SoVote

May/4/22 2:59:17 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, it used to be the case that if people worked hard, got a good job and saved up for it, they could expect to afford a home in Canada, but the government's housing strategy has been to spend more money, creating more bureaucratic programs that have caused housing prices to double since the Liberals have taken office. This is leading many in my generation to completely give up on their dream of home ownership. Will the Prime Minister recognize that his policies have failed young Canadians, adjust course and implement a real plan to address this housing crisis?

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Context: House Hansard - 64 - May/4/22

Mr. Eric Melillo (Kenora, CPC)

May/4/22 9:48:55 p.m.
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Madam Chair, before I begin my remarks, I will indicate that I am happy to be splitting my time today with the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, who we know often contributes quite meaningfully to the debates that we have on a number of issues in this chamber. I appreciate the work he does on behalf of his constituents and all Canadians. This is an incredibly difficult discussion to be having here this evening, but I am honoured to be here and I feel it is quite important for me to be here as the member of Parliament for the Kenora riding to speak about this important topic, which, unfortunately, has touched the lives of far too many people in my riding. I will touch more on that in just a moment. I will begin by indicating that it has been nearly a year since the national action plan was released by the government. From the discussions we have been hearing on all sides of the House today, respectfully, I think we all agree that there has not been enough action to this point. Many short-term priorities were outlined in that plan, such as services being provided for families and survivors and developing public education and awareness campaigns, which are so vitally important and, as the plan mentions, are needed immediately. From what I have been hearing so far today from all sides, I am heartened to know that all members recognize the importance of moving more quickly to implement this and put it into action, because we have gone far too long without adequately addressing these important issues. As I noted, the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls hits very close to home for many in my riding. I would like to quote a statistic that I have previously noted in this chamber, just a couple of years ago, from Grand Council Treaty No. 3. The Kenora riding encompasses three treaty territories, Treaty No. 3, Treaty No. 5 and Treaty No. 9, which is 42 first nations, as well as the Métis homeland, but Treaty No. 3 is an area that represents a large portion of the population in my riding. Grand Council Treaty No. 3 indicated in 2020, so perhaps it is a bit dated, that over the last eight years, half of Ontario's identified cases of murdered or missing indigenous women actually happened in the Kenora region. That is an incredibly troubling and incredibly startling statistic, especially looking beyond the actual statistic and understanding what that means for the families and communities, recognizing that those individuals are daughters, mothers, sisters and valued members of their communities who, unfortunately, have faced a tremendous amount of abuse and, in some situations, we know had their lives taken from them. A TVO report put out in 2018 highlighted the human trafficking problems that exist across the Kenora region, something that was under the radar for far too long, and arguably still is. There is not a lot of data to back up what is, for lack of a better term, conventional knowledge on the ground from the Kenora Sexual Assault Centre and other organizations, knowing that Kenora has, as the TVO report indicated, served as a hub between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay for human trafficking. There is certainly great importance and great urgency in the Kenora riding for all of us in this chamber to move forward together and work together to address these very real and very important issues. I want to make one final plea in the remaining moments I have. It is important that we take this action because we have had discussions like this before, but if action is not taken, if the government does not move forward and work with everyone in this House, and if we do not work together to put these ideas into action, unfortunately we are not getting the job done. I want to make sure I emphasize that point because of the importance of this and what it means for people across the Kenora riding.

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Context: House Hansard - 64 - May/4/22

Mr. Eric Melillo

May/4/22 9:54:58 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would simply say that the lack of follow-through has led to a lot of frustration. I hear it on the ground in my riding. The fact that we are here after all these years still having this debate and still having this discussion is frustrating for many people, because we know what needs to be done. We know there need to be more supports put in place. That is something that I think we even heard from the government members. They recognize that they do need to move more quickly on this, and I can appreciate that. I hope we will continue to have fruitful conversations going forward on how we can best take the proper action and support indigenous women and girls across the country.

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Context: House Hansard - 64 - May/4/22

Mr. Eric Melillo

May/4/22 9:56:57 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am not very familiar with that specific group, but I would be very interested in learning a lot more about it. To the question, I think those are absolutely the types of initiatives and supports that the government should be looking at. I would certainly support that and I would be happy to contribute to further discussion on that. I know how important culture is, especially to many of the communities in my riding. In many of the remote communities, that sense of community and that sense of culture are so vitally important and can really be incredible in the healing process.

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Context: House Hansard - 64 - May/4/22

Mr. Eric Melillo

May/4/22 9:58:24 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, I appreciate the question from the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands and some of the comments I have heard from her throughout the debate today. Absolutely, I think that she raises again a very important point. There is a lot more to this discussion than we have been talking about, really, on the surface of it. Unfortunately, in five minutes of comments I do not think we have quite enough time to get into it all, but I would certainly agree with the premise of her question 100%. I think this is an important discussion we should continue to have.

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