SoVote

May/4/22 7:54:03 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, education is absolutely fundamental to the success of many on their journey out of poverty, out of some of the social challenges that we find in a riding like mine in northern Saskatchewan. I would remind the member that my riding has the second-largest indigenous population in the country. I have been working with people in northern Saskatchewan to make sure that they get access to a quality education. To upgrade that quality of education, we must work in conjunction with the federal department that is responsible for education on first nations and with the provincial folks who are responsible for the education off the first nations. We have to have a coordinated effort to educate young people, enhance their opportunity and give them that chance of success.

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Mr. Jamie Schmale (Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, CPC)

May/4/22 7:54:57 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I rise today in the House to speak to a matter that evokes strong emotions on all sides, a matter that speaks to the tragedy of racism and discrimination and a matter that requires continued vigilance to overcome. Of course, I speak of the horrors of the murdered and missing indigenous women and girls in this country. Before I get into my speech, I would like to thank my colleague, the member for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, for sharing his time with me this evening. The stats speak for themselves. Indigenous women and girls in Canada are disproportionately affected by all forms of violence. Although indigenous women make up just 4% of Canada's female population, 16% of all women murdered in Canada between 1980 and 2012 were indigenous. The 2019 general social survey on victimization, along with Stats Canada, has indicated that indigenous women were more likely to experience intimate partner violence than non-indigenous women. Furthermore, during our study on sex trafficking of indigenous people last June, experts told us that 52% of human trafficking victims are indigenous and that the average age of exploitation of an indigenous girl is, shockingly, just 12 years. Although the indigenous population up to the age of 14 makes up 7.7% of all Canadian children, they represent 52.2% of the children in care. We also know that studies have highlighted that having a child in the welfare system is the most common feature among women and girls who enter prostitution. Most alarmingly, the statistics may be even more tragic, as experts told the committee that one of the biggest problems is how difficult it is to accurately track how many victims there are of human trafficking and sex trafficking, as well as to accurately track the correct number of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Without real effort from the government to ensure that a robust framework is in place, with adequate resources that are made available for indigenous data collection, in consultation with indigenous experts and organizations, the true story of their reality may never be truly known. The final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls made 231 calls for justice in 2019. It took two years of waiting for the government's action plan on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, a plan that many involved called toxic, flawed and unsafe. The government has failed to address one of the core elements in the inquiry: that any plan has an obligation to the victims, their families and all indigenous women and girls, to ensure their voices are reflected so that indigenous women today and future generations of women and girls can live their lives free of violence. Unfortunately, the government's most recent budget implementation act also fails in this regard. With respect to investments in the budget to address the safety of indigenous women and girls, the Native Women's Association of Canada described its concerns: “We're very concerned that on the surface of this reading of the budget announcement, we don't see where the investment is going to be and we have a very serious concern about that.” The track record of the government has become abundantly clear. Instead of tackling the systemic inequalities, violence and unsafe conditions for indigenous women and girls in this country, it simply throws money and hopes those issues go away. This will do nothing to empower indigenous women and girls. Rather, it will simply grow bureaucracies here in Ottawa. To be fair, past governments must share the blame in continuing this broken “Ottawa knows best” system, a system that has a profoundly lasting and damaging impact on indigenous culture, heritage and language. For true reconciliation to begin, this paternalistic approach to indigenous people and issues must end. We must not sideline off-reserve and non-status communities either. Women and girls tend to gravitate to urban centres to escape violence, and that creates greater problems, because they cannot access employment, adequate housing or even shelter, and they become victims of a cycle that has been perpetuated by a lack of resources and inadequate supports for them. In closing, indigenous women and girls need a safe, culturally supportive environment in which they are free from violence, sexual trafficking and exploitation. If we are honest about reconciliation, the current and succeeding governments have an obligation to honour indigenous perspectives when addressing underlying factors that create the unsafe conditions for women and girls, such as precarious housing, poor living conditions, high rates of unemployment, unstable employment, low working wages and the lack of access to social and economic resources. I look forward to the questions ahead.

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Ms. Andréanne Larouche (Shefford, BQ)

May/4/22 8:00:02 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, my colleague touched on a subject that is very important to me. In fact, at yesterday's general meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, I was re-elected vice-chair. We have studied this issue extensively. My colleague mentioned that 54% of human trafficking victims are indigenous women. That is huge. He also said that before concrete solutions to help these women can be proposed, a lot more data and studies are needed. During the pandemic, some of these numbers were lost. The pandemic really complicated the research being done to get a more accurate picture of human trafficking and its impact on indigenous women. I would ask my colleague to comment on that.

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Mr. Jamie Schmale

May/4/22 8:00:52 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank my friend for Shefford for that question. She is absolutely right. Even in committee, the experts said that the numbers were not as accurate as they probably could be, because the correct information was not there and the data was not there. We heard a number of recommendations from committee, all the way from changing how indigenous police services are able to operate, act and still have the same power as off-reserve police services, to how they can use their officers who know the community, know the people in the community and use traditional methods to deal with certain situations. That was one in a very long series of recommendations that I hope the government takes into account. I hope it actually acts on some of them, because I think we can have real change and help a lot of people.

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Ms. Lori Idlout (Nunavut, NDP)

May/4/22 8:01:42 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji. I would like to thank the member for his intervention. That was great. I am glad that he outlined some of the factors that lead to the incidents that we see all too often. I wanted to ask the member what he thinks about all those indicators impacting indigenous people's and indigenous women's perspectives on what they need to rely on, including the perceived need for resource industries and gaining employment in those kinds of sectors, because those sectors are the places where most of the violence is being caused. Could the member share what his thoughts are on that?

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Mr. Jamie Schmale

May/4/22 8:02:27 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I appreciate the question from my friend for Nunavut. She is a great advocate for her territory in committee. I enjoy working with her. In fact, I have learned a lot from her and respect everything she has to say. I truly enjoy my time with her. I see the member for Winnipeg Centre right in front of her, who also spent time on committee. I learned a lot from her as well. In terms of the resource part, we heard that as the economy recovers from COVID, indigenous people have a very large, young population. I think if we want to actually reach full potential, we need to have strategies so they at least feel included. I think they would, and I think that is a shortfall of governments past. It has been a big failure all the way through. On resources, I was at a conference not too long ago in Vancouver. A lot of the conversation was on an estimated $2-trillion worth of minerals in first nations communities, and they think that number is low. That could provide an economic boost to a number of communities, especially in the north and remote areas. That is just one part. There is a not-for-profit in my riding that does coding for students in Nunavut. There is a whole series of opportunities. If we stop the top-down approach and actually listen to people on the ground, we can make some changes here instead of the Ottawa-knows-best approach.

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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

May/4/22 8:04:11 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I noted the member's conversation about what police services should do. It has not come up yet in the take-note debate. I want to ask about the risk to indigenous women and girls who are murdered by police. Does he have any comment on the problem of wellness checks and how we might be able to remedy that problem?

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Mr. Jamie Schmale

May/4/22 8:04:38 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I would be open to hearing anything that helps solve this problem and makes it safer for indigenous women and girls anywhere. As we did here in committee, there are a number of changes that can be made so that indigenous police services have a level playing field with non-indigenous police services. That might help people feel safe and change that relationship a bit. I would support that, and any other measures that might help the situation.

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The Chair

May/4/22 8:05:10 p.m.
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I want to remind members that I want to keep this discussion as organic as I possibly can without having to cut folks off. The quicker the answers are, the quicker the questions will be, and we can get more people participating in the debate. Resuming debate, the hon. member for Manicouagan.

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Mrs. Marilène Gill (Manicouagan, BQ)

May/4/22 8:05:28 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I rise today as a parliamentarian, but also as a woman and as a mother. This is an issue that has impacted my life, so what I have to say is quite personal. Let me begin by saying that I went into politics because I am a woman, but I asked myself one question during my second pregnancy when I found out the baby was a girl. I remember thinking to myself that it was going to be hard to have a girl in this world. I actually thought having a second son would be easier. I say this as a woman, a white woman. If I try to picture what that would be like for an indigenous woman, I cannot even imagine what I might have thought at the time. Indeed, this world we live in is, on the whole, still hard. Just look at the take-note debate we are having this evening. In French, it is called “exploratoire”, but to me that is exactly the wrong thing to call it. We do not need to explore the topic, to take note of it as though it were something new. It is not new. These reflections began about 15 years ago. My daughter is now 14. Roughly 10 years later, I found myself working as coordinator of the Regroupement des femmes de la Côte-Nord, a group that focuses on advocacy and rights organizations. I also found myself working in shelters and addressing gender equality issues and, a little naively, I organized a march with many people, including indigenous women, of course. I would like to salute my friend Béatrice Picard, from Pessamit, as well as Michèle Audette, whom I invited to the march just before she was appointed commissioner. We marched through the streets with other women, and to me at, that point, it was all very theoretical. However, women came up to me on those streets and shared their stories with me, stories that often began with something unthinkable and often had no ending, because, as some of my colleagues have mentioned, some of these people are still missing. We do not know what happened to them, and they may never be found. It was a very symbolic march for me, because I was also there with my daughter. I must say that this is very important for the people of our region, but also for the entire population, both in Quebec and in Canada. Today we are being told that this is a take-note debate and that we are looking at what is happening in committee. I must admit that makes me think of the song “Fatigué”, or tired, by Renaud. There are some topics like this one that we are tired of, not because the topic is unimportant, but because we are still talking about it today. We have to keep talking in the House and bringing up statistics. I do not think we need any more statistics or quotes or commissions to realize that it is time to do something about this. I have a really hard time with this. Earlier one of my colleagues said that we ask questions in the House when we know we will not get a valid response. We are truly engaging in a soliloquy, a dialogue with ourselves, a monologue in the House. I know someone who is here this evening in our gallery who has worked hard for the rights of indigenous peoples. He has done a lot, and I would like to acknowledge him. We are talking about legislation, but not implementation. We need to reach the implementation phase. We often talk about systemic discrimination. In fact, the Indian Act is a prime example. It harms women. We talked about how residential schools are a form of systemic discrimination, institutional discrimination, but they still stemmed from a desire for cultural genocide. Thinking back to the women I marched with who knew people who had disappeared, thinking back to the impact of the residential schools and the Indian Act, I can say that there are multiple factors at play, not just one. I agree with the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, who is full of good intentions. However, when I asked earlier what had been done for women experiencing violence during the COVID-19 crisis, given that we knew violence was on the rise, and why more funding had not been made available when the government had been able to find money for so many other areas, I was told that cultural centres would be built in a few years. It is interesting. The government cannot do one thing and not do other things; it is complex. We also need cultural centres. When we talk about cultural genocide, we are talking about language and culture. When I hear that in the House, I think we are still overlooking so much. I mentioned our work in committee, where exactly the same thing goes on, when we bring up all the government's spending, budgets and supplementary budgets. I heard it again earlier, when it was said that $60 million has been allocated to British Columbia, and someone was told that $2 million had been allocated to her riding and that it would be so great. I would like to stay above the fray and say that perhaps what we need is drastic action. That is what the people here in the House tonight are expecting. Quebeckers, and Canadians as well, are probably expecting drastic action. We were talking about housing recently in committee. We have known for ages that this is one of the key difficulties that indigenous communities are facing. Housing is connected to many things. In any case, it is a basic need. We keep being told that targets will be met, that it is very difficult to build in the north, and thinking that living there and having a house means that it must be possible to build it. In short, I find that there is a lot of bad faith. I know that we are constrained by our budgets. However, for me, the government is talking a good game and making it look like it is taking action by sprinkling money around, acknowledging that people have been waiting for a plan for three years, and saying that it will be presented soon. Tonight's take-note debate applies a bit of pressure. I do not think that the government can be taken seriously. Personally, even if I am not the right person to ask the question, if I told first nations people in my riding, who make up about 15% of the population, to watch tonight's debate, to listen to everything going on in committee and to consider everything we do here concerning indigenous affairs, I believe that they would not be satisfied. I do not think they would be satisfied with the answer I was given earlier. People are saying that we should not play politics in the House. It is a little hard not to play politics. That is what I heard, but I do not think they would be satisfied. No, they want houses. They want security. They want the same thing everyone does. What we hear in the House is the same old rhetoric. People are saying that they are doing their best, but they are not doing their best. I call on all members of the House, especially the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and the government, to show that they truly do want reconciliation. If we want to reconcile with someone, we cannot unilaterally impose terms. That is not how reconciliation works. We must listen to what the other person wants and accommodate their requests. Of course it is hard. Money certainly plays a big part, but I do not think that it is the only factor. I think there are measures that can be taken. I have been in the House for seven years now, and I certainly would not say or imply that I am naive, because I am not. We come to the House because we want to serve our constituents. We are humble, but we very much want to serve them. I feel as though it is one disappointment after another. I find myself thinking, “my God, they are making things up as they go along”. I see a lot of this. When the government does not have a plan, it makes things up. I am disappointed by what I see. If there is one thing the government can do tonight and in the weeks and years to come, maybe it can provide some reassurance about that. What I heard tonight from the minister himself is not satisfactory. My daughter is very young right now and tells me she absolutely does not want children, but I really hope we will all have the courage to do the work to ensure that, when she is a woman a few years from now, she will not ask herself the same question that indigenous women ask themselves, about whether they even want daughters because our girls are always in danger and come into this world without benefiting from the same conditions, the same actual rights. Yes, we do have theoretical rights, but we also have the actual reality of our existence to contend with. I would like every indigenous woman to come into this world knowing they have the same rights and need not fear being assaulted or killed. I would like the government to take concrete action. I expected nothing less from the minister than bold action, but that is not what we saw this evening.

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Ms. Yvonne Jones (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Northern Affairs, Lib.)

May/4/22 8:15:39 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, my colleague, like myself, represents many indigenous women, who have sought and persevered through great challenges and sacrifices in their lives. They have grieved the loss of so many among them. I also know she understands that reconciliation does not come easy. It is a very difficult conversation, and it requires a tremendous commitment of government, one that our government, for the first time in history, has stepped up to do. The member talks about next steps and what needs to happen. I would ask her to tell the House today, if there were one thing she could do on this path to help missing and murdered indigenous women and their families who are suffering, what would that one thing be? What would she pose to the government and to the House of Commons this evening that needs to happen?

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Mrs. Marilène Gill

May/4/22 8:16:47 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I replied earlier by saying that all the reports and recommendations have been written. They are there, and I am not about to reinvent the wheel. If I did, as a white woman, I would find myself pointing out which of the recommendations are the best. As a parliamentarian, however, I would really like to see a plan for these recommendations. The government has said that it will fix the issue of indigenous housing by 2030. We can see pretty clearly in the government's own numbers that it is not going to work, and it is not that hard to calculate. It is a simple rule of three. We are not going to get there by 2030. This is the kind of thing we see in the House of Commons. I want to see a concrete and realistic plan. What I want to hear is that there is a real desire for reconciliation, that steps must be taken and that the government is ready to take them and ready to make proposals. Again, consultation is needed, because reconciliation is not a unilateral process. The plan must therefore include first nations. It might seem like I am asking for something huge, but it is really just a plan, and I think that anyone who wants to achieve anything needs a plan.

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Mr. Gary Vidal (Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, CPC)

May/4/22 8:18:04 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I listened intently to my colleague from the Bloc. We work together on the INAN committee, and I appreciate her advocacy and the work she does there. Since 2015, Canadians have seen from the government a lot of announcements, a lot of media headlines and a lot of promises related to solving the long-standing issues facing indigenous people. The problem is always in the follow-through. My colleague spoke about the frustration and some of the concerns with that. In this case, tonight we are talking about the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls public inquiry, which began in 2016. It issued a final report in 2019. There was then a year delay in tabling the action plan. Would my hon. colleague comment on how detrimental these delays are, how frustrating some of these unfulfilled promises are, and how they impact the trust relationship that is necessary with indigenous people, a relationship that so desperately needs more trust?

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Mrs. Marilène Gill

May/4/22 8:19:14 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I have a lot to say about that. First, the government always has a good reason for the delays. I am being sarcastic, of course. The 2021 election was mentioned. I am pretty sure I was not the one who decided to call the election; the government did, so it only has itself to blame. Then it talked to us about COVID‑19. Obviously it cannot do two things at once. It shuts down Parliament and then it says there are delays. It is not even funny. I think this is completely appalling and irresponsible of the government. I have to say that it has the opportunity once again to do something, but it keeps offering nothing but red herrings. I hope it will listen to us. I would also like to go a bit beyond the question. I am talking about my seven years here, but it seems like all we have done in those seven years—I believe my colleague talked about this—is nothing more than communications. We can associate the word “reconciliation” with the Liberals, but I currently have no idea what has been done for reconciliation. We are truly dealing with a PR firm in which the government gets the top role. To me it is all just smoke and mirrors. Sadly, that is what I have to say this evening. I would like to see something tangible and not just a PR firm possibly focused on vote-buying.

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Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

May/4/22 8:20:52 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the member noted the lack of housing. In fact, there is the lack of support from the government for a dedicated “for indigenous, by indigenous” housing strategy. Further to that point, there is also a lack of specific allocation to indigenous women's and girls' housing. I wonder if the member can comment on that and on how the government's inaction is enabling the continuation of the genocide of indigenous women and girls.

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Mrs. Marilène Gill

May/4/22 8:21:32 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am going to talk a little about my experience with housing, not my personal experience, but what I experienced while helping women. Housing really is about safety and security. I come from a vast riding that covers 350,000 square kilometres. Some people live 1,000 kilometres away from one another, and there are not always roads. Due to the lack of housing, sometimes a woman will “agree” to stay with a violent partner. It is terrible to use that term, because she does not really agree, she just has no other choice. That is just one example. Imagine being trapped in a very hostile environment and having nowhere else to go. Often these northern communities are very isolated. A woman may choose to stay with her violent partner because she does not have the financial means to leave. She may fear becoming culturally assimilated, because she will have to leave behind her children and all that is familiar. This woman could be experiencing physical and psychological abuse, but this could also happen outside that home. Therefore, this woman is given a choice but really has no choice. That is why housing is vital for indigenous women and girls.

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Ms. Sylvie Bérubé (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, BQ)

May/4/22 8:22:55 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for that impactful speech. I am aware of what is happening because indigenous women in my riding, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, are experiencing the same thing. Women are still disappearing in Val-d'Or. Sometimes they are found, sometimes not. How can this still be going on? I cannot understand it. We know the government is not doing anything. It is not walking the talk, as they say, nor is it listening to what indigenous women and communities want. I would like my colleague to tell me what she thinks of this government's response to everything that happened with the national inquiry into indigenous women and girls.

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Mrs. Marilène Gill

May/4/22 8:23:38 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, my thoughts about the inquiry are the same as my thoughts about the royal commission on another issue in 1996. They consult and consult and consult without ever reinventing the wheel. There is a huge need for consultation here, but it results in precious little action. That is certainly what I am seeing yet again. I may not seem very upset, but I am kind of tired of hearing what amounts to lip service. I just want to give my colleague an example. Something happened two days ago in my riding. Two bodies were found after the snow melted. Without really thinking about it, my immediate reflex was to wonder whether they were women, children or girls. It is unbelievable, but that was my first thought. It shows how traumatized people are, including me. Obviously, this hit home. This violence is embedded in our collective imagination. We cannot shake it, and it is frightening. It was two men this time, and I would like to tell the community of Nutashkuan and the people of Natashquan that I stand with them. They know that, but I wanted to say it again. Talking about building cultural centres does not at all reflect the vision and purpose of tonight's take-note debate.

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Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

May/4/22 8:25:30 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, today's take-note debate, a day before the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People, is a crucial one. It is a debate about why, once again, families of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls and survivors of violence have fallen by the wayside, just like in budget 2022, where the amount allocated to implement the 231 calls for justice to address this ongoing genocide is zero. This is a crisis of violence. Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit peoples are 12 times more likely to go missing or be murdered and are five times more likely to experience violence than any other population in Canada. In fact, 56% of indigenous women have experienced physical assault, which is more than half of all indigenous women, and 46% have experienced sexual assault. These stats are staggering, but sadly, they are not surprising to indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people, who continue to endure this violence. Violence and mistreatment does not just affect indigenous women. It even impacts a disproportionate number of young indigenous girls. Forty-two percent of indigenous women report having experienced physical and sexual abuse during their childhood. This kind of exposure to violence and trauma has lasting impacts and consequences, yet the budgetary allocation from this government to deal with this crisis is zero. This is not an oversight; this is a choice. This is a statement about the normalization of violence against indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. While bureaucratic discussions persist, women, girls and two-spirit individuals go missing or are murdered, or have to endure out-of-control levels of violence. Our lives are there for the taking, as though our lives or the loss of our lives is of no consequence. We are objectified, stigmatized and minimized. How much has this government invested in budget 2022 to deal with this crisis? It has invested zero. This is a choice. It is a statement about how we have been devalued since the time of colonization. I am not the only one with this view. Marion Buller, the former chief commissioner, said, “I just find it appalling that the federal government, through the prime minister, had admitted to the situation at least amounting to genocide and yet they’re allowing it to continue without any sort of responsibility”. She also stated, “There is no looking forward. If there is an implementation plan, I don’t know about it and they’re keeping it quiet. But, they have quite literally fallen flat on their face in terms of their responses.” The Native Women's Association of Canada, which fights for indigenous women, girls and gender diverse people, gave the federal government a failing grade for not delivering on a national action plan to respond to the national inquiry. The Native Women's Association of Canada criticized budget 2022, stating, “The national inquiry report was handed down with 231 calls for justice and we’re very concerned that on the surface of this reading of budget announcements, we don’t see where the investment is going to be and we have a very serious concern about that.” Again, this is a choice. It is a political choice. It is a human rights issue that continues to be out of control because of government inaction. It is a result of policy choices deeply rooted in the Indian Act and violent colonization that has left us fighting for our right to live free of violence, insecurity and indignity. By refusing to act, the government is telling indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people that we have zero value. This is something my mom learned as an orphan living in a Catholic convent at five years old. My mother was one of the most kind, gentle and loving persons I have ever known. She had this way of making everyone she met feel like they were special, and everybody thought that they were my mother's special one. I like to believe that I was her special one. Her gentleness was truly remarkable, considering the violence that she had to endure throughout her younger years of life, including being passed through 15 different child-welfare placements. Yes, it was 15 times before she aged out of care without a place to go at the age of 18. It was a common existence for young people to age out of care and end up on the streets, which are a breeding ground for murdered and missing indigenous women and girls and two-spirit people. There were not too many spirits that she met along her journey who showed her any level of kindness, aside from a woman named Maude who noted my mother's gift for music and taught her how to play the piano, and a local librarian who shared my mother's love of reading and learning and spent hours with my mother mentoring her and showing her care. I remember my mom sharing a memory about her time in the Catholic convent where they housed orphans. She did not share very much about her childhood, but for whatever reason, she shared this memory about chokecherries. My mother loved chokecherries. One of her favourite feast foods in the world was wojapi: a traditional Lakota dish made with chokecherries. The convent where she stayed had chokecherries all around its grounds and the children were often tasked with picking the berries from the chokecherry bushes, with very strict instructions not to eat any of their pickings. The chokecherries were not for them, but in true five-year-old style, my mother would pick the berries and snack on a few and then violently wipe off her stained teeth with her white bib on her uniform. Nobody wanted to be caught by the nuns not following the rules. After a day of picking and indulging, her delightful innocence was put quickly to a halt after an interrogation by one of the nuns: “Marjorie, you were eating chokecherries.” My mother tried to lie about her indulgence, something that gave her great joy, until she looked down at her bib, covered in purple chokecherry juice, and knew she was caught red-handed. It was a tragic ending to a moment of joy for a five-year-old. When she shared this memory with me, she had a sad chuckle when describing her moment of defiance to just have the brief moment of joy that she relished in that moment. It was something that the nuns ended up abusing her for. I cannot even imagine the punishment she had to endure as a result of her decision to participate in this normal and youthful act of joy over chokecherries. At five years old, she learned that abuse, violence and mistreatment were part of her existence as an indigenous girl. This made her feel like a zero: worthless. She even described trying to scrub off her brown skin with Comet as a young girl. The government's lack of investment reminds indigenous girls that the government is still treating them like they are worth zero. As my mother grew older as a kid in the system, she would ask all the girls running away to escape the system about the futility of their actions because “nobody cares anyway.” It breaks my heart that the government is still giving indigenous women and girls that message: zero. My mother was not a zero. She will always be my hero. Neither are we: We are not zeros. We are heroes, thriving despite all the obstacles in front of us. I wept when I saw that the government decided we were worth zero in the budget. I am tired of listening to the million excuses and the list of a million complications that seem to justify inaction, as if our safety is of no relevance. This is not okay. Stop hoarding money from the last budget with a million excuses about why it cannot be done while another girl, woman or two-spirit person goes missing, is murdered or has to endure violence. Where is the action plan? Like my beautiful mom who endured so much, we are valuable, precious, loved and resilient. We are still here and we have a right to joy. The Prime Minister acknowledged this as a genocide. Now is the time to stop making excuses and give us the justice we deserve. It is time to end this crisis of violence and genocide now.

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Hon. Marc Miller (Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Lib.)

May/4/22 8:35:48 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank the member opposite for the words that she has shared tonight and for her continued advocacy, both on the floor of the House of Commons and outside. I want her to know that we are continuing to accelerate the work the we are doing based, in part, on her advocacy and the work we need to do as a country and as a government. I want to talk about the issue of forced sterilization in this country, because while we are justly outraged at the apparent reversal of Roe v. Wade, we still need to acknowledge that in this country forced sterilization is taking place. Perhaps the member opposite could speak to that and the continued systemic racism in the health care system.

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