44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 16, 2024 11:00AM
- Sep/16/24 2:30:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we have said before, seniors aged 75 and up have more expenses and often have less savings. That is why we are providing additional funding for them.
However, I am a bit confused about something. The Bloc Québécois claims to care about seniors aged 65 and up, but they voted against the dental care we are providing Canadians. A total of 650,000 Canadian seniors across the country have recently received dental care paid for by the federal government, but the Bloc voted against that. They do not give a damn about seniors.
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- Sep/16/24 3:35:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise on this first day back of the fall sitting of our Parliament to present a petition on behalf of petitioners who would remind us that folks with disabilities across the country continue to disproportionately live in poverty.
They make it clear that this is because federal and territorial programs are below the poverty line. They note that the Canada disability benefit was promised as a benefit to reduce poverty for persons with disabilities in the same manner as the guaranteed income supplement and the Canada child benefit. However, instead, the proposed Canada disability benefit from budget 2024 is nothing that the disability community had been calling for, falling well short of the many promises made by the Liberal government.
The petitioners note that the maximum amount is just $200 a month, that it requires a new application process in contravention of section 11(f) of the Canada Disability Benefit Act and that it is restricted to folks who have the disability tax credit, which is long known for the many barriers to access.
The petitioners call on the government, in short, to fix the Canada disability benefit. They go on to itemize the numerous ways that this needs to be done, first, by fully funding the benefit to actually lift folks out of poverty with the urgency seen with the CERB, the Canada emergency response benefit, for example. They go on to call for the government to automatically enrol folks with disabilities who are already a part of provincial and territorial programs, rather than using this disability tax credit. They call on the government to tie it to an individual's income as opposed to household income.
In short, it is a clear set of principles and actions that could be taken to fix the Canada disability benefit. I am glad to present this petition on behalf of over 3,000 people who have signed it.
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- Sep/16/24 7:16:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for her remarks, as well as for her remarks in response to another member's questions.
She mentioned that progress has been made. Unfortunately, we are seeing that in first nations and Inuit communities, the fact is that crime has gone up significantly in the last number of years. Perhaps she could specify where the progress is being made, specifically in the lives of indigenous people in terms of crime, violence against women and others.
The member did go on at length in her remarks about program funding. While I do appreciate the government announcing that funding, a recent Auditor General report gave a quite scathing analysis of what follows after big announcements of big amounts of money. In fact, the Auditor General found that, in essence, the Liberal government was not following where the money went. It was not following if there were any good outcomes. It could not even provide a list of community agreements with first nations communities that had signed on. In particular, I am talking about the first nations and Inuit policing program. The report is quite extensive.
While I do appreciate that announcing funding is part of the process of governance, also part of the process of governance is ensuring there is follow-through. In this case we are talking about nearly $1 billion of funding over the last number of years.
I would like to hear where this progress is being made, and why it is that the Liberal government was not really tracking or following through on nearly $1 billion of program funding in this regard.
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- Sep/16/24 7:18:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is incredibly ironic that members of the Conservative Party often criticize the spending and funding of indigenous-led programming, then actually criticize, saying we are not doing enough, and then vote against providing funding that actually goes to help these communities.
It is also interesting to note that Conservatives vote, time and time again, against providing funding and support. Instead of recommending programs that could also help, Conservative members talk about waste in these programs or say that these programs are not being delivered.
I have met with several communities where progress is being made. There is, of course, more to be done. However, let us not forget the fact that the Conservatives did not even want to look into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, which is shameful.
We must all work together to produce better outcomes for indigenous people in this country. It is shameful when Conservatives continually vote against that work.
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- Sep/16/24 7:29:50 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I would like to thank the member for using words like “tangible” and for talking about things we need to see happening to help address some of the issues. As I mentioned in my speech, I had done an intervention with the UCCM Anishnaabe Police in northern Ontario because the federal government was not meeting its obligations to ensure that this first nations policing agency was getting the core funding it needed or making sure it had the resources to deal with special teams.
Does the member agree that a tangible solution is to make sure that if the RCMP is getting core funding to do its law enforcement, then the core funding should also be available to first nations law enforcement and Inuit law enforcement so that they are able to do it with the same resources they should be able to deliver on, which they have not been able to because the federal government was not negotiating in good faith with the law enforcement in northern Ontario? As well, does he agree that a tangible solution is to make sure those first nations policing authorities get the same core funding so that they can help protect their first nations and Inuit communities?
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- Sep/16/24 7:58:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for the question, and I will get to the member's specific question, but on the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, there are primarily indigenous people coming out of the Stony Mountain penitentiary, for example, who are eagerly waiting to get into the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre. There is a list, 300 people long, of primarily indigenous men. They are not eagerly waiting to go to a safe consumption site.
The facility just broke ground on a women's wing that it will be building, but it is for men at this time, and it is primarily indigenous men. In fact, the 16-week program is so good that the men do not want to leave. It has an incredible success rate. That is where we should be investing our tax dollars. There are proven success stories. There are incredible success stories there. That is where we believe the funding needs to be allocated: on recovery and treatment. We are seeing great success in places like Alberta that have been doing this for quite some time.
On indigenous-led solutions, there are a number of first nations that are saying there are no drugs allowed on their first nations. They are banning drugs. They are putting up stops to stop the drug dealers so that these people cannot come in. Imagine what those first nations people would say if folks like the Liberal government and others said they were going to open up a safe consumption site or have a so-called safe supply on those first nation reserves and paternalistically put that solution onto them.
First nations, and I could list a number of them if I had more time, are saying no to drugs.
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- Sep/16/24 9:01:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands for her humanity and compassion, which she is displaying once again on this very sensitive topic.
I also want to take this opportunity to recognize a friend of mine who recently stepped down and who was co-leader with the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands. I wanted to pay tribute to him for his contribution to the debates. He is someone who truly believes in social justice. I wish Jonathan the best of luck in his new endeavours.
That being said, let us come back to the issue at hand. A very simple solution that the government could advance rather quickly would be to recognize the indigenous police forces as essential, to have them engage with the communities and to allocate predictable and adequate funding to them.
What does my colleague think of this ready-made solution for the communities?
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- Sep/16/24 9:26:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, there was much in the hon. member's speech that I agreed with. When it comes to funding first nations policing, I would remind the hon. member that when the Harper government Conservatives were in power, first nations policing was grossly underfunded. One of the first things the public safety minister did was engage on that.
In 2018, $291 million was put into first nations policing, and in 2021, there was another $540 million. The hon. member talked about how not all of that money was spent, but he also talked about the importance of engaging with communities. I hope he would agree that these programs for first nations policing need to be led by indigenous peoples, as does the co-development of legislation. These are hard things to do that require hard work, and sometimes they require time.
I am wondering if the hon. member will commit that his party will support these additional funding investments and will ensure that first nations policing is co-developed with indigenous peoples and the Assembly of First Nations, not just dictated to them by the federal government.
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- Sep/16/24 10:27:59 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, as a member of the indigenous and northern affairs committee, I would like to confirm that we have studied policing of indigenous peoples in Canada. There have been multiple reports already. We have great reports such as the MMIWG calls for justice as well as the TRC's calls to action. I agree with the member completely that it is time for action, not more reports or more recommendations. There are enough of those.
One of the tangible solutions, which we need to remind the House was offered, is for core funding to be given to indigenous policing. It is really quite unfortunate how, for example, it has become a part of a systemic racism that the RCMP is core funded. It does not need to negotiate to the same level as indigenous policing organizations, whereas it is that much more of a struggle for indigenous policing.
Does the member agree that that is part of the systemic racism that needs to be addressed so we see core funding being provided to indigenous peoples to police themselves?
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