Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I think we have heard, loud and clear, from indigenous communities at the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, and across Canada, that processes work only if they are co-developing the process. The process works only if they are helping lead this process. With this legislation, we have four organizations in Canada that have been working really hard, for many years, t…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by thanking the Leader of the Opposition for his critics, who did a wonderful job in terms of making sure that we got this, in a timely manner, in front of us to debate. I agree with you; this is quite good in terms of common-sense legislation. I would have to just kind of correct the member opposite. I know he does not often get up in the House to speak to indigen…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for her dedication and hard work on this file. I know she sits on the INAN committee with me. We have seen and heard of so many different indigenous communities from across Canada with some amazing ideas in terms of how to create economic wealth in a way that is sustainable. Within the powers of this act, we heard a lot about access to capital…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, this question is a really important one. Jordan's principle continues to offer important services all across Canada, but it is important for us to focus on the investments that we are making for children across Canada. That is why I am really happy to talk about the $43-billion indigenous settlement, the largest that we have had, to make sure that we are getting it right when it comes…
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Madam Chair, I rise today, in this take-note debate, aware that we are gathered on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. On Friday, we recognize Red Dress Day, the national day of awareness, a day dedicated to honouring the memory of the thousands of indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people who have disappeared or been murdered in Canada. We join their famili…
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Madam Chair, nothing I can do in a five-minute speech can really talk about what the challenges we need to face together are going to be. I do need to make sure, when we are talking about some of the action that is required, that the call I made to the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association resonates. It said that for 30 years it had been asking for a project, and our government was funding it. No…
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Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands for her commitment to this file. I believe the red dress has become a symbol of political action as well as a symbol of creating awareness. We have seen indigenous communities from coast to coast to coast have their own different displays, many artistic, in their cultural centres or in music videos. All of them have the same id…
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Madam Chair, I think we need to continue talking about this until we figure out a solution. Keep in mind that this is not something we are just talking about in Canada. I just came back from the United Nations where they were having this very same discussion in the United States, New Zealand and Australia and asking how they can all do better. They are coming to us for the steps we have taken on h…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the 2023 winners of the New Waterford Coal Bowl Classic and the School Sport Nova Scotia Division 2 boys' basketball provincial champions, the Breton Education Centre Bears. Known for their relentless full-court press defence, that defence led them to multiple-point victories in each of their wins. This year’s Coal Bowl felt for many like a return to form …
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Mr. Speaker, I know the member is from Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia recently we have seen some terrible hurricanes, including Fiona. We are seeing ponds not freezing over. We are seeing places where indigenous folks used to ice-fish for years but are not able to ice-fish anymore because of climate change. I wonder if the member opposite could tell me if it is right, and if there is something we nee…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate Heritage Day in Nova Scotia, where next week we will honour the beautiful words and life of the late Mi’kmaq Poet Laureate Rita Joe. Rita Joe’s work narrated the challenges of indigeneity through her lived experience told through magnificent and heartfelt poetry. A survivor of the Indian residential school, Rita Joe began writing in the mid-1970s and is well …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, I would like to start by thanking the member opposite for her advocacy. This is an important subject that we have to get right in Canada. As an indigenous person who lives in an indigenous community, I am aware of the complexities and also the need for indigenous policing legislation and indigenous policing commitments. That is why our government put almost $1 billion in the 2020 bu…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by congratulating the member and wishing him the best with the new addition to his family. I am from a Mi'kmaq reserve, a first nations community. The member talked a lot about the need to ensure that when we talk about child care from coast to coast to coast, it also includes indigenous communities. I agree with the member that far too often when we talk about t…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, as a first nations person, I know that hunting is a constitutional right that is integral to many nations. Bill C-21's intent is to ban handguns and assault weapons, like AR-15s, full stop. There has been some confusion and there have been some concerns raised, but the committee will get it right. We will always respect indigenous hunters and their right to pass on that knowledge to…
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Madam Speaker, for more than 20 years I have been going to the Assembly of First Nations. I have been a part of the resolutions. I have been a part of drafting those resolutions. I have been a part of voting on those resolutions. I applaud the proactive advocacy of first nations when they hear something that they do not quite understand, but I want to make it clear that first nations' hunting righ…
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Madam Speaker, we have heard from many northern MPs, who live in different realities from many of us in urban centres. We know there have been concerns. There has been some misinformation on Bill C-21. We know the committee added two extra meetings to make sure we are getting it right, because we always want to make sure we are respecting indigenous hunting rights. Our government will continue to …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for her advocacy not only today but at the INAN committee. The only thing I am saddened by is that we are not able to see the beautiful ribbon skirt she is wearing. I hope the cameras will pan out as she answers this question so the people at home can see the remarkable skirt she is wearing and the beautiful craftsmanship that indigenous communities …
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Mr. Speaker, let me be clear, it is a serious issue in Canada. Indigenous women are 12 times more likely to go missing and be murdered, and that is why the government has invested $2.2 billion toward addressing this situation. In fact, in Winnipeg alone, for Manitoba indigenous women and 2SLGBTQ, just recently we made an announcement of $8.4 million for those supports. We are going to continue to …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, that is a serious question, and I want to get to it. I also want to acknowledge all the chiefs, proxy and first nations community members I have seen in the galleries, who are attending the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly. We appreciate their advocacy. We know these are serious issues. They have a partner in our government. While the progress is slow, we are going to…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank hon. members who are here tonight to talk about this extremely important issue. I would like to express my thoughts and condolences to the families and communities of the four first nations women in Winnipeg. The news is tragic, and it is a painful reminder of the discrimination and horrific violence that indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people continue to experience in t…
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Mr. Speaker, I am really happy to hear Conservatives rise in the House to talk about indigenous issues during emergency debates. I would like to hear more about it when they are talking about the overspending we are doing as a government as we try to remedy years of the Harper government, which continued to ignore indigenous issues. I know that as a government we have a lot of fixing to do because…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his advocacy and for making sure he holds the government to account. I appreciate his words. When I took on this position of being the first Mi'kmaq MP, one of the things I wanted to do was reach out to the Native Women's Association of Canada to see how I could create more justice. One of the things we did in our community was to create a national vide…
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Mr. Speaker, I heard all of the comments tonight, and it created a bit of emotion in me. I did not want to go through the whole night without giving inspiration and hope to the young indigenous girls at home who may be watching, who may be interested, who may be going to university. I wanted to say that, yes, we are talking about tragic events today, but tomorrow, with their leadership and their h…
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Mr. Speaker, one of the beautiful things about the national council for reconciliation is that its initial task is to move forward on the calls to action. However, we know we have a long way to go on reconciliation in Canada. As the national council for reconciliation knocks off all the different things we are doing to ensure better lives for indigenous people and indigenous communities, its role …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for her work at INAN. One of the amendments she proposed was to ensure that while not being too prescriptive to the transition committee, we give it the option, if it wanted, to have advisory committees consisting of indigenous residential school survivors and elders, and that this was an important part of what we needed to give it as an opt…
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Mr. Speaker, I am really glad the member opposite mentioned the survivors. We should never lose sight of the survivors when we are looking at Bill C-29. I think about so many of the survivors who have come to me in my community and said that what we really need to move forward are healing centres and healing for their communities. They have given me the example of wanting the trauma to stop with t…
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Mr. Speaker, I would agree with the member. I think there was great teamwork shown at the INAN committee. We worked positively and collaboratively. On this legislation, we did a lot of work together that we were all in agreement with. A lot of the discussion we heard focused on the importance of languages, indigenous languages as well as the French language, in making sure that different people wh…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for her participation at the committee. I think all parties in the House strengthened this bill and made it possible. That is how reconciliation moves forward in the House. We should move forward in a non-partisan way and together. We owe this to indigenous peoples in Canada, and when we all work together, great things happen.
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Mr. Speaker, I think the important part of our government's working hand in hand with the transition committee is to make sure that indigenous leaders and indigenous communities themselves are taking on a key role. What we want to do is open up the door for them to take the wheel and drive the bus, not for us as a federal government to be overly prescriptive and say how we are going to do this ste…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a critique of what I have been hearing today. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission went all across this country hearing from survivors. We heard about the abuses. We heard about the mental, physical and sexual abuses. We heard about the addictions. We heard about the need for mental health resources. We are hearing about communities trying to establish their connection with …
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Mr. Speaker, it is important that we not confuse Indigenous Services Canada's Crown-indigenous relations with the work we are doing on reconciliation. When we are talking about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we are talking about survivors who attended residential schools and who made suggestions on how we move forward. That is the blueprint for the calls to action. While the national cou…
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Mr. Speaker, I will start by acknowledging that Canada's Parliament is located on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. I would like to continue the third reading debate on Bill C-29, an act to provide for the establishment of a national council for reconciliation. Reconciliation is not a new idea or process. This is something that has been actively working its way …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to request a recorded division.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the member touched upon the importance of the children. Several calls to action speak to education and the need to talk about the true indigenous history all across Canada, Métis history, Inuit history and first nations history. I wonder if the member opposite could talk a little about what he sees in his province. We now have National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We have a nat…
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Madam Speaker, I did quite substantial work before I was a member of Parliament in teaching about the calls to action and reviewing them. I looked at all the harms that were caused by the residential schools. The calls to action talk about the loss of language, the high incarceration rates and the deep need for healing in our communities, but one thing I do not see once in the calls to action is t…
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Madam Speaker, when I look at the number of things in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report in calls to action 1 to 94, I can frame them in three ways. They are about closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous people, addressing the harm and creating pathways to prosperity. Calls to action 30 to 33 talk about the high incarceration rates and the need to fix the justice system…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for her work on the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, or INAN. Her insights have been tremendously helpful for me and the rest of the committee. I thought there was really good collaboration happening there between all parties to strengthen this bill. In fact, there are two specific sections I would like her to speak to.…
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Madam Speaker, when we look at the truth and reconciliation calls to action, there are several that touch on multiple jurisdictions, such as the need for us to do more around systemic racism within our justice systems, but also in systems that are largely provincial in jurisdiction, like education and health. I wonder if the member opposite believes it is important for this independent committee t…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his work on the indigenous and northern affairs committee. I am really enthused to see the Conservative Party so ambitious on the truth and reconciliation calls to action. I know we will move forward in a really good way collaboratively during this process of moving forward with the TRC calls to action 53 to 56. For the sake of collaboration and the sake of pu…
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Madam Speaker, that is exactly why we kept the number of seats limited to the three constitutional groups. It is important that, when we are talking about organizations, we are not cherry-picking organizations. There are three constitutional groups in section 35 of the Constitution of Canada. They are represented by AFN, MNC and ITK traditionally in Canada, but we also wanted to make sure the tran…
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Madam Speaker, we are looking at 15 seats on the national council for reconciliation. There are over 40 to 60 nations of first nations people across Canada. We have consistently said we are going to stick with the constitutional advocacy groups that are there. We want to make sure it is as independent as possible. With the transitional committee, we want them to have the ability to choose for them…
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Madam Speaker, there are three distinct groups that make up aboriginal people under the Constitution of Canada, which are the Métis, the first nations and the Inuit. They are represented by the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Métis National Council. We made sure we heard from these voices, but we wanted to make sure this was a non-political group. We did not want parties…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge that Canada's Parliament is located on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. As we gather to debate Bill C-29, I think that it is important to take a moment to explain the approach that the government took when developing this proposed legislation. There is a saying, “Nothing about us without us”. The government has tried to …
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, November is Indigenous Disability Awareness Month. Many may be surprised to know that indigenous people have rates of disabilities three times higher than the average Canadian, many times without the support that many Canadians enjoy. However, they are some of the most resilient, kind and humble people in our communities. One particular constituent comes to mind, and I would like to a…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I understand the question and I understand the intent of it. However, what we have seen in many of our indigenous communities as a result of intergenerational trauma is that indigenous communities are far more likely to be violent, far more likely to see abuses and far more likely to need indigenous policing and policing of all types. We feel that the RCMP is part of that answer. In…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I acknowledge my hon. colleague from Nunavut for raising this very important question. I would like to start off by saying that I am speaking from my home in Eskasoni First Nation on unceded Mi'kmaq territory. The member is right that this is an important issue, and our government certainly needs to do more. That is why, as part of our commitment to the many Truth and Reconciliation…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, in times of crisis, Cape Bretoners come together. They unite for a common purpose, healing their neighbours, helping their neighbours. With that in mind, I have to start off by thanking the member for Cape Breton—Canso for sharing his technology and his screen name with me tonight so that I might give this speech. I extend my sincere gratitude to him for accommodating me. As of the be…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, what we need to do is move fast. However, to blame this disaster on bureaucrats or gatekeepers or whatever terminology the member wants to use is not seeing the actual problem in front of us. The actual problem is climate change. These disasters will happen, and they will continue to happen. We have seen it up north. We have seen it in the west. We have seen it in the east. To try to …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for her comments and her years of advocacy on this important file. It is one of the things that we learned growing up in an indigenous community, that within a language we are all connected. That is an important thing that I try to remind myself of daily, but I think the answers are not only in indigenous knowledge but in collaboration within this Hous…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, that is an important question. In the Mi’kmaq culture and in the Mi’kmaq language we have a term called netukulimk. It reminds us that we have a responsibility to each other, we have a responsibility to our communities and we have a responsibility to our nation. We also have a responsibility to our ecosystem, one that we too often forget at the cost of profits and at the cost of money…
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