Hon. Mobina S. B. Jaffer: Minister, thank you for being with us in the Senate of Canada. I also want to tell you that I miss you, and want to thank you for helping me with so many files on vulnerable women and children. Thank you, minister.

My question follows upon Senator Pate’s questions. The rates of incarceration of Indigenous women have skyrocketed over the past decades. Nearly half of the women in federal prisons are now Indigenous, and almost 10% are Black. Your mandate letter includes commitments to reconciliation and addressing systemic racism in the criminal legal system.

Minister, you have spoken so eloquently today on the legal system and the challenges within it. We know that one of the challenges is mandatory minimum sentences. Your government has brought forward Bill C-5 that looks at only 14 offences subject to mandatory minimum sentences. Will you give us a commitment to looking at how we can increase the number of offences exempt from mandatory minimum sentencing?

Hon. Brian Francis: Minister Mendicino, in 2019 we passed legislation to expedite and reduce barriers for the suspension of records for simple possession of cannabis. Not long ago, the CBC reported that, of the 10,000 people the government initially estimated would be eligible, only 484 suspensions have been granted so far. Minister, given the low uptake of the program after three years, is there any thought of revisiting the program to make criminal record relief more accessible, especially for Indigenous people as well as racialized and marginalized communities?

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: We need to work together with Indigenous communities, even in Quebec, where I know the Canada Border Services Agency, the RCMP and the Sûreté du Québec continue to work with this community to prevent illegal firearms trafficking.

You are right. The work isn’t easy, and there are complications. That’s one of the reasons I travelled to the United States last week to accelerate and strengthen our collaboration with our American counterparts. I believe that there is an opportunity to make further progress on this issue by making investments, and that is one of the things our government promised.

We have to focus on efforts on the ground and invest the necessary resources. We have to be able to provide all the tools to those on the front lines so they can stop firearms at the border.

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Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Thank you very much for the question, senator, and thank you for underlining the scourge of human trafficking, which disproportionately impacts Indigenous women and young girls, as we saw painfully laid out in the MMIWG report, which is one of the reasons why we’re committed to implementing the recommendations that are in it.

I was just in British Columbia a little less than two weeks ago to make an announcement of approximately — and I don’t want to mislead you — but I think it was $3 million to $5 million that was going directly to The Salvation Army and a partnering organization to combat human trafficking on the ground. This is part of a broader investment which we have allocated specifically to reduce human trafficking; I don’t know if you know the statistics, but 90% of all of the victims of human trafficking in Canada are women or young girls, which is truly a shocking number.

I assure you that this is a top priority. I assure you that we are allocating funds to meet that challenge and to provide support to those victims of human trafficking so that they can find their way back into communities safely and securely. I assure you that we are continuing to provide law enforcement with all the tools that they need to fight this scourge.

[Translation]

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Minister, the 2019 Final Report of the National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls noted that while Indigenous women represented only 4% of Canada’s population in 2016, they comprised nearly 50% of victims of human trafficking. In September 2019, just before the federal election that year, the Trudeau government reinstated the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking after cancelling the previous Conservative government’s strategy in 2016.

Minister, how much of the $75 million under your government’s strategy has been allocated to directly help and protect Indigenous women and girls against human trafficking? How has this funding been allocated?

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: The short answer is as soon as possible. We are in the midst of discussions with leaders of Indigenous communities and the organizations that represent them at the national level. We are making a lot of progress in that regard, but we also need to start working with local communities.

The first practical step involves using federal investments to co-develop a bill to advance reconciliation in a way that respects the report and recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. That is the first step.

Also, to finish my last answer to Senator Carignan, yes, a bill is planned to increase mandatory minimum sentences.

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