44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 4, 2022 02:00PM
Madam Speaker, I would like to indulge the hon. member by seeking unanimous consent to extend his period for questions and comments by another 10 minutes, with the proviso that the extra 10 minutes be allotted exclusively to Conservative members to ask questions.
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Madam Speaker, it is interesting to hear my friend across the way talk a great deal about housing, but not in any way talk about the problem of supply. The main reason we have such high housing prices in this country is there is a greater need for homes than is met by the current supply, and all of his proposals involve creating more challenges and barriers for investors.
An alternative option is to create incentives to make it easier for investors to invest in new home construction and to encourage those investments, because while there are many people who want to invest in housing, there are so many barriers in place that make it hard to bring new construction online. Those barriers are not just at the federal level; a great number of those barriers are in place at all levels.
How can we address the housing challenges and costs if we do not address the supply problem? If we do address the supply problem, does it not make everything so much easier afterward?
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- May/4/22 9:03:07 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, it is unfortunate to hear the member from the Green Party try to single out one particular sector. We know there are problems of violence against women from people in all different sectors and all different parts of the economy. It is a problem we need to address more broadly. To single out workers in one sector is very unfair and reflects another agenda.
I want to ask the member a follow-up question from the speech given by the minister with respect to human trafficking. We know that human trafficking disproportionately affects indigenous women. There were concerns raised by members of our caucus with respect to Bill C-5 and the fact that amendments to Bill C-5 opened the door for possible house arrest for people involved in human trafficking. It is our contention that tough sentencing in response to human trafficking is part of the solution to combatting this. I wonder if the member has a comment on that.
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- May/4/22 9:44:07 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank the member for her passion and thoughtful speech.
I wonder if she would like to identify some specific policy changes that she would suggest that the government could consider in terms of addressing this problem, given the ongoing nature of the problem. Could she could propose any specific ideas that the government should be doing differently to respond to it?
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- May/4/22 9:59:02 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this important take-note debate on combatting violence against indigenous women in Canada.
In each parliamentary caucus, we know that there are individual members who share information with each other and who shape our understanding of this particular topic. I want to recognize the member for Kenora, who just spoke, and many other members from our caucus who have contributed to my understanding of these issues, and members of other parties who have given excellent speeches tonight.
I want to express particular gratitude to my friend from Peace River—Westlock, who was such a champion for victims of violence and for indigenous peoples in his riding and beyond. His insights in particular have helped me and have informed my understanding. I have appreciated the legislative initiatives he has brought forward as well. Many important points have been raised by colleagues during this debate. In the brief time I have I do not want to repeat what has been said, but rather try to discuss some new points and some particular initiatives that we can pursue that will make a practical difference in terms of reducing violence against women, in particular, and against all victims.
My colleague from Peace River—Westlock has recently tabled Bill C-270. This bill would require that anyone making, distributing or advertising pornographic material must be able to demonstrate that those depicted in that material are over 18 and have given consent. The same member put forward Motion No. 47 in a previous Parliament to advance a study to examine the public health effects of easy access to violent and degrading sexually explicit materials. These initiatives are an important part of the fight against violence.
The fact that many boys are exposed to violent sexual material at a young age can shape a false perception on their part that violence in the context of sex is normal and desirable. Studying the effects of early exposure to violent sexual images, combatting the depiction of violence and pornography, and requiring meaningful age verification for those accessing pornography would go a long way toward combatting the normalization of sexual violence.
The taking of sexual images of minors, with or without consent, can contribute to cycles of violence and exploitation. Members from various parties have done important work holding Pornhub and other companies accountable for a failure to prevent non-consensual images from appearing on their platform, but more work is needed. The non-consensual distribution of intimate images is a form of violence in itself, and it contributes to further violence.
While private members' bills such as Bill C-270 are important ways of addressing these issues, legislation proposed by the government would have the potential to move much more quickly in this place, and we would welcome government action in this regard. Criminalizing the distribution of intimate images without clear age verification and the confirmation of consent would help to reduce the victimization of children, women and all Canadians.
I also want to highlight the action proposed in Motion No. 57, a motion I tabled in this House a few weeks ago. Motion No. 57 seeks to promote bystander awareness and intervention training as critical tools for combatting violence. Often, when we talk about violence, we think about the role being played by the perpetrator and the presence of the victim, but we need to think more as well about the role of the bystander, the person who is neither the victim nor the perpetrator, but who sees or is aware of the situation and has some capacity to do something about it.
Too often, well-meaning bystanders fail to intervene. Even if they do not lack for good intentions, they could fail to intervene because they do not react fast enough, because they fail to notice what is happening, because they are scared or because they do not know what to do that would be effective. I understand how it can happen and that good, well-intentioned people could fail to intervene, but as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We can take concrete action to empower bystanders to know how to step up and make a difference, and that means providing potential bystanders with the tools and the information to react quickly.
Motion No. 57 is about asking the federal government to promote training so that more people have the tools and more people would be able to intervene effectively. Data consistently shows that bystander intervention training reduces violence. It may even deter crime if potential criminals are more likely to expect intervention by bystanders. I hope that Motion No. 57, as well as Bill C-270 from my colleague, will have the full support of colleagues and perhaps will be incorporated into government legislation.
We know that acts of violence disproportionately affect the most vulnerable communities that are already disadvantaged as well as victims of colonialism and other forms of violence, past and present. Indigenous women are particularly likely to be victims of violence. It shows up in the data on sexual assault, on all forms of violence and on human trafficking. I believe it is our obligation to address violence in general, to pay particular attention to those who are most likely to be victims, and to work on recognizing universal human dignity and empowering the most vulnerable.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that a great deal of harm has been done to indigenous people because of a lack of esteem and recognition for the value and dignity of the family. The horror of residential schools, in particular, involved children being taken away from their communities, and it also involved children being taken away from their families. This attack on the sacred bond between parents and children by a system that thought it had a right to replace parental authority with state-coordinated enculturation in dominant values was deeply evil. One of the key lessons that we should draw from this era is about the need to preserve and defend the parent-child bond from attacks by the state and by its institutions.
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- May/4/22 10:04:49 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I appreciate the opportunity the member has given me to continue my remarks, and I would very much agree with him that the violence that occurred, the lack of attention, the neglect that allowed disease and the direct abuse of children that took place in these places, which were created by government policy.
Shamefully, many different organizations, including church organizations, participated in the implementation of the government policy, and they were wrong to do so. All of us as individuals, this institution and the Government of Canada must do much more as well to address these injustices and to ensure nothing like it ever happens again.
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- May/4/22 10:06:57 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is very clear that there are individuals in every sector of our economy that commit crime, and they commit heinous crimes. Let us talk about some of the revelations that have come out about violence against women that people in politics have been involved in in the past.
It would be wrong to deny that it exists in every sector, regardless of where we stand politically. We also need to acknowledge the immense opportunity for empowerment that indigenous peoples are choosing to embrace through resource development. Supporting the rights of indigenous peoples includes the right to choose to develop their own resources.
I do not want to have a debate on resource development in the context of tonight's conversation, but we need to acknowledge as well the opportunities for empowerment that come through the choice to develop resources, and many indigenous communities are choosing through their democratic representatives to do that.
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- May/4/22 10:08:34 p.m.
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Madam Chair, so much of the teaching of young boys starts in the home and starts with the examples set by families. I spoke about the importance of strong families and the instruction that is provided in the home, as well as the importance of young men receiving a positive image of masculinity and how to treat women and all people they come in contact with respectfully. Having a strong family to model that positive image, as well as doing what we can around access to violent images, are steps we can take as legislators on that side, along with supporting strong families.
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- May/4/22 10:26:32 p.m.
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Madam Chair, one of the points that has come up tonight, mentioned by a number of other members, is the colonial nature of the Indian Act. I would be curious to hear the member's reflections on whether we should be working to repeal and replace the Indian Act, and what he sees as an alternative system that could be in place.
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- May/4/22 10:55:05 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have great respect for the member, but since she has brought us into a debate about the universal basic income, which I see as entailing a variety of different policy questions from the specific issue of combatting violence, I wonder if the member can share whether there is any data at all to suggest that somehow we are going to see a drop in violence associated with the particular implementation of this policy instrument.
Would we not be better off addressing causes of poverty, as in providing the specific support that people who are in vulnerable situations need, rather than providing simply a guarantee that anybody who falls below a certain level automatically starts getting paid by the government?
Does the member believe that we could finance this by cutting other social programs, or does she believe we could afford this on top of the existing social programs we are providing?
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- May/4/22 11:05:04 p.m.
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Madam Chair, hearing members in the House speak about their parents reminds us of how imminent some of the things are that we hear about: As younger members, they feel further away, yet they are not so far away. They are within living memory of so many people still alive: parents and members of the House.
I want to ask the member a question with respect to the dialogue that has happened between his party and the Liberals around the confidence and supply agreement. I think it is a fair question to ask. There have been many criticisms from the NDP of the government approach with respect to aspects of this issue. At the same time, there was no mention in that confidence and supply agreement of specific commitments around indigenous issues.
I wonder if the member could share some of his thinking around that. Are the NDP going to be pushing for other things in addition to what is in that agreement?
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- May/4/22 11:25:54 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I was pleased to hear the member speak about the issue of racism in the Indian Act. I had asked a member of the government questions about that and the government member, in response, spoke about UNDRIP. That is an important question to discuss given the government's legislation around it, but it is a different question from the question about the Indian Act.
I was very struck by a comment made by the member for Edmonton Griesbach about how, in effect, culture is more important than politics. We are here discussing what politicians can do in our political response, but it is ultimately the underlying culture in Canada of how we treat and see each other that is of primary importance.
I wonder if the member could comment on both of those issues: on the need to address racism in the Indian Act and on the importance of cultural change in reconciliation being foundational.
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- May/4/22 11:29:26 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I had packed a whole bunch of different things into my last question, which was maybe unfair, so I will focus on one aspect of it.
We had an exchange earlier with another member about, on the one hand, saying there are some things that need to happen politically around combatting violence and, on the other hand, recognizing that some of the biggest changes are not actually about politics at all but are about culture. They are about the way people see each other and the way they interact with each other, and that is not our primary mandate as members of Parliament.
I wonder if the member wants to reflect on some of the cultural changes that need to take place.
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