- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- Timmins—James Bay
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 63%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $134,227.44
- Government Page
- Apr/30/24 2:15:27 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the homelessness crisis in northern Ontario has become a social disaster.
Municipalities, agencies and health care systems are stretched to the breaking point, yet the government is telling frontline agencies to get ready for massive cuts. The Reaching Home program is an essential lifeline for northern communities, yet the government has told Cochrane District, which includes Timmins, to get ready for a 52% cut in funding. Sault Ste. Marie faces a 60% cut, while Sudbury and Nipissing will get whacked with a 70% cut. This will devastate our region and leave vulnerable people at serious risk.
In budget 2024, the Liberals bragged about how much money they would invest in housing and the homeless. Nice words will not keep people safe. In northern Ontario the government is ignoring calls from municipalities for clarity. This is not good enough.
People in the north are asking their Liberal MPs a simple question: Will they fight to reverse these cuts and ensure that more funding is brought to the table to fight the nightmare of homelessness in northern Ontario?
178 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/15/24 2:50:56 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, for years, people in Attawapiskat have lived in mould-filled homes, in sheds and even in tents on a tiny plot of land. This is because the feds and Doug Ford refuse to transfer land so they can build the homes they need. The Liberals would rather protect the land interests of the mining giant De Beers, a corporation that made $21 million from the sale of a single diamond in Attawapiskat. They are putting the interest of De Beers ahead of people who desperately need safe homes.
When will the Liberals stop stalling and give the land back to the Cree of Attawapiskat?
106 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/26/24 12:33:32 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I know that we are not supposed to say when someone is not in the House, and it should be fair. The leader of the Conservative Party did show up in time to vote against Ukraine. Then he went home.
47 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/13/23 12:03:19 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her passion for fighting on the issue of housing.
In Timmins right now, a community of 45,000 people, we have almost 1,000 homeless people. This is creating a serious social crisis and a policing crisis, as well as exacerbating the opioid crisis. We have no place to get people into safe housing. We have no support for single moms. What we need is mixed housing and co-operative housing of the kind that built much of the community housing that we have in our region, which is sustainable for families. We see the Liberals making lots of promises with respect to housing, but we are not seeing it on the ground. What does my hon. colleague think about the need to guarantee that we have mixed co-operative housing in all our communities, whether it is in northern Ontario or in downtown Vancouver, so we can maintain sustainable communities and people can live humane, decent and hopeful lives?
167 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/9/23 3:10:57 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, in Timmins, Thunder Bay and communities across northern Ontario, the homeless crisis, coupled with the toxic drug disaster has created a social catastrophe. In Timmins, funding for the groundbreaking firekeeper patrol proposal is running out, even though it is keeping indigenous people alive on the streets. In Thunder Bay, the waiting list for housing is staggering.
Social service boards of first nations across the north are doing everything they can. The question they ask is where is the federal government?
Will the indigenous services minister commit to the firekeepers and meet with northern leaders to find a solution to the housing crisis?
104 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/17/23 3:08:29 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, there was a devastating fire in Webequie First Nation last week, and now eight people are homeless. Like in the tragic fire and death last month in Peawanuck, the community had no fire truck, no fire hall and no equipment.
Now, Webequie just happens to be in the heart of the Ring of Fire, and Doug Ford has promised to personally drive a bulldozer across their lands to dig up their wealth for investors. Meanwhile, people in Webequie have no safe drinking water, they live in substandard homes and they have no fire protection to keep their children safe.
Will the minister commit today to a proper fire hall, life-saving equipment and proper homes for people in Webequie First Nation?
123 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I want to say that the whole plan we had developed as New Democrats, the national suicide prevention plan, came out of the groundbreaking work in Nunavut because of the understanding that statistics were important. Documentation and identifying the factors were key to being able to go in and bring down those numbers. We can dramatically decrease those kinds of deaths when we have actual facts.
That is what we have found, and I share my colleague's concern. We know that people from our region who end up in the city do not have the family supports. There is fundamental racism, and it has to be said, in the medical system. There are people who are coming in who are in distress, people who may be homeless, and they are not with their families and their loved ones. It concerns me that these decisions would be made without trying to find out where the family is. Where is the support?
If we do not have that, people will be using this, because they do not know what else to do when they are in distress. These are factors that have to be looked at, because vulnerable populations will be susceptible to this, and we have to find ways to support them. If they have the love and the support and they can get housing, in the vast majority of cases, they are going to be able to live much better lives.
244 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/2/23 10:54:18 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, my brother drives the Bloor-Danforth line every day. He says that the violence in the subways has become much worse, but he also says that it is caused by the homelessness. At 6 a.m., the subways are full of homeless people. It is also caused by the lack of mental health services and the crisis of the pandemic.
That being said, the need to address bail reform is a huge issue, because we have seen senseless acts of violence. I know my New Democrat colleagues in the justice committee have pushed for a review of this, because we need to do this right. I was here in all the Harper years, and every single one of their tough-on-crime bills was tossed out by the Supreme Court because they were playing to their fundraising base as opposed to doing smart, intelligent review so the laws lasted.
Would my colleagues support our call to investigate bail reform to make sure we get this right and we keep people safe? We also need to put the resources on the ground to deal with the clear mental health and homelessness crisis that is driving a lot of the senseless violence we are seeing in the city of Toronto.
210 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
