SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
May 10, 2023 09:00AM
  • May/10/23 11:30:00 a.m.

As we support the ongoing logistical challenges of that community, there is no question that there is a need for us to move on that location—“us” involves the community itself and some neighbouring communities. The federal government and the provincial government remain committed to that process and continue to work with not just Kashechewan but Fort Albany First Nation to ensure that they actually want to do this and we can proceed with a couple of important processes to make that move. Our door remains open, and we’d like to facilitate that process. It shouldn’t take this long. It’s twice in my own political career that this has happened.

I can assure the member opposite that we remain committed to facilitating that, providing it has the support of the nearby communities to Kashechewan.

Frankly, we continue to urge, particularly, Fort Albany First Nation to work with Kashechewan First Nation so that we can proceed with things like the environmental processes that are required to actually build the road that the member speaks about. It’s not that nothing is being done. Efforts are being made to get things started. That has been going on for a couple of years. I suspect the member knows that.

We would be happy to have a conversation with the leadership of those First Nations communities to trigger those processes and move that community to a place where we signed on the dotted line that we were committed to do that.

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  • May/10/23 4:20:00 p.m.

I want to thank the member for her intervention. In particular, reflecting over the course of time, I was really struck by the access and equity piece, the groups of people, if you will, who haven’t had access to this place for one reason or another—and some of them, if not many, just bad stuff.

But as a guy who comes from Kenora, to her second point about where she is most concerned, what does this look like after—I’ve actually been thinking about what happens in between. I know we have to have a precinct here, but to your point about equity and access, I actually live two and three-quarter hours away from the Manitoba Legislature. Then here in Toronto—and I realize that this is the capital city of this province, but, Madam Speaker, I wondered what the member thought about improving access and equity for us, to have a roaming Legislature every once in a while where we could convene in cities around the province so that people had more access. Because I can tell you, not too many people from Kenora or Kiiwetinoong find themselves down in this neck of the woods.

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