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Ms. Niki Ashton (Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, NDP)

Dec/7/22 9:54:21 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I want to acknowledge that we are all here under very sombre circumstances. We are honouring the lives of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Rebecca Contois, and a fourth loved one who has yet to be found. We are also here demanding action from the federal government. The hon. minister knows this national tragedy so well through the work she did to support an inquiry. As was clearly said, what we do not need is for the 231 calls for justice to sit on a shelf. What families and communities are asking for is federal action now, not just in the case of supporting the search in the landfill, but also as was so powerfully shared by Cambria Harris, which was to put an end to the genocide that indigenous women are facing. What concrete action is the federal government going to take now to put an end to the genocide that indigenous women face in our country?

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Hon. Carolyn Bennett

Dec/7/22 9:55:31 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank the member for her leadership on all of these things. The work that has been done, as she knows, on changing child and family services has been absolutely transformational. When we look at the results from the study this week at Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata in Winnipeg, we can see that over 90% of those families were brought back together. Those children are being raised in their language and culture. This is the way forward. This is what we heard about in the inquiry. The apprehension of children put them at high risk and aging out of care put them at high risk. I think there are significant changes. The changes to the child and family services is a significant advance.

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

Dec/7/22 9:56:37 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is an honour to rise this evening to take part in this debate on such a serious, sombre and important subject. I am here this evening on the traditional territory of the Kanienkehaka, an area known as Montreal, within the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. In the time I have, reflecting on all the important speeches given tonight, I want to focus on what we were told in the inquiry on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and two-spirit people plus. The hon. member from northern Manitoba was just mentioning that, in looking at this debate, we have a question of what we have done in relation to those calls for justice. I am struck by, two and a half years after those calls for justice, how little we actually look at what the inquiry told us to do. However, that was abundantly clear in the inquiry report. The most important thing every single Canadian can do is read that report. We received advice and instructions, while sitting in the Grand Hall in the Museum of History on that crowded June day and receiving this very important report. The commissioner said, “Every Canadian, please read it.” We should take stock. Have we read it? Do we understand what it said? Obviously, the killing of indigenous women and girls continues and accelerates. The recent killings, the charges laid in Manitoba in Winnipeg, and the four women killed in that serial killing remind us, if we did not need reminding before, that we have not responded to the report of the inquiry on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. What did they tell us to do? They told us to read the report, accept that this is a genocide and move on to actually implementing the recommendations. I will just refer to a few of those recommendations that we fight for, many of us in this place, every day. One of the recommendations of the inquiry was to bring in a guaranteed livable income to eradicate poverty. The reason so many indigenous women and girls and men are vulnerable to killings and vulnerable to violence is that they are poor. Economic injustice as well as racism are at the heart of why so many indigenous women and girls go missing. The inquiry called for justice and to bring in a guaranteed livable income. It also called for us to end what are called “man camps” by indigenous women and girls. They are large construction projects, usually dedicated to resource extraction, the resource extraction itself violating the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I know it has been controversial and people who work in those industries say, “Don't paint us all as violent criminals”. No, we do not, but we recognize that these large camps full of workers, men who are away from their families and who are subject, themselves, to trauma and addiction, are a condition that leads to the increased vulnerability of indigenous women nearby. That was an inquiry recommendation and we have expanded the man camps instead of ending them. Another key recommendation was that we move to provide supports for indigenous women and girls who have been the victims of violence, including that there be trauma counsellors and that there be assistance to get through the criminal justice system. These are important recommendations. I want to draw our attention to another area where there is no mystery as to how indigenous women and girls were killed. They were killed by the police. Chantel Moore was killed in June 2020. She was a Nuu-chah-nulth woman from Vancouver Island who had recently moved to Edmundston, New Brunswick. There is no question as to how she died. She died at the hands of a police officer on a “wellness” check. In the intersection between mental health responses and police, far too many vulnerable women and indigenous women end up in a morgue. That is not a wellness check and we need to really look at what happened, particularly in the case of Chantel Moore. I will say in the House again that I think she was murdered. The facts point in that direction, and her family waits for answers. We have an obligation in this place not to take note. We have to take action.

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Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Dec/7/22 10:01:43 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I really appreciate my friend's speech and I appreciate her. She knows full well that I live in Nuu-chah-nulth territory. I represent the Tla-o-qui-aht people here in Parliament and I bring their voice here. I am grateful that she talked about the late Chantel Moore. The fact of the matter is that there was an independent investigating officer team that came in from Quebec, with no indigenous representation, to investigate her death when she was shot by police. Lisa Marie Young, a Tla-o-qui-aht member in Nanaimo, is still missing after 20 years. “Creating a national task force to review and re-investigate unresolved files of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people” is actually a commitment in the national action plan, but there is no timeline and no money. The government has not acted on it. Can my colleague speak about the importance of an action plan, not just for these two unresolved files but for the women from Winnipeg who were just stolen through this genocide that is taking place in this country?

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Ms. Elizabeth May

Dec/7/22 10:02:57 p.m.
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Madam Chair, indeed, both of us know family members. We know Chantel's mom and her family and her friends, and we know that this is not being properly investigated, as is the case for many more indigenous women and girls. Sometimes we know who the killer was, but it is brushed over because it was a police officer. Sometimes we do not know, and we can only conclude from the lack of attention to it. I do not want to criticize policing in Manitoba. It was in the span of a year that we now believe that four women were murdered by the same man. We do not know for sure, but we can make educated guesses that had those four murdered young women been white women, we might have seen more warnings, more action to take on the bits of clues and evidence that suggested that the same man had committed all the crimes.

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Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill, CPC)

Dec/7/22 10:04:05 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I wanted to also raise an issue that I believe my colleague from Hamilton Centre raised. I am really haunted by the thought of the families of these women having to deal with the remains of their loved ones in a landfill. Words matter, and if my question or my comment to try to express that caused any harm, I unreservedly apologize and retract them. However, I think we should be haunted by this fact. I think we should be haunted and concerned and disturbed that these women are in landfills. I wonder if my colleague could comment on some of the recommendations our colleagues have made earlier tonight about looking for ways to remedy and provide closure to the families, given the situation and the location of the remains.

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Ms. Elizabeth May

Dec/7/22 10:05:06 p.m.
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Madam Chair, from the bottom of my heart I want to acknowledge the courage of what the member for Calgary Nose Hill just did. It is all too rare in this place to apologize for words, especially when they were meant, as the hon. member noted, from a good place. However, it is appalling that the landfills remain open. I hear the voices of Morgan's daughter and Marcedes's family and other people, saying, “Look, stop putting garbage there, at least. Let us find a way to find the remains of our loved ones.” We already have the loved ones, the children who were stolen over so many years in the residential school system. Those children are still underground. We have to acknowledge that the grief of families is never resolved through having the remains, but the wound remains far more open when the remains are not available for burial, for respect and to be brought home.

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Ms. Lori Idlout (Nunavut, NDP)

Dec/7/22 10:06:14 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I will be splitting my time with the member for Vancouver East. I stand today in solidarity with Chief Kyra Wilson of Long Plain First Nation and Cambria and Kera, the daughters of Morgan Harris, who was murdered and whose body was found at a landfill, in seeking justice for indigenous families. I call on the government to finally start to end the genocide by implementing the MMIWG calls for justice and the demands made by those I stand with today, including helping to search for Morgan Harris so her daughters may have the closure they seek. I am concerned with some of the questions that have been asked in the House tonight. As much as I have appreciated MPs' interventions, the words are distant and, while empathetic, make it clear to me that violence against indigenous women is clearly not understood. As an Inuk, I have experienced violence and have seen violence. I grew up with violence in my life. Here is what violence feels like. There is so much physical pain that it is unbearable to breathe, it is unbearable to cry and it is unbearable to ask for help. There is so much misguided love and trust that keeping the unhealthy relationship going feels like the only way. When there is finally courage to leave that violent relationship, women are put into other violence situations. Cambria and Kera have asked us to help them end the genocide. I frequently have asked tonight how we can do this. How can we in the House guide the federal government to end Canada's genocide against indigenous peoples? The federal government must create policies and programs and provide better resources. The federal government must help lift up indigenous peoples and their sense of cultural identity. It must ensure that systemic racism is addressed by improving law enforcement and policing for the overincarceration, overpolicing, underenforcement and underpolicing of indigenous peoples. It must lift up indigenous families that still suffer the effects of intergenerational trauma and ensure they are encouraging each other to rely on each other the way they used to before colonialism. It must help indigenous families find the remains of their loved ones. Victims of genocide are targeted because they belong to a certain group. As such, targeted resources must immediately be released to protect indigenous girls, women and two-spirit people. Last and certainly not least, it should implement fully, not incrementally, UNDRIP, the TRC's calls to action and the MMIWG calls for justice. These instruments provide the framework to end genocide. I note the words of Chief Kyra Wilson, who said, “We have 231 calls to justice, we need searches, we need support and it needs to start now.” I will end with what the beautiful, amazing and courageous Cambria Harris said at the presser yesterday: “Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and...Buffalo Woman. Remember these names. Shout them from the roof of your lungs and bring the justice that these women deserve.”

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Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Dec/7/22 10:11:47 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I want to thank our colleague from Nunavut for her bravery, her courage and the way that she brings a forceful truth to this place that needs to be heard across the country. I just wanted to thank her.

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Ms. Lori Idlout

Dec/7/22 10:12:12 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I appreciate the encouragement. It does take a lot of emotion and strength to speak. I especially need to thank my party, which has been great in allowing me to share my experience and my voice, and also making sure that indigenous people's voices are being amplified in this House.

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

Dec/7/22 10:12:48 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I appreciated hearing what the member had to say. I also appreciate working with her on the indigenous and northern affairs committee. I have learned a lot from her and appreciate her valuable input each and every day. I know that often in this place, our time is short but our thoughts are many, and I was just wondering if the member had anything else she would like to touch on that she did not have enough time to complete in her speech.

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Ms. Lori Idlout

Dec/7/22 10:13:26 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I also enjoy working with the member on the indigenous and northern affairs committee. I have changed my speech a lot tonight. One of the things I wanted to remind the House of is this. There were many questions about what women can do, and I kept thinking that this is not just a women's issue. This is not just a government issue. This is not just an indigenous issue. This is something that we all must do and we all must work together on: men, women, indigenous and non-indigenous. We all need to be working together to make sure we are part of a system that can say we are the ones who ended genocide in our time.

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Mr. Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre, NDP)

Dec/7/22 10:14:27 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the hon. member quite rightly identified the need for targeted interventions. I know of her tireless work and her advocacy on the deplorable conditions of northern housing. I would like her to have the opportunity to reflect on how having the stability of dignified, safe housing for people in her community might help prevent some of the preconditions that lead to the atrocities committed against women, including Inuit women in her communities.

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Ms. Lori Idlout

Dec/7/22 10:15:05 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, the member's question is very important. I have risen in this House so many times to speak about how impactful overcrowded housing is to my constituency, how the poor conditions impact the mental health of the people I represent, and how, because of those conditions, we suffer worse mental health impacts. We definitely need more investments in housing, to make renovations to improve housing and to also fill empty units. There are many empty units in our communities that need to be renovated and reopened. I also wanted to very quickly say that more of our communities in Nunavut need safe places for women to go to. I know personally of two women I wanted to mention who I think would not have been murdered if they had had a safe place to go, because they were murdered having been in unhealthy, very violent relationships. We also need to be investing in ensuring that women have safe places to go to in their communities, so that they do not have to leave their communities and can remain with their families and keep raising their children in their home communities.

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Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

Dec/7/22 10:16:36 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I want to take a moment to acknowledge my colleagues, the member for Winnipeg Centre and the member for Nunavut, who spoke very powerfully and so starkly about the situation that indigenous women and girls face. I was reflecting about what I was going to say and I changed my mind about 100 times. I have landed on this. I reflected back to seven years ago when the government made the announcement that it was going to initiate a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. I have to say my heart sang with joy thinking of the changing moment, the significant moment where the voices of indigenous peoples and families had been heard finally, and the government of the day was going to do something about our stolen sisters, indigenous women and girls. I was not part of the Liberal government. I am still not part of the Liberal government. I will never be a Liberal member. However, my heart sang with joy, because of the hope that it represented. Then as the work continued, I started to have a sinking feeling. Reflecting back, Marion Buller, the lead commissioner, and her team advised nine months into the inquiry that they were using their own personal cellphones and their own email. They did not have office space to undertake the work. Fast forward to after the report was put out, where a genocide had been recognized even by the government, and 231 calls for justice had been put on the public record. The government promised that it would put forward an implementation plan. Three years later, where is that implementation plan? It is nowhere to be found. It is not just New Democrats who are saying this. Marion Buller said on the public record that the federal government had “fallen flat on its face”. She said: We don’t have an implementation plan. There hasn’t been any sort of cohesive statement on the part of the federal government about what it plans to do. 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. She said, “I just find it appalling that the genocide is continuing, because it is and they’re not being held accountable.” That is the reality of where we are today. Consequently, we in the community and my colleagues see loved ones of family members grieving, in pain and in anger at the loss of their loved ones. Hence we are having this debate tonight. Tonight I had the pleasure, the honour and the privilege of meeting the family members just outside of the chamber. I shook their hands, looked them in the eye, and made the commitment that we will never stop fighting, even when they leave this place. We should not have to do this time and time again. We should not have to say the names over and over again, and each time with different names, with more hurt, more pain and so much loss, with hope dashed to say that something will happen. My riding of Vancouver East is very similar to that of my colleague's in Winnipeg Centre. I remember so many years ago when I was just an activist, walking the streets, doing rallies and protesting about a serial killer in Vancouver East. People denied it. When we raised it, people accused us of trying to obstruct justice by suggesting that there was a serial killer and demanding an inquiry. To the names of the people who have been brought up today who went missing and who have been murdered, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and Buffalo Woman, I add these names: Tatyanna Harrison, Chelsea Poorman, Noelle O'Soup and Ramona Wilson. These are just the latest few, and there are so many more. They do not have to be dead. They did not have to die this way. It does not have to be this way. For tonight, once and for all, will the government take action and fully implement the 231 calls for justice?

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Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Dec/7/22 10:22:17 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I want to start by recognizing what a strong voice the member is in this place in calling for housing that is for indigenous, by indigenous. As the member calls out for the federal government to follow through on all 231 calls to justice, at least nine of them relate to housing. I wonder if she would like to comment further on the critical need for the federal government to follow through specifically on the calls to justice related to housing.

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Ms. Jenny Kwan

Dec/7/22 10:22:52 p.m.
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Madam Chair, there is no question that housing matters, and it will save lives. The missing and murdered indigenous women and girls inquiry mentioned housing over 200 times. Can members imagine not being able to access housing, and as a result of that being subject to extreme violence every moment of the day to the point where their lives are lost? What the federal government can do is, in budget 2023, ensure that there is at least $6 billion over two years for a for indigenous, by indigenous urban, rural and northern indigenous housing strategy and let the indigenous community lead this work. There is already a coalition that has been set up to do this work. The government needs to fund it, be that true partner and get the job done.

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

Dec/7/22 10:23:58 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I want to be quite frank. We have heard a lot of discussion today, and for indigenous people, whether it was yesterday or tomorrow, their lives will largely remain the same, and I am angry because of that. I am upset and angry that we have to have this discussion in this place constantly, and that the lives of indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people continue to be ignored constantly. I am angry about that, but I also know that, when an indigenous person like myself gets loud, people stop listening. I want to be as clear as possible. We cannot continue to wait, but there is a long history here. This did not happen overnight. Colonialism, racism and, to be frank, misogyny are the reasons we are here today. Indigenous women are not the problem. Colonialism and violence against these women are the problem. Can the member speak about the root cause of the tragic losses of indigenous women, girls and two-spirit folks that is so deeply rooted in our history here in Canada?

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Ms. Jenny Kwan

Dec/7/22 10:25:19 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have to say that there is no question in my mind that it is colonialism that is the root cause of this. There is no question that governments and the successive governments allow for the genocide to continue, which is also the ongoing problem of the situation. When everybody in the House got up to say that they hear the families, they see them and hear them, well then, I ask them to take action. Words are cheap, but lives are not cheap, and the lives of these indigenous women and girls and two-spirited people matter. They matter very much, and we need to honour them. We need to honour them from this perspective as well: They are the very first people who were the owners of this land, and we are their guests on their land. We need to honour them and respect them and take action. We do not need more words.

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Mr. Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre, NDP)

Dec/7/22 10:26:29 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we heard today the government side, unfortunately, frame this about hope, about these communities demanding hope. However, I do not recall there being 231 demands for hope. There were 231 demands for justice, demands for action. I would love for the hon. member, in her closing remarks, to explore why it is important that we do not just sit here with platitudes, offering talking points about hope, but that this government takes responsibility for taking clear and targeted steps towards action.

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