SoVote

Mrs. Tracy Gray (Kelowna—Lake Country, CPC)

May/2/23 3:00:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable that the Liberals think it is acceptable for open drug use where children play. The answer from the minister is completely out of touch with reality, and the reality is that the drug policies of the Liberal-NDP coalition are making our streets and parks less safe for families. Now municipalities across British Columbia, from Kelowna to Campbell River, are having to take action through bylaws and provincial advocacy, just to keep their communities safe. Again I will ask, when will the Liberals take public safety seriously?

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

Ms. Lori Idlout

May/2/23 7:07:40 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, hopefully, it would be Inuit, first nations and Métis who would be helping in the responses. Unfortunately, the social work services are also a very patriarchal system. They use the best interest of the child to apprehend children, so I cannot trust easily the social work system. Hopefully, it would be Inuit elders, Inuit people and indigenous peoples, who we know can help during these situations. Indigenous peoples have very collective communities, and they know who are the helpers in their communities. Those are the systems where the federal government needs to do better in tapping into as resources.

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

Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

May/2/23 8:46:33 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, one of the issues the member raised was about indigenous children who have been brought into care, and far too many of them have. In fact, in my home community of Vancouver East, our community call this the modern-day residential school where indigenous children have been taken into care. What is worse is that when they come out of care, they have zero support whatsoever, and many of them do not have access to housing. In fact, in British Columbia, 15% of the homeless population are youth. This is not acceptable. In the the “Calls for Justice” report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, there were 231 calls for justice, and housing was mentioned in that report numerous times. My question to the member is this: Should we not now have a dedicated approach on a for indigenous, by indigenous housing strategy that targets indigenous youth, particularly those who are coming out of care and those who are from the LGBTQ2+ community as well?

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

Ms. Michelle Ferreri

May/2/23 8:47:49 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, that is a great question. We had the opportunity, through the status of women committee when we were recently doing a tour studying human trafficking, to go to Sault Ste. Marie, and we visited a centre that oversaw indigenous care. It was an incredible facility, and speaking exactly to what my colleague was just asking about, it has increased indigenous children in care, which was up an extreme amount. However, with the money that was being spent, there was no housing. So, the member is extremely on point in terms of having access to the tools that are needed, housing and supportive housing. One of the things we do not talk enough about in this House of Commons is that housing is fine, but when we are dealing with people who have never been given the tools or knowledge, especially young children who have never been loved in the way they were supposed to be loved by no fault of their own, the parents' own, they need supports, they need connections and they need a lot of wraparound support. I definitely think we need to be focusing on that. To tie back to what I said earlier, we need to listen to the people who are dealing with these children on what their needs are so that we can make sure that we are giving them the right resources that they need.

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