Senator Gold: That’s a good question, and I don’t know specifically the degree or extent or involvement of Indigenous Services with the drafting of this bill. Again, I expect that answer will be easily available at committee.

You raise a larger point, and I raised it in my speech but it bears repeating. We’re dealing here with a situation when we’re focusing on the overrepresentation of Indigenous offenders and those from racialized communities. We are focusing on the criminal justice system, but there is a whole world and history that has led us to this place, and we know it. We, in the Senate, know it well. The Aboriginal Peoples Committee knows it well, and there has been work done on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We also know, to your point and as I mentioned in passing, that the success of any of these measures depends upon a whole-of-society approach to address our history, and in some cases what is required clearly, as you pointed out quite correctly, is resources: it’s funding. It’s fine to have a diversion program if you are in downtown Toronto or Montreal, but if you are in a much more remote area where there are no resources, no treatment centres, no appropriate facilities, then it is a hollow promise. There have been investments. There need to continue to be investments at the federal, territorial and provincial levels, and within First Nations communities and others.

There are all kinds of ways to capture the idea to not let the best be the enemy of the good. In this case, we have a societal problem and a history that we are trying to tackle. It will take time and generations, perhaps, but every step in the right direction — and this is a step in the right direction in my humble opinion — is worth taking and celebrating. This should be done without fooling ourselves, however, that it is a panacea and without ignoring all the other supports — financial, social and others — that need to be put into place to make this a lived reality and make the improvements in the justice system tangible for Canadians.