- Member of Parliament
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- Nunavut
- Nunavut
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- Dec/11/23 11:03:58 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, when we are talking about how indigenous peoples are still experiencing genocide, I just want to point out that last week, the Chief Public Health Officer in Nunavut reported that five people died from tuberculosis in the last two years. Tuberculosis is a treatable disease. It is something that does not need to exist anymore in Canada, yet we have had five people in Nunavut die in the last two years.
Can the member explain how this could have happened, based on government policies and the delays, and government making promises and not following through on the promises?
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- Dec/11/23 9:52:24 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, education was used as a genocidal instrument for generations. Residential schools were used to “take the Indian out of the child”. I can still intimately recall horror stories shared with me by former students that happened just for saying a word in Inuktitut. When it comes to education, we need to be careful about what we are saying; education can still be used as a tool to diminish what indigenous peoples can achieve in their lifetime.
Whenever I go to my communities in Nunavut, I always make a point of visiting schools and visiting with students. I encourage students and remind them that they can become healthy, productive adults by making choices. I did not have choices. I was forced to go to post-secondary education. I was told the way I could succeed as an adult was to leave my community, go to a southern institution and become a successful adult. Now I tell students in Nunavut that, if they want to become successful adults, they can be hunters, seamstresses or healers. They can practise their culture and have success as adults.
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- Dec/11/23 9:50:03 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I thank the member for his ongoing support. We were both elected at the same time. I also very much appreciate the great work of the MP for Vancouver East, who has been a great leader in ensuring that these funds eventually get released.
I think the solution is simple. When it comes to the NDP pushing for these funds to be released, the government should just do it and stop giving us excuses for not delivering them. When it makes promises to disburse those funds, it should make sure that it works with indigenous peoples to get them released, because they know what they are doing. They will make sure the funds are spent with accountability and that indigenous people get housed.
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Uqaqtittiji, I will be splitting my time with the member for Winnipeg Centre.
I acknowledge all of the work that has been done by the New Democrats for indigenous rights, now and before my time. Jordan's principle emerged out of the work of former MP Jean Crowder's Motion No. 296. This motion was followed by Bill C-249 tabled by former NDP MP Pat Martin in 2008. Both called on the government to immediately adopt a child first principle based on Jordan's principle.
Jordan's principle is now one of the most important programs run by the federal government to uphold its obligations to indigenous children, thanks to the NDP. Bill C-262, introduced by former NDP MP Romeo Saganash in 2016 finally forced the breakthrough that led to the government passing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act in 2021.
New Democrats fought for investments in the last budget, and we secured $4 billion over seven years for the for indigenous, by indigenous housing program. From the beginning, I knew this amount was not enough. Much more investment is needed. The NDP agreed to the urban, rural and northern indigenous housing strategy, knowing it could make a dent in the current situation. If the NDP did not fight, we would not have gotten anything for housing. When the Liberals and Conservatives will not step up, New Democrats do.
Last week, the Conservatives voted against the supplementary estimates, which included investments for Indigenous Services Canada at $6.8 billion and investments to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada at $3.2 billion. These total over $10 billion in departmental funding that indigenous peoples rely on, which the Conservatives voted to deny.
As for the Liberals, they are not much better. We have heard from the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council that there are massive backlogs at Indigenous Services Canada for issuing status to registrants. This leaves infants waiting 18 to 24 months to get their health benefits. This is absolutely unacceptable.
We hear about the huge backlogs to address Jordan's principle issues. We hear about the backlogs to address payments for services through the non-insured health benefits program. We have heard that Indigenous Services Canada is changing funding formulas for education without even talking to indigenous communities.
Indigenous Services Canada set a goal of 2030 to eliminate the infrastructure gap, but they have no hope of achieving that at current investment levels, as it is a $349.2-billion first nations infrastructure gap. Indigenous peoples have offered solutions, but they are consistently ignored.
Not only are they making cuts to investments to improve the well-being of indigenous peoples, they are planning to cut staff in their department. According to their website, they anticipate cutting staff by 1,000. Imagine how much worse these backlogs will be. They will keep indigenous peoples marginalized.
Grassy Narrows is still waiting for its mercury care facility, despite repeated assurances from the Liberal government that it would be built. Tataskweyak Cree Nation in Manitoba had students with no school to go to as the school remained closed because it had no heat. It is still waiting for a new school after their roof caved in last month. That school, when it was built originally, was already overcrowded.
There are many more examples across the country. The Liberals love announcements and photo ops, but they disappear when it is time to actually flow the funds that indigenous peoples need. The urban, rural and northern indigenous housing strategy is one such example. It was announced in 2022, and it was supposed to be released in 2023. It is now December 2023, and we have not seen the release of those funds.
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- Dec/11/23 9:39:09 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I know that when it comes to indigenous services from the federal government, it can feel like a very complex issue, given all the different topics that we have to discuss, be it infrastructure, programs or staffing. No matter what we have seen in all past governments and the current one, it is not necessarily the number of staff in the bureaucracy but the unwillingness of the bureaucracy to devolve decision-making back to first nations, Métis and Inuit that is one of the harshest impacts. Therefore, when it comes to reconciliation, I know how important it is that, when decision-making is being given back to indigenous peoples, the devolution requires resources that allow indigenous peoples to make decisions about mental health care and about cultural care.
I wonder if the member agrees that when we are ensuring that indigenous peoples are making their own decisions, equivalent resources must be provided so that they can act on those decisions.
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- Dec/11/23 8:36:57 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I wonder if the member has looked at her government's own website. Indigenous Services Canada's website has shown that it is going to be making billions of dollars' worth of cuts, including to, for example, Jordan's principle, which is set to sunset and the government intends not to renew Jordan's principle. I know that we all realize how important Jordan's principle is, given how dire the situation is that indigenous peoples continue to be in.
Can the member explain what she is seeing of the cuts or the programs that will be sunsetting and what she will do to make sure that we help reverse those decisions?
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- Dec/11/23 8:14:16 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, it is a very easy answer: The government must stop breaking its promises, invest and make sure those monies are there so the infrastructure gap can be filled.
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- Dec/11/23 8:12:07 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I have a lot of respect for the member who just asked me that question. Having experienced those cuts as an indigenous person, I cannot retract that. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was doing great work when its funding was cut. Time and time again I have renamed former residential school students who have shared their stories and who were only able to do it because of the work of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
There was a standing committee report back then, from the aboriginal and northern affairs standing committee of this House, that recommended the Aboriginal Healing Foundation continue its work. Despite the strong recommendations at the committee from federal government officials, the Conservative government at the time still cut those programs. That, to me, is a form of genocide because it impacts the well-being of indigenous people. Therefore, I am sorry, but I cannot retract my statement when I talk about the genocidal path.
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- Dec/11/23 8:10:25 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, the Liberal government will be treading on thin ice when it comes to how it is compared to the Conservatives if these cuts are allowed to happen. The member for Vancouver East and I have been working very hard all year to make sure that even one small aspect of housing is delivered. I am speaking about the urban, rural and northern housing initiative, which should have flowed by now, but because of the Liberal government and its delay tactics, we will not see housing built until 2025. This is the impact of the Liberal government, and that is what we need to make sure is clear. It is why we are fighting against the $7.6 billion in cuts that are being proposed by the Liberal government.
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- Dec/11/23 8:05:05 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I will be splitting my time with the member for Churchill—Keewatinook Aski.
Representing Nunavummiut and being the indigenous critic for the NDP have led me to rise for this debate. I thank my NDP colleagues for their solidarity in ensuring that this take-note debate occurred this evening.
Prior to my election in 2021, I experienced many injustices because of decisions made by federal governments of the day. My statement this evening starts with the Harper Conservatives' many cuts and outlines the impending cuts by the Liberals' Indigenous Services Canada. I note that my criticisms tonight are only with respect to Indigenous Services Canada. I will begin my criticisms against CIRNAC and Northern Affairs at a later time.
I will start with a quote from indigenous lawyer Pam Palmater, who assessed the Conservative government:
In ten short years, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has set the relationship with First Nations back a hundred years. While all past governments have had a hand in the colonization and oppression of First Nations, the Harper government stands out as one of the most racist and aggressive governments that First Nations have had to work with in many generations.
The government in these 10 years was considered one of the harshest for indigenous peoples. To name a few, Conservatives cut funding to the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, the Native Women's Association of Canada and the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. They cancelled the Kelowna accord, and we were one of only four countries to vote against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007.
Indigenous peoples are strong. Despite the Conservatives' attempts to continue their genocidal path, what resulted was one of the strongest forms of indigenous resistance. We saw that with Idle No More. Indigenous peoples were there to fight for their rights and to protect the environment. Indigenous people's resistance can indeed happen again.
Turning to the impending cuts to indigenous services by the Liberals, funding will decline by $7.6 billion when people are still living in mouldy housing without clean drinking water. There will be almost 1,000 fewer staff to deliver essential programs.
Among the programs that are sunsetting are those with funding for mental health and wellness, addressing the legacy of residential schools, Jordan's principle, the Inuit child first initiative and the health and safety of first nations housing, water and community infrastructure. The current funding does not remedy the current shortfalls experienced by indigenous communities or mitigate the future needs given the population growth in indigenous communities.
Implementing such drastic cuts will keep indigenous peoples marginalized. They will be prevented from gaining tools to ensure the reconnecting of their own self-government models. These cuts will be genocide. The Assembly of First Nations reported a $350-billion infrastructure gap in first nations communities. These cuts do not even include infrastructure gaps for Inuit and Métis.
The Liberals' current spending does not even meet the current needs of indigenous peoples. Existing gaps cannot be filled with broken promises. We must implore the Liberals to change their path to cutting $7.6 billion. Otherwise the genocide will continue.
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- Dec/11/23 7:51:01 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I have sat in committee with the member, and I do appreciate when she speaks up.
I appreciate that the member has reminded the House that her riding has 14 Inuit communities and nine Cree communities. My concern is that their voices are not being heard. Can she share with the House how many of those communities she has visited to make sure that their indigenous voices are being heard by the Bloc since she was elected?
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