SoVote

May/2/23 9:34:33 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, the motion specifically asks that more immediate and substantial investments be created, including a red dress alert system. We know that the infrastructure already exists for this because of the amber alert. With the red dress alert system, we can do a better job of ensuring that indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people are protected right at the time that they are considered missing or murdered. Does the member agree that there needs to be immediate action to ensure that the red dress alert system is put in place?

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Mrs. Jenica Atwin

May/2/23 9:35:23 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I deeply appreciate the teachings that my colleague from Nunavut brings to our committee on indigenous and northern affairs. I absolutely support the red dress alert. I was really pleased to see it as part of our 2023 budget and that the steps are already there to get this moving forward. I also just appreciate the leadership from the member for Winnipeg Centre for bringing this forward. It was not something I had heard of before, and I really think that it would have an immediate impact and at least mobilize that call to action that we are hearing about. It would bring that awareness piece to realize how urgent this crisis really is. I believe it would save lives.

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

May/2/23 9:36:04 p.m.
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Madam Chair, to my hon. friend from Fredericton, I know how closely she is engaged with the indigenous communities near where Fredericton sits on the land of the Wolastoq. I thank her for her speech in the language of that territory: Woliwon. I also recognize this opportunity that we have before us. As she said, this is a moment where there is synergy; things have changed, and we need to push forward to ensure that when an indigenous woman goes missing, action is taken immediately. Does she agree with me that one of the cultural changes that must urgently take place is within the approaches taken by policing, whether the RCMP or city police forces?

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Mrs. Jenica Atwin

May/2/23 9:36:57 p.m.
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Madam Chair, as I mentioned in my speech, it is one of the root causes. It is one of the reasons why we have this issue and this crisis in Canada. I think it is incumbent on all of us as members of Parliament to do that work within our own communities and to have those conversations. Personally, I meet with our J Division RCMP leadership team, in my riding, as well as with our Fredericton city police, to constantly push them. How are they meeting the action plan? How are they strategizing to ensure that this does not come to impact more families in our community? I am not always satisfied by the answers that I get. However, they know that I am there pushing them and that I am not going to give up until we see this come to a resolution.

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Ms. Ruby Sahota (Brampton North, Lib.)

May/2/23 9:37:45 p.m.
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Madam Chair, some of the questions that have arisen today have been touching. They are about the cross-partisan work that has been done on the issue. In terms of the work that the member has done at committee and since being a member of Parliament, what does she think has had the most impact? What else would she like to achieve in her role as a member of Parliament here?

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Mrs. Jenica Atwin

May/2/23 9:38:17 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have really tried to look at this issue from a multi-faceted standpoint. I think it is very complicated, and there are many things we can do. I have been so incredibly proud of the work of our indigenous and northern affairs committee. I have to mention again the members for Nunavut, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River and Manicouagan. There are so many others. We work really collaboratively; we are all there for the right reasons, and we have all come to an understanding. We actually began our committee with a blanket exercise just for all of us to understand this collective history that we have and our duty and responsibility as parliamentarians to be on the same page and to address this issue. I was also really fortunate to be able to sponsor Bill S-219, an act respecting a national ribbon skirt day on January 4, in this House. This was done in the name of Senator Jane McCallum for Isabella Kulak and her community in Saskatchewan. These are concrete steps that we can take to honour and cherish indigenous women, as well as to uphold culture and identity in this country. I think that is a key component to this whole discussion this evening.

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Mr. Jaime Battiste (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Lib.)

May/2/23 9:39:32 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I rise today, in this take-note debate, aware that we are gathered on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. On Friday, we recognize Red Dress Day, the national day of awareness, a day dedicated to honouring the memory of the thousands of indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people who have disappeared or been murdered in Canada. We join their families, their communities and the survivors in mourning those we have lost. Red Dress Day is dedicated to acknowledging the conditions the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls so rightly called “a national tragedy of epic proportions”. The national inquiry was launched in 2016, and on June 3, 2019, the final report, entitled “Reclaiming Power and Place”, was tabled. The report represented 231 individual calls for justice directed at government, institutions, social service providers, industry and all Canadians. These calls for justice cover issues ranging from health to language and from culture to security. In budget 2021, our government responded by investing $2.2 billion over five years to implement the MMIWG national action plan, which was developed in partnership with indigenous people across the country. This $2.2 billion included $16.6 million over six years for the establishment of a permanent MMIWG secretariat, which works with indigenous partners, families and survivors to ensure their perspectives are reflected in the development and implementation of the national action plan. It also engages with other federal departments and agencies to ensure that their policies and programs are aligned with the national action plan so that our government advances a more comprehensive and effective approach. Budget 2021 also provided $12.5 million over five years, with $2.5 million ongoing for families and survivors; $36.3 million over five years with $8.6 ongoing for capacity funding for indigenous women and 2SLGBTQ+ organizations; and $120.5 million over two years for indigenous cultural space projects. I understand that the minister was, today, talking about some of our new investments in budget 2023 that I am proud of. Together, these investments provide assistance not only to families and survivors, but also to the frontline organizations that provide safe, no-barrier and permanent places where the voices of indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people can be expressed openly, without fear, in an atmosphere of trust and respect. These investments have supported 66 projects across the country, including longhouses, women's lodges, powwow grounds, heritage parks and cultural centres, as well as facilities to support cultural ceremonies and teachings. I would also like to highlight some of the work being done in Nova Scotia for indigenous women. Thanks to an investment of over $6.5 million through the green and inclusive community buildings program, the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association will soon open a resilience centre in Truro, Nova Scotia. A first of its kind, the centre will include healing circles, family group conferences, a day care and other resources to ensure that indigenous women who are escaping violent situations or sexual exploitation have a safe space they can rely on. This was a project I advocated for, in support of calls from the Atlantic Chiefs and the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association, to ensure women have access to safe and culturally appropriate supports and spaces in our communities. I would also like to highlight another recent project from Nova Scotia, in Membertou First Nation. The Mi’kmaw Circle of Hope Society is an indigenous organization that connects women and girls to traditional practices and teachings, connects them to community, provides mentorship and facilitates healing. With support from Women and Gender Equality Canada, this organization will receive more than $477,000 in funding to prevent and address gender-based violence against indigenous women and girls. One of the last projects I would like to highlight is one that is really close to me because I worked on this personally when I became the MP for Sydney—Victoria. It is a project involving creating awareness through music for the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls calls to justice. It was highlighted by Canadian rock Hall of Famer Myles Goodwyn, in collaboration with two Mi'kmaw young women from Nova Scotia, Deedee Austin and Kalolin Johnson, who, together, created a video to share and create awareness about missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. It also features the Mi'kmaw language. I think it is one of the greatest tools we have for creating awareness. I know I do not have much more time, and so I would encourage people, on Red Dress Day, to take a look at the video for Darling, Where Are You? by Myles Goodwyn. Sharing that will create a lot of awareness toward indigenous women. I am proud of my part in coordinating those efforts.

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

May/2/23 9:44:56 p.m.
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Madam Chair, tonight we heard testimony, stories and the voices of many of our colleagues. We heard their personal experiences and what they have faced in the light in their community and how they face that issue here today. We witnessed learning, and that is one of the most incredible pieces of today and something we can all be grateful for. However, this speech does not hit that mark. It talks greatly about the government's spending plans but does not speak to the reality that there are human lives at risk. I will take the Liberals' near unanimous speeches about how supportive they are of this issue and will remember the fact we had this exact same debate over a year ago, where we heard Liberals agree right across the bench. We heard Liberals agree this is a tragedy. We heard they have some money in their pockets. When will they actually ensure the money they plan to spend in their budget actually gets to the organizations they say are going to support?

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Mr. Jaime Battiste

May/2/23 9:46:04 p.m.
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Madam Chair, nothing I can do in a five-minute speech can really talk about what the challenges we need to face together are going to be. I do need to make sure, when we are talking about some of the action that is required, that the call I made to the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association resonates. It said that for 30 years it had been asking for a project, and our government was funding it. Not only was I able to make that call, but I was actually there for that announcement. There were tears being cried by its members. They said they never thought this was going to happen. They never thought this would be coming true, and now we are in the planning and building stages of an indigenous resilience centre in Nova Scotia. I want to see that being done in every province across Canada. To say there is no action diminishes the hard work of indigenous women in that province of over 30 years that resulted in their vision of a women's resilience centre. I know we have a lot more work to do, but the member opposite has my guarantee we are going to work every day to see that we do more.

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

May/2/23 9:47:16 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have actually seen the video my hon. colleague from Sydney—Victoria talks about tonight. It is very deeply affecting and does follow the theme of red dresses. It is critical something we are speaking about tonight translates into action, which is that every single time an indigenous woman or girl goes missing there are immediate steps and an immediate alert while there is time for them to be rescued and brought home safely. I wanted to ask him if he had any thoughts on the power of the symbol of the red dress. Red dresses hanging on trees, red dresses seen in communities across Canada as a statement, is it powerful as a statement of solidarity or is it just performative? How does he feel about it?

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Mr. Jaime Battiste

May/2/23 9:48:08 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands for her commitment to this file. I believe the red dress has become a symbol of political action as well as a symbol of creating awareness. We have seen indigenous communities from coast to coast to coast have their own different displays, many artistic, in their cultural centres or in music videos. All of them have the same idea that we need to do more. We need to create more awareness. We need to create a society that understands we need to do more for missing and murdered indigenous women, for missing and murdered indigenous people all across Canada. Until we get to that awareness where people understand there is a historic problem we are trying to remedy, we need to continue to promote the red dress as a symbol and as a political statement everywhere across Canada.

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Ms. Andréanne Larouche (Shefford, BQ)

May/2/23 9:49:08 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his speech. What stands out for me tonight, as a member of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, is the number of times we have talked about this issue and the number of reports that have been completed on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. How many times have we talked about the recommendations and the reports? We are here tonight. I was here last year, too. We are still talking about missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in 2023. My colleagues on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women will agree with me. We are unfortunately, still, in 2023, talking about this issue, noting that indigenous women and girls are disproportionately affected—

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The Assistant Deputy Chair

May/2/23 9:50:02 p.m.
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I have to give the parliamentary secretary 15 seconds to answer.

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Mr. Jaime Battiste

May/2/23 9:50:09 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I think we need to continue talking about this until we figure out a solution. Keep in mind that this is not something we are just talking about in Canada. I just came back from the United Nations where they were having this very same discussion in the United States, New Zealand and Australia and asking how they can all do better. They are coming to us for the steps we have taken on having a public inquiry. This is a greater global issue that comes with indigenous people and colonization. We need to fix it and we need to continue talking until we have—

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The Assistant Deputy Chair

May/2/23 9:50:38 p.m.
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We have to resume debate. The hon. member for Lakeland.

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Lakeland

Mrs. Shannon Stubbs (Lakeland, CPC)

May/2/23 9:50:45 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I represent nine indigenous communities, first nations and Métis settlements across the 35,000 square kilometres of Lakeland, among 52 municipalities of different sizes, mostly small communities in rural areas. Near St. Paul, Canada's first indigenous-owned and directed Blue Quills University, once a residential school, stands as a reminder of successive government policies that interfered in families, broke the bonds between children and parents, extended relatives and communities, involved barbaric abuse and led to children becoming adults cut off from their cultural identity and belonging. My own family background is one with a social services-caused family gap from Ojibway relatives. That, among other government policies and laws that prevented indigenous people from being in control of their own lives, caused trauma that has impacted generations and the reality of disproportionate socio-economic, domestic violence and crime-related challenges experienced by indigenous people in Canada. Local indigenous people turned more than four decades of hurt into hope, and Blue Quills now offers jobs training and degrees in first nations languages, focuses on restoring indigenous languages and cultures to contribute to intergenerational healing, and offers all Canadians information about residential schools. Today, Blue Quills, like on the grounds of so many other former residential schools across the country, is also identifying the remains of children who died there and were never returned to their families. Indigenous women and girls are still being taken. They are going missing from their families and communities in Canada. The facts are brutal. Indigenous women and girls are disproportionately affected by all forms of violence. At a parliamentary committee, experts testified that 52% of human trafficking victims are indigenous. Horrifyingly, the average age of exploitation of an indigenous girl is just 12 years old. Many reports show that indigenous women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence and more severe harm than non-indigenous women. Indigenous youth under the age of 14 comprise fewer than 8% of all Canadian children but represent 52% of children in foster and adoptive care. Having a child in the welfare system is also the most common feature among women and girls trapped in prostitution. In 2019, the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls made 231 recommendations. Two years went by and we waited for the Liberal government's action plan. This is the same government that claims to prioritize the relationship with indigenous people above all else. It is a lengthy process that has not yet delivered better outcomes and has resulted in many participants calling it toxic, flawed and unsafe. The government failed to address one of the core elements that any plan has, which is an obligation to the victims and survivors, their families and all indigenous women and girls to ensure their voices are reflected so that indigenous women and girls today and future generations can live safely and freely. Communities in and around Lakeland mark Red Dress Day in many ways. Last year in Cold Lake at Joe Hefner Park, Fawn Wood and the Kehewin Native Dance Theatre performed a tribute while family members of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls shared their tragedy and grief. The Mannawanis Native Friendship Centre in St. Paul helped amplify voices of victims and their loved ones through a red dress runway, along with a traditional pipe ceremony, feast and round dance. The Bonnyville Friendship Centre created a window display that embraces those who are still missing and victims of murder. For two weeks, the red sand project in front of Bonnyville's town hall raises awareness of human trafficking victims through grains of red sand that fill sidewalk cracks and symbolize people who have fallen through them. People of all backgrounds in Lakeland want to see transformative change to paternalistic government policies that hold indigenous people back and cost a lot of tax dollars in a lot of bloated bureaucracies and lobby groups. However, they often do not actually get to local communities and do not seem to make actual differences in the outcomes, well-being and self-sufficiency of indigenous communities so indigenous people everywhere can live safely and peacefully with opportunities and hope for their future. Indigenous people in Canada have higher unemployment and poverty rates, lower levels of education, disproportionately more inadequate housing and poorer health outcomes. These at-risk factors, by-products of generations of government policies and barriers, are directly related to the disproportionate vulnerability of indigenous people in Canada and involvement with the criminal justice system. Since Lakeland first elected me in 2015, I have consistently called on the government to implement real measures to protect victims and stop the revolving door of repeat offenders that impacts everyone. Three of the five communities in Alberta with the highest crime rates are in Lakeland, and like violent crime across Canada, rural crime has spiked under the Liberals. More than half of rural crime victims are indigenous. In Alberta, with the second highest number of cases of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls of all the provinces, the homicide rate of indigenous women is more than seven times that of non-indigenous women and higher than the national average. The highest percentage of indigenous women who go missing in Alberta are over the age of 31, and a vast majority are mothers. Indigenous women 18 and under are 23% of missing women and 10% of murder victims, and 40% of indigenous people experience sexual or physical violence by an adult before the age of 15. More than half of them aged 55 and older have experienced the same, twice as high as those who are 15 to 34. More than a quarter of indigenous women experience sexual violence by an adult during their childhood, compared with 9% of non-indigenous women, 6% of indigenous men and 3% of non-indigenous men. From 2015 to 2020, the average homicide rate of indigenous victims was six times higher than the homicide rate of non-indigenous victims, and the homicide rates for indigenous people are particularly high in the Prairies and the territories. This is obviously a crisis, involving many complex factors, that requires action from government, so with a broken heart and a little bit of a sense of rage, I want to talk about what the Liberals have done. The vast majority of violent crime in Canada is committed by repeat offenders, and indigenous people are disproportionately victims of violent crime, but after eight years, violent crime is up 32% across Canada and gang-related homicides are up a shocking 92%. A top concern indigenous leaders raise with me every time we meet in Lakeland is about more police presence and frontline support to combat growing gang activities in their communities. These days, the justice minister claims to want to fix the very broken system he created, but despite all of these tragic facts, I want to read, verbatim, the law the Liberals passed. It says, “In making a decision under this Part, a peace officer, justice or judge shall give primary consideration to the release of the accused at the earliest reasonable opportunity and on the least onerous conditions”. That is explicit that the top priority at a bail hearing is to release as quickly and easily as possible, even for the most violent accused. How does that protect indigenous victims and innocent indigenous people in Canada? Even more appalling are the Liberals' changes through Bill C-5, which now make many serious offences eligible for conditional sentencing, house arrest and community service. I will list those crimes for which convicted offenders can now get house arrest: human trafficking, sexual assault, kidnapping, abduction of kids under 14, criminal harassment, prison breach, motor vehicle theft, theft over $5,000, being in someone else's house unlawfully, breaking and entering, and arson. Again, this includes sexual assault, kidnapping, human trafficking, abduction of kids under 14. These are the very crimes that indigenous women and girls are disproportionately victims of. How does this honour indigenous victims of these crimes? How does it possibly do anything to stop it? It is no wonder that deterrence does not seem to be a factor. Obviously, improvements must also be made in supporting and preventing at-risk youth from taking dangerous paths in the first place, and in corrections around mental health and addictions treatment, skills training and reducing recidivism. Certainly indigenous communities take their own diverse cultural approaches to punishment, accountability and making amends, but these Liberal changes on bail and serious crimes also create an obvious perpetual catch-and-release system that does not protect the most vulnerable populations and victims. It does not protect indigenous women and girls, or anyone else for that matter. The Liberals have taken years and have announced hundreds of millions of dollars to set up projects, plans, roundtables, frameworks and photo ops, but indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians alike are right to ask what it is achieving. They ask how it makes sense in the context of a government that simultaneously reduces penalties for the severe crimes of which indigenous women and girls are disproportionately victims and survivors of, while enabling serious criminals to serve sentences in their living rooms while their victims and peaceful neighbours live in fear? On Red Dress Day, let indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians together demand better, more than performative words and empty promises, but real action and real change.

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Mr. Taylor Bachrach (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP)

May/2/23 10:00:28 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the hon. member spoke quite a bit about repeat offenders and about the tough-on-crime approach Conservatives like to talk about these days. We are here on Red Dress Day to talk about murdered and missing indigenous women and girls, and I think informing our discussion must be the calls for justice from the national inquiry, which took place just a few years ago. I have read through those calls for justice. When they come to police reforms in our justice system, I do not see calls for the kinds of changes the member talked about in her speech. How does she reconcile the gap between what she is talking about this evening and what we are hearing from the national inquiry and those calls for justice?

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Mrs. Shannon Stubbs

May/2/23 10:01:15 p.m.
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Madam Chair, notwithstanding that I am a person of actual Ojibwa descent myself, I guess I appreciate him telling me what my opinion should be. I am saying exactly what indigenous leaders and community members in Lakeland tell me. The other thing is that I also stand here as a member who, in my first term, put forward a motion to focus on rural crime, and with the help of the NDP, made valuable amendments to that motion, including a concentrated, comprehensive analysis and assessment of the partnerships and resourcing between municipal, provincial, federal and indigenous policing to ensure that indigenous communities are safe and that innocent and law-abiding indigenous Canadians can live safely and peacefully in their own communities. In terms of the Liberal government's lack of action on some of these low-hanging fruit for the calls to action, that is the federal government's job. I guess I would encourage him to ask his coalition partners, who he is propping up, what they are actually going to do, and on what timeline, to actually protect indigenous women and girls and all indigenous Canadians.

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

May/2/23 10:02:39 p.m.
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Madam Chair, tonight we have heard a great deal of conversation. We have heard, from the Liberals and the Conservatives, quite compassionate speeches about how many people have had to reflect and learn. I did not hear that in the member's speech, and I want to take this as an opportunity to ensure the member can learn from someone I have learned from in my own life who is a resident of Lakeland. His name is Dr. James Makokis, a resident of Lakeland and one of the most fantastic physicians we have in our country who helps and treats trans youth, in particular, trans youth in indigenous communities. He works in the Kehewin first nations. He says that FNIHB and institutional barriers for first nations to access gender-affirming care make it difficult to get. There are access barriers and the government is not participating in reducing those barriers. Would the member speak directly to how important it is to support trans lives in Lakeland and to ensure that doctors, like Dr. James Makokis, can continue to ensure that his patients of the Kehewin first nations and the trans youth can get the access to this life-saving and life-affirming treatment they need?

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Mrs. Shannon Stubbs

May/2/23 10:03:42 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have enjoyed working with that member over the years, especially to get the issue of Métis settlements onto the federal radar and also I represent his family members, relatives and friends in Fishing Lake and Lakeland. I just wanted to say I know Janice Makokis very well. My husband knows Dr. James Makokis as well, so I thank the member for raising those familiar names, with whom we have been friends for a long time. I am glad to hear the member talk about him and the barriers that he is describing for vulnerable people trying to access services. Again, I think he needs to ask the party in power, the Liberal government his party is propping up right now, exactly what it is that it is doing, and on what timelines, to remove barriers, so that people can access services they need.

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