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House Hansard - 88

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 14, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 88 - Jun/14/22
Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)
  • Jun/14/22 11:22:49 a.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-5 
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for bringing up the genocide of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls. I want to point to the national inquiry in which specific calls for justice called, in fact, for the end of mandatory minimum sentences because of the over-incarceration of indigenous women. This includes the 98% of women in prisons in Saskatchewan who are indigenous. They call for a complete end to mandatory minimum sentences. Does my colleague stand in solidarity with indigenous women, and will she support this call for justice?
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Context: House Hansard - 88 - Jun/14/22
Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)
  • Jun/14/22 12:50:21 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-5 
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for mentioning the systemic racism that continues to be perpetrated against indigenous women. I am certainly glad to see some amendments to mandatory minimums in Bill C-5, but I want to point specifically to R. v. Ipeelee, a Supreme Court of Canada decision which reaffirmed the court's previous findings in the Gladue case. It states: courts must take judicial notice of such matters as the history of colonialism, displacement, and residential schools and how that history continues to translate into lower educational attainment, lower incomes, higher unemployment, higher rates of substance abuse and suicide, and of course higher levels of incarceration for Aboriginal peoples. These matters...on their own, do not necessarily justify a different sentence for Aboriginal offenders...Rather, they provide the necessary context for understanding and evaluating the case-specific information presented by counsel. I ask that question because, with a sweeping decision made by former prime minister Harper, he put in place mandatory minimum sentences and totally disrespected a Supreme Court ruling, which has resulted, in the process, in a massive over-incarceration of indigenous women. I wonder if my hon. colleague feels that the bill goes—
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Context: House Hansard - 88 - Jun/14/22
Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)
  • Jun/14/22 3:12:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, indigenous women, girls and diverse gendered individuals continue to experience high rates of violence, go missing and are murdered, yet out of the $724.1 million allocated for the violence prevention strategy announced in 2020, guess how much the Liberals have spent? Zero. I have something they can spend it on: an adequate 24-7 low-barrier safe space in Winnipeg for women, girls and diverse gendered individuals. It will save lives. I ask the minister: why are the Liberals hoarding this money while people continue to lose their lives?
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