SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 336 - Sep/16/24

Sep/16/24 8:23:10 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, my colleague's intervention was very thoughtful. I agree with much of what he was sharing with us, and I wonder whether he could respond to something that AFN national chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak has suggested, which is that part of the law enforcement problem with RCMP officers is that they are neither being taught de-escalation techniques nor being given enough cultural competency training. One of the other solutions that we need to discuss in the House is to make sure that RCMP officers are both taught de-escalation techniques and are given cultural competency training so they could better serve the people who need to be protected at the community level.

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Mr. Sébastien Lemire

Sep/16/24 8:24:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Nunavut for her question and her leadership. I thank her for launching the debate this evening and I also thank her for constantly raising these issues at the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. Her sensitivity is important and that is reflected in the question she is asking us today. I think we do indeed need to recognize the leadership of Grand Chief Woodhouse on an issue like this. We need to make our police forces more aware of indigenous realities. I would think training is a minimum requirement for preventing tragedies like the ones recently discussed from happening. As I see it, education and training are also a collective responsibility. As parliamentarians, I think we could also use training to gain a better understanding of indigenous realities in our ridings and elsewhere in Quebec and Canada. I think we have that responsibility, especially through university courses. I want to commend the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue in particular for its leadership as one of the first universities in Canada to offer courses for raising awareness about indigenous realities in the region. All students, whether in nursing, social work or other programs, get access to this indigenous knowledge. This way, people can learn to live together in harmony and better understand each other's reality. In my opinion, each and every one of us share this responsibility.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Sep/16/24 8:25:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I believe that we should be raising the bar and the expectations that we have as parliamentarians, and as Canadians as a whole, of our Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I believe that the RCMP, as a law enforcement agency, should be a leader in terms of reconciliation and in looking at ways of dealing with the very serious nature of the issue. That is why I was glad a few years ago that they tabled their first-ever reconciliation report. We have a training centre. I say now, because I believe it to be the case, and I would be disappointed if it is not, that there is a great deal of dialogue with the indigenous community on what is taking place in the training of RCMP. I realize we should never assume, but I would like to think that the bar is high enough that this is a reasonable expectation. Would he not agree?

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Mr. Sébastien Lemire

Sep/16/24 8:27:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Winnipeg North for his leadership. This morning I read a CBC article about which MPs are less active in the House. I actually found it interesting to see the opposite, or in other words, which MPs are the most active in the House and which ones contribute most to the debate. The article showed that my colleague contributes a lot in terms of quantity, but this evening he has also been contributing in terms of quality. Raising the bar for our police forces and those who ensure that we live together in harmony in our society is a critical solution. I would like to share some thoughts with the House. At the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, we heard from the Correctional Investigator of Canada. He conducted an investigation that generated statistics that prove that indigenous persons are overrepresented in the prison system. That means that we need to also take a look at our justice system. Why do judges paint the things that happen in indigenous communities with the same brush? The “by one's peers” aspect is being completely overlooked. When we look back in history a little, it is interesting to see that reports have been made every year, practically every decade, and they get shelved when they talk about indigenous issues. A great friend of the family, Justice Jean-Charles Coutu, who was recently made an Officer of the Order of Canada, it should be noted, published the Coutu report in the 1980s and the Coutu proposal. I will name a few elements. The creation of a new indigenous justice would help revitalize Inuit practices, including the circle. We know that, in indigenous communities, being rejected by one's peers is often much more serious than justice itself. Being isolated in prison often leads to problems that make it very hard for people to become functional in the community again. Peers have a very significant impact. We need to reflect on that further. The diversion of certain elements would help communities reappropriate, little by little, some judicial powers, while distributing them among several representatives to achieve balance in the different communities. These elements—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Sep/16/24 8:29:25 p.m.
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I am sorry, but I have to give other members a chance to ask questions. The hon. member for Rivière-du-Nord.

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Rivi
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Mr. Rhéal Éloi Fortin (Rivière-du-Nord, BQ)

Sep/16/24 8:29:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to let my colleague continue answering the question. He is off to a great start. I would just say, after listening to the speeches over the past little while, I think almost all of us would agree that the situation that brings us here this evening is unacceptable and that more needs to be done. I also note that the report by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was released five years ago. In Quebec, the Viens commission, also released its report about five years ago. All the reports agree that we need to do better. All of the members here agree that we need to do better. Can my colleague explain why, in his opinion, we are still at this point today, still saying that we should let indigenous police officers intervene more, and that we should listen to indigenous people more, despite frequent Gladue reports that do not seem to be enough? How did we get to this point? Is it because of a lax attitude that obviously can only be attributed to the government in power, which, for nine years, has failed to resolve the situation? Can we expect better from the next government, whether Liberal or Conservative, since it really does not matter to us in Quebec? What can we do to get out of this mess?

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Mr. Sébastien Lemire

Sep/16/24 8:30:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I believe that one of the key words is trust. We need to trust the first nations themselves. The Government of Canada has too often shown a paternalistic or colonial attitude toward first nations. Let us not forget that the Indian Act is still in force. As a result, first nations are not allowed to achieve self-determination, and problems often arise because of cultural differences. The lack of respect that white communities may show towards indigenous communities too often can lead to problems. I would ask that we look at what is being done in indigenous communities, learn from their traditional knowledge and trust them with self-determination. Doing this also means committing the necessary funds and adopting budgetary policies over five or ten years, particularly in relation to fundamental issues such as housing, education, police and correctional services and so on. Communities must be able to take charge of their own destiny in a sustainable way. If they hire a resource but no longer have the money to pay for it after six months, but the money might arrive in three months, in the next budget, that does not work. Predictability is needed to enable communities to develop their own knowledge, expertise and leadership. I am convinced that we will see a net improvement, statistically speaking. However, the biggest improvement will be in the heart of communities.

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Ms. Pam Damoff (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Consular Affairs), Lib.)

Sep/16/24 8:32:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time tonight with the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands. I would like to begin my remarks by extending my deepest sympathy to the family and friends whose loved ones have been killed. I also want to thank the member for Nunavut for the opportunity to debate this very important issue tonight, and the Speaker. Several years ago, when I was parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Indigenous Services, I met with the family of Colten Boushie and hosted a screening of the documentary, We Will Stand Up. Sadly, these six cases that have prompted this emergency debate remind me of the circumstances of too many indigenous people who have been killed. To indigenous people across this country, these killings are not new. The recent killings by both the RCMP and municipal police services are far too common, but they do not get the attention that they deserve. I am glad we have the opportunity tonight to have this emergency debate to highlight the issue and hopefully spark outrage from Canadians that can drive change. We should acknowledge the work undertaken by all Canadians who have been seeking ways to meaningfully support the calls for justice from the final report of the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people and the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Our government led the implementation of the 2021 federal pathway to address missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people and remains dedicated to advancing the calls for justice in partnership with indigenous peoples and provincial and territorial colleagues. That level of collaboration must be at the core of policing reform for indigenous communities, a key priority for the Government of Canada. Senator Murray Sinclair said, “Systemic racism is when the system itself is based upon and founded upon racist beliefs and philosophies and thinking and has put in place policies and practices that literally force even the non-racists to act in a racist way.” I would encourage everyone to sit with these words, particularly the last sentence, when he said that it literally forces even the non-racist to act in a racist way. When we hear these words, we can begin to understand how the very systems we take for granted, trust and rely upon can let us down and how even those who would never have consciously discriminated can actively engage in practices that, while unintentional, can disproportionately harm indigenous and racialized persons. What we are discussing here tonight is rooted in the systemic racism that continues to this day in our country against indigenous people, all too often resulting in devastating and deadly consequences. I also want to talk about the issues facing indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people and the work I have done with my friend, the member for Winnipeg Centre. In our round tables, we heard repeatedly that police response was woefully inadequate. Families would not be believed and were turned away from the RCMP or police services, and their loved ones would later be found dead. That is unacceptable. We heard from organizations and individuals from coast to coast to coast, and the message was the same. Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit persons are being let down by our current systems, and while the solutions offered were not all the same, they were all grounded in the need for them to be regionally based and culturally appropriate, trauma-informed and led by indigenous knowledge. We have heard loud and clear that we must recognize first nations police services as an essential service. This means that first nations police services are adequately funded to do their important work 24 hours, seven days a week. Through the co-development of legislation recognizing first nations police services as an essential service, we will be responding to call for justice 5.4. Ensuring first nations can keep their community safe in the way that is best for them is something I worked on when I was at both Indigenous Services Canada and Public Safety Canada. I met with first nations leaders to discuss how they can best develop their own policing and community safety systems. Not all solutions are police-based. When the public safety committee studied interactions between police and people in crisis, we learned that in at least one jurisdiction in Canada, 80% to 92% of all calls for service were related to social issues, mental health, poverty and homelessness. It is no wonder that we also heard emphatic testimony from both police and community advocates to say that police should not be the primary or sole response option for calls such as these. I think of the good work being done at Kwanlin Dün First Nation to provide a community safety model based on supporting the mental health and social needs of the community, not just using policing services. Former chief Doris Bill from the Kwanlin Dün First Nation has spoken of the deep-rooted distrust of police in her community, where people see police as having failed to protect indigenous children from the sixties scoop, enforced residential school programs and responded inadequately to cases of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. Increasing or creating alternative resources, such as the community safety officer program in the Kwanlin Dün First Nation, could alleviate pressure on police services in situations that police may not be equipped or trained to handle. Let us be clear: We can and should admire the initiative of indigenous communities who are piloting this type of frontline response model. However, we must also recognize the history of colonialism and systemic racism embedded in relations between police and indigenous peoples, which has precipitated this situation. Our government continues to work on co-developing legislation for first nations policing. All parties, including provinces and territories, must provide adequate, stable, predictable, equitable, flexible and responsive funding to meet the needs of first nations police services so that they can meet their requirements under provincial police legislation and respond to first nations policing priorities. In parallel with our legislative goals, Public Safety Canada is launching a distinctions-based engagement process with Inuit and Métis communities to ensure that their policing priorities are better understood and supported. Based on what we hear through this engagement, the Government of Canada will explore options to advance equity of and access to culturally responsive police services. Budget 2021 investments of $540 million over five years will help stabilize and expand the first nations and Inuit program. This responds directly to call for justice 5.5 through the provision of policing services that are professional and dedicated, as well as responsive to the first nations and Inuit communities they serve. We also recognize that municipal police services must do better. Two of the recent killings were in urban centres. There are models such as the one in Halton region to send a mobile crisis rapid response team to mental health calls and to people in crisis. A team consists of a registered health care professional, either a nurse or a social worker, coupled with a specially trained uniformed police officer. These teams not only respond to calls but also advocate for persons and families in crisis; they ensure mental health assessments are completed, and they are better equipped to provide resources, help and support for all involved. The RCMP must do more. The RCMP recognizes that the ability to carry out its important mandate depends on having the confidence and trust of partners and the community it serves. The RCMP is continually working toward building trusting relationships and delivering responsive, culturally aware and trauma-informed policing services. This work must be accelerated. The government has invested in the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, or the CRCC. I commend the leadership of Commissioner Michelaine Lahaie and the work she and her team have been doing to hold the RCMP accountable, to establish clear timelines for the RCMP to respond to their recommendations, and to clear the backlog that existed. The RCMP needs to continue to work with the CRCC to ensure that the CRCC recommendations are implemented by the service. I will close by saying that there is much more work that needs to be done, not just by the government and the RCMP but also by police services across the country. Systemic changes must take place in how police interact with indigenous people. Too many lives are at stake not to make these changes.

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Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

Sep/16/24 8:42:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my wonderful colleague across the way, whom I worked with so closely on putting forward and realizing a red dress alert. In fact, we just tabled the study in the House today, which was just so exciting. We hear a lot of rhetoric from the Conservative Party about tough-on-crime approaches. I know that tough-on-crime approaches do not work. I will be sharing an example of how they do not work this evening in my intervention. How does my colleague feel about this rhetoric of being tough on crime, getting people off the street, enforcing treatment or violating constitutional rights? Does she feel that this could potentially worsen the situation, particularly for indigenous people, and the justice system right now?

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Ms. Pam Damoff

Sep/16/24 8:43:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as the hon. member knows, indigenous women are the fastest-growing population in our prisons right now and have been for a number of years. Those women are in prison because of addictions, trauma, mental health and poverty. Quite frankly, it has been proven that these tough-on-crime policies actually disproportionately impact indigenous and racialized people. They have also been proven to not be effective. His name is escaping me, but the gentleman who was in charge of justice for former prime minister Stephen Harper has written a book about these—

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Ms. Pam Damoff

Sep/16/24 8:44:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, Ben Perrin has written a book, which I have not read yet, about how these failed policies do not solve the crime issue but actually make it worse. These tough-on-crime policies will not keep Canadians safe; they would actually make it more dangerous for the public safety of Canadians and indigenous people.

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Ms. Elizabeth May

Sep/16/24 8:44:34 p.m.
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Ben Perrin.

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Perrin
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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Sep/16/24 8:44:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, first of all, I want to thank the hon. parliamentary secretary for splitting her time with me. Second, I did not want to interrupt. I think it is the first time I have ever yelled anything out in the House, but I remembered the name Benjamin Perrin. He is doing fantastic work in looking at the evidence and realizing things about the policies he used to espouse when he was in Stephen Harper's PMO, such as being tough on drugs and tough on crime. Despite how much he believed they would be helpful at the time, he says they really come down to being dumb on drugs and dumb on crime. How does the hon. parliamentary secretary feel we can best address what I hope to get to in my speech? She is sharing her time with me. Can we ensure better training of police officers? They do not get a lot of training and experience before they hit the streets. Does she think that is part of the solution?

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Ms. Pam Damoff

Sep/16/24 8:45:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, former public safety minister Ralph Goodale said to me one time that police officers need as much training in human rights as they do in criminal justice. The RCMP is working with the University of Regina and working to enhance training. We need to make police services safe places for women, for indigenous people and for racialized people to be able to come in and change the culture within the service. There needs to be better training; we also need to do a better job of recruiting a diverse base. Further, we need to look at whether the RCMP is the right service to be responding in indigenous communities and whether the indigenous communities should be designing their own policing model; we need to leave that up to each individual community.

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Ms. Sylvie Bérubé (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, BQ)

Sep/16/24 8:46:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to extend my condolences to the families affected. When it comes to the safety of indigenous peoples, could there be police forces? Earlier, I gave the example of a joint police force in Val‑d'Or. Could more funding be allocated for that? Is that a solution? Could the government also provide benefits for police forces? What else could it do for indigenous communities and organizations?

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Ms. Pam Damoff

Sep/16/24 8:47:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, yes, absolutely. Police services could be funded better, but I do not know if that is the answer. It falls largely upon the provinces and territories to fund urban police services. However, it is not necessarily having police responding. We need to be supporting those dealing with addictions, mental health issues and homelessness. That would not be driving people into crime, so we need to be getting to the root cause.

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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Sep/16/24 8:47:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleagues who are here tonight. First, I would like to sincerely thank the member for Nunavut. I want to thank my friend, the member of Parliament for Nunavut, for bringing this forward for an emergency debate. It has been an emergency for some time. That is why I was relieved when the Speaker decided that it met the definition of an emergency for debate. However, as the hon. member put it when she made the argument to the Speaker, it is now almost expected that, when police forces are confronted with a first nations person, an indigenous person in this country, the person in question is killed. This happens even on a wellness check, when they are supposed to be sent to make sure that the person in question is safe. It has become far too common. There have been a number of studies in Canada. We can talk about them. I know the specific examples that lead us into the debate tonight. I will start with this APTN headline: “15 days and 6 Indigenous people have died when coming in contact with police across Canada”. The hon. parliamentary secretary quite rightly pointed out that we were told this in the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and in the report on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. We were told this in a report that came out in June 2021 from this Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security entitled “Systemic Racism in Policing in Canada”. That report refers to a witness, the Hon. Michel Bastarache, who actually said that the culture within the RCMP is “toxic”. Let us be clear: This is not one or two incidents that can be explained away by saying an RCMP officer thought something was a threat because they were faced with an indigenous person who they thought was threatening them. Steven Dedam was shot and killed by the RCMP just earlier this month. After he had been shot three times, he was handcuffed and told he was under arrest as he lay there dying. He had been shot in the chest in Elsipogtog First Nation in the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy territory. That is not the first time. As we know, in June 2020, there were two people killed in the territory of the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy people. Rodney Levi of another New Brunswick first nation was shot and killed by the RCMP on a wellness check. Chantel Moore, a young woman from the territory of Vancouver Island, was killed by a member of the Edmundston, New Brunswick, police force on June 4, 2020. I am honoured to be a friend of her family, and I know them well. Her killing is one for which there are no answers yet; the reports have been whitewashed. She was killed by a lone Edmunston police officer, who was a tall, burly man. He woke her up at three in the morning because he had been called to do a wellness check. He did not have a second officer with him. He shot her four times. She was five foot nothing. This is an insufficiently investigated murder. Let us get back to what kinds of solutions we could look to. I have mentioned a number of reports. One that does not come up very much in this context, although it contains many clues for what we need to do for solutions, is the mass casualty report on the RCMP's massive failure to stop a killer on what is sometimes described as a “shooting spree”, which makes it sound as though he was shopping. It was a murderous rampage by a known dangerous man. He was known to be dangerous because of multiple reports for over a decade before he started killing people in Portapique, Nova Scotia, two years ago in April. He was known because many reports had been made to the RCMP that he had illegal guns. When we read the report, we find that various racialized people had reported him for beating up on or robbing them over the years. It was known that he was a threat to people around him. The RCMP notes to the report say that the RCMP did not believe the complainant. Why would a wealthy denturist beat up on poor and racialized people? We might insert the word “white”. The RCMP never investigated the complaints against him over a 10-year period. The Globe and Mail, the national newspaper, is certainly not a left-wing or radical press; it is establishment with a capital E. The Globe and Mail editorial, after reading the mass casualty report, said the RCMP as an institution must be torn down to its foundations and then the foundations must be dynamited. Those are strong words. When we read that report, we realize that there is institutionalized systemic racism, as well as sexism and the unwillingness to believe that because someone had a domestic violence situation and was reported constantly to be a threat to the life of his intimate partner but was not reported by the intimate partner, there was an issue of coercive control. We have got to get that bill passed while we are here, by the way. However, the issue of systemic racism comes screaming out of the report on the mass casualty report out of Nova Scotia for the killings in Portapique. That report pointed out this issue of training. The RCMP do not get as much training as even municipal police forces. I have talked a lot to the chief of police in Victoria, B.C., where I have watched officers in Victoria, B.C. in the municipal police force de-escalate tense situations and get people mental health supports when they need them. They do not shoot first and ask questions later. I am very grateful to Chief Del Manak in Victoria and those in other municipal forces across Canada. The chief of police in Montreal is another fine example. The hon. parliamentary secretary mentioned police forces in Thunder Bay and Edmundston. We have seen municipal police officers also exhibit a systemic racist attitude toward racialized and indigenous people where guns are pulled when people have been sent out on wellness checks. With respect to solutions, we can go through volumes of reports. From the other place, another expert in this area, Senator Kim Pate, has done a lot of work looking at what has already been mentioned here tonight, which is the expanding population of indigenous women in our prisons. Systemic racism is not confined to the RCMP. Let us be clear: It is a Canada-wide problem. It is manifested in the laws, the expectations, the doctrine of discovery, the Indian Act and we can go on and on. However, it is really critical that we do a couple of things and do them fast. I have said this to the Minister of Public Safety before. We need to take the time to go through the social media of every single person in this country who wears a uniform and carries a gun. That includes the kind of person who actually drove through the gates at Rideau Hall determined to shoot the Prime Minister. We need to go through social profiles of every single person in this country who wears a uniform and carries a gun and look for any evidence of white supremacy, look for people wearing a patch of the thin blue line. A friend of mine was a Fairy Creek supporter to stop the old-growth logging in British Columbia. Recently the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP, just last week, ruled on the police arrest and handcuffing and insistence that somehow my friend from Salt Spring Island was violating the law by refusing to give the RCMP his name. This was the RCMP rogue unit called the Community-Industry Response Group, demanding to search his backpack and then arresting him. In that report, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission said the RCMP need training in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Their arrest was groundless. However, regarding the abuse and the mistreatment of people in a number of indigenous land defenders' cases, it is clear that there is greater violence directed toward people defending forests or fighting pipelines if they are indigenous, than if they are arrested with kid gloves the way I was so nicely by the RCMP on Burnaby Mountain. I urge everyone watching this debate tonight and participating not to turn the page and think this was the debate for September 16 and now it is over. We have got to take this seriously and ensure proper training. It is not a couple of rotten apples. It is systemic. Get them out of our police forces, protect indigenous lives and ensure that there is no place for racists where they are allowed to wear a uniform and carry a gun.

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Ms. Lori Idlout (Nunavut, NDP)

Sep/16/24 8:58:04 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I would like to thank the member for her important intervention. This debate is addressing what I feel is like the tip of an iceberg, and I think she agrees. There are so many examples of other issues with RCMP behaviour. In my riding of Nunavut, I have whole communities that will not call the RCMP because they know that the RCMP will not protect that community from the violence that they are experiencing. We have seen other issues because of the RCMP's behaviour towards indigenous peoples and towards the Black community. There are stories after stories. As complex as this is, I wonder if the member could talk more deeply about what some of the other challenges are, because I do not think it is just law enforcement. After this emergency debate was granted by the Speaker, I received a ton of social media, mostly in favour of the debate, but I also received a lot of vitriol, a lot of racism, saying, “Arrest them, arrest the indigenous peoples. They are the ones who are behaving badly.” I wonder if the member has any messages that she can share with Canadians, showing that this is not an indigenous issue. All of Canada must help make sure that it is not just something that we direct at the RCMP.

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Ms. Elizabeth May

Sep/16/24 8:59:53 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Nunavut for always being a shining example in this place of how to lead with love. I want to recognize that it is not one or two examples. As she was speaking, I was thinking of Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, who was attacked by the RCMP in a parking lot. What we can do is remember the first calls for justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which is that all settler culture Canadians must read this report. It is on us, those of us who are settler culture Canadians, to face the truth. Truth and reconciliation starts with understanding the truth of 167 years of racism and genocide. We must recognize that individuals, settler culture Canadians, are very uncomfortable with the word racism. They say, “Well, gee, I am not a racist.” White fragility is also an issue. Let us work together at understanding the truth, and figuring out how we, together, turn a page on a horrible history and move forward with love, guided by indigenous wisdom, to love our Mother Earth, care for each other and approach everything with the gratitude of heart, mind and spirit connected.

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Mr. Sébastien Lemire (Abitibi—Témiscamingue, BQ)

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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