- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- North Island—Powell River
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $145,542.18
- Government Page
- Dec/11/23 10:46:12 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Chair, it is always an honour to be in this place and speak on behalf of the amazing people of North Island—Powell River. I want to start by recognizing that I will be sharing my time with the member for Vancouver East.
I want to give a special thanks to the NDP indigenous caucus, the member for Winnipeg Centre, the member for Edmonton Griesbach and the amazing member for Nunavut, for their tremendous work on making sure that we keep having these discussions.
I also want to call on all members of this place to remember that this is not an indigenous issue. It is a Canadian issue. Canada was created on a line of colonization and genocide. We continue to see this repeated in our system, because it is the foundation of our system. Until Canada owns that and understands what that means, we are not going to see the changes that we need to see.
We are here tonight to talk about the fact that Indigenous Services Canada is making some significant cuts. I represent a significant number of indigenous people in my riding, and I am very grateful to them. They educate me all the time. When I was thinking about this, a few nations came to mind.
I thought about Ahousaht, which called for a state of emergency because of the number of deaths it was having in its small community. It was seeing significant drug overdoses, and in large part, the deaths in the community were directly related to a lack of supports and programming, which it desperately needs in the area. It has done a tremendous amount of work to bring forward plans, both to the provincial and federal governments, to start to address those issues. However, it is still finding the government slower to react than it would like.
Again, I think this comes back to the issue that my colleague from Winnipeg Centre talked about earlier today. These are matters of life and death. This is not something where we are just saying to be nicer. We are saying that people are dying. They have been dying since the beginning of this country, and they continue to die. When it is a particular group, and we know in this place that it is the indigenous people who continue to have the highest rates of suicide across this country, that is enough for a significant call to action. We are just not seeing the intensity that is needed when responding.
I think of Ka:'yu:'k't'h'/Che:k:tles7et'h'; I went to meet with that community recently. It is a very remote community doing some tremendous work. Its members talked about the infrastructure gaps. They are moving towards economic development, but those infrastructure gaps keep being a burden to them in taking that next step.
They also talked about the fact that, as a remote community, they do not see those first responder services. They still have not seen the federal government stand up and say that it is going to be part of them moving forward, so their independence is something that is equal to every other non-indigenous community across this country. This is really about basic human rights.
I think of Dzawada’enuxw, which is another remote community in Kingcome Inlet. The people there do not have a road to get to safety. If there is a storm, they all have to go to the school and wait for helicopters to pick them up. When that many people are being taken in hazardous weather, that is not a good solution; however, they do not get the support they need to make sure that road is there. They are not seeing the federal government step up and make it a priority, as though human safety should not be a priority.
I think of the ‘Namgis First Nation, which is doing some tremendous work around language. It has created a language hub. The community is talking about how to bring children into the circle and start them in their own language first, so it is just who they are as they grow up. However, it needs the resources.
In fact, every single nation I just mentioned has talked to me about language, about the fact that they are doing everything they can to fix it. However, they still do not see those supports.
Many years ago, my husband, who went to residential school, made a mask for my son's school. It was called “the Indian in the child”. It was a transformation mask, and I hope people understand what that is. On the outside, he had a white face covering a beautiful indigenous face inside. This history is today. My son stood there with his uncle holding that mask for the rest of his school to look at, because he knew that he was the first generation of his family not to go to residential school.
This is happening today, and we need to make it right. Seeing cuts in this country means that we will continue to see this genocide. The government must be held accountable, as every Government of Canada must be held accountable.
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- Nov/23/23 11:10:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is a really important question.
We know that, right now, what we are seeing across the country and, sadly, what we have seen the government participate in is giving money to corporations that are building housing and basing it on market or above-market value. That means we are just continuing to see housing built that is not going to make a difference for everyday Canadians. The financialization of housing is taking away everyday, common people's rights in this country. We need to do better. Part of that is having non-market housing. I want to thank the member for Vancouver East, who has been very clear on this. If we do not have an investment in housing that makes a difference for people, we are letting them down.
This country does not need that. The government is abandoning people who are living on the streets every day. All of the members of this place have a safe place to go home to at the end of the day, and it is shameful that we allow other people to not have a safe place. What it does to their spirits destabilizes our country, and we need to do better by them.
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- Mar/22/23 5:17:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as all of us should be aware, foreign interference in our elections is a growing concern.
We have all heard repeatedly that it did not have a meaningful impact on the past two elections. However, we know moving forward that the lack of clarity for candidates, MPs and mayors, as we have heard from the previous mayor of Vancouver, is just a growing concern. It is something that the public is seized with. Canadians are concerned about our systems, and they want to have faith in their systems.
Could the member talk a little about why we are seeing this partisan game between the Liberals and Conservatives? I think there needs to be a public inquiry. I think that national security needs to be recognized and honoured. Those two things could happen at the same time. Why do these two parties not seem to think it can?
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- Jan/31/23 10:06:52 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am here today to table a petition from the people of my riding who have a lot of concerns about expanded polystyrene. They know that when it gets into the marine environment, it can cause significant harm to marine life, seafood resources and the ecosystem. When it gets into that system, it is impossible or very hard to clean up from shorelines. It breaks down and gets everywhere, and it enters the marine environment, which is profoundly dangerous.
We know from what the petitioners tell us that the qathet Regional District and the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities have unanimously endorsed the prohibition of EPS in the marine environment, and we hope that Canada will follow suit.
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- Feb/20/22 10:25:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I apologize for interrupting my colleague, but I wanted to make sure that she remembers to share her time with the member for Vancouver Kingsway.
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