Senator Plett: The question is, of course, minister, would you undertake to provide us with a list?

Senator Plett: Bill C-11.

Senator Plett: It was not.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Minister, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP, incorporates a constitutional duty to consult Indigenous people when you consider measures that might adversely impact the potential for established Aboriginal or treaty rights.

The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network said they weren’t invited to a House committee when studying this bill, despite their request to do so. I can only assume from that, minister, that they were not consulted.

Minister, are you upset about your government’s failure to consult? Did you consult the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network before you introduced this bill? And if not, why not?

Senator Plett: That’s not my question, minister.

Senator Plett: Mr. Minister —

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Welcome, minister. Minister, 10 people were brutally murdered and another 18 injured in a series of stabbings in the vicinity of the James Smith Cree Nation. The individual in question had a long criminal history. In fact, he had 59 criminal convictions. Despite this record, he was serving a sentence of only 53 months for an additional series of violent offences, and he was at large despite having violated the conditions of his statutory release.

We were told that the Parole Board of Canada is conducting a review of this horrific case, but the problem in our Canadian justice system is a systemic one which exposes the deep flaws in our revolving-door justice system. What we need now is transparency so Canadians know that your government is actually doing something.

Minister, in that regard, how specifically is your department engaged in this review, which not only involves an Indigenous offender but also had a horrific impact on a vulnerable community that was effectively left unprotected?

Senator Plett: Minister, your answer to the question about how your department is engaged in the Parole Board’s review of the murders was not specific. I also tried to get an answer on this issue yesterday from Senator Gold, the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

The terrible crimes in Saskatchewan clearly demonstrate that the way we are approaching criminal justice matters in our Indigenous communities is failing to protect them. Indigenous leaders in Saskatchewan have said that their communities are not equipped to develop programs that might help better address criminality in their communities.

Minister, Canadians need to understand how you are working with the communities in the face of this. How are you working with the Parole Board in its review of this specific case to better balance Gladue factors and risks?

At the same time, again, you highlighted the systemic nature of it. There are socio-economic underpinnings to the reality that Indigenous communities face that make them vulnerable and susceptible to this type of crime. It is not an Indigenous issue; it is a societal issue that has its deep roots in colonization, in dispossession and ones that are not fixed with simple solutions.

That said, there is a crying need to reform, as we have said as a government, First Nations policing to make it an essential service in communities and to reform the way policing itself is done. That is a much greater conversation where I welcome your advocacy.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Minister, would you be able to provide us with a list of all the Indigenous organizations that you have consulted with on Bill C-11, as per your obligations under UNDRIP, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? I don’t care whether they were at a committee or not. Would you undertake to send us a list of all Indigenous organizations that you consulted with before tabling this bill?