SoVote

Hon. Marco Mendicino (Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)

May/2/23 2:35:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague across the aisle for highlighting the directive that this government has put in place to ensure transparency and accountability around decisions, which are taken independently by our non-partisan professional public servants when it comes to which classified information is made public and which must remain classified to protect the people who work in that space. This is not a partisan issue. We must all work together to defend the institutions, the communities and, most important, the parliamentarians who serve those institutions to protect our democracy.

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Context: House Hansard - 189 - May/2/23

Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

May/2/23 7:20:12 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I just want to start out by saying how much I appreciate working with my hon. colleague on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. We may be from different parties, but at the end of the day we all have a responsibility to end gender-based violence no matter who it is. In the case of indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and trans women, we know we are disproportionately represented. My colleague spoke about resource extraction. In our committee we spoke about how companies often come into communities and there is no accountability in place for them to ensure there is any safety put in place for communities, including for women and girls in the communities or in the nations they are reaping wealth out of. I am wondering if she can comment on that.

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Context: House Hansard - 189 - May/2/23

Hon. Marc Miller

May/2/23 7:57:20 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, clearly, there is a need for education. We know this from the clear record of failure of enforcement bodies across this country to serve indigenous peoples and protect them, for stronger reasons, that is still going on in this country. Absolutely, there is a need to continue that education, cultural sensitivity training and engagement with the community. There is a need to understand that reality and put in the same efforts that they put in with everyone else when they are looking for someone who goes missing. It is the most basic of requirements that we would ask for. We still see those forces failing. There are requirements for the guidance from the federal government, as well as our provincial counterparts. As for the calls to justice in the final report on MMIWG, what we have heard very clearly is that we need some form of accountability. That is why I moved, in January, to appoint Jennifer Moore Rattray to give us recommendations on an ombudsperson. Therefore, we can have a third party who is able to look at what the government is doing, what it is not doing and what it can do faster to make sure that we are properly responding to the calls to justice. I can stand here all day and talk to people, but, really, that level of trust is often missing toward people like me and the government. We need a third party to actually help us move along the way so that we can continue to implement those calls to justice, which are systemic in nature and require a thoughtful process as to how they actually get put into place.

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Context: House Hansard - 189 - May/2/23

Mr. Blake Desjarlais

May/2/23 8:30:09 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank the hon. member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith for her consistent advocacy. I had the opportunity to visit her community to speak directly with indigenous folks who are experiencing many of the difficult issues she has spoken about, particularly some of the issues related to murdered and missing women. What she spoke about just now is a sad and terrible truth. For 21 years, this woman has been missing. I was there, and I was able to feel her spirit in the people's advocacy with posters and signs. Her name was spoken daily in Nanaimo—Ladysmith when I went to visit. However, the solutions need to be solutions of accountability when it comes to ensuring that our sisters are found. The police need to take an honest and clear look in the mirror to understand what their obligations are. As a matter of fact, we need a national inquiry into the conduct of police when these things happen.

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