SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 265 - Dec/11/23

Mr. Arnold Viersen (Peace River—Westlock, CPC)

Dec/11/23 7:59:52 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the member brought up the issue of human trafficking. We know human trafficking happens within 10 blocks of where one lives anywhere in Canada and that first nations people are overrepresented. Despite being only 4% of the population, of the cases the police interact with, they make up 50% of the victims. Justice for first nations communities is very important, and we see the government failing on this front as well. I am wondering if the member could comment a bit more about that.

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Context: House Hansard - 265 - Dec/11/23

Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

Dec/11/23 8:01:38 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I found it really disturbing today listening to the parliamentary secretary kind of boast about the accomplishments the Liberals have achieved with clean drinking water. They were elected in 2015 and we still have boil water advisories. It is now over four years since the national inquiry, and the government still has not fulfilled the calls for justice. On top of that, in the new estimates, murdered and missing indigenous women and girls are not even mentioned once, normalizing genocide in this country. I have the privilege of sitting with the hon. member on the status of women committee, and I am wondering if she agrees with me that this approach to incremental justice is costing people's lives.

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Context: House Hansard - 265 - Dec/11/23

Hon. Arif Virani (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.)

Dec/11/23 10:35:55 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member opposite for his contributions to this House and for his very sincere remarks this evening about his personal and lived experience. I believe sincerely that on this side of the House we have made progress. However, I know we need to make faster progress and do more with respect to various aspects of reconciliation, particularly with respect to water. We inherited a situation with 105 drinking water advisories and there are now 28. In the spirit of absolute openness, in my current role and portfolio, we are working on rolling out an indigenous justice strategy to cure the overrepresentation of indigenous communities in the justice system in Canada. I wonder if he could offer me some commentary with respect to his own lived experience and the experience of others with whom he is in contact regarding indigenous experiences in the justice system and how we can cure and improve issues for all Canadians.

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Context: House Hansard - 265 - Dec/11/23

Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

Dec/11/23 10:56:29 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am very honoured tonight to enter into this debate. My colleagues from the indigenous caucus from the NDP, the member for Edmonton Griesbach, the member for Winnipeg Centre and the member for Nunavut, have consistently and persistently emphasized, both within and outside our caucus, the importance of justice and basic human rights. When they say this, they mean for all people, and most particularly when they say this, they are talking about indigenous peoples. I am dismayed. I have been here for eight years. I remember when the Prime Minister was first elected, he stood on the stage and said that there is no relationship more important than the relationship with indigenous peoples in the path toward reconciliation. What do we have to show for it eight years later? What comes to mind are incremental justice, incremental human rights and incremental progress for indigenous peoples, the first peoples of this land. As an immigrant, I came to this place and was allowed to stay by the grace of indigenous peoples, the very first people, Inuit, Métis and first nations people. However, they do not enjoy those rights. We are still talking about it. Where is the justice in that? I find it so dismaying, because the government will say that we need to address the economy and that we have to ensure we have enough resources to build Canada. We will continually hear the Conservatives say that we cannot afford to do this and we cannot afford to do that. What are we talking about? We are talking about losing supports for a total of 7.6 billion dollars' worth of programming for indigenous services, indigenous peoples. The government will say that is not a cut and not to say it is a cut. I do not know in what universe one could not describe it as a cut when those existing services will cease to exist when that $7.6 billion is lost. That equates a cut. We are talking about Jordan's principle, an important principle that says the health and services of indigenous peoples', no matter where they are, should trump all bickering between levels of government about who is going to pay for what because the health of indigenous peoples comes first. However, we are now talking about cutting supports for Jordan's principle. It is not that Jordan's principle was perfect when it was first implemented. People in Vancouver East consistently have to fight to get those services and battle the bureaucracy to justify those services, and it is not an easy fight. I think about the government's promise on the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls inquiry, the national inquiry that brought me to this place as an ally to fight for that. I was just looking today at a report card on the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls inquiry from the CBC, which reads: It’s been four years since the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released 231 calls for justice. Those calls tackled 18 areas needing reform, including education, justice and health. To date, only two of the 231 calls have been completed — and more than half haven’t even been started, according to CBC’s analysis. How is that going for incremental justice? When we talk about incremental justice, what is the fallout? What are the implications? In this instance, we are talking about the lives of indigenous women and girls. This is a travesty in my own community, where right now the RCMP has applied to destroy evidence for cases involving indigenous women and girls. What sort of shameful exercise is that?

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