SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 217

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 20, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 217 - Jun/20/23
Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)
  • Jun/20/23 4:51:50 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-18 
Madam Speaker, as much as I am tempted to ask my hon. colleague what those solutions are now, and I am sure Canadians probably want to know what they are now, I digress, because I am not quite certain. As the member is reluctant to give them today, I hope he may provide them to everyone here in writing. I want to make a quick differentiation about something that, for a long time, New Democrats have called for; this is the difference between the needs and the wants of Canadians. The member speaks directly to the market. As a matter of fact, we need to ensure that a market is well-balanced to ensure that the things Canadians actually need to obtain to live, such as food, water, homes and, in this case, good information, are actually available to them. The member did not speak directly to the concern that I think is important in this legislation, which is why I think we can probably agree that there needs to be a process ensuring that our small businesses, particularly news outlets in small rural communities, can actually get the information they are working for produced on to the websites people are seeing the news on. This is important for small communities, because people are doing the work. They are doing the journalism in their communities to talk about the good work happening, whether it is in Edson, Drayton Valley or Fishing Lake, so that when people go to the news, they can actually have access to it. Right now, these companies are saying that they will not, and they are benefiting to the tune of nearly $10 billion. Could the member speak to how important it is to balance those two?
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Context: House Hansard - 217 - Jun/20/23
Mr. Vance Badawey (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous Services, Lib.)
  • Jun/20/23 10:02:44 p.m.
  • Watch
Madam Speaker, I want to acknowledge that I am speaking from the traditional territory of the Algonquin and Anishinabe peoples. Safe and affordable housing provides the safety and security that families need to learn, live and play. Indigenous peoples are more likely to experience poor housing conditions and overcrowding than the general population. This is unacceptable. Over the past year and a half, I have visited communities throughout the country, especially in the north and Nunavut, and met with families who are struggling to find decent and affordable housing, but there are success stories too in communities that are using new investments to build housing that matches the needs of their communities. Our government has been hard at work to ensure that indigenous peoples have the same access to safe and secure housing as other Canadians. Since 2015, the government has committed more than $7 billion in funding for first nations, Inuit and Métis housing. We have now built or renovated nine houses for every one house built under the Stephen Harper Conservative government and we have fixed the gap left by the previous government by investing in off-reserve urban, rural and northern housing, which received zero funding from the Conservatives. In budget 2023, we provided investments to improve housing for indigenous peoples living in urban, rural and northern areas. We are investing $4 billion over seven years, starting in 2024-25, to implement a co-developed urban, rural and northern indigenous housing strategy. In last year's budget, the government invested an additional $4.3 billion to support housing in first nations, Inuit and Métis Nation communities. The funding includes $2.4 billion over five years to support first nations housing on reserve, $565 million over five years to support housing in self-governing and modern treaty holder first nations communities, $845 million over seven years to support housing in Inuit communities and $190 million over seven years for housing in Métis communities. The 2022 budget also included $300 million for urban, rural and northern housing. Earlier this month, the member for Nunavut joined the Minister of Indigenous Services Canada and others to announce the transfer of $287.1 million for an indigenous, by indigenous approach to fund housing projects in urban, rural and northern settings, a historic change driven by a commitment to self-determination. We are starting to see some results. Census 2021 data shows that, since 2016, the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous populations living in crowded housing declined by 1.7%. As members can see, the government has been taking concrete action to work with partners and improve the housing situation for indigenous people across this great nation.
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