44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 2, 2023 10:00AM
- 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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- 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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- 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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- 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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- 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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- 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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- 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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- 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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- 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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- 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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- May/2/23 7:54:42 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, again, as easy as it is to stand here in this place and talk about historic sums that have been invested, it is equally easy to stand up and dismiss them.
I think the member is accurate on a very important point. No one in the House should be talking about success until every woman and child and 2SLGBTQ person who is indigenous is safe in this country.
This tragedy is indeed ongoing. I want to address one point, which is the shelters. They need to get out faster, and I will absolutely concede that. Half of the money that she spoke about is dedicated to the continuing operation of these shelters, and the other half dedicated to creating shelters across the country outside of the “reserves” reality. This is indispensable in her riding, and she knows it. It exists in my riding in downtown Montreal. That need is crying to us, and we cannot get it out fast enough.
We are looking forward to some announcements in the very near future to make sure that people have those shelters available to them. It is never right to ask for patience, because people are going missing every day, but I do expect a number of those announcements to be coming out in the very short term.
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- May/2/23 7:57:20 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, clearly, there is a need for education. We know this from the clear record of failure of enforcement bodies across this country to serve indigenous peoples and protect them, for stronger reasons, that is still going on in this country.
Absolutely, there is a need to continue that education, cultural sensitivity training and engagement with the community. There is a need to understand that reality and put in the same efforts that they put in with everyone else when they are looking for someone who goes missing. It is the most basic of requirements that we would ask for. We still see those forces failing. There are requirements for the guidance from the federal government, as well as our provincial counterparts.
As for the calls to justice in the final report on MMIWG, what we have heard very clearly is that we need some form of accountability. That is why I moved, in January, to appoint Jennifer Moore Rattray to give us recommendations on an ombudsperson. Therefore, we can have a third party who is able to look at what the government is doing, what it is not doing and what it can do faster to make sure that we are properly responding to the calls to justice.
I can stand here all day and talk to people, but, really, that level of trust is often missing toward people like me and the government. We need a third party to actually help us move along the way so that we can continue to implement those calls to justice, which are systemic in nature and require a thoughtful process as to how they actually get put into place.
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- May/2/23 7:58:53 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, Friday is Red Dress Day, a devastating and unacceptable reality in Canada also known as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People. Everyone has the right to safety and to live free from violence. All families deserve to know that if a loved one goes missing, every effort will be made to find them.
I want to thank the member for Winnipeg Centre, and I commit to working closely with her on finding justice for indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people, particularly around creating a red dress alert.
The release of the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls prompted a period of deep reflection, and urgent action is required. In June 2021, the government released its pathway, which is aligned with the broader national action plan.
We must acknowledge colonialism's impact on the disproportionate representation of indigenous peoples in the criminal justice system. Indigenous women continue to be the fastest-growing prison population in Canada, and almost half of all federally sentenced women are indigenous. Most of the women whom I have visited in several women's prisons are there because of poverty, addiction, abuse, mental illness and intergenerational trauma.
Recently, Correctional Services appointed a deputy commissioner for indigenous corrections. This was a direct response to call to justice 5.23. Incarceration has a devastating impact on women and their children. If a woman is incarcerated, her child has a 25% chance of being convicted in adulthood. This is unacceptable. Corrections has also undertaken an expansion of the mother-child program at institutions for women offenders.
We must ensure safe spaces for indigenous women. Recently, I visited Saskatoon and helped announce an 18-bed transitional housing project in partnership with the Saskatoon Tribal Council and all levels of government. At the Thunder Woman Healing Lodge Society in Toronto, I have worked with Patti Pettigrew, who envisions a facility to support indigenous women. However, we need more of these initiatives.
Indigenous peoples have long been mistreated by law enforcement, going back to the time of residential schools, when the RCMP were used to forcibly remove children from their families. We know that we need to do more for reform. Our government introduced Bill C-20, which would enact a new stand-alone statute to provide an external review regime of oversight called the public complaints and review commission for both the RCMP and CBSA.
The RCMP is making progress on its first nations, Inuit and Métis recruitment strategy. This strategy is led through an indigenous lens, and it examines how systemic barriers can be further mitigated to ensure diverse and inclusive recruitment. Community-led and culturally sensitive approaches to community safety must be at the forefront. The government is co-developing first nations policing legislation with the Assembly of First Nations and first nations partners to recognize first nations policing as an essential service.
A red dress alert would notify the public when an indigenous woman, girl or two-spirit person went missing. We must put women, girls and two-spirit people, along with survivors, at the centre of the development. The member for Winnipeg Centre and I recently met with the Minister of Emergency Preparedness to determine next steps.
In budget 2023, our government announced investments of $2.5 million over the next five years to establish a federal-provincial-territorial-indigenous table, providing a forum to discuss and act on the red dress alert and other initiatives. The budget also announced a $2.6-million investment over three years to support the National Family and Survivors Circle in keeping families and survivors at the centre of the implementation of the national action plan and federal pathway.
When I was in British Columbia recently, I spoke with grassroots female advocates from You Empowered Strong and others in the Okanagan. They talked about their efforts in their communities to engage the public's assistance in their search for loved ones.
The government must support those efforts, and a red dress alert would send a strong signal to Canadians and to indigenous peoples that we value the lives of indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. I not only give my personal commitment, but I know that the government is also committed to working with indigenous partners, communities, and provinces and territories while centring survivors and their families for the success of a red dress initiative.
We cannot stand by while first nations, Inuit and Métis women, girls and two-spirit people go missing. If they do, every effort must be made to find them. Their lives matter, and we must urgently act for change.
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- May/2/23 8:14:52 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, the minister plays an important role as the Minister of Northern Affairs in determining whether resource extraction will be approved in Nunavut, impacting many Inuit communities.
I want to ask the minister if he has read the report by the Standing Committee on the Status of Women from its study of violence against indigenous women and girls in the context of resource development and what his response is to make sure indigenous women are being protected, especially knowing that the resource sector is known to have more frequent cases in making indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in the category of being lost through MMIWG.
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- May/2/23 8:16:02 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank the member for her hard work, dedication and advocacy toward this very important cause throughout her life.
We know resource development is an important part of Canadian history and Canadian society, and it will be an important part of the future of Canada, likely even more so in the north. It is absolutely imperative that the rights of all indigenous people and the rights of indigenous women and girls be respected and not be compromised through any of that activity.
I have confidence that, working together with the member for Nunavut, the territorial governments, the provincial governments and industry, we can do better. That is something that is a mandate for all of us. We need to work with absolutely everybody in our society to make sure we do better.
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- May/2/23 8:17:35 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague, the Minister of Northern Affairs, for his speech.
Earlier, his colleague spoke about government investments. What is happening with the recommendations from the report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls?
In my riding, women and girls are still going missing. We must protect them and ensure their survival. We also need to listen to what communities are saying about their needs. We must provide safe air transportation for health care services in northern Quebec. We have to act quickly on behalf of women and girls who must be able to live safely.
How can the government implement these actions?
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- May/2/23 8:18:20 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for that excellent question.
Everyone knows that reconciliation with indigenous peoples and environmental protection have been key priorities for our government since it was elected in 2015. Since then, we have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in education, health and child and family services. We are working closely with provincial, territorial and indigenous governments.
Budget 2023 includes about $125 million in investments to implement a plan to fight violence against missing and murdered women. We are working closely with all our partners.
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- May/2/23 8:19:33 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, today, as in times before, I unfortunately have to rise in this place to speak to this issue. I am a new member of Parliament. I have sat in this chamber for less than two years, and we are again debating the crisis facing murdered, missing indigenous women and two-spirit folks.
This is not just a crisis. We often talk about this being a crisis, but these are people's lives, just like those of my colleagues and just like mine, and they have been affected so greatly by mistreatment, neglect and, oftentimes, ignorance. It is the will of ignorance when it plays out this way.
What I mean by that is those times when we know that solutions exist, and there are champions to implement them, but we do not show up to the table with the resources to support them. That is one of the most critical problems we are here to address. It is one I want to highlight in a different way.
The last time I spoke to this issue, I spoke about my family. I spoke about my mother, who is no longer with us. I spoke about my sister, who is no longer with us. I spoke about the people in my life who are not here anymore. There are individuals right across this country who feel the same way I do. They feel robbed of the kind of justice that Canadians deserve. They feel neglected by the systems that were built to support us. We feel broken by a country that does not want to see who we are.
There are fundamental questions about what kind of country we want to build. Who belongs in this country? When we allow women to be murdered, go missing and find themselves in dumps, that is not a society that values indigenous women and two-spirit folks.
We think we understand this issue, when it is far greater than its results. What I mean by that is that the issue that is present to indigenous people is much greater than the consequences we often find ourselves in. We are talking about the consequences of serious issues. We are talking about the consequences of government in action. We are talking about the consequences of wilful racism. We are talking about the consequences of genocide.
In order for us, and all Canadians, to understand how deeply important this issue is, we have to understand how deeply wounded our country is. Canada may present itself to the world as just. We even, oftentimes, as members of this chamber, have a belief in the kind of country we have told ourselves is just. It is a process, not a destination. We need to ensure that we take more seriously the concerns and solutions of indigenous leaders in this place.
I spoke to young people who were invited here by my good friend, the hon. member for Edmonton Centre, to speak about what youth are doing, given this crisis. Young people are having to fend for themselves right now. They call it peer-to-peer support. They say that because they are only there for one another, when in fact they should have the support of the government. They even went so far to say that residential schools took so much from them, and now that the government recognizes that, it does not want to give anything.
Members of the New Democratic Party spoke previously about the things we need to do to see resources get into the hands of organizations such as A7G, the Assembly of Seven Generations, which has fought so long to see just one call to action implemented of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, call to action 66.
Although the willingness of the government was there to find people to do a report and to commission results, the results did not hit the mark. Those youth are still asking for support. Those youth are still here looking for ways to survive. Some of those youth found themselves in the street because of the failure of our inability to see the solutions and put the tools of those solutions in the hands of those who will do the work.
I will end with this: Indigenous youth are not just victims. Women, girls and two-spirit people are not just victims. They are resilient. They are here because of their will. They are here because they fought, and they are here because they are valued. They know that. We will stand with them, and we will not let up.
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- May/2/23 8:25:21 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, that is such a good question, and it hits on part of the solution. I am very grateful for the member's candidness in offering of this topic and giving me a chance to deliberate on and talk about the need to ensure this.
Men, particularly indigenous men, have also suffered the kind of history that indigenous women had to, but they suffer through that in a different way. They suffer that in a way that has often resolved itself in substance abuse, broken families and not knowing how to teach our loved ones what it takes to have a good and stable family. That is something this country has taken from so many men, particularly indigenous men.
That is why we need to see investments in indigenous healing circles for men. I have been part of indigenous men's circles, bringing in and holding other men accountable for their actions. Nine out of 10 times, I have found that those men are remorseful. They break down, cry and commit to doing better. They show up every single day, and that circle grows.
We can bring these men into a position where they understand, one, that what they are doing is harmful; two, that it needs to end; and three, that they can be part of the solution and ensure that other men continue to be part of the solution.
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- May/2/23 8:27:39 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I have the great pleasure of sitting with my hon. colleague on the public accounts committee and often find that her words are not only guiding, but in this particular case, provide me another opportunity to speak to the solutions. I appreciate that.
I said in my speech, and I will talk again about where resources need to go. The government cannot be the decider and the administrator of all solutions, particularly this solution.
We know that indigenous-led organizations, and the example I gave was indigenous youth organizations, are doing work, such as peer-to-peer support. They are the ones dealing with those who need the support most, and they are the ones who need the support. It should be our job in this place to support those who are best supporting indigenous advocates and those working on the ground. It is an opportunity for us right now. We can do this. We can do this tomorrow, as long as we have the will.
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