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Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

May/2/23 7:20:12 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I just want to start out by saying how much I appreciate working with my hon. colleague on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. We may be from different parties, but at the end of the day we all have a responsibility to end gender-based violence no matter who it is. In the case of indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and trans women, we know we are disproportionately represented. My colleague spoke about resource extraction. In our committee we spoke about how companies often come into communities and there is no accountability in place for them to ensure there is any safety put in place for communities, including for women and girls in the communities or in the nations they are reaping wealth out of. I am wondering if she can comment on that.

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Mrs. Dominique Vien

May/2/23 7:21:13 p.m.
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Madam Chair, here in my hands I have all the recommendations that were developed as a result of this important study that we conducted on resources. Obviously, the whole community needs to step up in areas where natural resources are being extracted and developed. The community must include the company, the municipal council, community organizations, first responders, workers and, of course, representatives from indigenous communities. That allows for a broader view of the entire issue and ensures that promising solutions are being developed in order to enable us to turn things around once and for all.

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Mr. Jamie Schmale (Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, CPC)

May/2/23 7:22:18 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I want to go back to some of the things my colleague mentioned in her words, and specifically about the study on human trafficking and the sheer disproportionate number of indigenous women and girls who are caught up in this. I am wondering what recommendations she would like to maybe go into more detail about at this time, in addition to what we are talking about today with Red Dress Day and perhaps even the motion we passed today regarding an alert system.

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Mrs. Dominique Vien

May/2/23 7:22:55 p.m.
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Madam Chair, they are like building blocks that can be stacked up, one on top of the other. There are so many solutions that could be implemented. My colleagues have gone over them: shelters, halfway houses, or safe houses for these women and girls who wind up on the street, with nothing, at the mercy of bad people who can sense their vulnerability. I want to say that I am distraught at the increase in violence that we are currently seeing in Montreal and elsewhere. Yesterday, a colleague delivered a member's statement about rising violence in other provinces. There has been a 32% increase in violent crime and a 92% increase in gang-related crime. That is the setting that vulnerable women and girls like indigenous women find themselves in. That is something that needs to change. Criminals should be in jail, not on the streets.

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

May/2/23 7:24:23 p.m.
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Madam Chair, in good Conservative fashion we began this conversation talking about the risks to indigenous women and have now gone to the discussion of resources. However, I digress. I would like to ask the member a question with respect to her speech. She mentioned the right to consultation. Would she agree that the right to free, prior and informed consent includes the right to say no?

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Mrs. Dominique Vien

May/2/23 7:24:48 p.m.
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Madam Chair, obviously, when a woman says “no”, she is not saying “yes” or “maybe”. When a woman says “no”, it means “no”. The study I mentioned is an important study. It was conducted by the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. During that study, we took a closer look at what was happening in certain workplaces. Some men who come from all over and go to work in resource extraction unfortunately take advantage of vulnerable indigenous women and girls. Unfortunately, it is often men who commit these acts. That is the current reality. I think it was only right and appropriate to mention the huge amount of work we did. Moreover, we conducted this study in solidarity as women and with the support of our male colleagues. The member for Winnipeg Centre is always at the heart of these discussions. She has been very involved and presented her vision to our committee.

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Ms. Michelle Ferreri (Peterborough—Kawartha, CPC)

May/2/23 7:26:15 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I love working with my colleague on the status of women committee. She is bright, insightful, wise and compassionate. I know when we first started our work on missing and murdered indigenous women that she was horrified to learn of a lot of the statistics. I would like her to share her journey of learning with respect to this, because I think it ties in really well with this conversation we are sharing with the people watching at home and brings this to light, because some people still do not know that this is a real statistic.

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Mrs. Dominique Vien

May/2/23 7:26:50 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I feel the same way about my colleague, a very vibrant woman who has very good judgment. I have had the opportunity to hold positions where I had decision-making powers as I was formerly a Quebec MNA and minister. These positions made it possible for me to make positive contributions, I believe. Let us take, for example, labour standards, which are not inconsequential since the success of women and girls requires that they have economic autonomy. I also believe that a woman's economic maturity and independence from men depend on it. In the studies we carried out, that was a key point. The most important thing I learned is that women's economic security provides them with access to housing and care and lets them meet their basic needs. I believe that is where we need to focus most of our efforts.

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Mrs. Marilène Gill (Manicouagan, BQ)

May/2/23 7:28:15 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is with great solidarity with my female colleagues that I rise to speak this evening. Of course I am thinking of my colleague from Winnipeg Centre, my colleague from Nunavut and also my colleague from Edmonton Griesbach. Today I was thinking about this speaking opportunity, and there are some topics that truly speak to us as human beings. Certainly we are elected members first and foremost. I represent a riding. However, I will never stop thinking about the tragic events all around, most recently in Winnipeg. Empathy is the foundation of every human being. Even if it is impossible to truly get there, I try to put myself in someone else's shoes, in those of the family and that of my colleagues who are elected. It hurts every time. Yes, it is happening in Winnipeg, but it can happen anywhere. As a classic playwright once said, “I consider nothing human alien to me”. This affects us all. I am the member of Parliament for Manicouagan, a riding that is not Nunavut or Winnipeg, but it is large. There is natural resource extraction. There are women who are stuck in situations of poverty, isolation and lack of resources. Basically, these are very difficult situations, so we also have our own missing women, women who left their homes one day and were never seen again. Some of them are still missing. I would like to begin by expressing my full solidarity, as a woman, as an elected member and as the Bloc Québécois indigenous affairs critic. This is not unrelated to my own past experience, since I worked as a coordinator for the Regroupement des femmes de la Côte-Nord, which is also in my riding. I have worked in shelters for abused women where I have seen the reality on the ground, although I have never witnessed this violence first-hand. I often speak about my children. One does not necessarily need to have children to be compassionate. However, when we make decisions and take positions as elected officials, the fact that we are parents makes us question things and consider issues with our children in mind. I have two sons and a daughter. I remember that I talked about my daughter in the House last year. When my daughter was very young, I told myself that her life would be harder because of violence against women. My daughter is not indigenous. In theory, it is less likely that she will experience this violence, but she does still run that risk. I wonder if, since giving that speech last year, things have really changed for indigenous women, who are four times more likely than non-indigenous women to be impacted by such violence. I would like to say that things have changed, but I have to say that I do not see it in general and given everything that has been accomplished. Actually, my colleague from Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis was just talking about what gets accomplished in committee. It is true that important work gets done in the House. This afternoon, a motion was moved that proves it, but at the same time, Parliament is a sort of bubble. There are positions and wishes that are expressed, but it all remains theoretical once again. These are not meaningful actions. I have been wondering how we can measure what we are doing right now, what has been done since the report was tabled and even before that. We can do something before the report is tabled. We know that something is happening. We know that many women are killed or disappear when they should not have been killed or disappeared. What do we do? What tools do we have to find out? It is quite broad. I am not saying we can find out exactly, but it feels like we need some tools. There is talk of the 231 recommendations. I will name two huge pieces. This involves both colonization and the entire issue of the patriarchy, as someone else has already noted. Those are daunting issues. They are huge. How are we able to say that what we are doing as elected officials is really having an impact? We can see that funding was invested in various programs, for example, and more investments were made this year. We need to look at how those investments will really address the root of the problem. Will it make a difference? Is it really a practical solution? I do not think we are doing that. Perhaps we need to think about that. I was talking about the ability to measure. I do not like to talk about units of measurement for this type of subject, but I think that, as human beings, we always have to be able to measure what we are trying to do to see whether improvements have been made or whether we are failing to meet our objective. That is huge, but we need to have this overall view to figure out where we can provide more assistance. I was pleased to see that the motion by my colleague from Winnipeg Centre mentioned an alert. For me, that is a concrete example where we can see a real, measurable impact on the ground. I am grateful for that. That is not exactly the word I am looking for, but I do appreciate it. At the same time, it is interesting that that comes from the indigenous community itself. I am the Bloc Québécois critic for this file, however I am not indigenous. Earlier my colleague from Edmonton Griesbach talked about consultations. Yes, we must always consult the people involved. We must always ask what first nations and indigenous people would like and what can be done. Here we have some examples. I say this quite humbly because I am not an indigenous person. I found it interesting that my colleague from Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis used the word “humility”, a word I often use. Consultation is needed. Once again, it must not end with the tabling of a report. We must continue to have relationships with all the first nations, organizations and women's organizations to go even further. I talked about money. I talked about one-size-fits-all measures, but there also needs to be flexibility, perhaps through a number of smaller measures. It would be impossible to come up with one big measure that will solve everything, so we need to take baby steps, although perhaps we can pick up the pace, with measures like the alert. As my colleague from Nunavut stated earlier, there are no roads in certain regions. There may not necessarily be a police force. Women are on their own. Their families are nearby. The individual who may be violent is part of their immediate circle. These are very complex situations requiring many measures that are truly adapted to and appropriate for each situation. In conclusion, I will come back to what I said at the beginning. I hope that, in the House, we show what we are doing in theory, but that we can see the concrete applications of the decisions we make. We need to take action and not just by investing money. We really need to see how this can appropriately respond to the calls to action. We are talking about urgent situations. Nothing can be more urgent than people's safety, integrity and lives. For these women and communities, it is their lives that are at stake. Their lives are in danger. For me, there is nothing more urgent than saving human lives. Clearly, this cannot wait.

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Mrs. Brenda Shanahan (Châteauguay—Lacolle, Lib.)

May/2/23 7:37:47 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, in her speech, my hon. colleague mentioned some very important aspects of this problem, including decolonization and the patriarchy. This demonstrates that there are some cultural concepts that are deeply anchored in this problem. I would like to know if she agrees with me that more indigenous women are affected by this problem even though they represent 4% of the population. Does systemic racism exist in our society?

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Mrs. Marilène Gill

May/2/23 7:38:51 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will quite simply say yes. The Indian Act is the epitome of systemic racism. We are talking about segregation. We are talking about denying human rights. This exists, of course, and we need to eliminate it. The first nations, indigenous peoples, the Inuit and the Métis peoples will show us how to do this.

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Ms. Michelle Ferreri (Peterborough—Kawartha, CPC)

May/2/23 7:39:34 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, it is nice to see solidarity in the House on such a serious issue. One of the questions I would ask is whether there are any personal stories from the hon. member's riding. I have some, as many do, but as to her riding, can she share how this issue affects her constituents?

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Mrs. Marilène Gill

May/2/23 7:40:03 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for the question. Certainly, we all have stories to tell. I cannot say that everyone I have spent time with has wanted to tell these stories. Sometimes it is so painful. We need to respect each person's choice. They might not be able to tell their stories. I have several, but I have one in particular I heard from a woman. In 2015, I organized a march for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, and a woman came up to me to talk about her sister. She told me that her sister left for the city, let us say Quebec City, roughly 500 kilometres away, and she never came back. Marching is a symbolic action to call for change, but for this woman, just participating in the march helped her to talk about her sister. We did not talk about it as much as we do today. There are also a lot of taboos. She realized that she was not the only one to have gone through this, that there were other cases. Where I am from, it did not happen in an industrial area. It actually happened in an indigenous community of 5,000, where someone disappeared one day. That was one case, but there are so many more across Quebec and Canada, each under different circumstances. There are places in my riding, 1,000 km away, where children were taken away at the age or one or two and never returned to their communities. There are little girls who have gone away, never to be seen again. People are still mourning these children who never came back to their communities. There are so many stories, so many permutations, but they all boil down to the need for solidarity and concrete action to ensure this never happens again and to enable these people to grieve their loss, if not heal.

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Mr. Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, NDP)

May/2/23 7:42:08 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank my colleague for her inspired and heartfelt speech. I want to acknowledge the importance of the 11 first nations in Quebec. They have a long history and strong roots in many areas, particularly in the member's region, but also in Montreal, where they face many difficulties and challenges. Several years ago, as a result of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, recommendations were made and money was allocated in the budget. My colleague from Winnipeg Centre pointed out earlier that after all these years, the federal government has spent only 5% of this money, despite the fact that there are urgent and pressing needs, such as shelters or transition houses. How does my colleague interpret the fact that the Liberal government has been dragging its feet for years on such a critical issue?

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Mrs. Marilène Gill

May/2/23 7:43:03 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, obviously, it is unacceptable when the amounts allocated to resolve these situations are not spent. This is not the only area where we see that happening. It also happened with the indigenous languages commissioner. Money was available, but it was not used. When I spoke about mechanisms to measure and track progress, that is one example. I know that there are mechanisms here in the House, but we never ask enough questions and we will never be able to follow up enough to eliminate the situations that my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie was talking about.

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Ms. Sylvie Bérubé (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, BQ)

May/2/23 7:44:10 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the matter of missing and murdered women and girls also affects Nunavik. As I mentioned earlier, the suicide and disappearance rates there are high in Nunavik. Very little progress has been made over the past year, and nothing has been done to respond to the report's recommendations. I would like my colleague to give us some ideas so that the government can finally take action to respond to the recommendations and help indigenous communities and indigenous women and girls.

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Mrs. Marilène Gill

May/2/23 7:44:43 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I feel like saying that we have already put all the ideas out there. We have the recommendations that resulted from the consultations. We listened to all the witnesses who told their stories and gave ideas to the commission. We already have all that information. Of course, we may run into difficulties, but I think that this is more a matter of will than a matter of means.

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Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

May/2/23 7:45:28 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, one of the criticisms the NDP is talking about is the lack of funding for housing. It is $4 billion over seven years when we know there is a huge housing crisis. My hon. colleague from Nunavut has spoken many times about how women are forced to live in violence because they have nowhere else to go. I am wondering if my colleague would agree that more needs to be invested in housing and that the government has really failed in the federal budget on urban and rural indigenous housing initiatives.

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Mrs. Marilène Gill

May/2/23 7:46:08 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, when people are experiencing violence, not having a home and not being able to leave keeps them in that cycle of violence. Obviously there has to be more funding and solutions to provide housing for women. We are talking about women, but I believe my colleague from Winnipeg Centre would agree that this affects the whole community. Children are also affected when they are in crowded living conditions, and every aspect of life is affected. Housing really is a key issue. The Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs studied this issue and discussed it with the minister. We realized he means well, but at the same time, there was an admission during the committee that the shortfall would never be eliminated. There is already a shortage, and there will be no way to meet growing demand. These populations are very young, and they need safe places to live. There is not enough money and not enough housing being built. We need concrete measures.

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Hon. Marc Miller (Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Lib.)

May/2/23 7:47:25 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Oakville North—Burlington. I want to acknowledge, as many have, that we are meeting here today on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. May 5, Friday, is Red Dress Day, the national day of awareness to honour and remember the survivors of the ongoing national crisis of violence against indigenous women and girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people. The red dresses displayed or worn each year on Red Dress Day are a visual reminder of the first nations, Inuit and Métis women and girls, and two-spirit and gender-diverse people who make up a vastly disproportionate number of victims of violence in Canada. This day also speaks to the collective responsibility we share as governments and citizens to work together to address the root causes of the crisis, to protect indigenous women and girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people, and to ensure they are safe across Canada. It is timely that we are currently waiting for the results of a study that will provide guidance on the feasibility of searching the Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of women. I thank families, community leadership and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs for overseeing this work, as well as the advocacy of the member for Winnipeg Centre. The discovery of the remains found at the Brady Road landfill recently in Winnipeg and the recent deaths of other indigenous women have made it terribly clear that we must continue to take action. At the federal level, our work is guided by the federal pathway to address missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, which is the government's contribution to the national action plan and was released on June 3, 2021. The pathway is anchored in principles directly related to the principles for change outlined in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which begin with respect for the human rights of indigenous women and girls. The principles also include acknowledging the leadership of women and 2SLGBTQI+ people and indigenous survivors in developing and implementing local self-determined, indigenous-led solutions and services. For example, the 2021 budget included $2.2 billion for initiatives related to missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and LGBTQ individuals. This includes funding for the support for the wellbeing of families of survivors of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people contribution program, the supporting indigenous women's and 2SLGBTQQIA+ organizations program, and the cultural spaces in indigenous communities program, which has enabled projects such as the construction of several safe and secure spaces across the country. These spaces will serve as safe spaces for community members to pass on their traditional knowledge and culture through various programs, including language revitalization programs. Elders and speakers will be able to do so in this safe space. I was in Val-d'Or on Monday to take part in the announcement of the much-needed expansion of the Val-d'Or Native Friendship Centre. This $60-million expansion will provide a safe space and accommodations for the 9,000 people who travel to Val-d'Or each year for medical services and who do not want to stay in a motel for safety reasons, including the many Cree and Algonquin people living in Val-d'Or. This initiative will save lives. With budget 2023, our government is reinforcing and expanding our commitment to MMIWG. It proposes an additional $125 million over six years, followed by $20 million ongoing, to put toward measures for implementing the national action plan. This includes, among other things, $1.6 million over the next two years to support the creation of an indigenous and human rights ombudsperson. In January, I announced the appointment of Jennifer Moore Rattray as the minister's special representative; she will provide recommendations on call to justice 1.7 through engagement with families, survivors, partners and organizations. In budget 2023, we also propose $2.6 million over three years starting in 2023-24 to support the National Family and Survivors Circle, which has been indispensable for this conversation. At the federal-provincial-territorial-indigenous table on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, we will prioritize the launch of a red dress alert to notify the public when an indigenous woman or two-spirit person goes missing. Finally, this Friday, on Red Dress Day, our government will remain unwavering in its commitment to continuing its engagement and collaboration with families and survivors, indigenous partners, and provincial and territorial governments to address this violence and end the crisis.

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