44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 7, 2022 02:00PM
- Dec/7/22 3:11:33 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, let me be clear, it is a serious issue in Canada. Indigenous women are 12 times more likely to go missing and be murdered, and that is why the government has invested $2.2 billion toward addressing this situation. In fact, in Winnipeg alone, for Manitoba indigenous women and 2SLGBTQ, just recently we made an announcement of $8.4 million for those supports.
We are going to continue to move forward. We know there is more work to be done, and we are going to work with the member opposite to make sure we get that done.
99 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 3:13:48 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, that is a serious question, and I want to get to it. I also want to acknowledge all the chiefs, proxy and first nations community members I have seen in the galleries, who are attending the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly.
We appreciate their advocacy. We know these are serious issues. They have a partner in our government. While the progress is slow, we are going to make sure that $2.2 billion goes to support indigenous women across this country so they can feel safe, just as every other person does in this country.
99 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 8:43:43 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I thank hon. members who are here tonight to talk about this extremely important issue.
I would like to express my thoughts and condolences to the families and communities of the four first nations women in Winnipeg. The news is tragic, and it is a painful reminder of the discrimination and horrific violence that indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people continue to experience in this country.
These tragedies, these injustices, to put it bluntly, happen far too often in Canada. It is unacceptable. However, far too often when I come to the House and hear these debates about indigenous people, it is always in a very pejorative light. It is always very sombre and tragic and often filled with a lot of emotions, and I do not think we do enough to celebrate the indigenous women out there.
I think about my home, my Mi'kmaq community of Eskasoni, with 4,000 people. I think about the young girls possibly watching this debate tonight and what they must be feeling knowing that there is this despair and reality coming to them. We have seen it highlighted through the public inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and the calls for justice. I also cannot help but think that we have to talk about the indigenous women champions out there who have done some great things over the years. I do so because I want those indigenous young women to feel that there is more in this country than despair.
We can look at the most recent Governor General of Canada, Mary Simon, the first indigenous woman to hold that role. This is a thing of pride that we should have as indigenous people in Canada.
I think about RoseAnne Archibald, the very first woman national chief. Young women in our communities can now say, “I could be a national chief someday.”
I think about Michelle O'Bonsawin, the very first indigenous woman Supreme Court of Canada justice. I want the young girls at home to think they can be a Supreme Court of Canada justice in this country as well.
I think about all of the courageous women in my home province of Nova Scotia who have fought to ensure that their advocacy and their voices have led to a better tomorrow for indigenous women.
I think about the Native Women's Association of Canada, and the phone call I got to make to the then president Bernadette Marshall, who is a community member of Potlotek. I think of Lorraine Whitman, a former president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, and her daughter Zabrina Whitman, who helped push this proposal forward. These are proud, strong, amazing Mi'kmaq women who have advocated. When we made the announcement of more than $8 million for something they had been fighting for for 30 years, they had tears of joy. They said, “We have been fighting for this.”
I think if we just focus on some of the tragic things, we are not focusing on some of the amazing accomplishments of indigenous women, Mi'kmaq women.
I think about most recently, over the past month, going to the Mi'kmaq Native Friendship Centre in Halifax, where Pam Glode-Desrochers was able to work with our government and work with her staff to get a commitment for more than $28 million for all the important services that Mi'kmaq friendship centres provide to indigenous women who leave their communities to go to university or in search of better employment. These are important supports they have and continue to move forward on.
It is important that when we talk about indigenous people and women in this House, we also talk about the champions. We have to give indigenous people hope for a better tomorrow. That is why I continue to have conversations about what we need to do.
We have the calls for justice, which are important, and I am committed to working with every member of this House to make sure that we fulfill them. However, I am open to ideas on how we move forward. I am also open to some of the programs that we are currently moving out.
One thing we have been able to do is make sure we look at projects across the country that are rolling out. Sixty-five projects have been funded from coast to coast to coast, and they are making a difference for indigenous communities. Some examples are longhouses, women's lodges, improved powwow grounds, heritage parks, cultural centres and other facilities to support cultural ceremonies and teachings with elders.
It has been an amazing experience, during my short time of three years as a member of Parliament, not only to be a part of and see this change, but also to recognize, as a first nations person living on a reserve for 43 years, that I am able to look at the indigenous women in my communities and say there is some important work going on.
I want the indigenous girls at home to know that when we are talking about them in the House, we are talking not only about the tragedies, but also about the hope we need to have in a better Canada, and about the fact that they are going to lead that for our country.
896 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 8:50:14 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I am really happy to hear Conservatives rise in the House to talk about indigenous issues during emergency debates. I would like to hear more about it when they are talking about the overspending we are doing as a government as we try to remedy years of the Harper government, which continued to ignore indigenous issues. I know that as a government we have a lot of fixing to do because of years of disservice, but it is this party that continues to look to and promote indigenous women and candidates, and that is why we have first nations candidates on this side of the House.
108 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 8:52:20 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his advocacy and for making sure he holds the government to account. I appreciate his words.
When I took on this position of being the first Mi'kmaq MP, one of the things I wanted to do was reach out to the Native Women's Association of Canada to see how I could create more justice. One of the things we did in our community was to create a national video with Myles Goodwyn and some of the Mi'kmaq singers, such as Kalo Johnson and Deedee Austin, which talks about the plight of missing and murdered indigenous women and tells the story and the facts with respect to that.
I do not have to wait until tomorrow; I continue to do it today, but with respect to my role as parliamentary secretary, I am willing to work on all sides to figure out how we can roll out money faster. I have talked about some of the projects that were important in my province that we moved forward on, and as much as these are infrastructure projects and I know the supports are coming from across Canada, I know we need to do more, and I am willing to work with members to figure out how we can do more.
219 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 8:53:57 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I heard all of the comments tonight, and it created a bit of emotion in me. I did not want to go through the whole night without giving inspiration and hope to the young indigenous girls at home who may be watching, who may be interested, who may be going to university.
I wanted to say that, yes, we are talking about tragic events today, but tomorrow, with their leadership and their help, we could be talking about some of the amazing accomplishments of indigenous women in this country. I hope we will give that topic as much time as we give to talking about the negative and pejorative things that we have to discuss as well.
119 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
