Some Hon. Senators: Yea.

Some Hon. Senators: Nay.

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: I believe the yeas have it.

And two honourable senators having risen:

The Hon. the Speaker informed the Senate that a message had been received from the House of Commons with Bill C-19, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022 and other measures.

(Bill read first time.)

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: No, I have spoken. Thank you, Your Honour. I was hoping the question could be called but I guess that was a vain hope.

(On motion of Senator Duncan, debate adjourned.)

[Translation]

(Response to question raised by the Honourable Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu on December 7, 2021)

The most recently appointed Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime concluded her three-year term on October 1, 2021. The process to fill the position is ongoing. The government appreciates the importance of appointing a new ombudsman given that the implementation of victims’ rights and addressing ongoing and emerging victim issues remains a priority for our government.

While the position of the ombudsman is temporarily vacant, the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime remains operational and accessible to victims of crime across Canada requesting their services.

The government appreciates all suggestions to strengthen our ongoing commitment to a justice system that keeps communities safe, treats victims with compassion and respect, protects the vulnerable and holds offenders to account.

(Response to question raised by the Honourable Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu on March 29, 2022)

Budget 2017 provided a historic investment of $2.1 billion over nine years to launch Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy in 2019. Since then, the Government of Canada has provided an additional $1.8 billion in emergency and incremental funding.

The goal of Reaching Home is to prevent and reduce homelessness by helping people attain and maintain stable housing, and providing support services, which includes navigating access to clinical, health and treatment services (including mental health and addictions support).

The government is also committed to increasing the availability of high-quality mental health services for all individuals in Canada. In 2017, the government invested $5 billion over 10 years in targeted funding for provinces and territories to improve access to mental health and substance use services, and has continued investing in mental health services since then, including through Budgets 2021 and 2022.

(Response to question raised by the Honourable Rose‑May Poirier on April 5, 2022)

Veterans have served our country courageously, and they deserve a place to call home. The 2021 Speech from the Throne committed to ending chronic homelessness, including among veterans.

Budget 2021 announced $44.6 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23, for a pilot program aimed at reducing veteran homelessness through rent supplements and wraparound supports (for example, counselling, addiction treatment or help finding a job).

Budget 2022 proposed to move directly to the launch of a targeted program by investing $62.2 million over three years, beginning in 2024-25.

Taken together, $106.8 million over five years is available for the program. Further details will become available in the coming months.

This will build upon existing federal homelessness initiatives, notably Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy. The program provides support and funding to communities across Canada to address homelessness, including veteran homelessness.

(Response to question raised by the Honourable David M. Wells on April 28, 2022)

The Government of Canada’s first priority is always the safety and security of its citizens. Consular officials are providing assistance and are in contact with the families of the Canadian citizens.

As the legal processes develop, Global Affairs Canada will continue to raise the case at every appropriate opportunity. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs is also directly engaged on this file.

Due to privacy considerations, no further information can be disclosed.

Some Hon. Senators: Question.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Leader, you may remember that back in January WestJet, Air Canada and Pearson Airport in Toronto asked your government to remove mandatory PCR testing and quarantine for travellers. It took the NDP-Liberal government more than three months to follow through on this request.

On Monday, the Canadian Airports Council, representing over 100 airports, called for the removal of vaccine requirements for air passengers and aviation employees. Their statement read:

In order to support this industry’s economic recovery and compete globally, Canada must align with the international community and join the list of over 50 countries that have already removed vaccine mandates and COVID protocols for travel.

Leader, summer travel has begun. Canadians can’t wait another three months for your government to make the right decision. When will these mandates be removed?

Hon. Amina Gerba: Honourable senators, in this National Indigenous History Month, I would like to introduce you to someone who needs no introduction, an exceptional person, whom I consider today as a sister in the great Senate family. Yes, I would even say a twin sister, because we were appointed on the same day, July 29, 2021, as independent senators from Quebec to the Senate of Canada. I chose to present her to you today because yesterday was another great day for this great and inspiring lady, who received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa. I’m talking about my very dear Michèle Audette.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.

Senator Miville-Dechêne: I’d like to clarify. I did say that the majority of the committee members wanted to begin the study right away. Let me remind you that I am deputy chair of the committee, so I do prior consultations from time to time to take the pulse. That had nothing to do with what happened in committee. That was not the result of the in camera vote.

[English]

Senator Gerba: Born to a Quebec father and an Innu mother, Senator Audette has played a key role in the transformation of relations between Indigenous peoples and Quebec and Canadian society since the 1990s. At only 27 years old, she was elected president of Quebec Native Women Inc. In 2004, she was appointed Associate Deputy Minister of Quebec’s Secretariat for the Status of Women. She served as president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada from 2012 to 2015. In 2015, she helped create an innovative graduate program in Indigenous public administration for the National School of Public Administration.

The Honourable Michèle Audette was appointed as one of five commissioners to lead the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Since 2019, she has held the position of assistant to the Vice Rector of Academic and Student Affairs and senior adviser for reconciliation and Indigenous education at Université Laval.

Senator Audette has an inspiring career that has allowed her to receive countless recognitions, including the Women of Distinction Award in the Inspiration category from the Montreal Women’s Y Foundation. In addition, to highlight her admirable dedication to the cause of Indigenous women, the Université de Montréal also awarded her an honorary doctorate. Our country should consider itself lucky to have a leader like her in the upper house of Parliament.

Dear friend and “twin sister,” the Honourable Clément Gignac and I were marked by your speech delivered in front of hundreds of young graduates, all equally enthralled.

Congratulations on this umpteenth recognition. Continue to share love as you do around you. It is very contagious, and it is the main ingredient needed for reconciliation. Thank you.

Hon. Bernadette Clement: I, too, rise to congratulate Senator Audette.

“I am here. I am alive. We are here. We are alive.” Honourable senators, these words have echoed in my mind and in my soul ever since they were first uttered by my dear colleague and friend, Senator Michèle Audette.

[English]

A leader and advocate, she has spent less than a year in this colonial institution, but already her impact is irrefutable. When she enters a room, Senator Audette brings with her warmth and kindness, as well as a drive to make historic wrongs right, to Inuitize, to Indigenize, to pursue equality, equity and social justice. This is a continuation of a lifetime of work transforming relationships between Indigenous peoples and Canadian and Québécois societies.

Senator Gerba has already done justice to what has been an astounding career, and now she is a recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa.

[Translation]

At yesterday’s celebration, I was sitting next to Senator Audette’s dad, whom she describes as “the most wonderful dad in Quebec.” He mentioned that, even at age four, she had a way of commanding a room. He fondly recalled seeing her wearing a dress made by her maternal grandmother, displaying pride in her culture.

As Jacques Frémont, the President and Vice-Chancellor of the university, put it so well, “You are an exemplary role model of perseverance . . . .”

[English]

And she has been an inspiring role model for me as well.

Timing is a funny thing, folks. In her speech yesterday, Senator Audette spoke of the dream she had, at age 28, of becoming a senator. Now she is here at exactly the right time, during the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, a time when we must focus on truth, reconciliation and healing and a period when Canadian society is coming to terms with our history.

My friend, as you light the way for your children, your grandchildren and your community, please know that your light shines in this place, too.

[Translation]

Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition from the University of Ottawa.

[Editor’s Note: Senator Clement spoke in an Indigenous language.]

[English]

Congratulations, honourable senator.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement.

Senator Wells: Thank you, Senator Gold. This morning my office received the delayed answer from April 28. It really is too long when the lives and safety of Canadians are at stake.

I’d like to know, and I think this chamber should know. Canadians are being detained for following the rules. They are, in fact, being held hostage in another country. Their passports have been confiscated.

If we could have an answer on the result of any intervention that the Prime Minister may have made at the Summit of the Americas before we rise for the summer, that would be appreciated.

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Honourable senators, my question is for the Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications, Senator Leo Housakos.

Senator Housakos, as you know, the senators in this chamber spent two weeks debating the merits of having a pre-study on Bill C-11, An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts. The Senate voted in favour of conducting a pre-study.

Given this democratic vote and the fact that, according to my information, the majority of senators on the committee would like to start this pre-study, when do you intend to begin this study in committee and call witnesses so that we can start to understand this important and complex bill?

Hon. Leo Housakos: Thank you, senator, for the excellent question.

The committee itself will decide when to start its work. It is at the important stage of planning its future activities, and as the senators who are members of several committees in this institution know, we can’t move forward without a good plan, so we need time. As you know, the steering committee hasn’t reached a consensus yet, and the work is ongoing. The committee will start by establishing a plan before going any further.

[English]

That is the tradition when it comes to work at the committee level, and as we all know, colleagues, committees have a degree of independence in this place. They take guidance from this chamber. Of course, I recognize that this is the ultimate superior authority when it comes to giving direction to committees, but as has been expressed over a number of weeks and months in the chamber by colleagues like Senator Cordy and Senator Downe, committees are masters of their own destiny. So we are going to allow the Transport and Communications Committee the leeway that they need in order to come up with a plan, to come up with directives and try to follow, of course, the guidelines that have been given by this chamber.

The last time I checked, the motion that you have questioned about has no particular date or timeline. The government has given us the flexibility to do the robust study that needs to be done on such an important bill.

[Translation]

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan, Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, presented the following report:

May 31, 2022

The Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights has the honour to present its

SECOND REPORT

Your committee, which was authorized by the Senate on Thursday, March 3, 2022, to examine such issues as may arise from time to time relating to human rights generally, respectfully requests funds for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023 and requests, for the purpose of such study, that it be empowered:

(a)to engage the services of such counsel, technical, clerical and other personnel as may be necessary;

(b)to adjourn from place to place within Canada;

(c)to travel inside Canada.

Pursuant to Chapter 3:06, section 2(1)(c) of the Senate Administrative Rules, the budget submitted to the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration and the report thereon of that committee are appended to this report.

Respectfully submitted,

SALMA ATAULLAHJAN

Chair

(For text of budget, see today’s Journals of the Senate, Appendix A, p. 668.)

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Senator Housakos, according to my calculations, a majority of the committee members, 8 out of 12, would like to start the pre-study. If, as you say, the committee is free to decide when to start this work, I can tell you that the majority want to start the pre-study now.

I would like to ask you a hypothetical question. In your opinion, when the Senate authorizes a committee to carry out a pre-study on a government bill, does the committee have the right to not carry out the will of the Senate and to refuse to conduct a pre-study?

[English]