- Member of Parliament
- Minister of Justice
Attorney General of Canada
- Liberal
- Parkdale—High Park
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 64%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $120,537.19
- Government Page
- May/23/24 11:15:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would say a number of things. In terms of the tragic death of that woman, that is an absolute tragedy that I feel extreme sympathy for. My heart goes out to her family.
In terms of a response, we are working on a number of fronts. We are working on reimagining how we do policing and what policing is as an essential service. That is something that is governed by the Minister of Public Safety, and he is working on that.
Second, we are addressing systemic racism. We are calling it out by name. We are addressing systemic racism in policing, including in the RCMP.
Third, what I am doing specifically is working on an indigenous justice strategy that is targeted at curing the vast overrepresentation of indigenous people in both our court system and justice system, and in our correction system. That will help with addressing some of the circumstances that led to that fatality, which should have been avoided and needs to be avoided going forward.
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- May/23/24 11:12:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the passage of the UNDRIP through Parliament was historic. It created an annual reporting requirement and changed fundamentally the way we do business as a government.
The important involvement of indigenous people at the development stages, including through co-development, of legislation that has an impact or has a potential to impact on their rights is significant, and I have seen that in the work I am doing. I have seen that across 25 other departments that are touched upon by the UN declaration act action plan, which has 181 different measures.
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- May/23/24 11:06:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, I share this member's and the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford's concerns about the disproportionate impacts of criminal policy on racialized and vulnerable communities, such as the indigenous community. As I have already indicated, the Minister of Public Safety is the lead minister in this regard. He is working on a collaborative basis and with an expeditious approach to work with his provincial and territorial partners to address the deadline. We are fully aware of the deadline, and the Minister of Public Safety is seized with the matter.
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- May/23/24 10:37:56 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-5
Mr. Speaker, Bill C-5 dealt with a number of issues that relate to mandatory minimum penalties, including the overrepresentation of indigenous and Black people in our justice system.
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- May/23/24 9:54:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the answer to that is an absolute and resounding no. The investments made were at one third of the level of investments that we are making in indigenous communities and with rights holders around this country.
We have empowered national indigenous organizations. We have created permanent bilateral mechanisms. We launched the missing and murdered indigenous women's inquiry. We are responding to calls to action under the TRC and calls for justice under the MMIWG.
My office has created a special interlocutor to look at the unmarked graves and how to address that pressing issue. The work continues apace. The work will take time. It will take many generations to resolve.
However, we are on a path forward that is much more demonstrably palpable in terms of our willingness to collaborate, work in partnership with and, indeed, co-develop legislation with indigenous peoples. That is a hallmark of the way we need to work on the go-forward.
That is a hallmark of our government. We will continue on that path, despite sometimes facing considerable opposition by the official opposition.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for raising this, because I do not think we have talked enough about indigenous reconciliation in the context of this evening's interventions.
What Bill S-13 would do is simply and surgically amend the Interpretation Act, such that all federal legislation would be interpreted so as not to derogate from aboriginal and treaty rights that are protected under Section 35 of the Constitution.
Right now, we have a checkerboard, where every individual piece of legislation has to insert this interpretive provision. If we simply amend the Interpretation Act, it would oversee the interpretation of all federal legislation and obviate the need for doing so.
We have consulted on this. We have worked with indigenous leadership on this. We have a bill that has worked its way through the Senate. That bill is something that actually should command unanimous consent in this chamber. I hope we can expeditiously pass it to do right by aboriginal and treaty rights that are constitutionally protected and need to be interpreted in that manner.
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-40 represents a staggering change in the way we envisage wrongful convictions in this country. It would provide a new mechanism, a review commission, which would have the tools and resources to go out and find the cases. In the same time period, in the U.K., within a 20-year time frame, about 500 cases were unearthed that dealt with wrongful convictions. In the same time period in Canada, 27 cases were found.
I know the member to be a strong advocate of the indigenous community in this country. Among those 27 cases in Canada, five involved Black or indigenous men. Given the severe overrepresentation of Black and indigenous people in our justice system, that is a completely disproportionate statistic that is statistically improbable. Does it mean that, in the U.K., they are wrongfully convicting more people than we are in Canada? No, I think it means that we are not finding the cases here in Canada.
The bill, unfortunately, was obstructed at the justice committee, but it has now finally left the justice committee. Through it, we have the ability to make a fundamental change in how we deal with wrongful convictions in this country, providing the resources and the outreach capability to find the cases and bring innocent men and women to justice in this country, something that is long overdue.
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- Dec/11/23 11:01:45 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I appreciate the member opposite's comments in this House over many years, including in tonight's debate.
I would just point out, for the purposes of tonight's debate, that in terms of long-term boil water advisories, none exist any longer in her home province of British Columbia, which is important. In downtown Vancouver, an area that she represents, we are working with the Squamish Nation to build 3,000 new homes with a $1.4-billion loan program, which is really critical.
The question that I would put to her is as follows. We have heard in this chamber, particularly from the official opposition, a lot of attacks on a specific issue that affects the community that she represents, attacks on things like harm reduction and safe supply. For a member of Parliament who represents the community that includes the Downtown Eastside, I wonder if the member could comment on that, and how that connects to this debate about indigenous communities and indigenous services in Canada.
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- Dec/11/23 10:35:55 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member opposite for his contributions to this House and for his very sincere remarks this evening about his personal and lived experience.
I believe sincerely that on this side of the House we have made progress. However, I know we need to make faster progress and do more with respect to various aspects of reconciliation, particularly with respect to water. We inherited a situation with 105 drinking water advisories and there are now 28.
In the spirit of absolute openness, in my current role and portfolio, we are working on rolling out an indigenous justice strategy to cure the overrepresentation of indigenous communities in the justice system in Canada. I wonder if he could offer me some commentary with respect to his own lived experience and the experience of others with whom he is in contact regarding indigenous experiences in the justice system and how we can cure and improve issues for all Canadians.
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- Dec/11/23 10:20:04 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member opposite for his contribution to tonight's debate, and I do not doubt his sincerity about addressing the needs of his constituents, particularly the first nations that he represents. I also do not doubt the factual accounting that he outlined tonight about the severe climate events that are plaguing everyone in this country, particularly in his riding.
However, emergency preparedness is critical for all Canadians, particularly for indigenous Canadians suffering from the effects of climate action. There is an emergency management assistance program that is administered by Indigenous Services Canada. There was $216 million dedicated to that very program in the fall economic statement, which is the same statement that the member and his entire caucus voted against on Thursday and Friday morning. When $260 million was on the table to support his constituents, why did he not vote for it?
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- Mar/21/23 11:39:48 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member posed some questions earlier with respect to identifying issues that were much broader than just one particular part of the world. In fact, there are human rights violations occurring throughout the planet for which people need to be held accountable.
I know him to also be a strong advocate for indigenous rights. What has changed in the last four to five years is that we have attorn to the international convention UNDRIP. We have also domesticated that agreement by passing legislation in this chamber, on which he, I and many others in this chamber voted. With respect to UNDRIP, it talks to specific rights that are ascribed to indigenous people.
I want to put one of those rights to him and ask him whether that kind of promise and legislation can help fulfill the protection of human rights violations that relate to indigenous communities abroad. Article 26, paragraph 1, in the text of UNDRIP says, “Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired.”
Does that kind of legislative mechanism, which is now passed into law in Canada, provide him with some of the potential for enforcement of the rights of indigenous persons abroad who are affected by Canadian enterprises that are operating and violating their rights?
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- Feb/10/23 11:54:28 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we will agree on one thing: that all Canadians deserve safety and that their government needs to take their safety as a fundamental priority.
Where we do not agree is that there are foundational issues that relate to criminal justice problems and the overrepresentation of certain communities in our criminal justice system, things like systemic racism, things like colonial legacies vis-à-vis the indigenous community.
What I would reiterate is that we need the co-operation of all parties to tackle these multiple issues that lead to criminality in our society. When we address the root causes, such as mental illness, addictions and systemic racism, that is when we can truly achieve the goal of keeping our communities safe.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for that question, and I obviously note his advocacy on behalf of indigenous communities in his riding and generally in Canada. It is an important question.
With respect to the litigation, what I would simply say is that obviously any discrimination, whether it is in the child welfare system or not, is something that needs to be rooted out in this country. I think the litigation had various aspects to it. It went through various permutations and combinations, so to speak. What I am very pleased about is the final settlement reached. It is a historic settlement in Canada of $40 billion, $20 billion of which went to the litigants and $20 billion to communities for the entrenchment of programs that would seek to avoid ever having repetition of that kind of discrimination within the child welfare system.
As to his specific question about the timing of resolving the payment allocation, I do not have that information at hand, but as I mentioned to the Bloc MP, I am more than happy to follow up on that going forward.
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Repentigny asked a very good question.
This is my personal opinion, but I believe it is everyone's responsibility to fight discrimination against indigenous peoples, including federally regulated private corporations. I think this is a challenge that all companies, even private ones, should take up. However, I cannot provide a specific answer. I will follow up, and we can talk about it later.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his work on the committee. I have reviewed the calls to action myself and I recognize what is in call to action 56. I could simply say, without having in-depth understanding of the genesis of the bill, that I presume it was probably deemed appropriate at that time for the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, who led off debate yesterday at third reading, to be leading the response. That is the key ministry that was involved in generating the legislation.
However, I take at full value what is listed in call to action 56 and also the fact that the government has supported that very useful amendment.
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- Oct/6/22 2:37:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for this important question about the small business entrepreneurs that are at the heart of the Canadian economy. What we have been doing in the past three years is supporting small business entrepreneurs through the pandemic, with targeted support for wage subsidies and access to finance to support them and their employees.
What we are doing since the pandemic is targeting entrepreneurs that will promote inclusive recovery. That means women entrepreneurs. That means Black entrepreneurs. That means indigenous entrepreneurs. What we are doing is understanding that small businesses will carry us through and out of this pandemic, and that is where our priority lies.
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- Jun/1/22 2:13:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, June marks National Indigenous History Month. My constituents, including Anne Hines, the minister of Roncesvalles United Church, care deeply about understanding indigenous contributions to our community. When Anne considered what her congregation could do to support indigenous reconciliation, she looked no further than Phil Cote.
Phil belongs to the Moose Deer Point first nation and is a celebrated Anishinabe artist. Anne commissioned him to create a soaring indigenous mural, some 60 feet high and 70 feet wide, that now adorns an entire wall of the church.
The mural is the first of its kind in a church in Canada. The significance is clear, given the historical role of the church in administering the residential school system. Now all those who enter Toronto's Roncesvalles United Church are struck by this towering work of art and the creation story it depicts.
As opposed to working to take the Indian out of the child, Roncevalles United is now celebrating the indigenous presence that surrounds all of us.
The path toward reconciliation is a shared one. Thanks, Phil Cote and Anne Hines, for demonstrating that for all of us.
Chi-meegwetch.
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Madam Speaker, I think that is a critical question. When we carve out the promotion of indigenous culture and particularly indigenous languages in the legislation, which has explicitly been done, we create an opening to address the exact problem the member has highlighted.
We know that we need more indigenous voices and indigenous content online. We also know that supporting this sometimes costs more money. However, having the legislation crafted as it is right now, with that specific exception and specific prioritization, allows us the opportunity to dedicate some of the funds coming in from the Amazon Prime's of the world specifically to the promotion of Inuktitut and about 90 other indigenous languages in this country.
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- Feb/19/22 10:02:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I welcome the member for Edmonton Griesbach to the House. I admit to some extreme concern when members of the official opposition have actually belittled the concerns of other parliamentarians who do not share his particular demographic and the fears that they might be experiencing.
I want to ask the hon. member something, as a man who is an indigenous advocate and as a man who is indigenous himself. When he sees people who are being arrested assaulting the police officers, throwing bikes at police horses and attempting to remove weapons from police officers, can he contemplate how that kind of response would have been met had those protesters been Black, indigenous or people of colour? Could he perhaps discuss, with some further clarity, how the response would differ?
I firmly believe it would have differed. We need to move forward and really rethink how we are doing policing, notwithstanding the tremendous work that our law enforcement officials are attempting to do in this country right now.
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