44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 4, 2022 02:00PM
- May/4/22 2:24:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the RCMP will always do its job.
It is interesting to see how determined the Conservatives are to avoid taking about the economy, about housing and about the budget we tabled just a few weeks ago. They are still blocking the economic statement we tabled last fall. Despite the concerns being voiced right now by women across the country, they do not even want to talk about women's rights. They do not want to talk about anything.
The Conservatives just want to engage in personal attacks, but that is not what Canadians care about.
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- May/4/22 2:32:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, allow me to state once again in this House that the right to choose is a woman's right and hers alone. We will never back down from protecting and promoting access to safe abortion in Canada and around the world, and we cannot take any rights, including this most fundamental one, for granted.
To all Canadians, we must be active, vigilant and speak out, and this government always has and always will be there for the full range of reproductive health rights of all women across the country.
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- May/4/22 3:27:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, when news broke that our neighbours to the south were considering overturning abortion rights, several members rose here in the House in support of women in the U.S.
What is happening in the United States is a step backwards. It is a regressive policy. That is why MPs must stand up, especially those from Quebec. No one should remain seated. We really need to support—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- May/4/22 7:42:41 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I believe the human rights of first nations, Métis and Inuit people continue to be ignored too much. We must do what we can to make sure that the human rights of first nations, Métis and Inuit's are as equally recognized as those the rest of Canadians enjoy. I agree we need to make sure that funding is not cut and that communities out west are also recognized for the funding they need.
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- May/4/22 8:38:38 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I have a really wonderful time working with the hon. member on the status of women committee, particularly right now as we are currently having a study on the relationship between resource development and increased levels of violence against indigenous women and girls. I have enjoyed working with her and learning from her, as well.
I think one of the frustrations is that there seems to be a culture of picking and choosing to support human rights when it suits economic and political interests, and brushing them aside when it does not. It is picking and choosing calls to justice that do not threaten the status quo, but then not responding to those that would really result in systemic change.
It goes bigger than relationships. Relationships are not positive without action. If we want to improve relationships in this country and we want to really address the crisis of violence and genocide against indigenous women and girls, that requires resources and sustainable funding. That requires working with families and survivors of violence on the ground. We have been clear. We are just waiting for people to respond, not when it suits their interests and not 10 years later, but now. We are in a genocide now, and that requires an urgent and immediate response.
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- May/4/22 8:41:30 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, it is such a pleasure working with my hon. colleague on our committee. I think we need to stop pathologizing indigenous women and girls and two-spirit people, and really look at the heart of the matter of where this is happening. We can go back to the Indian Act: It legislated the marginalization, including the economic marginalization, of indigenous peoples, and more violently toward indigenous women. Never mind that we still live in a country where an indigenous woman does not have the same rights as men: under the law, I still do not have the same rights as other women.
We have built a country on the wrongful dispossession of land and ongoing genocide of indigenous peoples. One only has to look at the resource extraction projects and the kind of violence that is perpetrated against girls and indigenous women in the community to see that the ongoing colonial agenda persists.
If we want changes, we need to be honest about how and what this country has been built on, and how we want this country to look going forward. That takes truth, and that takes all of us in the House looking at our privilege and seeing which of us need to give up some privilege to ensure everybody in this country, including indigenous women and girls and two-spirit people, has their human rights upheld.
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- May/4/22 8:44:29 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I have so much respect for my colleague and the work she does fighting for human rights, particularly for indigenous peoples.
In terms of resource extraction, I think it goes into the free, prior and informed consent of nations: Free of coercion, prior to development going through, and informed, knowing what the development means. Only then do we have consent. That is rarely achieved in this country.
One only has to look at the unceded Wet'suwet'en territory and an example I used of two unarmed indigenous women having their door ripped down with a chainsaw, an axe and a guard dog. If we are using state police violence and great force against unarmed indigenous women, where are we in this country in terms of really responding to genocide? The very actors within the genocide are supported by government, including actors like the RCMP.
It is not up to me to tell indigenous peoples what to do in their territory. One of the things that does need to happen in this country before any development occurs is to obtain true free, prior and informed consent.
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