44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 4, 2022 02:00PM
- May/4/22 8:15:39 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, my colleague, like myself, represents many indigenous women, who have sought and persevered through great challenges and sacrifices in their lives. They have grieved the loss of so many among them. I also know she understands that reconciliation does not come easy.
It is a very difficult conversation, and it requires a tremendous commitment of government, one that our government, for the first time in history, has stepped up to do. The member talks about next steps and what needs to happen. I would ask her to tell the House today, if there were one thing she could do on this path to help missing and murdered indigenous women and their families who are suffering, what would that one thing be? What would she pose to the government and to the House of Commons this evening that needs to happen?
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- May/4/22 8:16:47 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I replied earlier by saying that all the reports and recommendations have been written. They are there, and I am not about to reinvent the wheel. If I did, as a white woman, I would find myself pointing out which of the recommendations are the best.
As a parliamentarian, however, I would really like to see a plan for these recommendations. The government has said that it will fix the issue of indigenous housing by 2030. We can see pretty clearly in the government's own numbers that it is not going to work, and it is not that hard to calculate. It is a simple rule of three. We are not going to get there by 2030. This is the kind of thing we see in the House of Commons.
I want to see a concrete and realistic plan. What I want to hear is that there is a real desire for reconciliation, that steps must be taken and that the government is ready to take them and ready to make proposals. Again, consultation is needed, because reconciliation is not a unilateral process. The plan must therefore include first nations.
It might seem like I am asking for something huge, but it is really just a plan, and I think that anyone who wants to achieve anything needs a plan.
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- May/4/22 8:19:14 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I have a lot to say about that.
First, the government always has a good reason for the delays. I am being sarcastic, of course. The 2021 election was mentioned. I am pretty sure I was not the one who decided to call the election; the government did, so it only has itself to blame.
Then it talked to us about COVID‑19. Obviously it cannot do two things at once. It shuts down Parliament and then it says there are delays. It is not even funny.
I think this is completely appalling and irresponsible of the government. I have to say that it has the opportunity once again to do something, but it keeps offering nothing but red herrings. I hope it will listen to us.
I would also like to go a bit beyond the question. I am talking about my seven years here, but it seems like all we have done in those seven years—I believe my colleague talked about this—is nothing more than communications. We can associate the word “reconciliation” with the Liberals, but I currently have no idea what has been done for reconciliation. We are truly dealing with a PR firm in which the government gets the top role. To me it is all just smoke and mirrors.
Sadly, that is what I have to say this evening. I would like to see something tangible and not just a PR firm possibly focused on vote-buying.
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- May/4/22 8:46:16 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Labrador. Before I proceed with the substance of my remarks, I want to take a moment to acknowledge and thank the hon. member for Winnipeg Centre for sharing her lived experiences and those of her family. It crystallizes why it is so important that we continue the work of reconciliation, to ensure that the rights of indigenous people are respected and that we have a relationship that is based on dignity, equality and the recognition of the right to choose their own paths. That is why this debate is so important.
Violence against indigenous women, girls and the LGBTQ2+ community is a devastating reality across Canada today. It is one of the most significant public safety issues facing our country, and has taken far too many sisters from indigenous communities across Turtle Island. That is why the entire Public Safety portfolio is engaged in extensive efforts to prevent and end the violence and to protect indigenous women and girls, as well as their rights.
Today, I want to outline a few of those efforts. The calls for justice from the national inquiry point toward the need for urgent reform to policing. That is why we are investing over $1 billion over the next five years in culturally responsive and sensitive policing and community safety services in indigenous communities.
We are stabilizing and improving the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program by improving the RCMP police services funded through this program.
In addition to our investments in indigenous policing, we are devoting more than $80 million over the next five years to indigenous-led crime prevention strategies and community safety services, stopping crime before it starts by supporting initiatives that have already helped nearly 60 indigenous communities to keep themselves safe, and empowering them.
This initiative supports the healing of first nations communities through a facilitated community process that seeks to solve the many problems of security and well‑being.
An area of particular concern that was raised during the national inquiry is the horror of human trafficking and its disproportionate impact on indigenous women and girls.
In 2019, the Government of Canada launched the national strategy to combat human trafficking. The strategy, led by Public Safety Canada, is based on internationally recognized pillars, namely prevention, protection, prosecution, partnerships and empowerment.
The national strategy provides over $22 million in funding to 63 organizations that deliver trauma-informed and culturally relevant supports and services to survivors of human trafficking. Thirty-three of these serve indigenous people and 10 are indigenous-led.
The RCMP has a unique role to play in reconciliation and is committed to improving relationships with indigenous communities, supporting survivors and families, and ensuring investigations are robust, professional and respectful.
In response to the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the RCMP has deployed the following efforts: it developed courses for RCMP employees on trauma-informed approaches as well as on cultural awareness and humility; it updated courses on human trafficking at the Canadian Police College to include elements of first nations awareness and preventing human trafficking; it created a pilot project to recruit Innu police officers in Nunavut; and it enhanced the mobilization of first nations leaders and elders at the national, divisional and local levels.
The RCMP has also established new partnerships with the Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, both of which include co-operation to address violence against Inuit women, girls and two-spirited people.
Work to address the national tragedy of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and LGBTQ2+ people and to respond to the calls for justice cannot be done overnight, but it is some of the most important work the Government of Canada has on its agenda. That is why I am so honoured to participate in this debate and to continue to shed light on the work that the government has committed to doing with all members of this chamber, indigenous communities and indeed all Canadians in the path to reconciliation.
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- May/4/22 8:51:38 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, my hon. colleague's question allows me to elaborate on the work the government is doing to ensure that we are working closely, collaboratively and respectfully with indigenous communities right across the country, through the first nations and indigenous and Inuit police programming initiative.
We have invested about $1 billion. This is a historic amount of financial support that will be channelled in partnership with indigenous communities so that they can be empowered to provide public safety for themselves.
In addition to that, there is a commitment from the government to work, again in a very respectful and collaborative manner, with indigenous leadership across the country to co-develop legislation that will recognize that indigenous policing is an essential service.
This is another important step on the path to reconciliation that we are committed to taking, along with indigenous individuals right across the country.
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- May/4/22 8:56:07 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, first, I want to acknowledge that Canada's Parliament is located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people, a very proud people.
I also want to take a moment to recognize all of the indigenous partners who have worked so hard to bring together in their communities the commemoration of Red Dress Day.
We are here this evening to debate a very important issue. It is an integral part of this government's efforts in the shared journey of reconciliation with indigenous people.
Tonight, I have listened to many of my colleagues on both sides of the House as they have spoken. They have spoken with tremendous insight and understanding. They have spoken after listening. They have spoken with action, and I truly appreciate their words. The violence that indigenous women and girls have suffered and the pain that this has caused survivors and their families is an injustice that has ripped at the very fabric of indigenous communities, of communities like mine.
Tonight, I would like to read into the record the names of some of those sisters who have been stolen in Labrador, some of the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls we continue to mourn everyday, whose families suffer. They suffer silently, they suffer in communities and they suffer while holding close in their hearts those whom they love and now miss: Nellie Broomfield, Dina Semigak Igloliorte, Molly Pardy, Daphne Mesher Brown, Anne Hilda Abraham, Sharon Murphy, Henrietta Millek, Hannah Obed, Pamela Asprey, Elaine Flowers, Dr. Mary Kerohan, Deborah Careen, Joanna Andersen, Misty Dawn Boudreau, Deirdre Marie Michelin, Marguerite Dyson, Mary Evans-Harlick, Sarah Obed, Kimberly Jararuse, Martina Ford, Bernice Joan Rich, Katie Obed, Loretta Saunders and her unborn baby Saunders, and Regula Schule.
What we do to support missing and murdered indigenous women, to help end the suffering of families, to rise up wherever we can, all indigenous women in Canada, we do in memory of women like those whose names I have read into the record tonight, women I have known whose lives are lost and whose families continue to suffer.
In our culture we have a ceremony. It is the lighting of the sacred qulliq, which is a traditional Inuit soapstone lamp. My colleague from Nunavut would know of it and practise lighting it in her culture very well. It honours the fact that women are the life carriers. It raises women up. It holds them in a place where they are teachers, where they show the strength and resilience to lead the way that is best for their families and for their communities.
As a government, we have a responsibility to shine a light as well. To shine a light on the injustices is our responsibility. I say that our government has been shining that light. We have been moving forward with missing and murdered indigenous women by providing different encouragement and investments as they have been identified through our dialogue and through our process of reconciliation. We will continue to do that in the path forward with each and every one of them.
I ask my colleagues to learn more, to share more and to continue to advocate more, because in doing so we are saving lives and saving heartache and grief for so many families in indigenous Canada.
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- May/4/22 9:17:58 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, in the spirit of reconciliation, I acknowledge that the people of Calgary Nose Hill live, work and play on the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region, which includes the Blackfoot First Nation tribes of the Siksika, the Piikani and the Kainai; the Stoney Nakoda Nation tribes of Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley; and the Tsuut'ina Nation. I acknowledge that the city of Calgary is also homeland to the historic Northwest Métis and to Métis Nation of Alberta Region 3.
I hate these debates because I find that even though we mark annual events, so little progress is made. I know we have to talk about the progress that has been made, but it is never enough, particularly when the issue we are discussing is still so prevalent.
Many of my colleagues, in the spirit of good faith, have shone a light, and rightly so, on the statistical evidence of the hardship, violence and misogyny that many indigenous and first nations women experience. It is very important for us to wake up to those realities and hear them, but again, as the parliamentary secretary said earlier, what next? What do we do?
I have with me the master list of the report recommendations from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and I have read the subsequent reports. What really strikes me is that there are short-term solutions that we need to move on and there is longer-term systemic action that needs to be taken as well. With the brief time that I have tonight, what I want to focus on is the lack of representation of first nation indigenous women in the Government of Canada and the organizations that are tasked with implementing these recommendations.
What strikes me tonight is this. If I asked anybody here how many first nations women and indigenous women held positions of power in the RCMP and in the bureaucracies of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, Indigenous Services Canada, Public Safety and Health Canada, I think the answer would be woefully inadequate.
Even when we look at representation in this chamber or in the other place, where are they? That lack of footprint and lack of voice speak most starkly to the violence and misogyny that these women face. Even when they are here, it is not easy. We all know one colleague from the NDP in the previous Parliament who gave heart-wrenching testimony, which will stay with me forever, about her experience here. We cannot erase these stories.
Tonight, in debate, the topic of violence near resource extraction camps is coming up. I believe we have to acknowledge that this is happening while not impugning everybody working in these industries. At the same time, we should say this is a problem and actually address it. These women are counting on us and they are not here. Who is going to speak for them if we are not being precise and if we are not trying to get them to positions where they have control in their hands on the levers of power?
There have been many a day when I, so close to the levers of power, have felt the violence and misogyny of this place, and that is me from a position of privilege. They are not even here. If we are truly going to change the “what next?”, these women have to have the equal say, equal voice, equal power and equal agency that they deserve and are owed as inhabitants of this shared land. That is just the reality.
More importantly, we all have a duty to be their allies and fight for them while we fight to bring them here. We have to change the patriarchal system of power that works against them. We cannot gloss over it. We cannot let the inertia of bureaucracy work against them, because every day more of these women die and more of them are just another statistic.
I hate these debates being about victim porn and talking about what happens next. We have to have action, and that is what I call on all of my colleagues here to take.
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- May/4/22 9:22:57 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, this is an issue that all members take very seriously on all sides of the House. I cannot help but think of the red dress in a window just before the Salter Street bridge in the north end of Winnipeg. It is a constant reminder, and I think that is important.
Symbols matter, but action is more important. That is why, whether it is with reconciliation, the calls for action or the calls in the report for murdered and missing indigenous women and girls, we all have a role to play, not only the national government, but our local governments and our community leaders. Part of reconciliation is understanding the past, taking a holistic approach and encouraging and taking the actions necessary to ensure it. Today, we still see murdered and missing indigenous women and girls, and it needs to end. We all need to play a role.
Could the member provide her thoughts on that?
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- May/4/22 9:37:51 p.m.
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Madam Chair, in the wake of various government announcements last year, as my colleague from Manicouagan mentioned earlier, it is important to really listen, in a spirit of dialogue and a true spirit of reconciliation.
However, I read that the group Quebec Native Women felt that Ottawa's action plan targeted and established measures that did not reflect the reality of indigenous women and their families.
If we are truly taking part in this dialogue, in a spirit of reconciliation, how can we listen more closely? There are indigenous groups that still do not feel heard right now, based on what the government is proposing.
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- May/4/22 10:19:07 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I just want to acknowledge my colleague. I appreciate her sharing her beautiful story about her mom and her experience. That was truly from the heart.
I just want to say that this government has prioritized reconciliation since 2015, and we will continue to work towards building our relationship and assisting with preventing any of these types of tragedies in the future.
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- May/4/22 10:27:39 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his speech.
Any conversation about missing and murdered indigenous women and girls is always a conversation about money. The government has done nothing to bring about reconciliation or take action since the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls three years ago.
Can my colleague help me understand why the government is so slow to take action?
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- May/4/22 10:28:00 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would say that our government has not been slow. We are moving at the pace of a federal government, but I want to talk about some of the things our government has done when we are talking about reconciliation.
We have ensured that we have the first-ever indigenous language commissioner. We are ensuring that we have UNDRIP passed. We made sure that we have the first-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. With the calls for justice that have come, we are making sure that we are making those investments. We are making sure that we are talking to people and the stakeholders. The $2.2 billion over five years is not a small amount, but it is an amount that we must ensure that we talk to indigenous stakeholders across Canada about, the first nations, the Métis, the Inuit, to make sure that we get this right.
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- May/4/22 10:29:50 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Louis-Saint‑Laurent.
I am humbled to rise in this place to participate in this take-note debate on murdered and missing indigenous women and girls and two-spirit people, especially given that tomorrow, May 5, is Red Dress Day. Red Dress Day is not only a day of honouring missing and murdered indigenous people, but a day that we stand, in the spirit of reconciliation, to raise awareness and educate about the tragic violence that indigenous women and girls have experienced, which amounts to genocide.
As the member of Parliament fort Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, which is situated on the traditional lands of Treaty 6 and Treaty 8, the territory of the Cree and the Dene and the homelands of the Métis people, I acknowledge that the people of the territory have been deeply impacted by the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. I honour and acknowledge the mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, aunties and friends who are no longer with us. My heart also goes out to the many family, friends and indigenous leaders who have come together to share their stories and demand action from our civil institutions.
What started as a grassroots movement of an art installation called “The REDress Project” has sparked an irrepressible movement to highlight this national tragedy and call for justice. It has been said that red is a sacred colour that transcends the physical realm and calls the spirit of the missing and murdered back to their loved ones. Each dress, pin or ribbon is a visual representation of the stolen sisters and has a deep spiritual meaning.
The release of the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls three years ago was a key step as Canada confronts the historical and ongoing victimization of indigenous women and girls and LGBTQ2S+ people. In the years that have followed, there has been a renewed interest by all levels of government to set forth concrete actions to reconcile relationships with indigenous peoples and address systemic, cultural and institutional challenges that have maintained the status quo of violence, marginalization and intergenerational trauma.
To that end, I was proud beyond measure to have played a small part in the Alberta Joint Working Group on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, along with one of my former colleagues, the MLA for West Yellowhead, Martin Long, and Minister Whitney Issik. It was an honour to be a part of this group for a short period of time.
I want to take a moment to thank elders Jackie Bromley and Dr. Francis Whiskeyjack, who always opened our meetings with ceremony, sharing their wisdom and knowledge while keeping our group grounded. To them I say hiy hiy.
I would also like to acknowledge and thank the amazing work that was done by the strong indigenous women on the joint working group: Lisa Higgerty and Rachelle Venne, our co-chairs; Josie Nepinak; and Suzanne Life-Yeomans. I was so grateful for these indigenous women. They shared their stories, experiences, perspectives and hearts. They really opened my eyes, and I thank them.
In order to address this issue, we must openly and honestly acknowledge the root causes that place indigenous females at such a high risk: harsh realities such as poverty, racism and inadequate housing. It is our collective responsibility to turn the tide on this serious and long-standing reality. We must move past seeing indigenous women and girls as simply statistics and move toward recognizing that there are contributing factors that place indigenous women and girls in vulnerable and dangerous situations.
Systemic barriers exist regarding access to adequate housing, culturally appropriate medical care, community supports, coping, intergenerational trauma and so much more. We cannot change history, but together we can forge a path toward a brighter future while forever remembering the lives lost and supporting survivors. It is incumbent on all of us to move from talking to true action that will stop this from ever happening again. We must all be committed to walking shoulder to shoulder in the spirit of reconciliation to build a more inclusive society.
Since 2004, nine indigenous women from Nistawoyou have been reported missing or murdered. I would like to take an opportunity to speak their names into the record: Elaine Alook, Shirley Waquan, Amber Tuccaro, Janice Desjarlais, Shelly Dene, Betty Ann Deltess, Ellie Herman, Audrey Bignose and Sherri Lynn Flett.
It is time for justice in memory of all of these women. They have not been and will not be forgotten.
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- May/4/22 11:25:54 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I was pleased to hear the member speak about the issue of racism in the Indian Act. I had asked a member of the government questions about that and the government member, in response, spoke about UNDRIP. That is an important question to discuss given the government's legislation around it, but it is a different question from the question about the Indian Act.
I was very struck by a comment made by the member for Edmonton Griesbach about how, in effect, culture is more important than politics. We are here discussing what politicians can do in our political response, but it is ultimately the underlying culture in Canada of how we treat and see each other that is of primary importance.
I wonder if the member could comment on both of those issues: on the need to address racism in the Indian Act and on the importance of cultural change in reconciliation being foundational.
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- May/4/22 11:26:52 p.m.
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Madam Chair, reconciliation is essential, but we cannot talk about reconciliation unless we have discussions as equals, nation to nation.
I spoke about how Canada's treatment of its indigenous peoples has tarnished its international reputation. Canada did not want to sign the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and refused to do it for far too long. That is unacceptable.
The fact that Canada did not sign the declaration and even delayed these declarations and negotiations is unacceptable, especially when we are talking about opening a dialogue and engaging in these exchanges.
I think it is clear that we must open this debate and have real discussions, but the government avoided signing the UN declaration for far too long.
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