SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 303 - Apr/19/24

Apr/19/24 12:20:27 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the petition I am tabling is for the Government of Canada to apologize to Black Canadians for its role in chattel enslavement in Canada. Specifically, four items are noted in the petition: first, chattel enslavement was initiated over 400 years ago to assemble a cheap, ready and usable workforce that was dehumanized and dispersed globally; second, in colonial Canada, King Louis XIV's Code Noir became law in 1743 and required both indigenous and Black slaves brought into the French colony to be considered the possessions of those who purchased them; third, Great Britain further supported the practice of chattel enslavement after the French in 1759; and fourth, following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1834, and after the Dominion of Canada was created in 1867, systemic racism continued, thereby perpetuating the practice of discriminating beliefs in societal institutions, organizations and legislation, which treated Black people as marginal and inferior. Therefore, these petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to finally do the right thing and apologize to Black Canadians for the centuries of mistreatment and racism in Canada. I thank Elise Harding-Davis for bringing this petition forward.

191 words

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North, Lib.)

Apr/19/24 12:21:27 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, just recently, WestJet announced new international flights, along with some domestic flights, one of which is direct to Ottawa, but it is encouraging when international airlines expand services, and that is what this petition is all about. Petitioners are asking to have airlines take a look, along with the government, at ways in which we can enhance direct flight services to Europe, in particular to India. Ideally, we would speak to WestJet and others to encourage them to consider looking at those direct flights from Winnipeg to India.

90 words

Mr. Mel Arnold (North Okanagan—Shuswap, CPC)

Apr/19/24 12:22:16 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to present a number of petitions on behalf of residents of the North Okanagan—Shuswap and other Canadians. The first one states that, whereas Canadians with mental health issues should be provided with treatment and support, and mental illness can be complex and include suicidal thoughts and symptoms, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada call upon the House of Commons to reverse the law extending eligibility for MAID to people with mental illness as their sole medical condition.

88 words

Mr. Mel Arnold (North Okanagan—Shuswap, CPC)

Apr/19/24 12:23:55 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill S-210

Mr. Speaker, the next petition I have is, again, signed by residents of North Okanagan—Shuswap and Canadians. It states that sexually explicit material, including demeaning material and material depicting sexual violence, can easily be accessed on the Internet by young persons. The petitioners, therefore, call upon the House of Commons to adopt Bill S-210 to protect young persons from exposure to pornography.

65 words

Mr. Mel Arnold (North Okanagan—Shuswap, CPC)

Apr/19/24 12:23:55 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the final three petitions, and I have risen numerous times on this issue, are presented because people are concerned about the way the Liberal-NDP government has overreached into their lives, especially when it comes to access to natural health products. The petitioners call upon the Minister of Health to work with the natural health products industry and adjust Health Canada's cost revenue recovery rates to accurately reflect clear operations and be run smoothly.

77 words

Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)

Apr/19/24 12:24:03 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I am rising to present a petition with nearly 2,000 signatories, who are calling on the government to uphold and protect abortion rights in Canada. Conservative members have presented anti-abortion legislation, and with the rise of anti-abortion legislation in the United States, Canadians must be vigilant in upholding this vital right. The lives of women and gender minorities rely on access to safe and legal abortions.

71 words

Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)

Apr/19/24 12:25:36 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition with well over 500 signatures. The right to bargain is a constitutional right. The petitioners are calling on the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority to cease interfering with industrial relations and all contractors, to meet their duties as an employer and to reverse the decision by CATSA to disqualify 27 screening officers at the Victoria airport. These workers were unjustly terminated without due process. The petitioners are asking for justice.

78 words

Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)

Apr/19/24 12:25:36 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I also rise to present a paper petition that constituents have signed on the mistreatment and discrimination facing people who are experiencing homelessness and the unhoused population. While government is funding NGOs, petitioners are calling for housing-first solutions and are concerned about the violence this population faces from police and other people with more power. The petitioners call on the House of Commons to implement a federal law against the discrimination of homeless people in Canada and to make it illegal to confiscate their property.

88 words

Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

Apr/19/24 12:25:41 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today. The first petition is on behalf of constituents who are calling to the attention of the government the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has warned us repeatedly that rising temperatures over the next two decades will bring widespread devastation and extreme weather. The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to move forward immediately with bold emissions caps for the oil and gas sector that are comprehensive in scope and realistic in achieving the necessary targets that Canada has set to reduce emissions by 2030.

96 words

Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

Apr/19/24 12:27:02 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the second petition I am presenting today is from farmers primarily from the riding to the north of mine, which is Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston. They are bringing to the attention of the government that the abattoir that was located at the Joyceville Institution was shut down a number of months ago. As a result, there are no longer options to utilize an abattoir within the local area of Kingston. As such, these farmers have to bring their cattle to abattoirs that are a much further distance away. The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to explore all options to ensure that the abattoir located at the Joyceville Institution is reopened to address the issues noted above.

122 words

Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)

Apr/19/24 12:27:09 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I am tabling two petitions today on behalf of constituents in my riding. The first petition calls on the federal government, which has already issued sanctions against the Russian Federation, to also name the Russian Federation as a foreign state supporting terrorism and to list it as a state sponsor of terror under specific legislation related to terrorism and the State Immunity Act.

65 words

Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)

Apr/19/24 12:28:43 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is very dear to my heart, because I am a member of the Calgary Co-op. The Government of Canada has made illegal single-use plastics across the country as of December 2023, including the Calgary Co-op's 100% compostable shopping bags. This is despite the fact that the Calgary Co-op states that its bags contain no plastic, including no plastic in the ink, and that those non-plastic bags are engineered to break down at the local composting facility that the City of Calgary owns within a 28-day time frame. There is no waste and no plastic. The Calgary Co-op says that its bags are truly popular with its members and are often reused as bin liners for household organic waste, constituting a second use. The Calgary Co-op has successfully kept over 100 million plastic bags out of landfills with the use of its compostable shopping bags. It is also signalling to the Government of Canada that this is an unnecessary ban that sends signals to stifle the adoption and development of environmentally responsible products. Therefore, the petitioners are asking that the Government of Canada recognize that compostable bags do not constitute single-use plastics and are therefore worthy of an exemption from this ban.

216 words

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Apr/19/24 12:28:55 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all questions be allowed to stand at this time, please.

16 words

Stand
Ask

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie)

Apr/19/24 12:29:03 p.m.
Watch

Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

7 words

Ms. Niki Ashton (Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, NDP)

Apr/19/24 12:29:30 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-29

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to debate Bill C-29, an act to provide for the establishment of a national council for reconciliation. If enacted, this would ensure a non-partisan, arm's-length organization that would hold the government of the day to its commitments to reconciliation. This is needed, because the government shows less of a commitment to reconciliation every year. Let us look at the Liberal record. Last year, not one Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendation was implemented. Out of the 94 calls to action, only 13 have been accomplished. The government promised to end long-term boil water advisories more than three years ago, but there is still no end in sight. This year is looking even worse. What has happened with the government’s most important relationship, we might ask? We can just look at this past week. The Minister of Finance could not even bring herself to utter the word “indigenous” or “reconciliation” in her speech introducing the budget. However, given her rhetoric over the last year, why would she? Indigenous peoples spent months hearing the government threaten sunsetting and cuts to the services that they and their communities rely on. Programs, services and grants that people rely on were threatened, including Jordan’s principle and dealing with the harmful legacy of residential schools. It took NDP pressure to reverse many of those cuts. This is how low the bar is set with the government, opposing cuts in the face of a $350-billion infrastructure gap. Instead of proposing a wealth tax or an excess profit tax on people such as Mirko Bibic, Galen Weston or Arthur Irving, the government consciously chose to spend less than 1% of what is needed to end the housing crisis on first nations. Despite all their bluster, big oil does not need to beg the government for handouts. Galen Weston certainly does not. Bell gets all the money it needs to give away in fat bonuses and shareholder dividends while laying off thousands of workers. However, first nations are treated as an afterthought in this budget. It really boggles the mind. The government recently co-authored a report that made clear how badly federal governments, whether Liberal or Conservative, have just fundamentally failed first nations. If one doubled the number of homes in first nations communities, the report said, there would still not be enough to meet the housing demand. Upon releasing the report with the AFN, the Liberals decided to completely ignore it. The Liberals know that they will not hit the 2030 goal to end the housing crisis for first nations. Their department officials have admitted as much, but the Liberal MPs will not admit it, nor will the ministers responsible or the Prime Minister. Communities such as the ones here in northern Manitoba live this reality every day. They know it well. That is why Grand Chief Cathy Merrick said, in response to this budget, that it will be a cold day in hell before the infrastructure gap facing first nations is ended. That is why the AFN National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak is calling for a first ministers meeting this year to discuss a path forward on reconciliation, because the government is just not getting the work done. Let us be honest about what a $350-billion infrastructure gap looks like. There is Shamattawa First Nation, where the housing crisis is so bad, the community has had to deal with tuberculosis outbreaks. In fact, here in northern Manitoba, over the last number of years, we have had higher rates of tuberculosis than have some parts of sub-Saharan Africa. There is Tataskweyak Cree Nation, where the government so fundamentally failed in delivering clean water that it had to fight the first nation in court. There is Pimicikamak Cree Nation, which has a 2,000-family wait-list for homes. There is also the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, which has a 700-family wait-list for homes. There is Wasagamack, one of the most isolated communities in the country. It is still waiting for the federal government to step up and work with the community and the province to build a desperately needed airport. Communities on the east side of Manitoba, on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, are paying the price for climate change. They have no choice but to rely on ice roads, which are increasingly unreliable because of the shortened winter season. They have made it clear to the federal government that they need all-weather roads but the federal government has made no commitment to working with them to help build the roads. There is the Island Lake region, where the population is similar to that of my hometown of Thompson. Thousands of people live in the region; they still do not have a hospital or an all-weather road. The housing infrastructure gap, which I would call a crisis, is pervasive in first nations here in Manitoba and for many first nations across the country. Communities need housing, elders' care homes, day cares, health centres, water treatment plants and emergency preparedness-related infrastructure. They need to improve existing roads and build new ones so they can fight to survive climate change. Many of these stories are rooted here in my constituency in northern Manitoba, on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, but we know they are repeated across the country. Indigenous peoples are almost three times more likely to live in a home in need of major repair. More than half of first nations do not have regular access to high-speed Internet, and roughly 15% have none at all. We need to be honest with ourselves. This is keeping indigenous communities poor, and it is a choice by the federal government. Every time the government looks the other way on a tax loophole, every time we buy fridges for Galen Weston or give billions of dollars to big oil, that is money we are not spending on the people and communities most in need. The sad reality is that the government only steps up when it is court-ordered to do so. In fact, budget 2024 outlined $57 billion in settlement money, as if it were a huge success by the government and not a situation where it fought first nations, Inuit and Métis people every step of the way to deny them justice. To be honest, it is clear that the government is laying the groundwork for future class-action lawsuits against it. One can only imagine what is coming on the housing front. The Auditor General recently released a report on the housing crisis on reserve, and it came out that Indigenous Services has been using the wrong census data, data from 2001. This has effectively robbed first nations, particularly in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, of the housing dollars they deserve, for up to a quarter of a billion dollars. Did the Minister of Indigenous Services or the Prime Minister rush to right that wrong, to get that money into the hands of communities that had a right to it? No, when he was asked about it, the Prime Minister instead refused to even entertain the idea that they ever would. That is another example of the government fundamentally failing first nations and one that will likely end in a class-action lawsuit, something it deeply deserves. In contrast, we have a Conservative Party that never saw a tax break for billionaires it did not love. The last time the leader of the official opposition was in government, the Conservatives gave away $60 billion in corporate tax cuts.

1277 words

Ms. Niki Ashton

Apr/19/24 12:39:16 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-29

On the day the previous prime minister delivered a public apology to survivors of residential schools, years ago, the current Conservative leader, the leader of the official opposition, said that he was not sure Canada was “getting value for all of this money”. It was money being spent to compensate survivors, and his view was that “we need to engender the values of hard work and independence and self-reliance. That's the solution in the long run—more money will not solve it”. I challenge the leader of the official opposition to come to first nations like the ones I represent, where kids were abused, where kids died and where families are still dealing with the poisonous and destructive legacy of the residential school system. I challenge the leader of the official opposition to look people in the face and to say that Canada is the victim here and that Canada is the one that did not get its value. Shame on him. However, it is not just him who does not understand the harmful legacy of residential schools. The reality is that we are now approaching three years since Canadians learned what first nations across the country already knew: the existence of mass grave sites near residential schools. However, the government is still not supporting communities with the resources they need to bring their children home. Communities like Cross Lake and others wanted to work with the International Commission on Missing Persons. The work has already begun. However, before it could move forward, the government ended the contract, and now Cross Lake and other communities are forced to start over; it is justice delayed. Despite his claims that he wants to support communities, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations has done virtually nothing to assist first nations that want to work with the ICMP, a global leader when it comes to uncovering mass graves. He has done virtually nothing to assist first nations that desperately want to work to uncover the truth and to bring their children home. In Sagkeeng First Nation, an employee recently found bones while digging a trench for a water pipe to a church addition. The area was not part of any known cemetery. The community wants to work with the International Commission on Missing Persons. They have asked CIRNAC for support, but have not received any. People across our north see through the government's empty use of the word “reconciliation”. People across our north want to see action. The NDP will continue to call out the government when it fails indigenous peoples and when it talks a good talk, especially on reconciliation, while refusing to follow through in terms of action. We are proud to support this bill, Bill C-29, but recognize that the monitoring process, or lack thereof, will not create the change indigenous peoples need to see. Here, in our part of the country, people are clear. Indigenous leaders, elders, youth and advocates are clear that what they need to see is action: an end to third-world living conditions, true change in the face of the climate emergency, and real investment to make life better. They deserve action. They deserve justice, and we should recognize and act on nothing less.

549 words

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Apr/19/24 12:43:06 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-29

Mr. Speaker, I suspect the member will actually be voting in favour of Bill C-29. I believe it is a commitment that is being fulfilled as one of the 94 calls for action. I have found it quite pleasing to know, as a government, that the member cannot cite any other leader of a political party who has done more to move in a substantive way than the Prime Minister of Canada has over the last nine years. I know the moment I sit down, she is going to continue to be critical of the government, and that is what she is allowed to do. The reality is that, on the calls for action, we see 80% of them being acted on and many of them have been completed, and this is a government that, from day one, has made a commitment, with first nations, to ensure that we move forward on the calls for action. Will she confirm she is supporting the bill?

165 words

Ms. Niki Ashton

Apr/19/24 12:44:20 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, in response to the question, I made clear in my speech that we are supporting the bill, but I am not sure about the member's statements with respect to the historic nature of the Prime Minister's action vis-à-vis indigenous peoples. We can look no further than the fact that the Minister of Finance did not even say the word “indigenous” once, or the word “reconciliation”, in this week's budget. As well, there is the fact that less than 1% of what is needed was invested in first nations housing and infrastructure, given that the recently uncovered $350-billion gap is nothing to write home about. I know this member is from Manitoba, and he knows well the infrastructure gap first nations face. Clearly, his government's budget and its ongoing approach are nowhere near what we need to see when it comes to closing the infrastructure gap for Manitobans, especially indigenous peoples.

163 words

Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

Apr/19/24 12:45:19 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if my hon. colleague was as shocked as I was by the comments of praise given to his own government by the member for Winnipeg North. I want to build on what the member was saying about how the word indigenous was not even mentioned once by the finance minister. The fact that the government gave more money to deal with auto theft in this budget than it did to finding murdered and missing indigenous women and girls is sending a very clear message to indigenous people that it values cars more than it values us. That is how crass the government has been. We know we are billions of dollars short to deal with the housing gap. We know there continues to be boil water advisories. However, I want to speak specifically about the north. We are in the middle of a climate emergency. The government is watching in real time resources not being able to get to communities, and it is a becoming a crisis, yet the government has failed to act. How concerned are communities in the north about the failure of governments to deal with this growing crisis?

198 words

Ms. Niki Ashton

Apr/19/24 12:46:46 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her championing of the calls for justice and for action for missing and murdered indigenous women. It is a stark condemnation of a Liberal plan to act on the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women, as well as the fact that there is more money available for stolen cars than there is for action on missing and murdered indigenous women in this budget. It is absolutely shocking. To the question on the climate emergency, we are on day two of what we refer to as “snowmagedden” here in northern Manitoba. We have had record snowfall, the likes of which we have never seen before at this time of year. The overall message has been that communities do not have the capacity to deal with what climate change is bringing, whether it is historic wildfires, historic flooding and this kind of precipitation. First nations are clear on the kinds of infrastructure investments they need to prepare in the face of climate change and mitigate the devastating impacts. Frankly, the only party that does not seem to get it is the federal government, which continues to ignore calls to work on the airport in Wasagamack, calls to invest in all-weather road infrastructure and calls to invest in emergency preparedness related to infrastructure. People are bracing themselves for what the summer will bring. The bottom line is that we need the federal government to step up and work with first nations now.

250 words