- Member of Parliament
- Caucus Chair
- Liberal
- Châteauguay—Lacolle
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 68%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $108,181.16
- Government Page
- Dec/11/23 9:31:22 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I think we almost have quorum here for public accounts, and we could almost hold a meeting here right now. It is an excellent committee because we certainly have the occasion to learn a considerable amount about a number of different departments.
As I mentioned earlier, it was the late Michael Ferguson who really drew the attention of our committee to the chronic underfunding and chronic neglect of the affairs of indigenous peoples. This was, as the minister just said in his remarks, over a number of successive governments. Really, it is not the time and place to be nitpicking about that, but rather we should be talking about what we are going to do in the future.
I am very happy to hear that my hon. colleague from across the way would support an actual increase in funding of infrastructure, so we are going to hold him to that. It will be good to see him voting in that manner in the future. I would like to ask the member whether he would like to comment, in just a high-level approach, on whether it is more efficient for a ministry to come in and basically do for first nations in a very—
An hon. member: Paternalistic.
—paternalistic way, thank you, or, for first nations communities, for there to be a co-operative and organic approach to actually solving this problem in a sustainable way.
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- Dec/11/23 9:20:24 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I listened with great interest to the speech by the hon. minister. I am trying to understand something. I have seen Auditor General reports over the years since my time here in 2015, and it was a horrendous situation. In fact, the late Auditor General, Michael Ferguson, made it his special mission to bring attention to this situation.
How did we get to that place in 2015 when it was just a horrific state of affairs? What was the major change, in his opinion, that brought us at least to a better place? We are not in a perfect place, but at least we are in a better place.
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- Dec/11/23 8:40:26 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thought my colleague's speech was very interesting, especially as it related to the challenges around housing for Indigenous communities.
The community of Kahnawake, which is in my riding, is an urban community. However, it faces its own challenges.
A project was recently approved by Indigenous Services Canada. It is a halfway house for Mohawk youth, with services delivered by Mohawk professionals, in the community of Châteauguay.
Does my colleague think that this is a good approach?
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- May/2/23 8:26:46 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank my hon. colleague for sharing his life story and his personal advocacy and growth in this area. I extend my deepest sympathies for the loss of his family members.
We sit together on the public accounts committee, which is all about value for money and that kind of thing, so I would be interested to know, in an ideal world, where my colleague would like to put the emphasis of funding and programming to work toward a solution, or if not a solution, at least a better place with this problem.
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- May/2/23 7:37:47 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, in her speech, my hon. colleague mentioned some very important aspects of this problem, including decolonization and the patriarchy. This demonstrates that there are some cultural concepts that are deeply anchored in this problem.
I would like to know if she agrees with me that more indigenous women are affected by this problem even though they represent 4% of the population.
Does systemic racism exist in our society?
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- May/2/23 7:18:08 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for her speech. She shared some recommendations for helping vulnerable people in difficult situations. There have been tragedies, many of them in Quebec, but also across Canada, involving indigenous women.
Does my colleague agree that systemic racism exists in Canada?
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- May/2/23 7:07:11 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am wondering about this. Earlier in the policing piece, there was a lot of talk about introducing social workers to address difficult situations. I would like to hear the member's thoughts on the kind of training needed and who those community social workers should be.
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- May/2/23 6:56:11 p.m.
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Madam Chair, thank you again for the speech and the advocacy that you are putting forward.
What is the role of allyship? It is a big question in my riding. We are neighbours to Kahnawake. We have started some partnership, but perhaps you could talk about allyship in advancing this work.
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- Dec/7/22 9:21:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have been very moved by what I have heard from colleagues on both sides of the House, and particularly my colleague just now. What I am interested in hearing about is her work as an educator. She talked about the human rights based approach and pathways to reconciliation. I would like to hear more, particularly on the application to education today. What more can we be doing to bring this very painful topic outside the House?
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