous and human rights tribunal. The report also talks about developing and implementing a national action plan to ensure equitable access to employment, housing, education, safety and health care. The government must provide long-term funding for educational programs and awareness campaigns related to violence prevention and combatting lateral violence. Furthermore, the government must prohibit the apprehension of children on the basis of poverty and cultural bias. This is all great on paper, but the government must now stop shelving report after report and start responding to the calls to action. After the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls tabled its more than 2,000-page report, chief commissioner Marion Buller even stated that despite their different circumstances and backgrounds, all of the missing and murdered are connected by economic, social and political marginalization, racism, and misogyny woven into the fabric of Canadian society. Indigenous communities need to rebuild, and Quebeckers and Canadians need to acknowledge the collective trauma experienced by these communities, understand it and take steps to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. Moreover, the increasing pressure on the federal government, which until that point had disregarded the calls to action, finally gave rise to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2015, almost seven years ago. The commission came out in favour of a national inquiry into the violence disproportionately experienced by indigenous women and girls. The national inquiry's final report was released on June 3, 2019, and all the long delays were unacceptable, especially on the part of a government that calls itself feminist. Its failure to act tarnished its international reputation. Béatrice Vaugrante, then executive director of Amnesty International for francophone Canada, said as much because numerous UN, U.S., and U.K. bodies asked Canada to end violence against indigenous women. She considered this Canada's worst human rights issue and said the government's failure to recognize the magnitude of the problem and take action was unacceptable. In October 2004, in response to the tragically high number of indigenous women being victimized, Amnesty International even released a report entitled “Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada”, an unmistakable call to take action and implement concrete measures. Five years after the initial report, Amnesty International followed up with a second report entitled “No More Stolen Sisters: The Need for a Comprehensive Response to Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada” to underscore the five factors that contributed to the phenomenon of violence against indigenous women. First, the role of racism and misogyny in perpetuating violence against indigenous women. Second, the sharp disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous women when it comes to the fulfilment of their economic, social, political and cultural rights. Third, the disruption of indigenous societies caused by the historic and ongoing mass removal of children from indigenous families and communities. Fourth, the disproportionately high number of indigenous women in Canadian prisons, many of whom were themselves victims of violence. Fifth, inadequate police response to violence against indigenous women as illustrated by the handling of missing persons cases. At the committee on which I sit, we have seen in many studies—such as the study on the disproportionate impact that the pandemic had on women, the study on invisible work, the study on women in rural communities, and the study on intimate partner violence—that indigenous women and girls are almost always among those who are most affected. We are in the process of completing a study on the impact that resource development has on indigenous women. In study after study, witnesses from different indigenous communities and organizations are sharing their harsh realities with us. They are also sharing concrete proposals. As vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, I am also shocked to know that nearly 54% of trafficked women are indigenous. That seems extremely high to me. I also had to address this issue while filling in at the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. In fact, this issue finally made the news for the first time in 2014 when the RCMP released figures on the number of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. A total of 1,017 indigenous women and girls went missing or were murdered between 1980 and 2012. There are still 105 women unaccounted for who have disappeared under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. That is a lot. Finally, I want to discuss some of the things we are experiencing in Quebec. I want to highlight the work being done at the Val-d'Or Native Friendship Centre. I hope to have the opportunity to visit it one day. We are also sensitive to the issue of restorative justice. Then there is the Viens commission that was launched by the Quebec government following the disappearance of Sindy Ruperthouse, a woman from Pikogan in Abitibi, near Val-d'Or. My colleague, the member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, could tell the House about this. She said that she has heard a number of indigenous women in Abitibi accuse the police of physical and sexual abuse, and the same thing could happen in many other ridings throughout Quebec. My colleague from Manicouagan can also testify to this. Here is what an organization in Quebec had to say. According to Viviane Michel, a former president of Quebec Native Women, it is essential that indigenous women, families and communities have the opportunity to be heard as part of any inquiry. She also said that understanding the deep roots underlying the systemic discrimination faced by indigenous women is crucial to ensuring their dignity and safety. She also pointed out that the report itself recognizes that indigenous women are at greater risk of being murdered or going missing, and she wondered why the government was not taking real, concrete, tangible action that would make a difference. In closing, the Bloc Québécois has been promoting this nation-to-nation partnership with indigenous peoples for several years now. Furthermore, during the election campaign, our party's position was clear. Modern treaties are needed. This position is extremely important to me and my colleagues. It will be up to the nations themselves to say what they want and decide what they want to negotiate with Ottawa. I would like to mention one last thing. Last fall I travelled to the shores of Lake Memphremagog, at the invitation of the Eastern Townships chapter of World March of Women. Red dresses in varying sizes were hung up on a line. I realized that women and girls of all ages are among the missing and murdered, each with their own story, and they all had loved ones who were left to wonder what had happened to them.

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Mr. Gary Vidal (Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, CPC)

May/4/22 11:20:19 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the member from the Bloc spoke about some women's organizations, and she serves on the status of women committee. In saying that, the Coalition on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls in B.C., the Ontario Native Women's Association and Quebec Native Women Inc. are all groups that were excluded from the process of developing the national action plan, despite multiple requests to the government to join the process and have their voices heard. Does the member believe that the exclusion of the voices of these grassroots women's organizations in the development of the national action plan will impact, or have potential to impact, the long-term success of this action plan?

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Ms. Andréanne Larouche

May/4/22 11:21:13 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for the question. This allows me to reiterate the importance of talking nation to nation. I mentioned it at the end of my speech. The government cannot make proposals if it has not held consultations, if it has not opened a dialogue and if it has not listened to its local partners, the first nations communities. In my opinion, this may unfortunately have an impact on carrying out the action plan. There is no doubt about that, because some communities will walk away. As my colleague said, some communities have withdrawn from the process. How are we going to successfully follow through on the recommendations if the communities in question withdraw from the process? Again, it is critical to talk nation to nation and keep the dialogue open.

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Ms. Rachel Blaney (North Island—Powell River, NDP)

May/4/22 11:22:03 p.m.
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Madam Chair, as we sit here in this place, and we talk about indigenous women and girls and the realities that they face, and how many of them go missing or are murdered, I think of the many constituents I have in my riding who tell me the reality they face every day because they do not know, in one case for 35 years, where their sisters are. They just always have that haunting sort of history in their mind: What happened? Is she okay? Is she dead somewhere? How do we find her? We are here in this place. We have calls to action. We know the pathway that we need to take. What we need to see is for the government to actually invest resources into that pathway so that we can move forward and so that, finally, indigenous women and girls can be valued the way they should be. Could this member talk about how important it is to actually see those resources so the actions can happen, and so that the women do not have to have this experience anymore?

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