Senator McCallum: Thank you.

Hon. Mary Jane McCallum: Food as reconciliation.

Harry S. Truman said, “In the long view, no nation is any healthier than its children or more prosperous than its farmers . . . .”

Honourable senators, I rise today in support of Bill S-227, which seeks to establish food day in Canada.

I would like to thank Senator Black for his continued and committed advocacy toward the land, soil safety and the agriculture community on Turtle Island.

Farming has always been and continues to be a key part in the solution toward producing nutritious and free-range food for Canadians. My interest in farming has a personal connection. My mentor and surrogate father, Dr. Robert Glenn, was a farmer around the Russell area in the Interlake region of Manitoba.

One day, when he was in his late seventies, he was talking to me about his farm while we were in the dental clinic. I asked him:

Dr. Glenn, why do you continue to do this hard work that starts at four or five in the morning and continues late into the night without so much as a guaranteed income when the season is over?

He answered, “It’s in the blood, my girl.” At that moment, my profound respect for farmers and the hard, tireless — and many times unappreciated and thankless — work that they do was born.

Farming, as I understand it now, is land-based education. Like Indigenous knowledge, there is knowledge and wisdom garnered in this setting that you will never learn from a textbook while sitting in a classroom.

Honourable senators, it is a little-known fact that one of the most significant contributions that America’s Indigenous peoples have made is in agricultural farming. Many foods, such as chocolate, potatoes, corn and tomatoes, are native to the Americas, and were initially cultivated or domesticated by Indigenous farmers.

The three sisters — corn, beans and squash — were typically grown together by Indigenous farmers. Going back to the earliest days of first contact, settlers frequently relied on Indigenous people’s knowledge of food and the land to survive in this foreign terrain.

As is stated in The Canadian Encyclopedia’s submission on First Nations, it says, in part, that during the 1600s Indigenous technology and knowledge of hunting, trapping, guiding, food and disease proved crucial to the survival of Europeans and early colonial economy and society.

Without the sharing of their knowledge and bounty, including Indigenous food preparation techniques such as harvesting wild rice in the fall and maple syrup in the spring, Europeans would not have survived, let alone thrived.

Dr. Diana Bizecki Robson at the Manitoba Museum, in her book A Brief History of Indigenous Agriculture, stated:

After Europeans arrived in the Americas, crops from the “Old World” (e.g. wheat, barley, oats) were brought here while American crop plants were transported to Africa, Asia and Europe; this process was known as the Columbian Exchange.

However, colleagues, it should be acknowledged that despite their contributions in this field, Indigenous peoples have a complicated and misunderstood history regarding farming in Canada.

In the book entitled, Lost Harvests, Prairie Indian Reserve Farmers and Government Policy, well-known author Sarah Carter stated:

The Indian farmer has been accorded an insignificant role in Canadian prairie history. Although the Plains Indians were among the earliest and largest of groups to attempt farming west of the Red River Settlement, immigrants from Europe and the older provinces of Canada are routinely credited with the pioneering efforts to farm the prairies. Not only were the Indians excluded from histories of the sodbusters, but they were not even recognized as having the capability to farm.

She continues:

. . . the Plains Cree were anxious to acquire the skills and tools that would allow them to farm but that eventually they gave up agriculture because of restrictive government regulations including the permit system, the subdivision of reserves, and the ban on the use of machinery.

Colleagues, the reason Indigenous farmers were not as successful as their settler counterparts was, as Sarah Carter states:

. . . not that the Indians’ culture limited their capacity for farming, but that along with environmental setbacks, Indian farmers were subject to regulations that denied them the technological and financial opportunities to form a strong agricultural base.

The author frames this issue concisely when she writes:

The prevailing view that the Indians of western Canada failed to adapt to agriculture because of their cultural traditions is in need of revision . . . .

Those who stress that the fundamental problem was that Indians were culturally or temperamentally resistant to becoming farmers have ignored or downplayed economic, legal, social, and climatic factors. Reserve agriculturalists were subject to the same adversities and misfortunes as their white neighbours were, but they were also subject to government policies that tended to aggravate rather than ameliorate a situation that was dismal for all farmers.

Honourable senators, I have given a very brief history on food and agriculture as it relates to Indigenous peoples. This includes their willingness to share their food production insights and provide sustenance to earlier settlers, Indigenous people’s capability, ingenuity and willingness to thrive in the farming arena, and the many barriers that existed beginning in those early days, which were insurmountable forces working against Indigenous success in this realm.

Colleagues, I would now like to touch on the issue of food security and its reliance on a healthy environment and biodiversity.

In the book Saving Farmland: The Fight for Real Food, the author quotes Vandana Shiva when she describes the rights of nature:

The Earth’s living systems and human communities face multiple crises of climate change, mass species extinction, rampant deforestation, desertification, collapse of fisheries, toxic contamination with tragic consequences for all life. Under the current system of law, Nature is considered an object, a property, giving the property owner the right to destroy ecosystems for financial gain. The Rights of Nature legal doctrine recognizes that ecosystems and plant and animal species cannot simply be objects of property but entities that have the inherent right to exist. People, communities and authorities have the responsibility to guarantee those rights on behalf of Nature. These laws are consistent with indigenous people’s concepts of natural law and original instructions as well as the understanding that humans are a part of Nature and only one strand in the web of life.

Colleagues, it is understood and accepted now that the health of our surrounding natural environment has direct and profound impacts on our own health. The loss of diversity, whether culturally, biologically or environmentally that continues to occur in Canada, has been detrimental to our food supply and production.

When these fundamental supply chains become compromised, we suffer a severance in our connection to the land as well as to the animals that are integral to a healthy and thriving biodiversity.

It should also be noted that food security can often take different forms for different segments of our population. Considering the traditional, land-based lifestyle that many Indigenous peoples still live and strive to uphold, it will come as no surprise that Indigenous peoples face a greater threat of food insecurity. This is explained in an article entitled The History of Food in Canada Is the History of Colonialism from the online publication The Walrus, which states:

In a large city, food choices are horizontal, like a buffet, each option available independently of the others. In many Indigenous food systems, the menu is much more vertical, like a Jenga tower, in which many pieces support the entire structure; removing one element can topple everything. Within this food system, an animal like seal is not just a source of protein but also of fuel, clothing, tools, and commerce — all of it devastated in 2009, when the European Union, prompted by environmental activists, banned the import of seal products.

Colleagues, the reality and importance of the seal is but one example to show the intricacies and the intersectionality that biodiversity has on the overall well-being of countless Indigenous peoples across Canada.

Senators, many Canadians feel that our food systems are secure so long as the grocery stores are full, often showing indifference as to where and how these stores come by their product. However, it is critical that we ask ourselves: What is our relationship with food? It is to our benefit that we question things such as how has the wheat been grown or the meat been raised? Is it organic or free-range? Is it local? Is there genetic engineering involved?

To best support our local businesses and especially our local farmers, it is important to ask such questions. Supporting and understanding local businesses helps us to appreciate and respect that nutritious food is not to be taken for granted. It is the result of the marriage between a healthy biodiversity and those individuals who nurture and cultivate it.

Colleagues, the preamble to Bill S-227 states:

. . . the people of Canada will benefit from a food day in Canada to celebrate local food as one of the most elemental characteristics of all of the cultures that populate this nation . . . .

This is an important feature of this bill. Celebrating with and through food is an inherent act shared by First Nations and other Canadians. We often do this through feasts, which have always been a time of gathering, celebrating, sharing, laughter and joy.

With food at its heart, people come together to share stories, to listen, to learn and to heal. In this way, the celebration of food contributes to building relationships and bridging differences. It also underscores the importance of working together, whether it is harvesting, hunting or gathering. Food is always a conduit to find time to bring us together and to share our humanness.

Honourable senators, the importance of food is obvious, but the concept of celebrating and commemorating its past, present and future in Canada is a valuable initiative. I want to acknowledge all farmers across Canada for the massive undertaking of their work, all small local businesses across the country who make available local produce, goods and food and all chefs across the country, whether they are in our homes or restaurants for the part they play in resourcing local foods.

In closing, colleagues, I would like to quote Frances Moore Lappé when she wrote:

The point of commons care is to prevent harm before it occurs. And means learning to “think like an eco‑system” . . . .

We come to see natural treasures no longer as merely divisible property but as gifts protected by boundaries we create and honor, knowing that all life depends on their integrity.

Kinanâskomitin. Thank you.

Senator McCallum: Many Canadians feel that our food systems are secure as long as the grocery stores are full, no matter where we got it from. We just have to look at the flooding that occurred in B.C., which cut off the city of Vancouver, to understand how precarious our food supply is.

In the book by Ms. Chambers entitled Saving Farmland, she states:

In fact, on Vancouver Island, we have only enough food collectivity for about three days, should it stop being delivered from other places, and even now, many people are not getting enough to eat. There is a crisis looming, and it is, in fact, already upon us as we continually appropriate the best farmland for development and erode and damage already restricted food-production areas.

Supporting local businesses helps us to appreciate and respect that food is not indispensable. Eating locally reduces the carbon footprint because the food doesn’t have to travel as far.

According to a study by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at the Iowa State University, a local carrot has to travel only 27 miles, while a conventionally sourced carrot has to travel 1,838 miles to get to your plate. Eating local means that money stays in the local economy, and local businesses thrive instead of a corporation.

Farmlands contain whole parts of ecosystems —

Hon. Mary Jane McCallum moved third reading of Bill S-219, An Act respecting a National Ribbon Skirt Day.

She said: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to third reading of Bill S-219.

I would first like to thank my honourable colleagues for their support in having this bill sent to committee. In doing so, you helped to facilitate and hold space for youth.

This case concerns a young First Nations girl named Isabella Kulak. We hold space for her and, in doing so, we also hold space for other youth. This is so for two reasons: The first is to explore and understand why that violence occurred. The second is to focus on Isabella’s responses, of which there were two: Shame initially, followed by a swift movement toward peace and conciliation.

I would like to begin my remarks today by explaining why I say that a violent act was committed. The gender violence committed was, and continues to be, transmitted through to future generations.

In her PhD entitled A Feminist Poststructural Analysis of Aboriginal Women’s Positioning in a Colonial Context: Nehinaw Iskwewak E-pikiskwecik, or “Cree women’s speak,” author Dr. Marlene Elizabeth McKay stated:

This group of women was interviewed to give them an opportunity to share how they see their lives being produced for them. Aboriginal women’s marginalization has become normalized through the systems, practices, and institutions that have materialized through the Indian Act, Christianity, Indigenous knowledges, and colonial relations with non‑Aboriginal society. Discursive practices located in these structures establish and maintain ideas of how and who these women are supposed to be. How these women are positioned is largely a product of our Canadian colonial history.

The work of Michel Foucault informed this research. Foucault’s rules and norms served as a lens to demonstrate how Aboriginal women are produced as unimportant and inferior. The notion of rules and norms is a social production that requires effort, and in this way these rules and norms are continuously being reproduced.

This socialization is learned and reproduced and therefore, appears normal and natural. . . .

. . . the outright daily racism that is imposed on them as a result of the social production that they do not matter, are unimportant, or are disposable. . . .

The discourse of the “dirty squaw” has become a dominant marker of Aboriginal women’s identities.

Honourable senators, this is the reality that we are born into as Indigenous girls. We are marked even before we are born. Young Indigenous girls have to overcome the perception of the dehumanized Aboriginal woman as a dirty squaw. Intergenerational trauma experienced by First Nations girls and women is unique and it is violent.

I know this first hand, because I have had to deal with it all my life and continue to face it to this day.

As Dr. McKay states:

The political implications of producing the Aboriginal subject as subordinate have been immense, leaving Aboriginal people with the task of undoing the damage done by colonialism.

That is why Isabella’s response is remarkable and points to the progress made by her parents, elders and the community. Women have continuously resisted oppressive systems to work toward a better future for themselves and their children. It speaks to the unrelenting power and spirit of First Nations women.

Colleagues, holding spaces is a concept that has been long practised and modelled by my people. For generations, holding spaces allowed children to learn from the land and nature with the ability to do so with fluidity, safety and purpose. It allowed children to learn traditions and life skills through land-based teachings and to learn collective laws.

Some of these teachings from Elder D’Arcy Linklater include the following: wakotowin, or social capital; Nehetho Tipethimisowin, the exercise of sovereignty, belonging to yourself and the responsibility of decision-making roles that come with this exercise; and Kistethichikewin, the idea that the conduct of a person must be based on the sacred responsibility to treat all things with respect and honour.

I was taught by my elders, in the past and today, to be intentional about the conversation brought forward in these spaces. I have also been taught to encourage the asking of big questions and to sit with brokenness and discomfort, but also with joy and resolution. I would like you to join me and do the same as we create space for youth through this bill to give them voice at the national stage.

Honourable senators, Donald Winnicott is quoted in author Heather Plett’s book The Art of Holding Space: A Practice of Love, Liberation, and Leadership where he states:

. . . “holding” is what teachers and parents do when they create safe and supportive environments for children to learn while not jeopardizing the autonomy and individuality of those children.

Colleagues, while holding space was developed in a teaching and home environment, we, as senators, also have a vital role to play in bringing the voices of the marginalized to Parliament. This is, at times, a complex and difficult proposition. We are part of a public institution that is currently holding space to spotlight deep-rooted prejudice and racism. As a Senate whose role is, in part, to speak for the marginalized, we need to look at ways of addressing and challenging the ongoing victimization of women and girls in a timely and responsible manner.

Honourable senators, I would now like to bring forward a matter that was raised during this bill’s study at the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. Specifically, it was brought forward that the ribbon skirt is not regalia common to all First Nations, Métis, Inuit and non-status women and girls, as well as the LGBTQ community across Canada.

I would like to address this issue by saying that we must remember the focus of the bill, that being to highlight, then combat, gender violence while also promoting reconciliation and familiarity with Indigenous culture and tradition. It was never the goal of Bill S-219 to try to accommodate all of the various regalia worn across the country. That would be an impossible task. Attempting to do so would fundamentally alter the bill and detract from its initial intents: to understand the impact of violence against Indigenous women and girls, to celebrate the family’s subsequent actions toward inclusion and to facilitate dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous citizens of Canada to encourage small and large acts of reconciliation and relationship building.

I would like to stress that I am not trying to convey the message that the ribbon skirt is pan-Canadian regalia. Conversely, it would be encouraged for other Indigenous nations, communities and groups to use January 4 as a day to bring forward their own forms of dress and regalia and to educate Canadians on their origins, use and importance.

This is what happened this past January 4, 2022, when Isabella Kulak was joined by a young Ukrainian schoolmate who also modelled her country’s own regalia. What better way to demonstrate reconciliation? Isabella and her family helped to create space and mentorship to allow other youth to do the same. We cannot stand by and fail to support her and other youth in their journey toward self-determination, which this bill aims to do.

Isabella is facing her and other Indigenous girls’ difficult history of colonialism, and in doing so, she is writing a different ending. She is entering a different world, one I could never have imagined was possible when I was her age. Isabella’s individual right to self-determination was supported by the collective determination that is the leadership, family and community that rallied around her and helped to turn a contentious issue into a positive movement. They embraced this issue and have used it as a tool for teaching and connecting with the surrounding non-Indigenous community.

Moreover, it should be remembered that culture is dynamic across Canada and throughout the world. It is not stagnant. We were made aware by Senator LaBoucane-Benson that First Nations adopted the scarf as part of the regalia from the Ukrainian community. People, for generations, have embraced and celebrated other cultures as will continue to happen.

Said to have its roots in the 18th century, the symbol of womanhood tells a story of adaptation and survival – showing that tribal communities have adopted western culture and made it their own.

Several museums report the materials used to make ribbon skirts aren’t Indigenous in origin, “but the method of applique done to create the folded look of the ribbon has become a visual marker of identity for centuries.”

Honourable senators, there are many intersectionalities that exist with the regalia of ribbon skirts. Race and gender are closely connected to self-care and self-determination. It is critical to understand that the liberation of oppressed peoples begins with the critical understanding of how they are oppressed.

In her 2012 article entitled “Self-Determination and Indigenous Women’s Rights at the Intersection of International Human Rights,” author Rauna Kuokkanen states:

Self-determination (both individual and collective) and gendered violence are among the most important and pressing issues for indigenous women worldwide.

She further contends that for Indigenous self-determination to be successful, it must also “address the question of violence against Indigenous women” and girls.

This violence hasn’t been addressed in Canada but continues to infiltrate into the lives of our women and, of greater consequence, our youth. Left unaddressed, this violence will continue to impact negatively and cumulatively on the future of their civil, political and cultural rights.

Colleagues, violence is a health issue. Health is a basic human right and is an enabling right that, when respected, allows for the fulfillment of other human rights, including self-determination.

In her 2016 article entitled, “Red Intersectionality and Violence-informed Witnessing Praxis with Indigenous Girls,” author Natalie Clark states:

. . . I have joined the voices of other Indigenous scholars . . . in calling for a more complex understanding of policy and programming as it affects Indigenous girls. Carolyn Kenny describes the impact of what she calls the “double bind” . . . in the lives of Indigenous women and girls of being silenced in key decisions and policies that have an impact on their lives while, at the same time, their participation is essential to social change, leadership, and healing in their communities.

Honourable senators, Isabella Kulak made a “key decision” to wear her ribbon skirt and that is an act of self-care. Being silenced in this “key decision,” made in her private life, had the potential to lead to being silenced in public and political life. We have witnessed the silencing of Indigenous voices on issues that impact health and self-determination in our own committees. We must not continue to be complicit, as silencing will eventually filter to the intergenerational group.

Author Natalie Clark continues:

Furthermore, any social justice action or outcomes must be situated within a framework that holds onto tradition and intergenerational knowledge while making meaning of modern Indigenous struggles. . . .

To this point, the solutions that Chief and Council of Cote First Nation — Isabella’s home community — devised were rooted in the community and in their traditions. This was affirmed in Chief Cote’s committee testimony wherein he said the community’s hope is to:

. . . teach non-First Nations the identity of the Anishinaabe people in our territory and also learn about the other cultures that our young First Nations students are going to meet when they go to the non-First Nations schools.

In this way, Cote First Nation is already modelling what this bill seeks to accomplish — valuing and practising tolerance, acceptance and understanding of cultures and traditions that are different from your own.

Colleagues, author Natalie Clark also speaks about violence and safety as it relates to Indigenous girls, writing:

Community-based approaches, such as models of . . . ceremonies, are important since they provide spaces in which girls can be seen in the circle, and because they allow us to understand their experiences of violence, as well as naming and situating their resistance to such experiences. . . .

The author continues:

. . . the so-called trauma industry has continued a colonial legacy of labeling and pathologizing Indigenous girls that manages their behavior through criminalization, medication, and talk therapy programs which ultimately serve “to reinforce a sense of powerlessness and undermine women’s ability to resist”.

Honourable senators, I cannot help but wonder if Isabella and her family had not dealt with the shame she felt, could it have been internalized as a festering wound that would have resulted in the need for medication and counselling in the years to come? It might seem a small incident to some, but I will tell you that the cumulative impacts of racism and violence from a young age do lead to soul wounding. Such disproportionate impacts have the capability of having long-term and far-reaching consequences if not addressed.

In Isabella’s situation, her family and community were proactive, which deserves acknowledgment and celebration. At the same time, we also need to highlight and bring the perspective of the youth who are less supported because they have fewer resources. Bill S-219 provides an opportunity to promote gender equality and a more inclusive society, with women and girls at the centre of this effort. The earlier that girls and boys understand equity, equality and inclusiveness, the better for their future as well as the future of Canada.

Colleagues, inequity is one of the most pervasive problems in Canadian society. Inequity has a multitude of causes with the result that it creates differences in access to schooling, health, opportunity, food, water, housing, geography, self-determination and quality of life. Equity is very important in understanding and practising self-care and self-determination.

These inequities do not occur naturally. They are the result of laws and policies that do not consider equality and equity. When youth find little meaning in social policies, they tend to disengage from the system. If we do not act accordingly to address this serious issue that affects youth throughout Canada, our systems will be doomed to continue to reproduce social and economic inequity, further disenfranchising large segments of Canada’s youth population.

Society is used to seeing and hearing about the Indigenous youth who suffer the most inequity, that is, they have few or no resources or supports to be able to think and act positively, let alone to do what Isabella did. These youth have undergone and continue to undergo a different history and hence a different trajectory in their lives.

There have been countless reports on Indigenous youth, whether they focus on children in care or in juvenile centres. There have been many reports, inquiries and commissions on Indigenous women — reports that were built on their bodies. While these reports have had varying degrees of publicity, whatever knowledge and awareness they have raised have not resulted in timely, meaningful policy reform. Moreover, the subject of juvenile justice for these Indigenous youth has largely gone ignored. Such inaction positions Indigenous youth, including Indigenous girls, in a severe deficit. All the while, our laws and policies refuse to address the root cause, namely the legacy of colonial structures, whether they be legal or otherwise.

Honourable senators, history tells us that Indigenous peoples needed to be tamed from their savage ways. This was accomplished by Christian missionaries who blatantly refused to accept the legitimacy of Indian culture and religion. As a child going into residential school, for the 11 years I was there, all our clothing and property were removed when we entered on our first day. We were given clothing that would take away our uniqueness. We were all dressed the same with the same bowl haircut. We were forced to adopt a foreign language. We were meant to see ourselves as invisible, with no history, no culture, no traditions.

Something as simple as removing your right to dress in a way that expresses and celebrates yourself does have lasting impacts. It starts that road towards dependence, blind obedience, shame and learned helplessness. In reality, government and religious organizations took children with rich culture and unilaterally created impoverished cultures.

Colleagues, this bill celebrates the resistance to violence and the promotion of peace in its stead. Within the December 2020 news article “‘It’s like armour’: A look at the resurgence of ribbon skirts” by Kathleen Martens, Ms. Isabella Kulak states:

I didn’t want it to turn into ugly hate for the (educational assistant). She’s a person. Maybe she made mistakes with what she said. I’m sure she regrets it.

Isabella’s father said his family was invited to help improve the education-system knowledge of First Nations issues, including clothing.

In the same article, Helene Cote of Kamsack states:

As an educator I know the importance of accepting students for who they are. . . Empowering students and building confidence is what molds successful students.

Grandmother Ketchemonia-Cote said, “What happened shouldn’t have happened. But let’s see something good come of it.”

Colleagues, I have spoken to many people and heard of their initiatives directed at the ribbon skirt and in support of Isabella. Some of these include ribbon skirt classes held at a Turtle Island business where they teach six women at a time the wisdom behind the ribbon skirts; ribbon skirts being made for choir members and the choir mistress for an upcoming arts festival this spring in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; and ribbon skirts for a bride and her grandchildren; and a Canadian university’s Indigenous people’s centre initiated by women will look at this bill and discuss the spiritual components of the ribbon skirt.

Honourable senators, holding space for Isabella Kulak and other youth has been a multi-layered endeavour for me. All who spoke, commented on or questioned Bill S-219 inside and outside of the Senate added a layer to the collective understanding of the impacts Canadian history has had on Indigenous youth. In doing so, we thereby develop compassion and move towards reconciliation and conciliation. These conversations added contour, depth, colour and clarity to this issue through both second reading and committee study as well as through the debate and vote yet to come.

I would like to close by reiterating that the goal of Bill S-219 is to bring people together and not to divide. The bill names the ribbon skirt because that was the regalia used as a conduit of violence against young Ms. Kulak and by extension against all Indigenous women and girls who proudly wear and honour their own cultural dress. The intent now is to use this one moment of prejudice, racism and discrimination as a springboard from which we can encourage understanding, respect and reconciliation. We thank Isabella, her family, the leadership and community for their strength and determination to turn this challenge into a positive experience.

Kinanâskomitin. Thank you.