- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- Courtenay—Alberni
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $148,159.67
- Government Page
- May/31/24 12:27:34 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, nobody knows how important a clean ocean is, and how important it is to protect it, better than the Nuu-chah-nulth people in the coastal communities where I live.
I have been so privileged to be able to represent eight of the Nuu-chah-nulth nations in my riding. When speaking on the floor of the House of Commons, I have mentioned Nuu-chah-nulth 102 times. To give some context, the member of Parliament who represented my riding before me for 15 years never once, on the floor of the House of Commons, said “Nuu-chah-nulth”, not one time.
In fact, I have said “Ahousaht” 35 times, and I have talked about the nation of Ahousaht and delivered its message here. The member before me only brought up Ahousaht's issues twice on the floor of the House of Commons. I really am humbled, and I hold the message I carry from Ahousaht and from the Nuu-chah-nulth people very carefully and very delicately.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I tabled a petition about the removal of open-net salmon farms. There were signatories from Ahousaht who had signed that petition. As members well know, when we table a petition in the House, it is not the viewpoint of the member; it is signed by constituents.
The Ahousaht nation was very concerned because it could have been perceived that it supported the direction of the petition, and only the Ha’wiih, the hereditary chiefs, are the ones who represent the Nuu-chah-nulth people. I want to make it clear and I want to correct things, because of the perception that happened with Ahousaht.
The Ahousaht people want to make it clear that it is the hereditary chiefs who are the decision-makers on behalf of the Ahousaht and their nation. Also, they are not requesting a compensation package. Their intent has always been to keep the salmon farms there past 2025, providing they continue to address the sea lice and pathogens. With the continued invasion technology coming eventually, they feel sea lice will be eliminated altogether.
If the Government of Canada wants to work with Ahousaht, or if it wants to change its policies, it actually needs to meet with Ahousaht, nation to nation. Ahousaht is calling for a meeting with the Prime Minister. I want to apologize for any confusion I created; mistakes do happen. I want to pass on that apology to the Ahousaht people.
Every minute, two garbage trucks' worth of plastic are dumped into the world's oceans. We have the longest coastline in the world. We just hosted the INC-4 conference and negotiations on plastic pollution. We know industrial waste is choking our coastline, making its way into our food and our vital ecosystems, impacting human health.
The Liberals went ahead and cancelled the ghost gear fund, a $58-million project, a world-leading project, that we supported in this House. In fact, Mr. Speaker, you voted for my motion, Motion No. 151, in 2018, to tackle plastic pollution, and that was clearly highlighted and identified.
I am concerned that the government is now walking away from it, despite the fact that there is critical infrastructure in place. This infrastructure is in jeopardy. It is going to impact organizations like the Coastal Restoration Society and the Ocean Legacy Foundation. They have removed 2,214 tonnes of plastic. They have helped leverage the Clean Coast, Clean Waters program out of the Province of British Columbia.
We cannot get an answer from the government on whether it is going to reinstate the program. We know that if we do not remove polystyrene, it spreads throughout the ecosystem and impacts human health, the mammals, the fish, our food security, the marine food webs that we rely on, and our economy as coastal people.
I am hoping we are going to get an answer today from the parliamentary secretary, since I dragged him here at 12:30 a.m. to talk about this critical issue.
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- Dec/7/23 10:44:13 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about indigenous people's feeding their kids. I will tell members what it is like in my riding, where the Nuu-chah-nulth went to court to actually exercise their constitutionally protected rights to fish so they could feed their kids. What did the Conservatives do when in power? They fought them; they spent millions of dollars fighting them in court. When the Nuu-chah-nulth won in court, what did the Conservatives do? They appealed. Not once but twice did the courts side with the Nuu-chah-nulth. All that the people wanted to do was get back on the water and fish to feed their children.
The MP who sat in the House before me did not say “Nuu-chah-nulth” once in 15 years. The Nuu-chah-nulth felt unheard and invisible in this place. I have said “Nuu-chah-nulth" 94 times. Will the Conservatives support the Nuu-chah-nulth? Will they support nations that have won in court to defend their constitutionally protected rights to feed their kids, or will they continue supporting litigation against indigenous people?
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- Dec/7/22 9:44:47 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is clear that the government tabled its national action plan two years after it tabled the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls report. I will read a very short quote from Mariah Charleson, the former vice-president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. She said, “We waited two years for an incomplete action plan with no deliverables, no landmarks, no immediate goals...no timelines, no budget.”
Does my colleague feel that missing and murdered indigenous women and girls are a priority in this country?
The Nuu-chah-nulth have felt loss. They are still waiting to hear why the police took so long to look into the deaths of many of their women, who are still missing to this day.
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Mr. Speaker, I think instead of the member pointing at the NDP, maybe he should come to my community and ask the Nuu-chah-nulth how the Liberals are doing in terms of delivering on the 94 calls to action. What he is going to learn is that they have not been delivering. That is a fact.
Mr. Mark Gerretsen: That is not a fact. That is a lie.
Mr. Gord Johns: In fact, I was just at an announcement. There is some good news in here.
Is that member telling me that the Nuu-chah-nulth are lying—
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- Feb/15/22 2:14:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Nuu-chah-nulth people lost a hero last fall. Willard Gallic Sr. was a respected elder of the Tseshaht First Nation. He passed at the age of 81, following a life of joy and accomplishment.
He dedicated his life to standing up for Nuu-chah-nulth rights, treaty negotiations and language and culture. He worked on the docks and was an active member of Local 503 of the International Longshoremen's Union, becoming the first indigenous person to be elected as president of their local and eventually international vice-president.
I met Willard when he invited me to a reclaiming lost souls for residential school survivors ceremony in 2019. On that day, he told us the residential school was put on Tseshaht land without the permission of his people, but he called for a new beginning. “We want to set souls free. We want to send them home,” he said. The Indian agent had come for six-year-old Willard in 1946, but his dad stood firm and Willard was not taken. “ 'You are not taking him',” Willard said as he told the story of his dad confronting the agent, “and my mom backed him up.” It was an act of courage that shaped the life of qiiqiiqiy'a, a hero to his people. May he rest in peace.
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