44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 2, 2023 10:00AM
- May/2/23 3:13:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there have been consultations, and I hope that if you seek it, you will find consent for the following motion.
I move:
That, given that:
(i) on October 27, 2022, the House unanimously recognized that what happened in residential schools was genocide,
(ii) decades of insufficient action from all levels of government have failed to address the effects of this genocide, including the crisis of violence against indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people with the urgency it deserves,
(iii) families in Winnipeg and throughout the country continue to experience the tragic loss of loved ones to this crisis,
the House call on the government to:
(a) declare the continued loss of indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people a Canada-wide emergency; and
(b) provide immediate and substantial investment, including in a red dress alert system, to help alert the public when an indigenous woman, girl or two-spirit person goes missing.
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- May/2/23 6:55:07 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I think I just have to look at what has been going on so far. It has been almost four years since the national inquiry. In 2020, the government released $724.1 million to address the crisis of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls. The money is there. How much has it spent? Only 5%. No new shelters and no new transitional homes have been built.
This system is already in place. All we need is the political will to put it in place. We have Amber Alerts for child. We have weather alerts. This system is already in place.
I have spoken to a minister across the way about this initiative. We were planning to set up meetings, but we do not need to meet for the sake of meetings. We need to meet with a tangible goal to have immediate action. There has been enough talking. The government needs to act now as it is costing lives.
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- May/2/23 6:56:46 p.m.
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Madam Chair, whenever there is violence, it is everybody's problem. Nobody should ever ask permission to do something about violence. We are talking about indigenous people. We are talking about indigenous women and girls, transgender women and young people. Nobody needs to ask permission. It is about political will.
Not acting or finding reasons not to act at this point when the Prime Minister has recognized it as an ongoing genocide and our Parliament has recognized it as a Canada-wide crisis, is an excuse. It is an excuse. We need to stop with the excuses. The government needs to act now.
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- May/2/23 9:19:49 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I cannot say how touched I am tonight, because this is about being seen as human beings. I am sorry; I am emotional. It is a non-partisan issue. It is a human issue. Talking about funding announcements detaches the government from us, as indigenous women, girls, transwomen and non-binary people, as loving human beings.
I want to thank my colleague for being such a marvellous chair on the status of women committee. I really appreciated her talking about how we have all made mistakes in this place and how we have to unite together to deal with this Canada-wide crisis, because it is a crisis. Our community is in a constant state of grief, because we are losing children, sisters, aunties and mothers. It is not a funding announcement. There are kids growing up without mothers. Can members imagine? We have kids aging out of care onto the streets, because society has deemed them disposable even though they are worthy of the same human rights.
I wonder if my colleague can expand on how she thinks we can work together as parliamentarians to deal with this Canada-wide human rights crisis.
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- May/2/23 10:30:35 p.m.
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Madam Chair, this has been a very emotional debate, but I will tell members something I have found quite off-putting. At a time when there is a crisis, there is boasting about how well we are doing, with families grieving throughout the country. I have found it more than insensitive. It is detached and not reflective of showing our humanity in this place. This is not a partisan issue. It is a human being issue. Women, girls and trans women are fighting for their lives.
Some people have done well in the House, but I would say that boasting about government announcements at a time of crisis, when we have unanimously, in the House, called this a Canada-wide crisis, is disturbing to me and makes me question the government: Is it just talking, or is it actually going to act to save lives?
I am wondering—
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