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Uqaqtittiji, today being the national day of action for MMIWG, we know all too well that indigenous women, girls and two-spirit victims who have been taken or murdered do not get to tell their stories. When the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights supported the NDP's proposal to make a recommendation allowing victims the right to opt out of a publication ban, this was an important way to make sure victims can tell their story.
I wonder whether the member agrees that this kind of recommendation, which would help increase the understanding of how they got to that situation, is what would help make sure we have fewer victims of this nature.
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- Dec/7/22 10:06:14 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I will be splitting my time with the member for Vancouver East.
I stand today in solidarity with Chief Kyra Wilson of Long Plain First Nation and Cambria and Kera, the daughters of Morgan Harris, who was murdered and whose body was found at a landfill, in seeking justice for indigenous families. I call on the government to finally start to end the genocide by implementing the MMIWG calls for justice and the demands made by those I stand with today, including helping to search for Morgan Harris so her daughters may have the closure they seek.
I am concerned with some of the questions that have been asked in the House tonight. As much as I have appreciated MPs' interventions, the words are distant and, while empathetic, make it clear to me that violence against indigenous women is clearly not understood.
As an Inuk, I have experienced violence and have seen violence. I grew up with violence in my life. Here is what violence feels like. There is so much physical pain that it is unbearable to breathe, it is unbearable to cry and it is unbearable to ask for help. There is so much misguided love and trust that keeping the unhealthy relationship going feels like the only way. When there is finally courage to leave that violent relationship, women are put into other violence situations.
Cambria and Kera have asked us to help them end the genocide. I frequently have asked tonight how we can do this. How can we in the House guide the federal government to end Canada's genocide against indigenous peoples?
The federal government must create policies and programs and provide better resources. The federal government must help lift up indigenous peoples and their sense of cultural identity.
It must ensure that systemic racism is addressed by improving law enforcement and policing for the overincarceration, overpolicing, underenforcement and underpolicing of indigenous peoples. It must lift up indigenous families that still suffer the effects of intergenerational trauma and ensure they are encouraging each other to rely on each other the way they used to before colonialism. It must help indigenous families find the remains of their loved ones. Victims of genocide are targeted because they belong to a certain group. As such, targeted resources must immediately be released to protect indigenous girls, women and two-spirit people. Last and certainly not least, it should implement fully, not incrementally, UNDRIP, the TRC's calls to action and the MMIWG calls for justice. These instruments provide the framework to end genocide.
I note the words of Chief Kyra Wilson, who said, “We have 231 calls to justice, we need searches, we need support and it needs to start now.” I will end with what the beautiful, amazing and courageous Cambria Harris said at the presser yesterday: “Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and...Buffalo Woman. Remember these names. Shout them from the roof of your lungs and bring the justice that these women deserve.”
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- Sep/20/22 10:33:01 a.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, today, we recognize and mourn the loss of the victims in James Smith Cree Nation, the tragedy that occurred on September 4, 2022. My thoughts are with the many others wounded and with the community, which has been wounded by this event. The impacts of intergenerational trauma continue to be exposed through such acts of violence. My thoughts are with the community of James Smith Cree Nation, how strong they are and how strong they are being forced to be right now.
Healing is the path forward and that cannot be done without recognizing that the ongoing process of colonialism has shaped this tragedy. We need to make sure that this tragedy does not go unrecognized by the government. This shows that true reconciliation is still necessary for our communities to move forward.
We must begin the conversation to discuss the prevention of intergenerational trauma going forward. The impact of the tragedy is felt throughout Canada, and as a country, we mourn the loss of those who are no longer with us.
I would like to acknowledge the victims and families of the Saskatchewan stabbings who lost their lives: Thomas Burns, Carol Burns, Gregory Burns, Lydia Gloria Burns, Bonnie Burns, Earl Burns, Lana Head, Christian Head, Robert Sanderson and Wesley Petterson.
We, as a country, must ask for more to be done to support these individuals and their families. They are victims of crime, and this will have an ongoing impact on the families and friends within the community. We must recognize the impact of colonialism and its aftermath, which is related to the criminal justice system's impact on these communities. The New Democrats will fight to ensure that these families get the supports they deserve.
As parliamentarians, we must ensure that reconciliation is forged by investing in the well-being of indigenous peoples. We must be the parliamentarians who focus our efforts on recognizing the strengths that indigenous peoples must realize in themselves. We must be the parliamentarians who invest in reconciliation, to ensure that tragedies such as these, as what happened in James Smith Cree Nation, do not happen again.
We must ensure that we honour the memory of the victims and their families so that it never happens again. We must ensure that we do our best to talk about reconciliation in terms of justice, healing and making sure that we are the ones who will ensure real reconciliation with indigenous peoples, so we can see indigenous peoples contributing to society in a positive and proud Canada, which we must see and realize is so important. We must be the parliamentarians who focus on the strengths of what we see in indigenous peoples.
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- Jun/16/22 5:30:21 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-9
Uqaqtittiji, does the member not realize this bill would actually enhance fairness because of the mechanisms that would be established, and that, through the enhancement of these fairness systems, it would help improve the protection of victims?
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