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Results: 91 - 105 of 718
View Andréanne Larouche Profile
BQ (QC)
View Andréanne Larouche Profile
2021-06-01 20:20 [p.7794]
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague from Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo for her speech. I also want to remind the House that the horrific discovery was made in her riding. I therefore offer her and her constituents my deepest sympathies as a member of Parliament. I had the opportunity to visit Kamloops last summer, and I could really feel all the symbolism and importance of indigenous peoples in the city and in the region.
I would like to hear what my colleague has to say about the importance of discussing the rights of indigenous peoples on a nation-to-nation basis and showing up ready to have a genuine exchange and listen to first nations, without giving the impression that we know what they need better than they do. What does she think of that new tone?
View Cathy McLeod Profile
CPC (BC)
Madam Chair, the Tk’emlúps te Secwe?pemc have been leaders for many, many years in terms of how they have moved forward. To be quite frank, the federal government has gotten in the way of their progress, whether that has been economic or in other ways.
We do need to, as we have said tonight, make it real. Let us respect the jurisdiction. Let us provide the support they need. We are very proud of something called the Kamloops amendment. We are very proud of the work at the First Nations Taxation Commission, the economic development they have done, and the partnerships they have made in terms of how we move forward together. We need to continue that and really stay out of their way, but be supportive in terms of what needs to be done.
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
View Matthew Green Profile
2021-06-01 20:22 [p.7795]
Madam Chair, the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, once the largest residential school in Canada, was operated by the Catholic Church from 1893 to 1969.
The hon. member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo referred to the TRC's calls to action. In referencing call to action 74, which calls on the government to work with churches and aboriginal communities to inform the families, it has been widely reported that indigenous leaders and advocates are calling on the Roman Catholic Church to apologize and take responsibility for the atrocities committed against the children, families and communities by the residential school system.
Will this member join these indigenous leaders and many others, including myself, in calling on the Roman Catholic Church to finally and formally apologize for its role in the residential school system in Canada?
View Cathy McLeod Profile
CPC (BC)
Madam Chair, it was about three years ago that Parliament passed a motion asking for a papal apology and, much to our disappointment, that has not happened. We know that there have been other apologies that have been given.
I do join my colleague in calling for this apology. It is part of the healing. It is part of the closure, and it is another important call to action.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
Madam Chair, I rise this evening not as the critic for Crown—indigenous relations, not as a member of Parliament, but as a father horrified by the tragic discovery in Kamloops of the 215 children buried and forgotten at a residential school in Tk’emlups territory. I want to acknowledge the deep sadness and grief that all indigenous peoples and survivors of residential schools are experiencing at this time and wish to express my deepest sympathies to the first nation itself, and those surrounding indigenous communities who are sharing in this tragedy.
A new page is being written on the dark shameful narrative that is the Canadian residential school legacy, a legacy that has had a profoundly lasting and damaging impact on indigenous families, culture, heritage and language. While communities and families grapple with this unthinkable revelation, it is time for all of us to come together and aid in the healing process.
This must be more than just words. I cannot blame indigenous leaders and communities who are listening to us tonight, wondering if our sentiments are just that, just words. It is time to act, and that time was actually long ago. That includes all governments, not just this one. We need to put the resources in place to protect, honour and identify these children, and to find and bring home all the lost children throughout Canada.
Last night, the Conservative Party sent a letter to the government, respectfully recommending that the following actions be taken.
First, the development of a comprehensive plan to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action 71 through 76 by July 1 of this year. The time for action is now.
Second, to put in place enough funding to investigate all former residential schools in Canada where unmarked graves exist, including the site where 215 children have already been discovered. I understand that only three of the 160 acres have been checked at the Kamloops location and the ramifications of that are too dreadful to even contemplate.
Third, ensure that proper resources are allocated for communities to commemorate and honour any individuals discovered through the investigation, according to the wishes of their next of kin. This must be done in consultation with the leadership of indigenous communities, to safeguard their wishes and to protect cultural practices.
Last, we must never forget what happened here. We call on the government to develop a detailed and thorough set of resources to educate Canadians of all ages of this tragic history of residential schools in Canada. I am sure all sides of this place will have recommendations, and I am sure the government will also table its actions and what it intends to move forward with. I look forward to seeing those details. As I mentioned, I offer my sincere assistance to the government in this regard.
Following the historic apology to residential schools, their students, their families and communities for Canada's role in the operation of the schools by former prime minister Stephen Harper, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada began the hard work and dedication of building public awareness about residential schools and to bring forward 94 recommendations to all levels of government, public and private institutions, and religious organizations. The goal of the commission's findings were to foster reconciliation, understanding and respect. The final report of the TRC helped to explain this dark chapter in Canadian history and the calls to action addressed the legacy of residential schools and advanced the process of reconciliation.
I thank the commission for its very hard work, but the torch has been passed. We need to address the outstanding recommendations in that report. They need to be addressed quickly so that we can move forward on the road to true reconciliation with Canada's indigenous peoples.
Manny Jules, the former chief of that first nation and survivor of the Kamloops residential school, said recently that everyone knew there were children buried on that site. He even went on to say that those children were also in unmarked graves in other places across Canada. He is demanding action, not just words. Indigenous people want action, not words, to find these lost children.
I implore the government to take action right now to fund and support the investigation of all residential schools in Canada, and bring those children home.
View Pam Damoff Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Chair, I thank my friend across the way for his speech and for his work on this file.
The member talked about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action. Earlier tonight, the Leader of the Opposition was asked about call to action 43, which calls on the federal government to adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
I think all of us in the House can agree that we cannot pick and choose from the recommendations which ones we should implement. I am wondering if the member opposite would work with his Conservative colleagues in the Senate to ensure that this legislation does get passed, and gets passed quickly.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
Madam Chair, I appreciate the question from my friend from Oakville North—Burlington.
Conservatives have said many times that they support reconciliation, including financial reconciliation. They also support the spirit of UNDRIP. What happened at the committee process with Bill C-15 was that the opposition parties were amplifying the voices of first nations leaders themselves. They were the ones who showed up at committee expressing concerns in regard to that bill, specifically about free, prior and informed consent and exactly what that means, not just for industry but for the way of life as well, the certainty that it provides.
Again, these were not just voices of Conservative Party members; these were the voices of the indigenous communities themselves, trying to get their voices to the government. That is what we were trying to do.
As I have said many times, we support reconciliation. We support the spirit of UNDRIP. We were looking to amplify the voices of those on the ground and those first nations communities concerned about Bill C-15.
View Sébastien Lemire Profile
BQ (QC)
Madam Chair, I thank the member for his very empathetic presentation. We can feel the weight of his experience, and we can see that he is offering solutions and recommendations, for which I am particularly grateful to him.
I would like to ask him how we can help this community mourn these children and what actions we can take, while, of course, fully respecting indigenous traditions.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
Madam Chair, I thank my friend for that very meaningful question.
As my friend from Kamloops mentioned in her speech, listening to those people on the ground, listening to the communities and following their direction on how to proceed, that is what the communities need. The government owes that to them. That is how we are going to at least start to move forward with this.
The federal government needs to work as a partner, but also listen to and take action on the recommendations and the suggestions it is hearing from the first nations community.
View Mumilaaq Qaqqaq Profile
NDP (NU)
View Mumilaaq Qaqqaq Profile
2021-06-01 20:33 [p.7796]
Madam Chair, as the member was speaking, although he did say some nice words, I could not help but reconcile words and action. The irony, the complete irony of hearing heartfelt speeches from Conservatives—
View Garnett Genuis Profile
CPC (AB)
Madam Chair, I just want to comment on something that another member said earlier, noting that the residential school in Kamloops had been run by a Catholic entity.
Obviously for those of us who are Catholic, it is deeply painful to see the way in which the principles of our church, the values of our church, were betrayed by people who abused children in that context.
I also want to put on the record that Pope Benedict, the last pope, did apologize in 2009 to indigenous leaders. I know there is a request for a pope to apologize on Canadian soil, and that has not happened yet. Of course, the pope has not been to Canada since the TRC made that request. I suspect the issue would be addressed in the future, in a papal visit.
However, it is important to put on the record that this apology has been put forward by the pope, as well as all the Catholic entities involved, and that all of us, people of faith and legislators, need to do all we can to work together to promote reconciliation.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
Madam Chair, I do agree that we all have to work together on reconciliation. I do not think anyone believes this was anything but a very dark time in Canadian history and not something any of us could be proud of.
I did stand in support of that motion in the previous Parliament to ask that the Catholic Church apologize for its role in the residential schools in Canada, and that was something I was pleased to support because it was long overdue.
View Pam Damoff Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Yukon.
I would like to acknowledge that I am speaking from the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation from my home in Oakville.
My thoughts are with all indigenous families as they mourn. Like all Canadians, I am devastated by the horrifying news from British Columbia, where the remains of 215 children buried at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School were discovered. This is not news to indigenous peoples in Canada. My friend, the member for Northwest Territories, shared with me that there is a mission graveyard in his small community. Half of those buried there are children from the local residential school.
Many years ago, the Catholic Church removed the crosses, dug up the priests, nuns and brothers and moved them to a new graveyard. Then it plowed over the old cemetery and grew potatoes there. In the early 1900s, the community, working with elders, hired specialists to locate the bodies of the children buried there, reclaimed their names, remembered their ages and erected a monument. I am ashamed to say that I did not know this story, and I suspect that most Canadians do not know these stories.
Families deserve closure. Our government is committed to supporting survivors, the families as well as communities, to locate and memorialize children who were killed because they were forced to attend residential schools.
We invite indigenous communities to seek federal support, which is available, to conduct radar scans on other residential school sites to confirm if lost children are buried there.
The history of residential schools was not taught when I was a student. When I was first elected, I held a public screening of the documentary We Were Children. A former MP attended and said he wished he had known this history when he served in Parliament in the 1980s.
Duncan Campbell Scott, deputy superintendent of Indian Affairs in 1910, said of residential schools, “It is readily acknowledged that Indian children...die at a much higher rate than in their villages. But this alone does not justify a change in the policy of this Department, which is being geared towards the final solution of our Indian Problem.”
This month during #IndigenousReads, I am encouraging my community to read 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph. It is important to confront our past to learn what is true in order to move forward on the path of reconciliation.
Near my home, the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School operated in Brantford from 1828 to 1970. It served as a school for first nations children from Six Nations, as well as other communities throughout Ontario and Quebec. Just today, Six Nations of the Grand River has asked the federal government to help it search its grounds.
The Save the Evidence project from the Woodland Cultural Centre is working to restore the former Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School into a historical site and educational resource. Projects like this that are indigenous-led are vital for educating the public about our past and for understanding the realities of indigenous peoples in Canada.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission made 94 calls to action. If Canadians have not already read them, they should do so. Calls 71 to 76 deal with the missing children and burial information.
One of the honorary witnesses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a friend of mine who survived the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. We have talked about what Canada can do as we implement the recommendations of the TRC. Call to action 81 calls for a residential schools national monument in Ottawa to honour survivors and all children who were lost to their families and communities.
Now is the time to take action on this. Our government has worked to build a more equitable relationship with indigenous peoples based on partnership and honesty. We have introduced legislation to establish a national day for truth and reconciliation, to amend the oath of citizenship and to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We are working with indigenous leadership and communities to implement legislation that affirms and recognizes indigenous peoples' jurisdiction over child and family services to reduce the number of indigenous children in care. We are committed to continuing to take action to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance reconciliation across Canada.
I pray for the stolen little souls and I mourn their loss.
View Denis Trudel Profile
BQ (QC)
View Denis Trudel Profile
2021-06-01 20:40 [p.7797]
Madam Chair, I have been listening to the debate, and what I feel is shame. We have been talking about this for years. We have the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which spent years criss-crossing Canada, gathering testimony from thousands of people who said that what happened at residential schools in Canada over the past 150 years was a scandal. Here we are again this evening talking about various possibilities.
I did not like the fact that my colleague said Canadians would have to read the report. It is not up to Canadians to read the report. It is up to the Government of Canada. The government is the one that has to implement the action plan and provide the resources to make that happen. That is what it has to do.
I have a simple question for my colleague. Does she acknowledge that the way indigenous individuals and indigenous children were treated in residential schools over a period of 150 years was a bona fide genocide?
View Pam Damoff Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Chair, with all due respect to my colleague, Canadians do need to read the report. As well, I would say that of the 76 calls to action that are under federal or joint federal responsibility, 80% of them are either finished or under way.
However, it is not only government that needs to read that report. All Canadians need to read the report, and all Canadians need to be aware of the what the member talked about, the shame of what has happened. I completely agree with him on that.
As I said in my speech, Canadians are surprised by what was found in Kamloops, but indigenous peoples were not.
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