44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 25, 2022 10:00AM
- Oct/25/22 11:03:34 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, as the Prime Minister has said repeatedly, there is no more important relationship than our relationship with indigenous Canadians. There is no more important work that we have to do than to get the hard work of reconciliation done. That will take the efforts of every single one of us, and it will take our work, day in and day out, not only to correct the tremendous historical injustices but also to make sure that the current events, the current inclusion, the current dignity and the current economic welfare needs of indigenous Canadians are absolutely met.
I take the challenge. I respect the question, and I will work with the member and everyone in the House who wants to make sure that Crown-indigenous relations are improved and that we continue to have reconciliation.
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- Oct/25/22 5:21:49 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I agree very much with both the Conservatives and the Liberals that the arguments have been made not to have this motion go forward. I also really appreciated the member of Parliament for Perth—Wellington's indicating all of the social indicators that we could have discussed and tried to address in this motion.
I wonder if the member agrees that maybe the party could have done better to advocate for its indigenous communities. For example, we do not hear very much about the 14 Inuit communities in Nunavik, and maybe the party could have done better to make sure the Inuit in northern Quebec could have been better represented by this party.
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- Oct/25/22 5:22:36 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an exceptionally important question. There are so many things we could be focusing on. The member mentioned the 14 indigenous communities in northern Quebec. I am sure there are issues that are affecting her communities in Nunavut as well.
Frankly, the fact that there are still indigenous communities across the country without clean drinking water is a crying shame, and we, as Canadians, should be incredibly disappointed in ourselves, in the government and in all sides of things that this is still happening. In a country as rich and as bountiful as Canada, the fact that communities do not have clean drinking water is a crying shame and completely unacceptable.
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- Oct/25/22 6:59:14 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, residential school survivors continue to live abuses from the government. The government says it is acting. Out of the 106 applications for burial searches, 84 have been approved. This is not enough.
This week in Winnipeg, researchers, academics and first nations communities from all over the country are gathering to share what they have learned in their search for unmarked graves at former residential schools. This is important work. The federal government has a responsibility to make good on its promises and do its part.
The funding currently promised is critical and validates what indigenous peoples had been saying for decades. For too long, first nations, Métis and Inuit were ignored when they shared their stories about the loved ones they lost to the residential school system. All these decades of being ignored have stifled the path to healing. It is outrageous that indigenous communities must beg and plead for funding. Delays on delivering the promises made must stop. Inuit, Métis and first nations have been given far too many promises that have not been acted on.
The Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations said, “Some have said it could take up to 10 years, and the worst thing to see would be for any government to step away from that commitment. We will keep doing it, but at their pace.”
In budget 2022, there was one curious line item. It said the budget would provide $5.1 million to Public Safety Canada to ensure the Royal Canadian Mounted Police could support community-led responses to unmarked graves. By funding the RCMP instead of supporting indigenous-led organizations, such as Survivors' Secretariat, the government is supporting further practices of colonialism.
Why are these funds not directly funding indigenous peoples to heal from the shameful legacy of residential schools and colonialism?
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- Oct/25/22 7:05:25 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, we are told there is no relationship more important than the one with indigenous peoples, yet the government is funding law enforcement that upholds the systemic racism that has existed for too long. To this day, these institutions have failed to adequately respond to important work led by indigenous peoples, including the MMIWG calls for justice.
If the federal government will not divert these funds from its colonial institutions, how will it ensure that such agencies discontinue the systemic racism it continues to perpetuate?
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- Oct/25/22 7:06:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I understand the question and I understand the intent of it. However, what we have seen in many of our indigenous communities as a result of intergenerational trauma is that indigenous communities are far more likely to be violent, far more likely to see abuses and far more likely to need indigenous policing and policing of all types.
We feel that the RCMP is part of that answer. In fact, many indigenous communities are asking for increased policing. We have various methods of doing that, the RCMP being one, but we also have our commitment of $1 billion toward enhancing indigenous policing. It is something we are striving to do.
We know we are not there yet, so we have to work within the means we have and with the tool kit we have. That is why our government continues to be committed to this.
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