44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 20, 2024 02:00PM
- Mar/20/24 2:34:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first nations, Métis and Inuit communities across Canada are slipping further behind. Kids cannot access health services, and homes are falling apart. What are the Liberals doing? They are threatening to cut billions in services communities rely on. If it were up to the Conservative leader, Indigenous Services would be gutted altogether. The Liberals and Conservatives always seem to find ways to make rich CEOs even richer but never find money for real people.
Will the Prime Minister honour his commitments to indigenous people or leave them out to dry?
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- Mar/20/24 2:34:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are unequivocally committed, and have been since 2015, to working in partnership with first nations, Inuit and Métis communities across the country to advance self-determination and reconciliation. We have tripled investments in indigenous housing, mental health, access to clean drinking water and jobs, to contribute to economic reconciliation.
We have also moved forward to compensate first nations children and families who suffered under the discriminatory child welfare system. We have built over 30,000 homes since 2016, and we recently announced that we will move forward in creating an indigenous loans support program.
There is, of course, much more to do, but we will keep doing it.
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- Mar/20/24 2:36:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have made historic investments in housing and indigenous communities after decades of wrongful underfunding by previous governments of all stripes. We are working every single day to do more.
We are committed to working in partnership with first nations and their communities. We thank the Auditor General for her work and her report, and we will continue to move forward to do even more in partnership with indigenous people across this country.
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- Mar/20/24 2:55:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have demonstrated from day one that we are there to work with the provinces to invest in the care economy, whether it is commitments to raise personal support worker wages to $25 an hour, whether it is through our historic child care agreements that are creating wage grids for early childhood educators or whether it is moving forward on strengthening support for indigenous communities and for care workers in and from indigenous communities, we will continue to be there.
We recognize there is more work to do. We are there to do it, hand in hand with the different jurisdictions across the country.
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- Mar/20/24 5:11:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is worth noting that reconciliation is incredibly important for our nation to be able to move forward with a variety of projects.
I am very disappointed that this bill came forward despite efforts by Conservatives to bring in amendments regarding economic reconciliation. That is truly a way forward and will allow indigenous communities to be partners in prosperity. They were rejected at every step.
Why have they decided to move closure yet again rather than allowing us to continue having debate? It is an absolute disservice to the indigenous communities, specifically in my riding of Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, that came to committee asking for economic reconciliation to be considered. Why is the minister so opposed to economic reconciliation, and why will the Liberals not reconsider?
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Madam Speaker, a national council for truth and reconciliation is an essential step forward. It is right in line with the calls to action.
I was very proud to have my first committee experience with the hon. minister, who was the parliamentary secretary at the time. We discussed the preambles to Bill C-29 in meetings. Actually, it is disappointing that we are still discussing it after four and a half years, when indigenous communities right across this country are relying on us for action.
The Conservatives will use attacks to say we cannot get this done, while they simultaneously delay. I want to ensure that Canadians are aware of the fact that there are members of the House of Commons who claim that the government cannot get things like this done but simultaneously extend and prolong debate, complaining when closure is the necessary next step in order to get it done.
Could my colleague, the hon. minister, speak to the importance of this for indigenous communities from coast to coast to coast?
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Madam Speaker, it is disappointing that the Liberals would impose time allocation on this.
One of the real challenges that has been highlighted time and time again in Bill C-29 is that the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, although acknowledged as a national indigenous organization, has been left out of the proposed council. The organization has been very vocal about the disappointment in that regard.
While there have been continual calls to ensure that the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples is included in the council and the conversations surrounding Bill C-29, that organization has been specifically excluded. This means that many indigenous peoples across Canada, who are not necessarily represented by the other organizations that will have a seat at the table, are excluded.
To the minister, very specifically: Why has the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples been excluded?
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- Mar/20/24 5:25:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to circle back, if I could, to the exclusion of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. What is very disappointing from the minister's answer is he does not want to relitigate, which was his word, this concern, when according to Statistics Canada there are about 800,000, almost a million, indigenous people across Canada who would not be represented by the organizations on the council.
With due respect to the minister, with regard to the 800,000 Canadians not represented by those on the council, does he suggest that it is not worth continuing the Conservative fight, at the very least, to ensure that those voices are included on the council for reconciliation?
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- Mar/20/24 5:30:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is very curious to me. I do think that on issues of reconciliation, on issues involving the rights of indigenous people, there is a moral imperative for all of us to come together. This is a plea I want to make because I know sometimes we get sidetracked by politics, but this is as simple as it gets. This should not offend anyone.
This is something that, ultimately, I do believe the Conservative Party will vote in favour of, but I think that obstructing this particular piece of legislation is a really bad sign of reconciliation. I do not think that something like establishing a national council for truth and reconciliation should be held up any longer. The first day of debate on it was September 21, 2022; that is almost two years ago.
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- Mar/20/24 5:33:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I actually find this really disingenuous from both sides. The Auditor General just spoke out about the Liberals' not investing enough in indigenous housing, calling the situation deplorable.
On Monday I was in committee, and we were talking about child welfare. The Conservatives were in the committee trying to obstruct the study of Bill C-92 on reconciliation, on providing and upholding the right of indigenous people to regain our self-determination over matters impacting our children. They were trying to hold up a committee with a carbon tax motion and were calling it urgent, when we have kids being murdered, pipelines and MMIWG, and kids going missing through the child welfare system. I find it very difficult.
We are talking about residential schools. There are lots of things the Conservatives can obstruct. I certainly hope that they are not using residential school survivors to obstruct a bill that needs to pass. If there is anything more scummy than that, it is obstructing the progression of lifting up the voices of residential school survivors.
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- Mar/20/24 5:35:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am curious how the conversation has evolved from that minister over the course of this debate, and he suggested that, while all parties, including the Liberals at committee, voted to ensure that this council would be as inclusive of all indigenous voices as possible, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples should simply follow their process. However, and this is very interesting, he says that their loyalty will not be to their organizations but to the board.
I am concerned with the evolution of the language that has taken place over this half hour, which is exactly the reason a fulsome debate is required in this place. I would certainly call into question the suggestion that the Liberals have somehow settled all outstanding issues on the bill when, clearly, they do not have all the questions answered.
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