44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 17, 2024 11:00AM
- Jun/17/24 1:59:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we know that we need to build more housing for indigenous peoples here in Canada. We need to build more on reserves. We are very committed to doing that. We have committed and will continue to commit a significant amount of money to building the homes they need.
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- Jun/17/24 2:14:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to humbly offer new thoughts on an aging tradition. Canada is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 157 years old. Happy birthday, kid. However, like any good coming of age story, there is much internal conflict. We, indigenous peoples and settlers alike, are at the convergence, or better said, at the place where rivers meet, perhaps again. All which has kept us from each other has now led us to one another.
Although our experiences over the last 157 years are vastly different, we can today see each other more clearly. We can hear each other more soundly, and we can understand each other more emotionally. Indigenous peoples History Month and Canada Day are often a reminder for me of just how far we have truly come, even in my short time. It is also a painful reminder of just how much more work there is to be done, but justice begins with truth. It is where wisdom, redemption and forgiveness live. Reconciliation is not a policy, but a journey toward that truth that we all must take.
I want to thank all those who are offering truths about these lands, especially our youth and our elders. kinana'skomitina'wa'w. Let us continue to heed these truths, and in time, we can become a worthy nation.
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- Jun/17/24 2:16:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this week, let us all celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day together.
The presence of first nations and their influence on our society have been overlooked for far too long. It is essential that we recognize their contributions and the richness of their cultures and languages. It is as much a matter of truth as it is of reconciliation.
Without their knowledge of medicinal plants and especially without their support, the first Europeans in North America would never have been able to survive, let alone prosper. Let us not forget that, according to many historians, the first nations were ones who first laid the foundations for democracy in the Americas, with the council circle.
June 21 is really the perfect day on which to celebrate their heritage since it is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.
I would like to wish a happy National Indigenous Peoples Day to all the Abenakis, Anishinabe, Atikamekw, Cree, Huron-Wendat, Inuit, Innu, Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, Mohawk and Naskapi peoples with whom we share this land.
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- Jun/17/24 2:28:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it has been nine long years since the truth and reconciliation report was released. The Prime Minister claimed that the indigenous communities were his most important relationship. Today, the commissioners say that progress is too slow. The Prime Minister has turned his back on indigenous people, and every broken promise means that indigenous people have to wait even longer for clean drinking water, for adequate housing, for health care and for the services they need for justice.
When will the Prime Minister stop turning his back on indigenous people?
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- Jun/17/24 2:29:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have come a long way since 2015. In fact, we have seen an increase of 185% in spending on indigenous priorities. Just today, I stood with a national chief, who talked about the improvement of the relationship between Canada and first nations people. We made an announcement that we would support Ontario to deliver health care in the Weeneebayko health area for $1.2 billion. We will continue to work on reconciliation with colleagues across the country.
I want to thank all the first nations and indigenous leaders who are working so hard.
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- Jun/17/24 2:30:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured today to be working with our indigenous partners.
We work with first nations people every single day to do the kinds of things that the member opposite is talking about, closing infrastructure gaps and lifting boil water advisories. Ninety-six per cent of first nations now live in communities with access to clean water, and we will not rest until it is done.
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- Jun/17/24 5:15:20 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, first of all I would like to commend the great work of the commissioner of Canada elections, who has reached out to my office a few times regarding preparing for the next federal election, based on the work that I had started by introducing my bill, Bill C-297, to amend the Elections Act with respect to indigenous languages. I just want to use this time to follow up and ask the minister what kind of work is being done as a pilot project to make sure that indigenous languages are also on the ballot.
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- Jun/17/24 5:16:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, our colleague from Nunavut again raises a very important point. We were inspired by the work she did in terms of indigenous languages' being included on the ballots. Having had a number of conversations with the Chief Electoral Officer and other colleagues, I was struck by the number of indigenous persons who when they would go to vote would be in a circumstance where, again, their ability to properly exercise their democratic right would be negatively affected by their inability to understand, whether it was English or French, what was on a ballot.
Therefore we thought that the legislation before us, to a very considerable extent inspired by the work of our colleague from Nunavut, would give Elections Canada precisely the authority and the ability to ensure that people in her territory, her constituency and other indigenous communities are able to exercise their rights, including having a ballot in their own language.
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- Jun/17/24 7:34:07 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji , I do have a hard time trusting what Conservatives say, especially regarding indigenous peoples' issues. I was an adult when the Conservatives were in power, and although their prime minister made an apology to former residential school students, the very same government cut programs that would have ensured proper healing of intergenerational trauma from residential schools.
I wonder whether the member can explain what the Conservatives would do to make sure that indigenous peoples continue to get the supports they need and that their rights are upheld so we would see more indigenous peoples thriving in Canada.
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- Jun/17/24 10:06:31 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I have the same concern as the Liberal MP when it comes to the Conservatives caring for people. When Nunavut had a Conservative MP, that MP was part of the party that made cuts to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, which was leading the way to ensure that indigenous people could get the healing they deserve.
How can anyone trust the Conservatives that they will lead in such a way that helps indigenous peoples?
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