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Results: 61 - 75 of 122
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to speak to chief and council yesterday. Currently, members should know that the timeline for getting back into the community would be early December.
Obviously, with COVID we are being extra careful to prevent contamination in vectors of the spread of COVID in the community. However, there is currently a cycle of 14 days in the new plant that Indigenous Services Canada built over the last two years. That cycle needs to be respected, and testing needs to come back in a good way.
If those tests are positive, and we are cautiously optimistic about them, the community will be back, we hope, by early December, but this is a decision that will be made by the community.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, as I have said to the member, we are cautiously optimistic. This is a decision that will be taken in conjunction with the community and not dictated by Indigenous Services Canada.
I would ask the member what she would have said to that community, with the abhorrent investment the Conservative Party did of $300,000 a year over 10 years. What situation would it be in today had we not invested $16 million to build a new plant?
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, my thanks to the member for her tireless advocacy on behalf of indigenous peoples. I do think that she and the rest of the House will appreciate the update that I have with respect to Opaskwayak.
I have been in conversations with Chief Sinclair over the course of the weekend to ensure that the surge capacity of the Government of Canada is there to help the community, as well as in its role as a hub in the coming weeks. We are now at double the active rate of the total cases that occurred during the first wave. This is indeed exceedingly alarming.
First nations, Inuit and Métis should know that the Government of Canada will always be there for them and they will not be left behind.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, first I would like to acknowledge the unacceptable situation in Neskantaga. I would like to update the House on the current discussions we are having with the chief. The plan forward involves a staged path of opening up the new plant, which we have invested $16.5 million in. We will not rest until we can repatriate members of Neskantaga to their community in a safe, COVID—19-free way. That is what we are proceeding with in partnership with the chief.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, the overrepresentation of indigenous children in care is a fact, and a dark part of our shared history that we must address.
This government has been crystal clear: We intend to compensate first nations children harmed by the discriminatory child and family services policies. Throughout this process, our focus remains on advancing a plan that prioritizes the best interest of the individual child and puts the safety, well-being and security of that child at the forefront. We worked closely with all the parties involved, and found consensus on a number of key areas and a safe compensation process as part of, in particular, the joint framework for the payment of compensation. We will continue with that good work.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, the member's question is exceedingly important. I will reiterate the fact that it is unacceptable that Neskantaga has been without clean water for over 25 years.
This is a government that has invested $16.5 million into a new plant, in particular in Neskantaga, and in other places across Canada. There is much more work to do, but this is something that has occurred over a quarter of a century. If the member looks at the 10 years of investment of the Conservatives, in Neskantaga in particular, they only put $300,000 in per year, which is just a tragedy and something that we have committed to fix. We will fix it and we will fix it with financial resources in partnerships with first nations.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I would encourage the member to look down to the bottom of the article, where she got her information, and see the quote from the elder who said that the Prime Minister was the first one to care, to have actually done something and to give him respect for that.
There is a lot more work to be done. This is a product of decades of neglect. We continue to move on. Obviously, it is too early to determine the full impact of COVID-19 on water infrastructure timelines, but we do remain aggressively committed to meeting that goal, and in partnership with first nations well after that.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, as the member rightly points out, this is something that has been the case for over 25 years in some instances, and it does not get fixed overnight. It gets fixed by the consistent partnership, with government after government investing finances and resources in partnership with first nations that too often have been betrayed.
We have eliminated 96 long-term boil water advisories and prevented countless more from becoming long-term boil water advisories. A lot of them, yes, did happen on the watch of his prior government of 10 years, with $300,000 per year, for example, in Neskantaga, where we have invested $16.5 million. That is investment for—
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I will tell the member opposite exactly what the plan is. It is to lift all those long-term water advisories with investment, partnership and hard work, 96 to date. The prior government left them all to waste for a decade. This is unconscionable action. This is something our government moved quickly to remedy and, in fact, after 2015, we increased the number of communities that we would lift those long-term water advisories for.
This is something for which first nations communities have been asking for far too long, deserve so as of right. We will continue to commit to them in partnership to work with them to lift all the water advisories well beyond that date, to work in partnership to keep those water advisories from coming back on.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, let me say that it is entirely unacceptable that Neskantaga has gone without clean water for 25 years. Members should note that this government has invested $16.5 million into a new plant to fix the distribution system and the waste-water system. That is cold comfort for people who have evacuated in Thunder Bay, except for the 24 members ensuring safety within the community. We are prepared to evacuate them as well.
Let me reassure the House and say that we will not rest until the system is fixed and members can go back and safely enjoy the water they are entitled to as a matter of right.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, despite being in a global pandemic, on Monday I was proud to congratulate residents of Grassy Narrows First Nations, Asubpeeschoseewagong, on their recent elimination of all long-term drinking water advisories affecting their communities.
We are working aggressively to meet the spring 2021 deadline, and to date, 96 long-term drinking water advisories, the result of decades of government neglect, have been lifted. While we have more work to do, we will not stop until every community on reserve has access to safe and clean drinking water.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, this traumatizing and dehumanizing event that occurred in the death of Joyce Echaquan was an expression of the absolute worst face of racism.
Systemic racism in our health care system is a national problem and we must face the reality that our institutions continue to fail indigenous peoples. It is essential that there be a timely and transparent investigation and we welcome Quebec's decision to act swiftly on the inquest.
We know that this is not limited to the health care system and expresses itself across all institutions of government. While much has been done in the last five years, much more remains and we will continue to work on it diligently and call it out wherever it occurs.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I am glad to sit down with the member and brief her further on another occasion.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I would like to update the member on the recent cluster of cases in York Factory. A rapid response team arrived in the community a few days ago. They are ensuring that community members who are affected are isolating, and we are tracking and testing cases. We are cautiously optimistic about the outcome and the safety of that community at this time.
Obviously we know indigenous communities face these barriers and will continue to face these barriers as a second wave hits. We will move aggressively to deploy surge capacity and ensure isolation, whether it is inside or outside the community, to avoid that important vector of transmission that can be caused with intercommunity travel.
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, we are deeply concerned by the recent cluster of cases in York Factory First Nation and are monitoring the situation closely.
Since the outset of COVID-19, we have in fact shipped five shipments of personal protective equipment to the community. Additional nurses have been deployed to the community, with two arriving just yesterday.
My department does remain in close communication with the community leadership, the first nations pandemic response and coordination team as well as all the health services that are available. We will continue monitoring the situation quite closely.
Results: 61 - 75 of 122 | Page: 5 of 9

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