- Member of Parliament
- Minister of Indigenous Services
Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
- Liberal
- Thunder Bay—Superior North
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $142,376.94
- Government Page
- Apr/10/24 3:15:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me first say that I fully agree with the member opposite about the need to preserve indigenous languages and restore them when they have been so cruelly ripped away from first nations communities for decades.
Indeed, in my own riding, Matawa tribal council provides first nation language training and support for first nations communities all through northern Ontario, supported by the federal government. I am very proud of the work they are doing, and we will continue to work on this preservation with first nations across the country.
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- Feb/6/24 2:52:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Cloverdale—Langley City for caring so much about access to clean water for first nations, something about which we should all care.
It was very disappointing yesterday, on the first day of the second reading of the bill, that the Conservative member blamed first nations for their lack of drinking water. I guess it is easier to do that than to look in the mirror. In 2015, when we took office, there were 105 long-term boil-water advisories. Now, 96% of first nations communities have access to clean water. We will not rest until we get it done, and this bill would help.
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- Feb/5/24 12:28:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, first of all, let me say that I have travelled across this country and visited with first nations people in every province and territory. Universally, the conversation has always started with a deep recognition that water is indeed life, and in fact, water itself has life and is an important element of being custodians and protectors of this planet we all call home.
I want to acknowledge the member's long-standing work on protecting the environment. I am glad she is looking at the bill so closely in her usual fashion.
I will say that the second important element of the five elements in the bill actually commits the Government of Canada to ensure that first nations have the resources and the funding they need to maintain and to operate their water systems, which would be inclusive of recruiting and training new water operators on an ongoing basis. The work on determining how to do that funding would be done and developed with first nations so that it would be truly a collaborative process, rather than one that would be dictated by the federal government to first nations.
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- Feb/5/24 12:27:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, trust a Conservative member to blame first nations people for burning down their own water treatment plants and for not being smart enough to be able to understand how to operate those plants. That is the kind of paternalism that led to 105 long-term boil water advisories. They were just not worth investing in, I guess.
First nations people have the dignity, the ability and the intelligence to be able to operate complex water systems. I have met water systems operators from across this country. One thing we had to change was the discriminatory funding for water operation in first nations left by the previous Conservative government. Of course, that meant as soon as people got training, they often left for better opportunities to support their families.
We changed that as a Liberal government. We actually created equity in the way water operators are funded on first nations compared to off first nations. However, there is more to do to combat attitudes like that across this country.
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- Feb/5/24 12:23:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her passion for clean water. I share her dismay that this country, in many ways, has led to discriminatory policy and funding for first nations. In fact, that is why we are here today.
Discretionary funding for water safety has been part of the government's shameful legacy, and we are changing that with this legislation. In fact, not only would this legislation install tools and protection for first nations that are enforceable; it would also create the capacity and partnerships with provinces and territories that play a huge role in protecting the water that feeds first nations.
Finally, this law would enshrine the right for first nations people to have equitable funding, like that of non-indigenous communities, for the protection of their water sources, something that has been sorely lacking. First nations partners would have the ability to develop those funding models, together with the Government of Canada, to ensure that we never find ourselves in this situation again.
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- Dec/11/23 2:53:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives had wanted to make life easier for first nations people, they would not have voted against so many measures that first nations leaders need and are essential to running good communities, things like education, emergency management, water infrastructure and the building of homes.
These are the kinds of things that Conservatives voted against last week. They have never been there for indigenous people, and they continue to vote against them.
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- Dec/11/23 2:32:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week, when the Conservatives had the chance to stand up for first nations people, they voted against the measures indigenous communities need every single day to deliver things like clean water, to deliver things like education and to make sure infrastructure is kept running and maintained. When they had a chance to stand up with first nations, what did they do? They voted against them.
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- Dec/1/23 11:35:10 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I spent last summer with first nations leaders in community after community evacuating people from the onslaught of incredible wildfires and floods that devastated community infrastructure and that put people out of their homes for months on end. That is the risk of climate change to first nations communities.
They are first on the line in terms of people affected by the devastation of climate change. Indigenous leaders know that, and we are working with indigenous communities to ensure that they have the infrastructure they need, the support they need to manage this astronomical—
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- Nov/30/23 3:22:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have to ask ourselves how that infrastructure gap got so big, and it was a decade of neglect. In fact, the Leader of the Opposition, on the day of the apology from Prime Minister Harper, said that what people really needed to do was actually get to work and show work values. These are the kinds of ethics that these Conservatives hold in terms of first nations.
We will continue to work with first nations on rights and in respectful ways in closing gaps. That is what responsible governments do.
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- Nov/30/23 3:08:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I share the member opposite's sense of urgency for closing the infrastructure gap in first nations.
In 2015, we inherited a situation where no investments had been made in housing. Since 2016, 30,000 homes or renovations had been completed across the nation, with the leadership of first nations, investing in new models, ensuring that people have the tools, the support and the equity to be able to continue to close that gap.
We will be there as a truthful partner with first nations.
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- Nov/30/23 2:43:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, they are not “our first people”. They are first nations, which are independent first nations. This government for—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
Hon. Patty Hajdu: Listen to that, Mr. Speaker. The colonialism from the Conservatives in this place will just not quit.
Mr. Speaker, I will say that, on this side, we respect first nations. We know that they are leaders. That is why we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in first nations to ensure equity in water, child welfare and housing, and we will continue to do so.
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- Nov/7/23 3:22:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Nunavut for this really important question. In fact, after a decade of no investments in first nations communities under the Harper government, our government got to work with first nations partners to start to close that infrastructure gap on things such as clean water, where boil water advisories had been left unattended for a decade, and things such as housing, community centres, health centres and schools.
I agree with the member opposite. The gap is huge, but we are making progress with indigenous leadership. I am very proud of that.
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- Oct/19/23 2:48:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, since 2015, we have worked with first nations partners to address the shocking and appalling housing gap that exists on first nations. Indeed, over 33,000 units of housing have been built or renovated since that time. We continue to invest in affordable housing, not just for first nations people but for indigenous people in urban, rural and northern communities.
Let us compare that to the record of the Leader of the Opposition. For $350 million, 99 houses were built. We can do better as a country and that is what we are doing.
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- Sep/19/23 3:10:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in 2015, after a decade of entrenching poverty for first nations, a newly elected Liberal government got to work on reconciliation. First nations community services have increased by 156% since then. That is for things like school, water and health services. I have been clear and so has the government: Programs and services for indigenous peoples will be protected.
Reconciliation is good for Canada and for our economy, and it is something that the leader of the official opposition has never understood. Indeed, under the Harper government, first nations organizations faced a—
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- Apr/18/23 3:11:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his unwavering advocacy. We were so excited last week to sign another 10-year agreement with the First Nations Health Authority. I want to thank the First Nations Health Authority and leadership council for their incredible vision of the next 10 years, providing self-determined health care services to indigenous peoples across B.C. This is transformational.
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- Apr/17/23 3:09:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his constant advocacy for equity for first nations people.
The member is absolutely right: We all have to do better to make sure that every single person across this country has a fair chance at success. That is why my department and the Government of Canada are investing historic amounts into first nations housing, child welfare, education and all the infrastructure that is significantly lacking, like it is in Webequie.
Yes, I will commit to the member to work with Webequie to make sure that it can better protect its citizens.
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- Dec/1/22 2:49:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to say that I agree with the member opposite that the climate emergency is real and that it is challenging first nations communities and indeed all communities across the country.
Indigenous Services Canada works closely with first nations communities that are under threat from fire, from torrential rain and from wind to make sure that people can get to safety and that we can protect infrastructure when those events happen. I also agree with the member opposite that as a nation we are going to have to pivot to ensuring Canadians have the prevention and the plans they need to adapt.
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- Dec/1/22 2:31:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are so encouraged by the historic work that we have done with indigenous first nations partners to arrive at an agreement in principle, a final settlement agreement that is historic in a number of ways, not just for the sum of money that first nations children who have been harmed by a systemically discriminating system would receive but also in the nature at which we arrived at that final settlement agreement.
It was, indeed, led by first nations, and I am proud to work with partners on ensuring that we complete this work.
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- Nov/15/22 2:50:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Auditor General for a very important report. In fact, what the Auditor General found was that the Government of Canada was spending extraordinary amounts of money helping people respond to climate change. In fact, the Auditor General has pointed out that the Government of Canada can save money in helping communities prepare better and have adaptability plans to withstand the onslaught of climate emergencies that all of us are facing.
First nations people are first in line to the detrimental effects of climate change and that is why we have to continue, all of us, to ensure we are ready, prepared and have adaptation strategies.
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- Nov/3/22 2:48:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member opposite that the gap is astronomical in terms of housing on first nations. That is why the government, in budget 2022, invested over $4 billion to begin to close that gap. We also know that it is not the government that has the answer about what the best housing is. It is indigenous people themselves. That is why solutions are indigenous-led in design. We will continue to work with communities to make sure that people have the right to safe and affordable housing.
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