Senator Kutcher: Thank you.

Legislating two independent witnesses, as this bill does, may add an additional safeguard to mitigating the possibility of coercion. Alternatively, or as a complement to that, there could be guidelines embedded in standards of practice for MAID providers. These, and other options, need to be closely examined at committee.

My fourth consideration was that the request has been made in due recognition of the impact of the passage of time so that the MAID provider has comfort that the request is current. Proposed paragraph 241.2(3.22)(b) of the bill addresses this issue, requiring that an advanced request be no more than five years old. Senator Wallin has told us that the five-year timeline was chosen following consultations with various stakeholders, but that she is not wedded to that number. Personally speaking as a clinician, I would suggest a shorter time period, perhaps two years. However, whatever the window chosen, it would be essential that the updating be signed by the individual, clearly confirming the specificity of the intolerable suffering criteria for that individual and that a clinical assessment of decision-making capacity be appended to the update.

Honourable senators, this is an important piece of legislation, and it requires our careful and critical consideration. I recall in our debates during Bill C-7 that one reason presented for not legislatively addressing the issue of advance requests was that this issue had not had sufficient study in committee. Colleagues, now is the time for us to do just that.

Thank you, wela’lioq.

Hon. Patty Hajdu, P.C., M.P., Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario: Thank you very much. In terms of whether there is a status report, there are a number of different gaps analyses, but I don’t think there is a comprehensive gaps analysis. However, I did direct the department to begin that work when I was appointed a year ago, and we’re starting to get a better sense from a fiscal perspective, at the very least.

You’re right. Certainly, it is a lot about money, and, indeed, the costs are mounting. As the weather becomes more and more extreme and as we see global disruptions in the economy, in fact, infrastructure is becoming more and more expensive.

To your point, it is a sad reality that Indigenous communities are first and foremost on the front lines of climate change and are experiencing it more profoundly. They are seeing the changes.

The disruption in access to food is heartbreaking. I was in the Yukon visiting with the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in. I am wearing earrings from that region today. It was hard not to weep when people spoke about the loss of food — and it’s not just about food. It’s about a connection to the food and the cultural connection to that food. I like to say that over the past year, Indigenous people have taught me from a heart place what it means to think of the world and to think of ourselves as “being a part” of instead of “being a dominion over.” It is truly a profound shift for me. I also share with my colleagues that I have become somewhat of a raving environmentalist especially when I see the devastation in communities like Peguis, or in the B.C. Coldwater Creek area, or in northern Ontario, where forest fires are ravaging, or meeting the Tsilhqotʼin out west and the work they’re doing to protect their community; you can see I have a lot to say —

Hon. Renée Dupuis: Minister, welcome to the Senate. In your mandate letter of December 16, 2021, the Prime Minister asked you to do the following, among other things:

 . . . collaborate with Indigenous partners — by working together to close socio-economic gaps and improve access to high-quality services.

I would like to come back to the drinking water issue, because it seems to me that it falls under at least three of the sustainable development goals that Canada has committed to achieving by 2030, namely sustainable communities, the resolution of the difficulties accessing drinking water and the elimination of discrimination. Closing socio-economic gaps means more than just investing money. We must also examine how we close the gaps with services provided to citizens in general.

My question is about the 27 or 28 communities you mentioned, where 31drinking water advisories remain in effect. Are these 27 or 28 communities part of the First Nations that will be compensated according to the provisions of the settlement between the federal government and the First Nations that have filed class action suits?

[English]

Senator Plett: Thank you, Senator Dean.

It struck me as a bit odd that Bill S-241 basically turns over the accreditation standards of Canadian zoos to an American accreditation body known as the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, or AZA.

There is currently a bill, Senator Dean, before the U.S. House of Representatives called the SWIMS Act. This bill would prohibit the breeding and the importation and exportation of orcas, beluga whales, false killer whales and pilot whales for the purpose of public display in the U.S. This is very similar to rules which Canadian zoos and aquariums are already required to abide by. The U.S. is not, however.

The AZA, Senator Dean, is opposing this bill in the U.S.

Senator Dean, can you tell me why you would want to turn over the accreditation standards of Canadian zoos to an American accreditation body that does not even support the existing Canadian standards?

Hon. Lucie Moncion: Welcome, minister. My question relates to your role as the Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario. It is about the Ring of Fire.

Development of the Ring of Fire is subject to the environmental assessment process, regulatory processes and the Crown’s obligation to consult. The Government of Ontario needs the federal government’s support to ensure that the Ring of Fire’s full potential can be achieved and to advance regional, environmental and economic development, which is of national importance.

Could you explain what financial and other supports the federal government is offering for these different projects?

[English]

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Minister, chiefs from four remote nations in northeastern Manitoba are calling for the federal and provincial governments to come together to build a local hospital. The Island Lake region chiefs have said their communities are in great need of proper infrastructure. These communities currently rely on nursing stations that can only provide limited treatments.

Chief Charles Knott said, “I think it’s time the government come visit our community to see firsthand what we go through every day.”

And Grand Chief Scott Harper said:

We have been negotiating with Canada for decades to fund our hospital and related facilities while our members keep dying from preventable deaths.

Minister, I know this is near and dear to your heart. You live close to these communities. The riding that you represent is not that far away. Have you visited these communities, minister? What are you doing to ensure that the people in these remote communities get the health care they deserve?

Senator Dean: I could simply say, Senator Plett — thank you very much for the question — that the AZA is considered to have higher standards than its Canadian counterpart. The proponents of the bill and those who support it were very much in favour of adopting the AZA standards. I have no idea why the AZA takes this position, if indeed they have so. I can’t help you on that.

On the question of why the AZA is mentioned in this bill, it offers the highest standards available, and that’s what the proponents were looking for.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, we welcome today the Honourable Patty Hajdu, P.C., M.P., Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, to ask questions relating to her ministerial responsibilities.

Pursuant to the order adopted by the Senate on December 7, 2021, senators do not need to stand. Questions are limited to one minute and responses to one-and-a-half minutes. The reading clerk will stand 10 seconds before the expiry of these times. Question Period will last one hour.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, when shall this bill be read the second time?

(On motion of Senator Martin, bill placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading two days hence.)

[English]

Hon. Amina Gerba: Honourable senators, every year on November 19, we celebrate Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, which is intended to give women the means to actively participate in our country’s economic life.

I rise today to pay tribute to Vickie Joseph, a female entrepreneur and diversity success story. Vickie is a graduate of Montreal’s International Academy of Design, a serial entrepreneur and a philanthropist. She worked for many businesses before she created Nu.I by Vickie in 2006, a fashion company known for its original creations designed for women who want clothing that is both elegant and comfortable.

Vickie is also the co-founder and president of V Kosmetik International, which specializes in the manufacturing and distribution of beauty products. Her makeup line, V Kosmetik, has 50 shades for darker skin tones and is available in Canada and around the world, including the United States, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Benin, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

Vickie believes that with success comes a responsibility to help others. For that reason, she co-founded, with her husband, Frantz Saintellemy, Groupe 3737, an important entrepreneurial incubator that promotes newly emerging businesses.

She also co-founded FemPreneurs to help women develop their businesses with special programs for women of diversity.

Recipients of several awards, Vickie and I are members of the first cohort of Excellence Québec, which I invite you to learn about online.

Colleagues, as I have often said, the prosperity of diversity contributes to the prosperity of our country. We must do everything we can to support female entrepreneurs, and Black ones at that. As a Black female entrepreneur myself, I know the systemic barriers Vickie had to overcome to get to where she is today. She deserves our recognition.

Please join me in honouring an inspiring female entrepreneur and diversity success story, my friend and sister, Vickie Joseph.

Thank you.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Honourable senators, today I have the honour of paying tribute to James Eetoolook, a giant among Inuit leaders. James was a pioneer and leader in the long struggle for the creation of Nunavut.

James began his long career as a leader working as a clerk for the Hudson’s Bay in what was then Spence Bay in the Northwest Territories, or the N.W.T. He became the co-op manager and then settlement secretary of the settlement of Spence Bay, now Taloyoak, in 1975. He then became senior administrative officer when the community became one of the first hamlets in the N.W.T. in 1976. He was elected president of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association in 1989 and president of Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut, the predecessor to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., or NTI, in 1992.

That was the time we had to settle a dispute with the Dene over the western boundary of Nunavut. I worked with James and other Inuit leaders as we recommended mediation that led to the so‑called Parker Line. We then had to work to secure, for the second time, majority support in the N.W.T. for the boundary for our new territory. This was the second plebiscite in which Inuit leaders put everything on the line to democratically pursue our dream of Nunavut — the first being in 1982 when we managed, by high turnouts in what is now Nunavut, to secure 56.4% support for division of the Northwest Territories.

James has been a rock-solid leader of Inuit for all those years. Since that time, and as elected vice-president of NTI for 29 years, he has worked tirelessly, advocating for and supporting the rights of Inuit as a land claim negotiator. His signature is on the Nunavut Agreement of 1993, he was president of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut and, for the last 29 continuous years, the vice-president of NTI. He was the driving force of Inuit-led DEW Line and environmental cleanups all across Inuit Nunangat and fought for Inuit subsistence hunting rights against animal rights groups at Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, meetings, travelling all over the world from his isolated and remote home in Taloyoak on the Central Arctic Coast. He also led successful negotiations with Canada on parks, heritage rivers and protected areas.

James Eetoolook, thank you so much for all you have done for the territory, Nunavummiut and Canada.

I am thankful for this opportunity to share with you, my dear Senate colleagues, just some of his many achievements.

Qujannamiik, James. Taima.

Hon. Donna Dasko: Honourable senators, the Ukrainian Holodomor is recognized on the fourth Saturday of November each year, and I rise today to remember the millions of victims of this genocidal famine that was perpetrated against the Ukrainian people in the 1930s. Under dictator Joseph Stalin, the Soviet government launched a policy of collectivization that involved the brutal confiscation of grain and all foodstuffs from the Ukrainian rural population. Villages were blockaded, and during the worst year — 1932 to 1933 — thousands died every day. Many millions of Ukrainians died of enforced starvation during the Holodomor.

In a tragic example of how history can repeat itself, today we are witnessing nothing less than another genocide perpetrated on the Ukrainian people by another tyrant. The crimes committed by the Russian army, commanded by Russian President Vladimir Putin since the illegal invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, include mass atrocities in the invaded territories: the systematic, willful killing of Ukrainian civilians; the desecration of corpses; identifying and killing local leaders and widespread instances of physical and mental harm and rape. Young children are kidnapped, forcibly removed from their families and stripped of their language and culture. Some are inducted into modern slavery.

These examples of genocide have been independently verified by the New Lines Institute, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre and others. Indeed, Putin has framed this as a genocidal war right from the beginning. Like his predecessor Joseph Stalin, Putin despises an independent Ukraine. His goal is to destroy this democratic and peaceful nation and return it to the dark days of authoritarian rule.

In the 1930s, the Soviets were especially successful at denying their crimes against humanity. Although a few brave journalists — including the trailblazing Canadian Rhea Clyman — were eyewitnesses to those events, and although many survivors shared their accounts, the story of the Holodomor remained covered up for over five decades.

Today, however, there is no hiding. The whole world knows about the illegal invasion of Ukraine and the crimes perpetrated there by Russian forces. I am proud that our government, Canadians across this country and democracies around the world are standing strongly and steadfastly with Ukraine in the face of this new genocide. Brave Ukrainians are fighting for their lives and for their country, but they are fighting for our freedoms too.

Thank you.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Let me add my welcome as well, minister.

Minister, part of your mandate as Minister of Indigenous Services is to:

Eliminate all remaining long-term drinking water advisories on reserve and make sure that long-term investments and resources are in place to prevent future ones . . . .

Back in 2015, the Prime Minister promised to put an end to these advisories by March of 2021. Yet Canada still has 34 long‑term drinking water advisories in 29 communities across the country.

Minister, why has your government failed to follow through on its promises to Indigenous peoples to end these advisories?

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.

Hon. Michèle Audette: Good afternoon, honourable senators.

[Editor’s Note: Senator Audette spoke in Innu.]

Colleagues, I rise today to introduce you to my young guest. When I first met him, I thought he was 18, but no, he’s just 16 years old.

I met him on July 15, 2022, at a gathering about online safety held in Quebec City. It was such a pleasure to hear him speak, and I was especially honoured to meet him.

Jayden Paquet-Noiseux attended the meeting as a spokesperson for Children First Canada. I heard what he had to say and I admired his leadership. His contribution to the meeting was lauded not only by me, but also by other adults, other moms and other kokum. I knew right away that this young man would go far in life.

I was so impressed that I invited him, as I invite others every time I visit a primary or secondary school, or a university or college, to come and meet us in the Senate of Canada, since this chamber also belongs to them.

It finally happened on September 8, 2022. Jayden emailed me to ask if he could do a placement with me, which, of course, I accepted.

I was happy to know that, at 16 — he is in grade 11 — he is already very involved indeed. He is involved in his community. He is involved as a member of Children First Canada, known in French as Les enfants d’abord Canada, and he was also a member of the Young Canadians’ Parliament and the National Youth Advisory Panel.

He has already had the opportunity to introduce and debate bills, which is something I have not yet done. Bravo! He debated a bill on mental health and had media appearances on CBC Kids News, Radio-Canada and elsewhere. He was also the bilingual services coordinator for Children First Canada.

I would like to thank our colleague, Senator Moodie, for organizing a round table recently that Jayden participated in.

Guess what? Jayden is going to come study at the University of Ottawa. Jayden, I hope we will have the privilege of seeing you again, and I wish you all the best in your political science and communications studies.

When I was young, I dreamed of becoming a senator, and I hope to see you here one day. Tshinashkumitnau.

Hon. Chantal Petitclerc: Honourable senators, in just 100 days, 3,300 young athletes competing in 20 different sports will meet for a celebration of amateur sport, the 56th Quebec Games.

The event will take place in Rivière-du-Loup, in the senatorial division of Grandville, which I have the privilege of representing. Young people representing 19 regions of Quebec will experience nine days of achievement, sports performances, perseverance and camaraderie.

Since 2016, Rivière-du-Loup has been preparing to host this celebratory event in the heart of winter. The Quebec Games have been part of our provincial athletes’ careers for over 50 years and are a unique opportunity to promote healthy lifestyles and sports.

I’m going to bet that on March 3, when the athletes make their entrance during the opening ceremonies, emotions will be running higher than usual. The Lower St. Lawrence has been waiting for these games for a long time. Our young people are emerging from a time in their lives that has not been easy. This will be the moment to recognize their incredible resilience.

The 100-day countdown to the games is a crucial, intense period that generates a lot of emotions, and it is a magical time. It comes with the realization that all the work done over the years will finally bear fruit, and the athletes will have the chance to give it their all, to challenge themselves to do even better.

I leave you, senators, with the words of Isabelle Charest, an Olympian and Quebec’s Minister responsible for Sports, Recreation and the Outdoors. She said the following and I quote:

I absolutely adored participating in the Quebec Games, where I made important contacts that influenced my career. I am convinced that the spirit of friendship that I felt so strongly there is still alive and well today, and that is partly thanks to you, dear organizers, volunteers and stakeholders in the sports community. We have been through some challenging times over the past few years, but you kept the flame alive.

Dear athletes, volunteers and organizers, I stand firmly behind you and wish you all the best as the 100 day countdown begins.

Thank you. Meegwetch.

Hon. Patty Hajdu, P.C., M.P., Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario: Thank you very much, Your Honour, and thank you very much for welcoming me into this very honourable place.

On the issue of water, let me first start that by saying that the commitment remains to work with First Nations communities and partners to lift all boil water drinking advisories. In fact, since 2015, we have lifted 136 long-term advisories and, importantly, prevented 231 short-term advisories from becoming long-term advisories. I expect that the majority of the remainder — 31 is the actual number remaining — will be lifted within the next 12 months.

Having said that, I will also tell you — and it’s something I have learned in my journey — that it isn’t the federal government that has the final say on whether a long-term drinking water advisory is lifted. That remains in the control and decision‑making power of the chief and council. We do a lot of work with communities that have new plants and a water system that is delivering water but which are not ready yet to lift that water advisory. We have programs to help community residents, who have been subjected to boil water advisories sometimes for the entirety of their lives, to trust the water that’s coming out of the taps.

This was something that, immediately upon hearing it, I recognized how it could be true, but hadn’t thought through prior to this position. We continue to work with those remaining 28 communities and the 31 advisories, and I know that our government will not rest until we are able to make that work.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, a Charter Statement prepared by the Minister of Justice in relation to Bill C-32, An Act to implement certain provisions of the fall economic statement tabled in Parliament on November 3, 2022 and certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022, pursuant to the Department of Justice Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. J-2, sbs. 4.2(1).