Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: May I ask a question?

Senator Dalphond: Yes, with pleasure.

Senator Patterson: Thank you.

[Translation]

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Senator Gold, phase 4 funding of the Indigenous Community Support Fund, or ICSF, was announced in June 2021.

However, the funding has only just been received by regional Inuit organizations.

The total amount for Nunavut is over $30 million, of which the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, or QIA, my region’s Inuit organization, has been allocated $11.7 million. The intended use of these funds will be to help secure our communities against the ever-prevalent impacts of COVID-19. I have been advised by the QIA that they, along with the other two regional organizations in Nunavut, urgently require confirmation that their ICSF agreement will be extended into 2022-23, as has been done in previous phases.

I submit that it’s unreasonable and impractical for the Government of Canada to provide substantial and fundamental investments to Inuit without consideration for the sufficient time needed to provide vital supports.

My question, Senator Gold, is simple: Will the government confirm that this critical funding can be carried over into the 2022-23 fiscal year in order for Inuit to adequately address and respond to COVID-19?

Senator Patterson: Senator Gold, I appreciate your willingness to inquire into this urgent matter, but this is not the first time we’ve heard of promised funding flowing into the hands of those who need it so late in the fiscal year that it leaves them scrambling. As I said earlier, phases of ICSF funding also had to be extended. Chasing down these extensions puts additional and unnecessary strain on organizational capacity. Is the government willing to put measures in place to ensure that funding is flowing in a timely manner, relieving partners like the QIA of the burden of chasing down extensions? Shouldn’t carry-overs, for instance, be automatic if funding is only received well into Q4 of a fiscal year?

Senator Patterson: Senator Dalphond, thank you for the enlightening reasons for this bill in which you describe the history of the districts in Quebec assigned to senators. I would like to ask you, Senator Dalphond, do you believe that the senatorial districts in Quebec are historical anomalies not consistent with the modern democratic and much larger province of Quebec?

Senator Dalphond: Thank you, Senator Patterson, for this very interesting and excellent question. I know you are one of those in this place who have been looking seriously at this qualification criteria of senators and the necessity to have property in specific provinces, a phenomenon which in Quebec has been increased significantly by this provision of the Constitution Act that says any senator from Quebec must reside or own property within the limits of the electoral divisions. It’s called electoral divisions, not even senatorial divisions. The 24 electoral divisions have existed since 1856.

You’re absolutely right that the 24 senators from Quebec must own property, but we must own property in a specific part of the province or reside in that specific part, which is not the case for most of us because we reside most likely in another part of the province.

Also, as you pointed out very rightly, it leads to a kind of absurdity. The province of Lower Canada, in 1856, was located on both sides of the St. Lawrence River going up to the gulf. After that, federal territories were ceded to the province of Quebec, including the whole northern part of Quebec. So you have about two thirds of provincial superficies with no senators. That map and these divisions correspond to a province that does not exist anymore.

I certainly support your attempt and your motion to try to initiate a constitutional amendment to change that, and certainly — unfortunately for Quebec — this is part of the historical compromise and will require not only that this Parliament modify the Constitution, but also that the Quebec National Assembly agrees to abolish these 24 divisions, which represent only about one third of the surface of Quebec and exclude all of the First Nations that are located in the rest of that province.

Fortunately, we can still have representatives of the First Nations in this house, but they are appointed for a division which is not necessarily the natural fit for their belonging. That’s something that should be corrected. Certainly, I agree with you.