44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 2, 2023 10:00AM
- 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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- May/2/23 8:03:59 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I would agree with my hon. colleague that we do need justice reform. I appreciated her mention of the incarceration rate of indigenous women in prisons and its impact on family. I did have the privilege to meet with her and the minister the other day about a red dress alert. Very central to our conversation was the need to centre advocates, women, family members and survivors of violence in the discussion to lead the way, in terms of implementing a red dress alert.
However, I cannot stress enough that we do not have time to talk. We need the political will to get this red dress alert in place as soon as possible. Just in the past couple of days, we have seen the loss of an eight-year-old girl and another young woman from Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation. I send my condolences to the Roulette family.
We are not disposable in this country, and should we go missing, we must be found urgently. We know the systems are in place. We know the system to do this is the same system that would be used for amber alerts and for weather alerts.
I want to ask my hon. colleague how committed her government is to getting this red dress alert put in place quickly. We know that everything is in place. It just takes political will, so I would like to give that question to my colleague.
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- May/2/23 8:37:50 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, here we are, two years later, and tomorrow still has not come.
This is an issue that hits home in my community. I have talked about this in the past, but it certainly warrants repeating. Cileana Taylor was 22 years old when she was assaulted in September 2020. Her brain injury left her in a coma for five months. She died in February 2021. The man who assaulted Cileana was not charged with murder and he is currently walking free on the street.
What happened to Cileana and what continues to happen in this country to indigenous women is an injustice. It is shameful and it rests solely on the backs of the inaction of this Prime Minister and the Liberal government's failed catch-and-release bail system. Indigenous women's and girls' lives matter. Cileana's life matters. The calls for justice are not photo ops and they are not optional. They are necessary to create the substantial and systemic change necessary to end the ongoing violence.
There is something we can do today. It is a simple, actionable item. We have an Amber Alert and it helps find children quickly by leveraging technology. A red dress alert can do the same. It is a simple, actionable item that every single member in this House can get behind. While we wait for these actionable items to be put into place, why not try something tangible that we can put in place today? A red dress alert would stop indigenous women from being murdered and going missing. It seems pretty simple.
Enough is enough. We need action. I stand in solidarity with all the members in this House tonight to say that a red dress alert is something we can get behind. We need to stop indigenous women from going missing and being murdered.
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- May/2/23 9:06:53 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member for her ongoing advocacy and her always eloquent and heartfelt interventions in this House.
I remember the terrible debate on the convoy and how diligent the member was in fighting for justice and fighting for the feeling of safety that had been lost in this town.
I think we are fighting an ongoing tragedy across this country and it is an emergency. However, it means that everybody has to see themselves in the solutions. It means that everybody has to know to call out discrimination and deal with it every day of their lives, not just on May 5 or October 4, but every day of the year.
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- May/2/23 9:28:24 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank the member for all of her work. She spoke about the 231 calls for justice. One of those calls for justice is for a universal basic income. I spoke to an indigenous woman whose mother was murdered. She said that this would not have happened to her mom if she had had the economic support that she needed. It is such a critical piece of this conversation. I would love to hear the member's thoughts on that call for justice.
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- May/2/23 9:39:32 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I rise today, in this take-note debate, aware that we are gathered on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
On Friday, we recognize Red Dress Day, the national day of awareness, a day dedicated to honouring the memory of the thousands of indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people who have disappeared or been murdered in Canada. We join their families, their communities and the survivors in mourning those we have lost. Red Dress Day is dedicated to acknowledging the conditions the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls so rightly called “a national tragedy of epic proportions”. The national inquiry was launched in 2016, and on June 3, 2019, the final report, entitled “Reclaiming Power and Place”, was tabled. The report represented 231 individual calls for justice directed at government, institutions, social service providers, industry and all Canadians. These calls for justice cover issues ranging from health to language and from culture to security.
In budget 2021, our government responded by investing $2.2 billion over five years to implement the MMIWG national action plan, which was developed in partnership with indigenous people across the country. This $2.2 billion included $16.6 million over six years for the establishment of a permanent MMIWG secretariat, which works with indigenous partners, families and survivors to ensure their perspectives are reflected in the development and implementation of the national action plan. It also engages with other federal departments and agencies to ensure that their policies and programs are aligned with the national action plan so that our government advances a more comprehensive and effective approach.
Budget 2021 also provided $12.5 million over five years, with $2.5 million ongoing for families and survivors; $36.3 million over five years with $8.6 ongoing for capacity funding for indigenous women and 2SLGBTQ+ organizations; and $120.5 million over two years for indigenous cultural space projects. I understand that the minister was, today, talking about some of our new investments in budget 2023 that I am proud of. Together, these investments provide assistance not only to families and survivors, but also to the frontline organizations that provide safe, no-barrier and permanent places where the voices of indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people can be expressed openly, without fear, in an atmosphere of trust and respect. These investments have supported 66 projects across the country, including longhouses, women's lodges, powwow grounds, heritage parks and cultural centres, as well as facilities to support cultural ceremonies and teachings.
I would also like to highlight some of the work being done in Nova Scotia for indigenous women. Thanks to an investment of over $6.5 million through the green and inclusive community buildings program, the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association will soon open a resilience centre in Truro, Nova Scotia. A first of its kind, the centre will include healing circles, family group conferences, a day care and other resources to ensure that indigenous women who are escaping violent situations or sexual exploitation have a safe space they can rely on. This was a project I advocated for, in support of calls from the Atlantic Chiefs and the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association, to ensure women have access to safe and culturally appropriate supports and spaces in our communities.
I would also like to highlight another recent project from Nova Scotia, in Membertou First Nation. The Mi’kmaw Circle of Hope Society is an indigenous organization that connects women and girls to traditional practices and teachings, connects them to community, provides mentorship and facilitates healing. With support from Women and Gender Equality Canada, this organization will receive more than $477,000 in funding to prevent and address gender-based violence against indigenous women and girls.
One of the last projects I would like to highlight is one that is really close to me because I worked on this personally when I became the MP for Sydney—Victoria. It is a project involving creating awareness through music for the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls calls to justice. It was highlighted by Canadian rock Hall of Famer Myles Goodwyn, in collaboration with two Mi'kmaw young women from Nova Scotia, Deedee Austin and Kalolin Johnson, who, together, created a video to share and create awareness about missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. It also features the Mi'kmaw language. I think it is one of the greatest tools we have for creating awareness.
I know I do not have much more time, and so I would encourage people, on Red Dress Day, to take a look at the video for Darling, Where Are You? by Myles Goodwyn. Sharing that will create a lot of awareness toward indigenous women. I am proud of my part in coordinating those efforts.
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- May/2/23 10:00:28 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the hon. member spoke quite a bit about repeat offenders and about the tough-on-crime approach Conservatives like to talk about these days.
We are here on Red Dress Day to talk about murdered and missing indigenous women and girls, and I think informing our discussion must be the calls for justice from the national inquiry, which took place just a few years ago. I have read through those calls for justice. When they come to police reforms in our justice system, I do not see calls for the kinds of changes the member talked about in her speech. How does she reconcile the gap between what she is talking about this evening and what we are hearing from the national inquiry and those calls for justice?
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