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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 91

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 17, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 91 - Jun/17/22
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)
  • Jun/17/22 10:18:55 a.m.
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We are getting into debate. Therefore, I would ask members to maybe raise that during their speeches in the House or through other questions and comments. The hon. parliamentary secretary.
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Context: House Hansard - 91 - Jun/17/22
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
Madam Speaker, I want to start of course by acknowledging we are here on the territory of the Algonquin nation, and to it we say meegwetch. I also want to acknowledge the hon. member for Red Deer—Mountain View had intended to speak to this bill. It is unfortunate that technical glitches interfered with that, and I am sure he was about to support it wholeheartedly. In any case, we do not get the benefit of his speech, and I regret that. I want to thank some of the members who took part in this debate during the first hour and today during the second hour. Many thanks to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, to my colleague and friend, the member for Repentigny, to another very close friend, the member for Victoria, to my friend, the member for Lac-Saint-Louis, to the members for Dufferin—Caledon and York-Centre and, for today, my dear friend the member for Kitchener-Centre, who is also a member of the Green Party. I thank the Conservatives because they are the ones who gave him the opportunity to deliver a speech today. I also thank the members for Saint-Jean and Nunavut, the parliamentary secretary and member for Toronto—Danforth, and the member for Vancouver East. These were rich speeches, and they gave us a lot. I particularly want to thank my friend, the member of Parliament for Nunavut, for her reflections on the bravery of Inuit hunters who were forced, due to the lack of environmental rights, to go out and take their places in civil disobedience on a runway to blockade a mine site because their rights were being violated. We can hardly imagine what that was like in February in Nunavut. It was not warm. With only five minutes, I certainly cannot get into the full details on that effort, but I stand in solidarity with my friend, the member of Parliament for Nunavut, and the communities that have succeeded in persuading the Nunavut Impact Review Board to say no to a doubling of the iron ore mine on Baffin Island. I hope the Minister of Northern Affairs will act as he should and accept that advice. There is so much to say about the bill and why we are here and where we are. The purpose of this bill is to prevent environmental racism, but it is also very important to point out that it will help advance environmental justice. As a feminist commentating, I just went back to make sure I had that right in French. I had not realized before that “le racisme” is masculine but “la justice” is feminine.
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