Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question, Senator Boisvenu. The veterans’ situation is troubling. I will inquire with the government and try to provide an answer as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I do not have any information on the subject at this time.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question and for pointing out that of which I was not aware, that the senators on the committee feel somehow that they are not being treated equitably. I encourage the senators on the committee to work with their counterparts to address that directly, and I will certainly make inquiries so that I can be better informed as to the circumstances you describe.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): With respect, of course they can be, and I will explain why. The government consults with and takes advice from the situation on the ground from all relevant sources, and being informed by what is on the ground is different than responding to a request.

I am aware, of course, of what the commissioner said in response to our colleague’s question. I am also familiar, as colleagues are, with her statement on a previous occasion that it was absolutely necessary to allow them to do what needed to be done to remove the illegal protest from Ottawa.

They are both correct, and the government acted as it responsibly should, because they are answering different questions, as I am trying to do to the best of my ability here.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question. As the government has acknowledged on many occasions, and I will do so again, the government is aware that some aspects of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program ended up causing unintended and negative consequences to those who received it. I was not aware of — so thank you for pointing out — the disproportionate impact on Indigenous communities and recipients. The government has been working and will continue to work with those who are experiencing such difficulties in an effort to make ends meet. I will certainly take these concerns back to the government and hope for an answer in due course as to what other measures may be taken or contemplated.

Senator Francis: Senator Gold, I am very concerned about the impact of repayments on First Nations living paycheque to paycheque, or worse. Can you please provide us with disaggregated data on the number of First Nations and other Indigenous people who received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and how many received repayment letters? With regard to what the repayment process will look like, can you also provide us with a detailed explanation of the consequences of non-repayment? Is there discretion to cancel or waive penalties or interest for First Nations and others with an income below the poverty level?

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. At the meeting of the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs we learned that roughly between 3,000 and 5,000 veterans do not have housing. Two years ago, the Trudeau government announced the launch of a program that would accelerate the construction of affordable housing for the homeless and would help get them off the street and away from drugs.

I asked the minister the question last week and he was unable to tell me when the program will be implemented. Yesterday, I asked the Veterans Ombudsperson the same question and she told me that the minister had no information to share on this matter.

When will the government take care of veterans?

Senator Boisvenu: Why did Veterans Affairs not spend $634 million in 2021? It ended the year with $634 million in unspent funding, even though there are 11,000 benefit applications being appealed and applicants have not had any news. That is not to mention the 5,000 homeless veterans roaming the streets. Why did the government not spend the $634 million?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Senator Gold, on February 22, when we were debating your government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act, you were asked if you were aware which levels of our national security apparatus or others were consulted and listened to when the government was considering invoking the Emergencies Act. You replied:

. . . the government was informed by all of the law enforcement and intelligence services upon which it relies in matters like this.

Senator Gold, is the RCMP included among those law enforcement agencies that the government relies upon in matters like this? If not, why not?

Senator Plett: Well, of course, that didn’t even touch upon the question I asked.

Leader, I don’t know what you or your government think “collaboration” means. It’s not just debating here in the chamber. The Oxford Dictionary definition of collaboration is, “The action of working with someone to produce or create something.” What the Trudeau government did regarding Bill C-69 was “impose,” to “Force (something unwelcome or unfamiliar) to be accepted or put in place.”

Leader, in 2019, the government of your own province wrote to the Senate’s Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources Committee to say:

While Quebec conveyed its concerns to the federal government, there was no real government-to-government dialogue on Bill C-69 . . . .

Leader, if there was no dialogue on Bill C-69, how is that collaboration? If provinces and First Nations had to take your government to court to be heard on Bill C-69, how is that collaboration, leader?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question concerns the government leader’s response to Senator Tannas on Tuesday regarding the ruling of the Court of Appeal of Alberta that the Impact Assessment Act, formerly Bill C-69, is unconstitutional.

Leader, you said:

The government worked with provincial and territorial governments when developing the legislation to ensure that their views were considered and that jurisdictional responsibilities were respected . . . . Working collaboratively with provinces . . . .

I repeat the word “collaboratively.” You end that sentence by saying, “. . . supports a single impact assessment process for major projects that considers all project impacts.”

Leader, who exactly did your NDP-Liberal government work collaboratively with on Bill C-69? Alberta? Saskatchewan? Ontario? The Woodland Cree First Nation? The Indian Resource Council? They all opposed Bill C-69 in court and won the case. So where was the so-called collaboration, leader?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, the fact that the government engaged not only with provinces and stakeholders but also that the bill was the subject of vigorous debate here does not mean everyone has to agree at the end of the day. Clearly they don’t. The government remains convinced that the bill was carefully crafted to affect areas of federal jurisdiction and is confident that its use will be upheld on appeal.

Senator Gold: In the development of Bill C-69, the Government of Canada took into account the interests of all stakeholders and of Canada in ensuring that there is a proper, efficient and effective process for overseeing the environmental impact of major projects.

The government believed and believes it was acting within its constitutional jurisdiction, a shared jurisdiction between the federal Parliament and the provincial legislatures, and remains of that view.

Hon. David M. Wells: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Senator Gold, Peguis First Nation, Manitoba’s largest First Nation, has had six major floods in the last 18 years from the Fisher River. Over 3,000 people have been affected and 700 homes evacuated. This mass displacement occurs every couple of years.

There is some important context here, leader. In 1907, the residents of the community were moved from prime farmland just north of Winnipeg to the flood plain of the Fisher River, so this frequent occurrence is caused by this movement.

Could you tell me what the federal government is doing to provide some permanent prevention to the major floods that happen every couple of years, and also what the government is doing to help people who have been affected by the evacuation of their homes to rebuild their homes and lives?

Senator Wells: Thank you, Senator Gold. Will the government provide some permanent solution to the constant flooding in the area?

Senator Gold: Again, the government is working with its partners and with the First Nations community. I’m advised that the Red Cross has been activated. It’s coordinating the evacuation of community members affected by severe flooding, and Indigenous Services Canada is providing funding to the First Nations for emergency flood response.

I do not have information about what measures might be taken or could be taken to provide a more permanent solution to this problem, which is a recurring one. I will certainly make inquiries and respond back.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): With pleasure. Thank you, senator.

Chief Peguis was one of five chiefs who signed an 1817 treaty with Lord Selkirk. This was the first land treaty signed in Western Canada. The largest First Nation in Manitoba is the Peguis First Nation, named in honour of Chief Peguis. This is the same community, unfortunately, currently facing the crisis of flooding in Manitoba, which was referred to in Senator Wells’ question.

(For text of Delayed Answers, see Appendix.)

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Honourable senators, I am probably not known to often praise our current federal government, but when it is deserved I am very willing to do that.

Last October, when fuel contamination in Nunavut’s capital city’s water system made our water undrinkable, a crisis that lasted 60 days happened — not only during the challenges of managing the pandemic crisis but also coinciding with the onset of winter, when an otherwise alternative local water supply at the nearby Sylvia Grinnell River was rapidly freezing.

The City of Iqaluit applied for relief under the federal government’s Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund. On April 1, 2022, Prime Minister Trudeau, in a virtual press conference held in Iqaluit, announced to the Iqaluit mayor and council the contribution of $214 million from that fund. That funding will allow the city to create a new water reservoir above Lake Geraldine and to improve the existing water distribution system, which has been ruptured by climate change. Since first applied for, the funds were even increased to take into account cost inflation since the first engineering cost estimate was done.

In this connection, I wish to particularly commend our Minister of Northern Affairs, the Honourable Dan Vandal, and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, for quickly responding to this serious water crisis that impacted my home community of Iqaluit.

I’d like to also acknowledge the support of the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance, which graciously allowed me to ask a question, through Senate colleague and Chair Percy Mockler. We asked Minister Freeland to acknowledge the urgent requirement for capital funding — then estimated at $190 million to repair Iqaluit’s water system — when she appeared at that committee’s hearings during the crisis and following the fall economic update.

The Mayor of Iqaluit, Kenny Bell, indefatigably travelled to Ottawa to lobby the federal government and, in his characteristic straightforward fashion at a press conference, scolded a local reporter who asked why it had taken so long to address Iqaluit’s longstanding water issues caused by climate change. The mayor noted how “. . . amazing and unbelievably fast” the federal response had been once the formal application was submitted.

I, too, am so grateful for Canada’s response to this water crisis in Nunavut’s capital community but, in saying that, I want to acknowledge that most of Nunavut’s 24 other communities are still out of compliance with their existing water licences, as well as many First Nations communities in Southern Canada that have long laboured under boil water advisories.

Thank you, qujannamimariaaluk. Taima.

Hon. Jane Cordy: Honourable senators, oftentimes we can get swept up in our thoughts or the everyday living of life, and those things can be overwhelming. It can become difficult to ask for help when we need it and to remember or recognize that we are not alone in those feelings. When we become bogged down by such feelings and begin to think that we are struggling with our mental health or we notice this in family or friends, there are certain steps we can take to #GetReal about how to help.

Last week was the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Mental Health Week. The theme and focus this year is empathy. Empathy is an important tool that allows us to connect as human beings. Understanding empathy, and indeed being empathetic, is a step toward eradicating isolation and loneliness. The last two years have brought both of these things to the forefront and made many of us acutely aware of how devastating they can be.

Like most things, empathy is a practice. We can make conscious choices to be more aware of others and what they are experiencing within their own frame of reference.

One thing we can do to increase empathy is to tune in to one another. This is simply the act of remaining present and aware of others and their possible struggles. We must also look inward. If we are in tune with our own thoughts and feelings and sensitive to our own mental well-being, it becomes clearer and easier to relate to others.

We must understand other people’s feelings and meet them where they are. It is important to see the world from their perspective.

Finally, we must choose not to judge. This can sometimes be the most difficult and certainly requires the most practice. It is hard not to pile on our own opinions and preconceived notions when dealing with someone who is struggling. We must also not sit in such harsh judgment of ourselves. We deserve the same courtesy we might offer to others.

Honourable senators, I ask you to consider these points and, particularly in our line of work, to lead with empathy. I believe if we each put this into practice, we would see a marked difference in the world around us.

I would like to highlight the work being done by the Senate Mental Health Advisory Committee. The changes that we make to protect our own mental well-being and that of others can only make our Senate community stronger and a better place to work.

Honourable senators, let’s look after ourselves and each other. While Mental Health Week is one week out of the year, we can and must do the work each and every day. Thank you.

[Translation]

Hon. Éric Forest: Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the report of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie concerning the Fortieth Ministerial Conference of the Francophonie and Working Meetings, held in Paris, France, from March 14 to 18, 2022.