Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Thank you, minister, for being with us today. I would like to query you about the rise of far-right extremist movements in Canada. We saw some of this spill over in real time when some members of the “Freedom Convoy” terrorized the residents of Ottawa for three weeks. What is the government doing to track this? Specifically, are you tracking how these extremists are influencing politicians in Canada? Are intelligence agencies briefing parliamentarians who are being targeted by the far-right extremist movements? I know the talk is all about foreign interference, but what about domestic interference?

Hon. Marie-Françoise Mégie: Thank you for being with us today, minister. My question has to do with community safety. In your December 21, 2021, mandate letter, you are asked to do the following, and I quote:

 . . . make our communities safe and increase forest resilience to wildfire, including training 1,000 new community-based firefighters, investing in equipment . . . to reduce risks from wildfire . . . .

How many new firefighters have you trained and what new equipment has been acquired? As senators know, Canada manufactures excellent water bombers.

The Hon. the Speaker: Thank you, minister.

[Translation]

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Thank you for your question. That is a really important and essential subject, particularly given the fires that are currently raging in Nova Scotia. Our thoughts are with Canadians in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

In Budget 2022, the federal government invested $516 million to train 1,000 new firefighters. That shows our dedication to strengthening firefighters’ ability to fight fires. Finally, I would like to add that, with climate change, there is an increased risk of wildfires that must be managed through additional investments for firefighters.

[English]

Hon. Michèle Audette: Minister, I have two questions about working with Indigenous leaders. The bill responds to a Call for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. There are groups of Indigenous women living in the communities who could propose initiatives or share important messages, knowing that our communities are in crisis, including my own.

With the growing problems of drug trafficking and violence, police officers are running out of steam. Do you have any immediate solutions?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Minister, The Globe and Mail recently reported that, before he was demoted within cabinet, your predecessor, Minister Bill Blair, delayed giving approval to a CSIS warrant for surveillance for four months. The Globe and Mail reported that this warrant was related to foreign interference in our country, and the delay occurred in the months leading up to the 2021 federal election.

Minister, on average, how long does it take for you to approve warrant requests from CSIS? What’s the longest amount of time it’s taken you to approve a CSIS warrant? And have you ever delayed a warrant request from CSIS for four months?

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Minister, you will surely remember that when you appeared before the Senate on March 30, 2022, you answered my question by stating that the RCMP was not above the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights.

As a reminder, my question was about the story of Francesca Savoie, a young 17-year-old who tragically lost her life in 2007 when her vehicle was hit head-on by a drunk driver who was being pursued by an RCMP vehicle. Francesca’s family has been waiting for 16 years for the RCMP to inform her of the circumstances of the accident that took the life of their only daughter.

In addition, I sent you two letters about this matter, dated April 13, 2022, and May 8, 2023, without receiving a reply or acknowledgement of receipt. Minister, why did you not answer my two letters and the appeal by the Savoie family, which is currently listening to us?

Will you do your duty as minister and meet with the parents of Francesca Savoie to ensure that the RCMP respects their right to information, which is enshrined in the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights?

The Hon. the Speaker: Thank you, minister.

[Translation]

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Thank you for your question. My message is simple. We will continue to work in collaboration with the Indigenous communities. That’s why I went to Akwesasne a few weeks ago to announce a $12.1-million initiative to enhance the capacity of Indigenous police services in Mohawk communities and to strengthen cooperation with other police services in Canada and the United States. This initiative also aims to support local agencies by relying on Indigenous traditions, history, culture and values.

This is a mark of respect for the principle of reconciliation and a way to better protect our Indigenous communities.

[English]

Hon. Michèle Audette: Minister, I have two questions about working with Indigenous leaders. The bill responds to a Call for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Among the Aboriginal leaders participating in the drafting of the law, are there also groups of Indigenous women living in the communities who could propose initiatives or share important messages, knowing that our communities are in crisis — including my own, Uashat mak Mani-Utenam?

With the growing problems of drug trafficking and violence, police officers are running out of steam. Do you have any immediate solutions?

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: With regard to any foreign-interference activities, whether in regard to the so-called police stations run out of Beijing or any other materialization of foreign interference, those are, as you know, questions that are best put to the RCMP, senator. I would say this: There is $49 million in Budget 2023 which will give them additional resources to help protect communities from that. The Conservative Party should support the budget. They don’t.

The second thing is that, regarding the registry, as I had already explained, we are taking decisive action on that front and will pass the piece of legislation as quickly as possible, but we have to bring Canadians along, including diasporas who are victims of and targeted by foreign interference.

The last thing I’ll say is that we are moving forward with the reforms that are necessary to fight foreign interference. You know that I just signed off on a ministerial directive to ensure we are getting properly briefed on the elected side of government. That is a step we took that, frankly, the Conservatives did not take the last time they were in government; they also did not take any of the other steps I have highlighted in the way we are fighting foreign interference.

[Translation]

Hon. Brian Francis: Welcome, minister.

A report from November 2022 by the Correctional Investigator of Canada found that the federal government has made little progress to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the last decade, with some facing even worse conditions today. The report also highlighted that healing lodges, which help support successful rehabilitation and reintegration, continue to be underfunded and underused across the country. In Atlantic Canada, for instance, there continue to be no beds available at healing lodges, although the incarcerated Indigenous population in our region has increased by nearly 90% in the last 10 years.

Has the number of Indigenous people, particularly women, decreased at all in the last year? What are the current occupancy rates in the existing 10 healing lodges funded and/or operated by the Correctional Service Canada, or CSC? Are there any plans to build Indigenous-run healing lodges in Atlantic Canada or elsewhere? If so, where and when?

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: As the honourable senator will know, Bill C-5 was a direct response to a number of Supreme Court of Canada decisions that had systematically struck down mandatory minimum penalties, which had stripped the judiciary of their independence and constituted overreach by violating the Charter. Conversely, our government has looked at putting in place important gun-control laws, like Bill C-21, which will reduce gun violence because it strengthens the ban against AR-15-style firearms and puts into place a national freeze on handguns. Those are initiatives that the Conservative Party has committed to repealing, and the result of that would be to relegalize those guns, which have no legitimate recreational purpose.

I would conclude by saying that when it comes to the Winnipeg Police Service, they have acknowledged that the government’s investments, including the $390 million that I just recently announced, will help them do the job on the ground. That is work we will continue to do in partnership with all provinces, territories and municipalities, as well as the police that work in those respective jurisdictions.

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: To begin with, we have Bill C-21, which is life-saving gun-control legislation; Bill C-20, which is legislation that I just testified before the Standing Committee on Public Safety would create a new public complaints and review commission for the RCMP, enhancing independent review and oversight of the RCMP and, for the first time, the Canada Border Services Agency; and there was the introduction of Bill C-26 to ensure that we are enhancing the security of our critical cyberinfrastructure network. Given all the exchanges I have had around foreign interference and other threats to our national security, I am sure that members in this chamber would see the value of that initiative as well.

But I also want to take a moment to thank you, senator, and the other senators who participated in the study of that bill. Rest assured that I am committed to seeing that passed as well, and I have given thoughtful consideration to the manner in which that bill was reported back to the House of Commons.

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: The senator poses perhaps one of the most thought-provoking questions that we are confronted with, in addition to climate change and other global phenomena.

It is something I am seized with, as is the Government of Canada. I think our vision has to be that Canada will be the safest and freest country in the world, where people can live out their lives in digital and virtual space. That obviously has an interplay with artificial intelligence.

There is an important role and a conversation in the way in which the government is going to work with innovators in that space. There are important legal questions. There are ethical questions. There are practical questions about the impacts of artificial intelligence on jobs and the economy. We all have to be united in making sure that Canada is at the leading edge of that debate because we have the most talented workforce in the world. We can and will play a formative role in those discussions.

Hon. Leo Housakos: Minister, it’s clear that the way I measure progress on foreign interference and the way you measure progress are very different. The truth of the matter is there is a piece of legislation in this chamber — a chamber that is filled with government appointees. You know that if there were a political will to move that legislation to committee, review it, amend it and get it back to the House, it could be done very quickly.

This is just another example of why the government is dragging its feet when it comes to foreign interference.

I will ask two simple questions, which reiterate the fact that the government is dragging its feet. When will the illegal Beijing police stations operating in Canada, confirmed by the RCMP, be shut down? By what date will we have a foreign registry put in place in this country? Hopefully, it is before the end of 2023.

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Thank you, senator, for the question. To foreshadow where I am going, we will get you those exact numbers and provide them to you and your colleagues in this chamber.

In order to address the chronic overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in their interactions with the law enforcement institutions across this country, we need to do some very concrete things. First, we obviously need to be sure that we are training law enforcement members across every level of policing in ways that are culturally sensitive and relevant when it comes to Indigenous traditions, culture and history.

Second, we have to make sure that we are empowering Indigenous communities to lead when it comes to public safety initiatives. I think I have provided some very concrete examples of how we are doing that. I recently had a very positive and constructive engagement in Eskasoni not too long ago, senator, a community that you will be very familiar with.

Third, and most important, the relationship has to be based on trust and respect. There’s no shortcut to that. It requires direct engagement, and it requires ensuring that we create the space that is necessary for Indigenous peoples and communities to lead these reforms and change themselves. That is precisely the work that I am committed to doing.

Hon. Andrew Cardozo: Minister, I have one more question for you. It is on the larger topic of artificial intelligence, or AI.

You will be aware that yesterday, for the second time in a few weeks, a group of major experts and public figures put out a statement that read, in 22 words:

Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.

This obviously has concerns for your portfolio in terms of law and order as well as being government-wide concerns.

What are your thoughts about what’s happening with AI and what we should be concerned about? It seems to be out of control, and the owners and developers are asking for government to intervene and help out. What are your thoughts?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Minister, crime is now at a record level in Winnipeg, as it is across the country. Winnipeg saw a record of 53 homicides in 2022, and 30% of them were committed with firearms.

In Bill C-5, the Trudeau government eliminated eight mandatory minimum penalties involving the use of a firearm in crime, including robbery with a firearm, extortion with a firearm, discharging a firearm with intent, using a firearm in the commission of offences and four others.

You seem to think that creating more gun laws is the answer.

Minister, how did the Trudeau government’s elimination of mandatory penalties involving the use of firearms help combat the rise in violent crime?