44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 8, 2022 02:00PM
- Jun/8/22 2:30:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have a question about crime. I want to talk about Bill C-5 and mandatory minimums, and I want to offer a very personal story.
When I was a small child, my mother practised law in northern Alberta. She did a lot of legal aid work and the overwhelming majority of her clients were indigenous. She would take me court and sometimes she would take me with her to reserves, and I saw first-hand how our criminal justice system treats indigenous peoples. Our government is fixing that and everyone in the House should be supportive of that.
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- Jun/8/22 2:31:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide a very personal answer to that question.
When I was a child, my mother worked as a lawyer in northern Alberta and did a lot of legal aid work. Many of her clients were indigenous people. When I was a child, I witnessed, in the courts and sometimes on reserves, how our country and our justice system treated indigenous people. We need to fix that. Our government will do it. I hope all members will help us.
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- Jun/8/22 3:10:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, indigenous peoples and first nations organizations have long been calling for police reform. Security and protection are essential services. It is time for indigenous police forces to be considered as equally essential. Indigenous groups have been very clear about wanting a law that recognizes, funds and prioritizes first nations police services.
How is this government supporting culturally sensitive first nations police forces and recognizing the essential role they play on the pathway to reconciliation?
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- Jun/8/22 3:11:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to begin, I want to thank my colleague for all of her hard work.
Protecting indigenous communities through well-funded, culturally sensitive indigenous police services is a top priority and vital to our commitment to walk the pathway to truth and reconciliation. We understand the importance of recognizing indigenous police services as an essential service, which is why our government is imminently launching a public engagement process to develop legislation.
In consultation with indigenous groups, provinces and territories, we will work to further protect indigenous communities all across Canada. We will do this work because it is in response to the calls to justice and the calls to action and because it is the right thing to do.
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- Jun/8/22 3:21:29 p.m.
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I wish draw the attention of members to the presence in the gallery of the Hon. Murray Rankin, our former colleague and current Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation for British Columbia.
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Uqaqtittiji, I am very pleased to represent Nunavut, and I thank my constituents for their continued faith and trust in me to represent them in matters as important as those contained within in this bill.
I take this opportunity to share the meaning of my surname ldlout, pronounced in Inuktitut as illauq. Translated into English, it means “embryo of marine mammals”, like walrus and seals. Indeed, seals have always been important in my life.
Before my main points, I must acknowledge the great work of my colleague, the member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith, who sought my advice on this bill and understands the importance of protecting indigenous people's rights. I must also share my appreciation for the member for Labrador. I have tremendous respect for the effort she has made to destigmatize all seal hunts. I appreciate all her efforts in showing how we all can use seal products in everyday life, including in clothes and jewellery, as a part of our diet and as sources of important vitamins, like omega-3s.
Of course, I thank the sponsor of this bill, the member for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, for putting this matter before the House and beginning the dialogue.
l would like to talk about three key points regarding this proposed legislation. First is that seal harvests in Canada by non-indigenous people are as important as seal hunts by indigenous people. Next is my personal belief that wildlife harvesting and management must be founded upon and practised through an indigenous lens. Finally, the sustainable management of our natural resources can and should support local and regional economic development.
To give a brief history, after the drastic impact of the anti-seal hunt campaigns, the next link in this chain of damage to our reliance on the seal hunt has been the many comments that I hear from Qallunaat. While Qallunaat translated into English means “white people”, I will use it for all non-indigenous people.
Basically, what we hear from Qallunaat is that they support the indigenous seal hunt, but they do not support the east coast seal hunt. I am quite sure many Inuit are told this. I am quite sure that many Inuit say that this is just as damaging as the initial anti-seal hunt campaigns that decimated the Inuit economy in the 1980s.
What many people do not realize is that the discrimination against the east coast seal harvest is damaging the opportunities to support the economy of Inuit as well. It should not be this way. We are a large, diverse and rich country with enough for everyone. We should support one another in all matters, including the seal harvest or hunt, and the sustainable management of our fish stocks, other wildlife and other natural resources.
For that reason, I am happy to support those who would be directly affected by this legislation, just as I hope they would support Nunavummiut in our pursuit of a healthy, sustainable and prosperous future, and the successful and sustainable management of our natural resources.
I turn now to the need to use the indigenous lens for better wildlife management.
Throughout Canada's first nations, Inuit and Métis communities, people will find a wealth of local knowledge and traditions related to sustainable living and the harvesting of wildlife. This knowledge and these traditions have helped us successfully and sustainably manage our natural resources for millennia in our territories.
In Nunavut, we have Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, Inuit traditional knowledge, which is the body of knowledge and unique cultural insights of Inuit regarding the workings of nature, humans and animals. The Nunavut Impact Review Board applied the principles of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in its decision-making on economic development projects that impact Nunavummiut and recently rejected phase two of the Mary River Mine's proposal to expand the project, which clearly violated these principles.
I encourage the use of similar local indigenous knowledge and principles elsewhere in Canada and for the east coast seal harvest, in particular. However, there is no mention of such traditional and sustainable practices in this bill, and I worry that if it is passed, it would do nothing more than promote a cull of seals instead of a useful harvest that benefits the local populations while ensuring the sustainability of their way of life moving forward.
Finally, my third point is the importance of sustainable management of our natural resources to support local and regional economic development. This final point is where I think the member's well-intentioned bill is far too narrow in its focus.
In the 1970s and throughout the 1980s and 1990s, individuals and groups targeted the livelihood and well-being of Inuit and others living in the north and mounted a fierce campaign against commercial seal harvests. Markets for seal products in the United States and the European Union were practically eliminated overnight thanks to these well-intended but badly misguided campaigns.
To its credit, in 1985, Greenpeace apologized for the unforeseen and negative impact that these campaigns had upon Inuit and non-Inuit harvesting communities, but the damage done has been lasting and severe. I fear that this bill, if passed, would simply encourage more campaigns against our way of life and inflict even more lasting economic damage on our communities since it would likely result in a simple cull rather than a harvest of seal populations.
I think there is a better approach. We should apply the indigenous lens that I spoke of earlier, which embraces the more modern ecosystem approach, to manage our natural resources. Indeed, the indigenous-led approach and ecosystem approach are practically one and the same. By sustainably managing our precious natural resources, such as the various seal populations in our oceans and the fish they consume, we can build confidence in the international community that we are not wastefully killing animals but ethically harvesting them in a sustainable manner that makes use of every part of these beautiful creatures: the fur to keep us warm, the meat to keep us fed and the omega-3 rich oil and other parts that keep us healthy.
We should be better regulating seal products, creating and growing markets abroad, particularly in Europe and China, and using the trade and sale of these products to help Inuit and non-Inuit northern communities improve their standard of living, while protecting our traditional way of life. As this bill proposes, we should conserve fish stocks as well.
Because of these and other issues with the bill, I will not be voting in support of it, but I want to thank the hon. member for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame for sponsoring this legislation and beginning this important dialogue in this 44th Parliament. I hope we can work together to support our communities and work toward successfully managing seal and fish populations in a way that embraces and protects our traditional ways of life and improves the standard of living of those we represent for generations to come.
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