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Results: 1 - 72 of 72
View Mumilaaq Qaqqaq Profile
NDP (NU)
View Mumilaaq Qaqqaq Profile
2021-06-21 14:15 [p.8844]
Mr. Speaker, today is National Indigenous Peoples Day. It should be a day of celebration, culture and history, but I am filled with a tremendous amount of sadness and anger.
When this institution talks about indigenous communities, we often talk about resiliency. Those in the federal institution talk about its record-breaking investments when a quarter to five dollars is a slap in the face. They pat themselves on the back while denying Inuit access to safe, livable space that keeps them alive.
I will continue to say this. There is nothing to be proud of for indigenous peoples in this institution. There is nothing for anyone to be patting themselves on the back. In fact, they should all feel extreme shame. I feel ashamed that Inuit are continuously being denied the right to live, the right to self-determination.
Today, I applaud Inuit and indigenous peoples. Without ourselves, our strength and our resilience, we would not be here.
Matna.
View Judy A. Sgro Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Speaker, I am honoured to rise virtually today to recognize a tireless labour rights activist, who I have known for quite some time, by the name of the Marino Toppan.
Marino is the creator behind the Italian Fallen Workers Memorial project established in 2016. This memorial, one of the biggest of its kind in Canada, commemorates nearly 2,000 Italian workers who lost their lives on the job over a century ago. I know the Italian community truly appreciates this important recognition.
Marino is also a published author. His book, entitled Land of Triumph and Tragedy: Voices of the Italian Fallen Workers is a book I always notice on the shelf my office.
From all Italian Canadians across our country, myself, and my husband Sam, I would like to thank Marino for all he is done to bring closure to the families of the Italian workers.
Grazie mille.
View Marcus Powlowski Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, this will be a great weekend for many of us in Ontario because, for the first time in many months, we will be able to get together with up to 10 other people outside. However, this is going to be a really great weekend for members of the Filipino-Canadian population because tomorrow is Philippines Independence Day.
For the Filipino-Canadian community, this last year has been a particularly hard because many people from that community work in either chronic care homes or meat packing plants, both of which were hit hard by COVID. However, this weekend, I, like Filipino Canadians and Filipinos around the world, will be partying.
No one parties better than the Filipinos. I, like many Filipinos, will spend the weekend eating pancit, lechon and bicol express, and drinking, of course, Tanduay and San Miguel.
Maligayang Araw ng Kalayaan.
View Julie Dzerowicz Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Julie Dzerowicz Profile
2021-06-10 14:01 [p.8216]
Madam Speaker, my riding of Davenport is home to the largest Portuguese community in Canada. I am proud to stand up in the House of Commons today, the official day of Portugal, Camões, and the Portuguese communities and to celebrate it during the month of June, which we all know is now recognized nationally as Portuguese Heritage Month.
Due to COVID, we have to celebrate differently this year, but one day soon hope to engage in activities surrounded by a sea of red and green, filled with twirling rancho dancers and bandas proudly marching with their instruments. I want to thank all the Portuguese leaders, clubs, associations and media that have tirelessly promoted the love of Portuguese culture, language and community to all Canadians.
Whether ordering a meal from a favourite churrasqueira, listening to some Fado, watching Ronaldo in the World Cup, or having a glass of excellent Douro or Alentejo wine, take the time to celebrate Portugal this month.
Viva Portugal and viva Canada. Obrigada, Madam Speaker.
View Peter Fonseca Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, in June, we celebrate Portuguese Heritage Month, a great time to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Canadians of Portuguese descent. Also, today, June 10, is Portugal day, commemorated both in Portugal and around the world by Portuguese in honour of the 16th century poet, Luís Vaz de Camões, whose prose captured Portugal’s age of discovery.
It is a special day of pride for me, both as a Portuguese Canadian and as a resident of Mississauga, a city with over 20,000 Luso Canadians. Canada is now home to one of the largest Portuguese diasporas in the world, with nearly half a million people of Portuguese origin calling Canada home.
This past year has been very difficult. Personally, I have seen many losses within our Luso community here and back in Portugal. We know we are all in this together, much stronger and closer than ever before.
Again, to our Luso community, Feliz Dia de Portugal. Viva Canadá. Viva Portugal.
View Justin Trudeau Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Justin Trudeau Profile
2021-06-08 10:07 [p.8065]
Mr. Speaker, assalam alaikum.
Lately, a lot of Canadians have been enjoying evening walks to get a bit of fresh air after long days at home during this pandemic. On Sunday, in London, Ontario, that is what a grandmother, two parents and two children went out to do, three generations of the Afzaal family, Salman, Madiha, their children Yumna and Fayez and their grandmother. But unlike every other night, that family never made it home. Their lives were taken in a brutal, cowardly and brazen act of violence. This killing was no accident. This was a terrorist attack motivated by hatred in the heart of one of our communities.
I am horrified by the attack that took the lives of four members of one family and seriously injured a 9-year-old boy on Sunday evening in London, Ontario. Our hearts go out to their loved ones at this very difficult time. We all hope that little boy will be able to heal from his injuries quickly, even though we know he will have to live a very long time with the sadness, anger and incomprehension caused by the cowardly, Islamophobic attack.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. There was also the attack on the Quebec City mosque.
The cowardly murder of Mohamed-Aslim Zafis at a mosque in Toronto, the violent attacks against Black Muslim women in Edmonton and so many other people across the country who have faced insults, threats and violence were all targeted because of their Muslim faith. This is happening here in Canada and it has to stop.
We must not become inured to this violence. We must not become desensitized to it. We must not accept this as normal. Every time we witness such hate, we must call it out. That starts with doing little things.
Words matter. They can be a seed that grows into an ugly, pervasive trend and sometimes lead to real violence. The jokes that are not funny, the casual racism, the insinuations that are only meant to diminish, the toxic rhetoric, the disinformation and extremism online, and the polarization we see too often in our public discourse and in our politics, as leaders and as Canadians we not only have to say enough is enough, we must take action. We cannot allow any form of hate to take root, because the consequences can be far too serious. We have seen it in Christ Church. We have seen it in other places around the world. We have lived it here at home.
Right now, Canadians are outraged by what happened on Sunday and many Muslim Canadians are scared.
Last night I spoke with the mayor of London, Ed Holder, and a representative of the local Muslim community, Nawaz Tahir, to share my condolences and discuss the urgency of what more we must do to keep our communities safe.
We stand with the people of London and Muslim communities across the country. We are going to continue to fund initiatives like the security infrastructure program to help protect communities at risk, their schools and places of worship. We will continue to fight hate online and offline, which includes taking even more action to dismantle far-right hate groups like we did with the Proud Boys, by adding it to Canada's terror listing. We will continue doing everything we can to keep communities safe.
The perpetrator of Sunday's vicious attack in London does not represent who we are as Canadians. We know that we are stronger when we live in peace than when we live in hatred and violence. We also know that we need to acknowledge the truth: this sort of hate and violence exists here in Canada, whether it be on the street, online or elsewhere. As long as it exists, we still have work to do.
If anyone thinks racism and hatred do not exist in this country, I ask of them this, how do we explain such violence to that child in hospital? How can we look families in the eye and say, Islamophobia is not real? When we listen to the Black Muslim woman who constantly looks over her shoulder at the bus stop, fearing someone will pull off her hijab or hurt her, she will tell us that Islamophobia exists. If we listen to the parents who beg their children not to wear traditional clothes for fear of them being harassed or attacked simply for what they are wearing, they will tell us racism exists.
Muslim families have often felt uncertain or even fearful when they go out on the streets wearing traditional garb. The reality is most Canadians have not necessarily been aware of that fear that far too many racialized and Muslim Canadians carry with them any time they go outside.
If the attack in London has any follow-up or impact on non-Muslim Canadians, it should be this, to understand the anxiety and the fear that our fellow Canadians carry, that they should not be carrying. It is on all of us to understand that experience and be there to support and to help. We can and we must act.
As Canadians, we have been fighting a global pandemic for over a year now, and we did it by coming together and by working together. That is the only way of confronting the ugly face of hatred. I want all Canadians to know that we are all diminished when any one of us is targeted. We need to stand up and reject racism and terror, and work together to embrace what makes our country strong, our diversity.
May peace and blessings be upon you.
View Jagmeet Singh Profile
NDP (BC)
View Jagmeet Singh Profile
2021-06-08 10:27 [p.8067]
Mr. Speaker, assalam alaikum.
Today is a hard day. We think about what this means to Muslims and their families across this country. We have heard people mention this, but it is so common. All of us have gone for walks with our families in this pandemic, because there is nowhere else to go. There are places that are shut down, so we go for a walk. To think that a family going for a walk could not make it home, that a casual walk around the block in our neighbourhood would be one's last, that one cannot walk safely down one's own street, we need to think about what that means for a Muslim family. Right now, people are talking to their families and saying maybe they should not go for a walk. There are people literally thinking about whether they should walk out their front door in our country.
We think about what that means. Some people have said that this is not our Canada, and I think about what that means, when people say that this is not our Canada. This happened in London, Ontario. I lived in London, Ontario for five years. I loved my time there. I think about the fact that my parents chose to make Canada our home. I love my home. I love this place, but the reality is that this is our Canada. This is our Canada. Our Canada is a place where 215 little kids were found dead in unmarked graves. Our Canada is a place where people cannot walk down the street if they wear a hijab, because they would be killed. This is our Canada. We cannot deny it. We cannot reject that, because it does no one any help.
The reality is that our Canada is a place of racism, of violence, of genocide of indigenous people, and our Canada is a place where Muslims are not safe. They are not. They are not safe. Muslims are not safe in this country. I have spoken to Muslims who wonder how many more lives it will take, how many more families will be mauled in the street and how many more families will be killed before we do something.
Innocent people were killed while praying in a place of prayer, in a mosque in Quebec, gunned down. A Muslim man in Toronto was knifed and killed. In both of those incidents, we know very clearly that it was directly because of hate. There was so much hate toward people they did not know, just because of who they were, how they prayed and what they looked like. That is a reality. People live with that every day. They walk the streets wondering if they will be attacked, just because of the way they look, not because of an enemy they have or because of someone who has a problem with them. Will I be attacked today, just because of the way I look? That is a real question people ask.
What a life to live, to have to wonder about that. We think about people who left violence. They fled persecution. Refugees come to this country thinking they are going to be safe here and that this is a place of safety, but they are not safe.
To Muslim Canadians, I am so sorry they have to live like this, that they have to live in fear, but there are things we can do. When we think about the lives lost, we think about Salman, Madiha, Yumna, young Fayez, who is still alive, and his grandmother. We think about those lives lost, and Fayez, who is still living. What can we do now? Things have to change. We cannot just do the same thing. We cannot just continue as if nothing has happened. There have been so many lives lost, and people are frustrated. What can we do?
I want to acknowledge that this is the reality we have to deal with. This is Canada. This is a part of the country we live in. We have to deal with it. We cannot deny it. We cannot ignore it. We have to confront it. This is a part of the country we live in, and we have to find a way to make things safer for people. We have to acknowledge that the real and urgent threat to Canadians' safety is coming from hate. It is coming from extreme right-wing ideology. It is coming from white supremacy. It is coming from hate groups that are expounding this type of hatred and radicalizing people. That is the real threat to Canadians' lives right now.
Something has to change. There have to be resources put in place to address these real and urgent threats to Canadians' lives. This is not coming from other places; it is coming from Canada. It is coming from people who are radicalized to hate people who look different, who pray differently. This is the real threat that Canadians are facing. Someone has to listen and acknowledge that if this is the real threat, then resources have to be put towards addressing this real threat.
We know, and this is a harsh reality, that politicians have used Islamophobia for political gain. They have used it as a divisive tool, and that has to end. No one can ever use Islamophobia for political gain, and we all know when it has been done. We all know how it has happened. I am not saying that it is solely those politicians who have used Islamophobia for political gain who are to blame, absolutely not, but they are surely a part of the problem. If they have used Islamophobia for political gain, thinking they can divide people to get votes, this is the result of it. This is what happens when they divide people. When they inflame hatred, people die.
We also need to tackle online hate. It is a real thing, and online hate is radicalizing people. Online hate is spreading messages that teach people to hate and that create this fear of the other. We know it is happening, and we have to be serious about tackling it.
Something has to change. It just cannot continue. Another life cannot be lost while we do nothing about it. Another family cannot be mauled in the street while nothing happens.
What happened was an act of violence, an act of terrorism and an act of hate, and we must confront hate directly.
What happened was senseless and incomprehensible, but we must act. Now is the time to show determination, the time to do something to stop the hate and stop this kind of violence.
We have to make this a moment when we decide to do something different as a country, when we come together and say that we are going to put an end to hatred, that we are going to put an end to violence and that we are not going to allow political leaders to use this type of divisive hatred to gain political points. This has to end; it cannot continue. We have to be serious about this.
To all in the Muslim community in Canada who are suffering and feeling pain right now, I feel their pain. I understand their pain, and we are going to work towards making sure that they do not have to live in fear, that they do not have to walk the streets in fear. We are going to fight for them.
View Elizabeth May Profile
GP (BC)
View Elizabeth May Profile
2021-06-08 10:36 [p.8068]
Mr. Speaker, I thank you for putting my request forward, and I thank all my colleagues for this opportunity to speak to this horrific event.
Assalam alaikum.
I start with these words: “Our hearts are broken, our minds are numb.” This could speak for all of Canada. These are the words of Omar Khamissa, who works in community outreach with the National Council of Canadian Muslims.
To everyone on that council, to everyone who is a regular visitor to the Islamic Centre of Southwest Ontario, I have had the great honour to meet with imams, to speak of the true Islamic spirit and to talk about the enormous contribution to Canada from our Muslim community.
The Muslim community and Muslim families are an integral part of Canada. We are one, big Canadian family. This is a time of great sorrow unlike any other.
We say these words over and over as we experience this. I have heard them from my hon. colleagues, the right hon. Prime Minister, the hon. leader of the official opposition, the leader of the Bloc Québécois, and the leader of the New Democratic Party, who so movingly reminded us of all the ways that our society is not the one we think it is.
We have been holding a mirror up to ourselves for some time now, and it is hard to like what we see, especially when Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir announced the preliminary findings of the 215 children who had long since died, but not that long ago. They were the bodies of little children from the Kamloops residential school.
This event reminds us of how we stood together. Many of us here today in this chamber will remember standing in the bitter cold of Quebec City in 2017 with the Islamic community of Quebec City after the shooting in the Quebec City mosque and saying, “Never again.”
What strikes me now, as we gather together again to repeat our frequent calls that we do better, is that I think of the hon. member for Mississauga—Erin Mills and her Motion No. 103. I think of her courage because I know she was targeted. There were some very nasty messages after she stood up and said that we have to do something about Islamophobia, as well as anti-Semitism and hatred of all kinds. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out what we will do about it.
One thing that Motion No. 103 did for many of us in this place who were serving when it was put forward, was it exposed us to Islamophobia. Many of my constituents are dear, sweet people who I know. I had to write back to them saying they had misunderstood, that Motion No. 103 will not elevate Islam above Christianity.
They were afraid of that. I had to say that Motion No. 103 would not mean that we are going to have sharia law in Canada. There is a level just below the surface. Constituents sent me links to websites, by the way, with news sources that they wanted me to read, which said that Motion No. 103 would do all these things.
I wish I had taken notes yesterday when the minister of heritage, before the ethics committee, rattled off a bunch of statistics of how many hate crimes had been fuelled by an increase in hatred online, along with how many police chiefs are reporting an increase in incitement and radicalization to hate people based on their faith or the colour of their skin.
I am at a loss. I am the former leader of the Green Party, of course, and our leader has expressed the deep, deep sorrow of all of us. However, all of us together as elected people, I think, have to actually stop for a while and listen, maybe just invite people from the Islamic community to come and talk to us, because there is something very, very wrong in a beautiful community like London. I have had the honour to spend a lot of time there.
I want to send my condolences to our former colleague in this place because, of course, the mayor of London used to be the MP for London West. I also want to send my condolences to the current MP for London West, the current MP for London—Fanshawe, the current MP for London North Centre and all of the MPs touched by this personally. I know their hearts are broken, and they do not understand how this could happen in their community. Neither do I.
I just know that as Canadians, we have to do much, much better. That starts with acknowledging that we are broken, that we allow people to be infested by a seething hatred that would look at a beautiful family out for a Sunday walk and with premeditation, according to the police, try to wipe out that whole family.
We will never as a country be able to tell young Fayez how sorry we are, how much we hope for his future and how much we mourn the loss of the people of his family, the Afzaal family.
With that, I do not think it helps us much as politicians to pretend we have answers, but I do agree with the hon. leader of the New Democratic Party that, if we ever again see a political party trying to divide us based on someone wearing a hijab, we must call them out.
Let us make sure that we say to all of the Islamic community of this country that, from the bottom of hearts, we ask for their forgiveness for letting this hatred live among us. We love them. We care for them, just as we do for all the members of this human family, which is so very broken. Our hearts are broken. Our minds are numb.
View Kenny Chiu Profile
CPC (BC)
View Kenny Chiu Profile
2021-06-04 11:17 [p.7969]
Madam Speaker, the goddess of democracy carries a torch, a torch lit through historic action. One brave man carrying a great burden stood in front of a column of tanks, when gunfire and tanks were used against peaceful students and workers.
Then, thousands were inspired with umbrellas on the streets facing police in riot gear because they believed in something greater for their nation.
For 32 years, the people of Hong Kong have carried their torches. Be it rain or shine, they continue to seek freedom and democracy, peace, prosperity, a responsible and contributive China.
This year, for fear of increasing state retaliation, they cannot. They have been forbidden from remembering the truth of events. This is why we must now carry the great burden, our umbrella torches. We join the world in carrying the torch of lady democracy. Liberty, much like Tiananmen, must never be forgotten.
[Member spoke in Mandarin]
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Madam Speaker, today I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Vancouver Centre.
Kwe. Unusakut. Tansi. Hello. Bonjour. I want to acknowledge that I am speaking today from the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
Indigenous communities, families and friends are hurting. Emotions are high, and the pain is real. For indigenous people, the events this week may not be a surprise. It does not make it less of a shock or less painful. There is not a single community that is not grieving today. The news that came from Kamloops last week has opened up wounds that were not closed, even if people thought they were closed.
Our thoughts and actions at this time must support the communities and families in recovering the truth, so that they could continue to heal. We cannot heal without the truth, as painful as it is. It is on the hearts and minds of all Canadians, and frankly, if it is not, it should be.
Over the past week, people have shared piercing and atrocious anecdotes that really show what kind of places those facilities were, and indeed the testimonials today from members in the House certainly reinforces that. I thank them for their testimonials.
I was reminded by a faith healer friend who I rely heavily upon that, for example, the Mohawk Institute in Six Nations had an orchard and had apples, but the kids could not eat them. They were punished if they did. There were chickens, but the kids could not take the eggs because the eggs were sent to market. The only time they would get one was at Easter. Calling those places schools is to use a euphemism. They were labour camps, and people starved.
I know people are eager to get answers as to what the federal government will do, what we will do nationally and what Canada will do. Let me say this clearly, we will be there for indigenous communities that want to continue the search for the truth.
The reality is that this is something that will be dictated to us by the communities that are affected, as set forth notably in call to action 76 in the body of the Truth and Reconciliation Report. We will be there for communities. We do have to respect the privacy, space and mourning period of those communities that are collecting their thoughts and putting together their protocols as to how to honour these children. They have asked us specifically for that. We will do that, and Canadians must respect that.
Yesterday, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations announced $27 million in funding to support the ongoing NCTR and to implement calls to action 74 to 76. This will fund support for survivors, their families and communities across Canada to locate and memorialize children who died or went missing while attending residential schools.
We also have to look one another right in the eyes and face the fact that the general public either misunderstands or is ignorant of certain chapters of our history, especially the most painful ones. This truth is hard to bear, particularly for the indigenous communities affected and for the individuals and families who are reliving very painful parts of their own history or that of their parents, cousins, uncles and aunts.
As leaders, politicians and members of Parliament, it is also our role to educate and contribute to that education. In light of what we have learned this week, it is once again clear that many more truths remain to be uncovered. Explanations are needed. Too often, that explanation comes from indigenous peoples themselves. Too often, the job of educating Canadians has fallen to them, and, too often, we do not transmit that knowledge to our children. Fortunately, children are now learning about this in school, and they are telling us the harsh truth about what happened. Placing this burden on indigenous peoples is not fair. It should not be their burden to carry.
I repeat: We will be there for indigenous communities and families. We will support the search for truth and we will implement calls to action 72 to 76, among others, with an initial investment of $27 million. This funding will be distributed according to the priorities and requests of the communities themselves.
The government's role is to financially support communities in their grieving and healing process, as the wounds are still very fresh in this case. The communities will decide themselves whether they want to proceed with more extensive searches or not.
In this particular case, we spoke directly with indigenous leaders in Kamloops and the surrounding communities to offer mental health and security services, because emotions are running high, but we will respect the space they asked us to respect.
Obviously, this is painful for families who may have had uncles, aunts or cousins who disappeared and were never heard from again, but the key point here is that the Government of Canada will be there with the necessary support and funding for the communities that need it.
One of the many things being highlighted and underscored this week, in the midst of the heartache in Kamloops, is that indigenous children belong with their families and communities. Kids belong at home, where they can be with their relatives and elders; where they can learn their nation's culture, language and traditions; and where they can be given back all that was taken from, their parents and their grandparents. Bill C-92 affirms this inherent right. I would note that this basic right is one that the rest of us take for granted.
All of us share the responsibility to ensure this happens. The number of indigenous children who have been taken away in care in recent years far exceeds the number who attended residential schools. That should set in. In 2016, more than 52% of children in foster care in Canada were indigenous, and they account for 7% of the child population. The truth is that for children taken away from their community, their connections to their cultures and traditions were impacted too.
Fixing a broken system requires long-term reforms. The Government of Canada is determined to eliminate and continues to eliminate these discriminatory policies and practices against indigenous children, and we are doing it hand-in-hand with indigenous partners. The Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, which responds to calls to action, is a new way forward. Indigenous governments and communities have always been empowered to decide what is best for their children, their families and their communities, and the act provides a path for them to fully exercise and lift up that jurisdiction.
As a result of this work, led by indigenous communities, two indigenous laws are now enforced: the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations law in Ontario and the Miyo Pimatisowin Act of the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan. In each of these communities, children will have greater opportunity to grow up immersed in their culture and surrounded by loved ones. They will be welcomed home.
We are moving closer to achieving our shared ultimate goal of reducing the number of indigenous children in care. Systemic reform of the child and family services system is one important step. Compensation for past harms is another.
Since the CHRT issued its first order for Canada to cease its discriminatory practices in 2016, we have been working with first nations leaders and partners to implement the tribunal's orders.
We have the same goal of fair and equitable compensation. Let me be clear that no first nations children will be denied fair and equitable compensation. Children should not be denied the products or services they need because governments cannot agree on who will pay for them. It is why, via Jordan's principle, we have funded approximately $2 billion in services, speech therapy, educational supports, medical equipment, mental health services and so much more. This is transformative and the right thing to do.
The government is not questioning or challenging the notion that first nations children who were removed from their homes, families and communities should be compensated. We are committed to providing first nations children with access to the necessary supports and services, but it is important to obtain clarity on certain limited issues, which is why we brought the judicial review forward. We need to focus on what is really important, ensuring fair and equitable compensation of first nations children affected by the child and family services program and that first nations children have access to the supports they need when they need them.
I would remind the House that there are also two competing class actions that deal essentially with the same group of children. We are, nevertheless, in discussions with the parties to the various cases, but those discussions must remain confidential out of respect.
Finally, no court case can achieve the transformative change that we need to achieve as a country.
As the recent discovery in Kamloops reminds us once again, every child in this country should have the support and services they need to thrive.
Removing a child from their family or community must be an absolute last resort. We need to do the work to change the system and ensure that every person is treated equally and fairly, without prejudice or injustice, and with respect and dignity. It is our responsibility as a government and as Canadians who want to make Canada a better place for everyone.
We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it and find ways to right some historic wrongs, to acknowledge what never should have happened and do everything we can to ensure a better future.
Meegwetch. Nakurmik. Masi cho.
View Patricia Lattanzio Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, June has been officially recognized as Italian Heritage Month. As such, I would like to turn our attention toward the contributions made by Italian Canadians not only within their local communities, but across Canada.
Within just the last few generations, there have been many Italian Canadians who have worked tirelessly and have been successful in the fields of business, science, education, law and politics. Every day, because of their dedication and innovative characters, they have made invaluable contributions to lives of countless Canadians and have shaped the societal, economic and cultural landscape of Canada as we know it today.
I am incredibly honoured to represent my riding of Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, which is home to one the largest Italian communities in Canada. This vibrant community serves as a constant reminder of the incredible ways in which new immigrants to our country can have an everlasting impact.
Happy Italian Heritage Month. [Member spoke in Italian]
[English]
View Francesco Sorbara Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, Italian Heritage Month has arrived in Canada. Today on June 2, Italy celebrates the 75th Festa della Repubblica and the founding of the Italian Republic.
[Member spoke in Italian and provided the following text:]
Buona Festa della Repubblica a tutti.
[English]
Here in Canada, we proudly celebrate and share our Italian heritage, as well as our vast contributions to building this country we are blessed to call home.
[Member spoke in Italian and provided the following text:]
Ma anche quest’anno, rispettiamo e onore il passato. Il 27 maggio, il nostro Primo Ministro ha presentato
[English]
the formal apology for Italian Canadians interned during the Second World War.
This Italian Heritage Month, I wish to honour the resilience of these immigrants who endured so much.
As the Prime Minister stated:
What better way to prove that they loved the country they had chosen to call home. It would have been so easy to turn their backs on Canada. Instead, they put their backs into building it.
Happy Italian Heritage Month.
[Member spoke in Italian]
View Larry Bagnell Profile
Lib. (YT)
View Larry Bagnell Profile
2021-06-01 20:46 [p.7798]
Madam Chair, I come to you from the traditional territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council.
I want to start with a statement I made on social media.
The magnitude of this horrific tragedy initially left me numb. So many children were lost and so many families are grieving. So many emotions of heartbreak are breaking out again. Even if it were only one child, for that family it would be an infinite lifetime of sorrow.
As I was at a memorial of shoes with Angus Sidney, and on a walk yesterday, I and many others imagined what would happen if this were our own children. How could any parent bear such an incalculable pain?
At yesterday's event, after chief after chief expressed their deep sorrow, it was uplifting to hear them, led by Doris Bill, talk about a path forward and reconciliation. Nothing can undo these devastating events, but we in the Government of Canada, under whose authority residential schools were created and maintained, need to do everything in our power to bring these children, and those yet to be found, home to their families.
As well, ongoing support for indigenous-created healing is paramount. The highest priority must be given to continuing to work intensively with families of victims, with indigenous women's groups such as those in Yukon leading the country, and with other indigenous leaders and organizations across Canada to bring all the TRC calls to action to fruition. We can all continually work with those whose hearts are not yet in the same place as the hearts of the many who yesterday attended the Yukon gathering founded in love.
I want to now go over what, in this brief time of a couple of days, at least some of my constituents are asking for or demanding. Almost everyone who contacted me wanted to make sure that all the sites of residential schools in Canada would be searched for all potential graves. They understand that this needs to be indigenous-led. It needs to be as the families want and it needs to be culturally appropriate. They want all the calls to action of the TRC, the parts the federal government is responsible for, to be fully implemented, especially numbers 74 to 76 related to this event.
Investigations must occur and there must be accountability. They want Canadians to educate themselves and acknowledge these dark times in our history. One person said it is not a dark chapter of history, but a foundation of the unjust way that Canada was peopled. They want St. Anne's Indian Residential School survivors and those damaged by insufficient child welfare to be fully funded.
They have said that there need to be big closure ceremonies, clean water and other good conditions, as well as a national day of mourning. One person provided me a list of some terrible, specific, horrible crimes on specific children. The individuals have not been held to account, and it makes healing under those conditions difficult, if possible at all.
In our small city of Whitehorse, we had a spontaneous memorial set up on the steps of the Catholic church where over 400 pairs of children's shoes just appeared. At the invitation of Angus Sidney, I slept on those steps all night with him to honour those young lives that ended all too soon. The next day, there was a walk of thousands of Yukoners taking these shoes to display around a sacred fire that continues to burn right now. The procession was silent except for the heartbeat of the drums. At the fire, a number of chiefs spoke of tragedy and of sadness, but also of true leaders, of a path forward and of reconciliation.
Because this deplorable part of our history was not taught for the longest time in our schools, only after this tragic episode are many Canadians finding out about these devastating deaths. I commend all those across the country who have organized these events. I commend all indigenous leaders, and the tens of thousands of Canadians who turned up at the sad ceremonies across the country, for opening their hearts to the difficult steps we all must take to try to achieve reconciliation that will bring peace to all and a path forward together.
Marsi.
View Elizabeth May Profile
GP (BC)
View Elizabeth May Profile
2021-06-01 22:09 [p.7810]
Mr. Speaker, I begin by acknowledging that I am on the territory of W_SÁNEC people and I speak in SENCOTEN and raise my hands to you.
[Member spoke in SENCOTEN]
[English]
I particularly raise my hands today to one of my dearest friends, a constituent who is also my MLA. I am not using my words tonight. I am using his words. Adam Olsen is a member of Tsartlip First Nation. He spoke these words yesterday in the British Columbia legislature:
We know that if these children were not indigenous but rather European that we would not have been slow to act.... Deep down, we know that in our society it's just a fact.... Some children matter less.
We know underneath the shiny, happy facade of Canada...there lurks a grotesque and shameful past. For 30 years, my relatives have been sharing their experiences from these despicable institutions. For 30 years, their stories have been hushed. Our relatives have been told that [Canada and] Canadians...don't want to hear their stories. They have been told to stop lying. They've been told to stop embellishing.
There was a statement from this institution that noted the unimaginable proportions of this tragedy. This is an incredibly unfortunate characterization of the situation that we carry. For Indigenous People, the story is not shocking, nor is it unimaginable. This is the trauma our families have carried for generations....
As we continue to grapple with missing and murdered indigenous women and children, hanging red dresses in recognition of our current reality, what is uncovered in Kamloops [reminds us] that this storyline is not new. It has been in the imagination—indeed in the nightmares—of our relatives for the past 130 years. It is the terror that our ancestors have lived with.
The only reason to call it unimaginable would be because these institutions, these Crown governments...and the people that populated these chambers in the past either haven't been listening to our stories or they've cared less. It is a reality in our country that some children have mattered less. These are both terrible considerations.
There is nothing to imagine for those who have been paying attention. Our Elders and our families have been sharing the grim details of their experiences in residential schools for decades. That is the record of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
You don't have to imagine it. You just have to believe it and care enough to act with the urgency that you would if it was your child that didn't return home from school. It's your kids going to school, not coming home, not being there when their parents are there to pick them up....
Duncan Campbell Scott, deputy superintendent of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932, is often associated with saying, “Kill the Indian, save the man”....
Residential schools were a critical tool in the process of “kill the Indian,” in Scott's words. Deliberately breaking up families by forcing children to residential schools was a tool to expedite the process of dispossessing Indigenous Peoples of their lands and resources....
There have always been stories in our families of our relatives that didn't come home, the children that died and were buried there with little or no notification to the families....
I wish I could say that indigenous children are no longer forcibly removed from their communities. However, I can't. I wish I could say that indigenous people were not dramatically overrepresented in fatalities at the hands of police, the criminal justice system, homelessness, suicide, addictions and drug poisoning, all statistics you don't want to be overrepresented in....
We must stop referring to what we know like we didn't know it. We must stop pretending it was better than it was. We must stop acting like we came by this wealth through honest means because we did not. This land and the resources this Crown government depends on came from the dispossession of indigenous people. For decades, this provincial government [and I will insert federal] has benefited from the lands and resources that were secured through residential schools and other disgraceful policies.
I'm so grateful for the incredible public response to this tragedy facing our relatives in Kamloops and the Interior. I'm grateful for the demands from our family and friends and neighbours...ensuring government responds as if it were our child that didn't come home from school.
This is indeed a heavy burden, but it's one we can all make lighter if we carry it together. HÍSW_?E SIÁM.
View Marilène Gill Profile
BQ (QC)
View Marilène Gill Profile
2021-06-01 22:17 [p.7811]
Mr. Speaker, I am at a loss for words once again this evening. I cannot express how much it pains me to talk about residential schools.
It pains me as a mother, because I think of all those who lost their children. I think of all of the families and nations that carry the heavy burden of the past. It pains me to think that for decades and centuries, in British North America and then Canada, there were attempts to literally erase the peoples who had lived here for thousands of years.
It pains me to think of all of those men, women and children, dead or alive, who had to suffer to allow for Canada's plans to expand its dominion from coast to coast, engaging in a cultural genocide to kill the Indian in the child, which resulted in killing the child in the Indian.
However, it pains me even more to know that, over the course of my years here in Parliament, I have been asking myself the following question: Why do we keep talking about these horrors year after year without ever making any progress?
I must admit, I cannot even imagine how painful and frustrating it must be for the families of the victims of residential schools and for the communities themselves, while we, here in the House, entered politics to change things. We are not seeing things change, and neither are they. Things are not changing quickly enough.
I know that today, at this time, this is a solemn moment, and we do not want to politicize the matter before us, and rightly so. However, for things to move forward, it is my duty, as a member of the opposition, to ask the right questions.
Let us first establish some facts.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has counted 3,200 residential school students who died. Today, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation estimates that number to be closer to 4,118. Even so, the most recent evidence suggests that these numbers could be much higher and might soon reach 6,000 dead.
This morning, in an article published in The Globe and Mail, former senator and Truth and Reconciliation commissioner Murray Sinclair estimated that the number could be higher still, suggesting that up to 15,000 children could have died in the residential schools.
Six years after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report was released, it seems that the more we know, the less we know. What happened to bring us to this point?
Obviously, we need to shine a light on this, including on the financial role of the federal government and the degree of collaboration between the church and the federal government. As we know, Canada funded the religious orders that ran the residential schools with a per-child allowance.
When the allowance was suspended, did the government keep a record of the children who had died? How is it that the federal government subsidized their education without knowing that information? Did the church keep records on the children in order to collect those subsidies?
We need to take a closer look at these issues. They need to be addressed urgently because families need to know. It is an essential condition for them to grieve and to heal.
In closing, we also need to shed light on addressing the commission's calls to action 72 to 78. Of the $33.8 million allocated in budget 2019, $27.1 million still remains to be spent. We need to shed light on the past. We also need to shed light on this. Our duty to remember is at stake here, as well as our duty to honour indigenous peoples.
My heart goes out to the communities in Kamloops and all the communities on the north coast of Quebec and Canada.
[Member spoke in Innu]
View Sylvie Bérubé Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, it is with great sorrow and a heavy heart that I rise this evening to speak to the tragic discovery that was made in Kamloops, British Columbia. My thoughts go out to all these children who, instead of having a happy life running in the fields, are now lying in those fields in silence and darkness. My thoughts go out to the families. My thoughts go out to all the indigenous nations. They have my sympathies.
People across Canada and Quebec have cried, and understandably so, over the fate of these children who died in despicable conditions far from home, far from their mothers, far from their families and far from their nations.
This discovery should not have happened. This should not have been a discovery because the facts we are being confronted with are not unknown. We have known them since at least the tabling of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Would we rather say that we should know these facts? However, memories are faulty. We forget. Forgetting speaks volumes about how the memory was perceived. It speaks volumes about the way the ugliness of the past contrasts with the whitewashed version we prefer to see.
The history of residential schools is one of horror, and last week's tragic discovery should be a reminder, a reminder that we must take action. We cannot change the past, but we can remember, document, interpret, archive and commemorate it.
This is essential work if we want to progress toward reconciliation. We need to do this work to achieve true healing. If we do not do this work, families that want to find out what happened to those who died will never be able to. Even if it hurts, indigenous families and nations need to know. To get to the historical truth and do what is right for indigenous peoples, we have to shine a light on the past. Like it or not, the Kamloops discovery will not be the only one. There have to be more.
Six years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission formulated many calls to action to ensure that we do not lose sight of the past. The recommendations that come to mind are 71 to 78. The sorrow we all feel right now must serve as a reminder that we need to implement them faster, and that responsibility rests first and foremost with the government. The time to act is now.
[Member spoke in Inuktitut]
View Bob Bratina Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Speaker, my father came from Croatia to Canada as a seven year old in 1929. The characteristics he gained from his upbringing ensured his success in Canada: hard work, self reliance and love of family.
Croatia is an ancient nation, but Sunday marks the 30th anniversary of statehood, celebrating the day its first multi-party parliament passed the constitutional recognition of Croatian sovereignty and independence.
In 2019, I had the honour of attending the official state visit of the Croatian President to Canada and the Prime Minister's reception for her in Hamilton. Before that, I had welcomed the Speaker of its parliament and other members to the House.
On Saturday, I will be joining His Excellency, Ambassador Vice Skracic to see the colours of the Croatian flag projected onto Niagara Falls. We all anxiously await the end of the pandemic so Canadians can discover one of the most beautiful vacation destinations in the world, our beautiful homeland, Lijepa naša domovino.
View Angelo Iacono Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Angelo Iacono Profile
2021-05-27 14:03 [p.7492]
[Member spoke in Italian and provided the following translation:]
Mr. Speaker, during World War II, over 600 Italian Canadians were interned, and thousands of others were declared subjects of an enemy country for the simple reason that they were of Italian origin. The whole Italian community at the time experienced this injustice and had to endure suffering, hardship and discrimination.
As the son of Italian immigrants, I am deeply moved to witness today the official apology presented to the Italian community by the Government of Canada. With the redress of this injustice, a whole healing process begins for this painful part of our history.
As a Canadian, I am proud to be part of this federal government that finally recognizes this injustice conflicting with our Canadian values. It is our duty as legislators and citizens to ensure that such injustice does not happen again.
View Kody Blois Profile
Lib. (NS)
View Kody Blois Profile
2021-05-26 14:21 [p.7366]
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to call Nova Scotia home.
[Member spoke in Gaelic]
[English]
The month of May is Mìos nan Gàidheal, and to recognize it, I wanted to ensure that this historic chamber can hear the language once again, even if for only one minute.
Alba Nuadh is the only region outside of Scotland where Gaelic language and traditions are passed down within families and communities. Hard-working community members, dedicated volunteers, local institutions and our tradition-bearers continue to ensure that the language and the Gaels as a unique ethnic, cultural group continue to contribute to the life of our province.
At the time of Confederation, Gaelic was the largest non-official language spoken in the country, and there have been several MPs who have spoken fluent Gaelic in the House, including a relative of mine, MP Samuel McDonnell, whose father was raised in Kings—Hants.
To all those who are working hard to ensure that Gaels, their language and culture continue to contribute to Canadian society, I would like to say this:
[Member spoke in Gaelic]
View Rachel Bendayan Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Rachel Bendayan Profile
2021-05-13 14:04 [p.7183]
Mr. Speaker, today, Muslims in my community and across Canada are celebrating Eid al-Fitr.
This celebration marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, the end of a month of fasting and spirituality, reflection, gratitude, forgiveness and compassion.
For the second year in a row, Eid al-Fitr is being celebrated in a very different way. I want the Maghrebian community to know how much I miss them and our gatherings.
I know that this Ramadan has been difficult, and I would have loved nothing more than to gather around again and break bread with my Muslim brothers and sisters in celebration of Eid, and in commitment to peace and harmony between communities. In these turbulent times, it is more important than ever. Know that we are together; we are together in spirit.
Eid Mubarak Said.
View Adam van Koeverden Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Adam van Koeverden Profile
2021-05-05 14:06 [p.6667]
Mr. Speaker, I have the great pleasure today to rise in the House in recognition of Dutch Heritage Day.
Today, May 5, is Dutch Heritage Day.
Over a million tulips are in bloom in Ottawa, and a few dozen are up here in my garden in Milton as well. Today, Canadians of Dutch heritage from coast to coast to coast are celebrating their culture.
In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered the future Queen Juliana and her family from Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during the Second World War. Every year since, the Dutch royal family has sent more tulip bulbs to celebrate the wonderful bond and friendship that our countries continue to share.
In October of 1953, a six-month old Joe van Koeverden, my dad, arrived in Canada with his parents and siblings and started our family's Canadian journey. I am proud of my Dutch heritage, as all Dutch Canadians are. My only regret is that I do not speak more Dutch.
[Member spoke in Dutch]
View Stephanie Kusie Profile
CPC (AB)
View Stephanie Kusie Profile
2021-04-28 21:46 [p.6344]
Madam Speaker, the member for Kelowna—Lake Country is also our shadow minister for export promotion and international trade; I will probably step on her toes a bit, talking about supply chain. She was also the 2006 RBC Woman Entrepreneur of the Year and, like me, she is an alumni of the University of Calgary, so to her I say:
[Member spoke in Gaelic]
[English]
“I will lift up my eyes” is a translation from Gaelic.
I will also be stepping on the toes of our shadow minister for infrastructure, the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle.
Unfortunately, this is a situation today where the government could not fail. The stakes were just too high for the government to fail. We have talked about it a lot today, but I will repeat some of the core facts again.
The Port of Montreal is the second most important port in Canada. The previous 19-day work stoppage last summer cost wholesalers over $600 million in sales over a two-month period. It took three full months to clear the backlog created by the stoppage. I am also sure we have heard previously today that every day the port is shut down, the economy loses $10 million to $20 million. The words of my leader earlier this week are true: Because of the Prime Minister's failure to get a deal done, jobs and contracts are at risk and millions of dollars will be lost.
I am going to approach this from the transport perspective today, as I am the shadow minister for transport. I am going to look at three things in particular: imports, which affect the cost of living; exports, which affect our economy; and then processes and infrastructure, which of course also affect our economy.
When we are talking about imports and the cost of living, and Canadians are seeing the cost of living increase, RBC expects that groceries alone will go up 2% to 2.5% in 2021. We can look at a couple of things. The first thing is the change in demand that we have seen over the last year. Canadians have been at home throughout the pandemic. They are unable to travel. They are unable to go to the theatre or to their favourite restaurants, as a result of several lockdowns, and so we are seeing a much greater demand for consumer goods. Of course, this is putting additional pressure on our supply chain.
The second thing, and this has been brought up previously, is the container shortage which is having significant impact on supply of goods. For example, India, the world's second-largest sugar producer, exported only 70,000 tonnes in January, less than a fifth of the volume shipped a year earlier. In addition, Vietnam, the largest producer of the Robusta coffee beans used to make instant drinks and espresso, is also struggling to export. Shipments dropped more than 20% in November and December, so we are seeing very big changes in supply there.
As well, we are hearing that:
The strike at the port isn’t necessarily going to shut down (auto) production, it’s just going to make the supply chain even more inefficient and increase costs.... Canada, as a manufacturing jurisdiction, we have to constantly compete with the United States and Mexico. And a critical component of being a competitive manufacturing jurisdiction is having a reliable trade infrastructure.
That was in the Financial Post.
We have seen action from the U.S. government in regard to the container shortage, but not here. Perhaps that is the reason why the Freight Management Association of Canada sent a letter to the Minister of Transport, using the example that, “pulse growers and lumber exporters are 'losing international sales' while shipping companies are sending empty containers back to Asia”.
One last example I will give of the strain on supply is right here in my hometown of Calgary. Bowcycle cannot import enough bicycles. Have members tried to buy a bicycle last spring or this spring? I have, for my son. They are almost impossible to come by, but these are the problems we are seeing as a result of the government's inability to handle supply chains and to handle our port capacity. That is why it was so critical that this deal get done.
Port backups are described as the worst ever, and delivery times are the longest in 20 years of data collection. In addition, a federal maritime commissioner described the west coast backups as the worst that we have ever seen.
Finally, I have the following quote:
In December, spot freight rates were 264% higher for the Asia to North Europe route, compared with a year ago, according to [a] risk intelligence solutions manager at [a] supply chain risk firm.... For the route from Asia to the West Coast of the U.S., rates are up 145% year over [last] year.
Again, we are seeing a decrease in supply, resulting in the cost of living being driven up as a result of the government's inability to handle its supply chains. Let us talk about the impacts, which I know that my colleague who spoke previously heard about, in terms of stakeholder quotes, as well as in conversations with stakeholders.
Karen Proud, CEO of Fertilizer Canada stated:
Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fertilizer enter Canada through the Port of Montreal during the spring seeding season. These fertilizer products are destined for farms across [Ontario and Quebec and the Atlantic provinces] … and ensure that farmers are able to produce the crops that keep our grocery aisles full.
These products are now in jeopardy as the result of the strike at the Port of Montreal, so we are seeing the impact of the government's inability to manage the port's supply chains and, unfortunately, this dispute is having on our exporters.
Brad Chandler, CEO of Hensall Co-op stated that, “Hensall Co-op is Canada's largest exporter of edible dry beans and non-gmo soybeans.... We have established relationships with customers in over 40 countries.” These relationships are currently at extreme risk. That is what businesses need right now. They need certainty. They need stability through supply chains. The government is not providing the means for these exporters to have it and it is putting the economy at risk.
Greg Cherewyk, President of Pulse Canada said that, “it was imperative to avoid a labour disruption that would damage the Canadian pulse and special crops industry, our international reputation, and the wider economy.” That is another example of the failure of the government to manage supply chains and this dispute.
Finally, from Ron Lemaire, President of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, “There is also significant concern that a labour stoppage at the Port of Montreal would aggravate backlogs in other shipping modes, including rail as shipments are forced to be diverted, particularly as Canada continues to grapple with the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is of utmost importance that the Government of Canada use every tool at its disposal to avoid job losses, increased food insecurity and higher food prices, all which could result from a strike.”
Let us talk then for a couple of minutes about processes and infrastructure of our supply chains which touch closer to the transport file.
KPMG recently made some recommendations in regards to how businesses can adapt to these supply chain challenges. What are businesses doing? They are examining micro supply chains. They are starting to reduce risks, rather than costs, which is a scary thought to consider that businesses are doing this. The KPMG CEO outlook survey indicated that around two-thirds of CEOs believe that their supply chains are in need of a complete redesign. The government should take note from these CEOs.
Many stakeholders believe that the government does not have a handle on its supply chains. Were I the minister of transport, my first task would be to map out all modes of these supply chains, so that we would understand completely where the faults lie. In addition, stakeholders believe that the government does not use data and metrics to the greatest benefit possible, in an effort to amplify and maximize our supply chains.
Finally I will go to infrastructure. In conversations with the Port of Vancouver, unfortunately, I must say that the expansion of the Port of Vancouver, which is so desperately needed, is currently under review with the current environmental minister. Increasing capacity is crucial. Many members of the Port of Vancouver board believe that they will run out of capacity by the mid-2020s. Our infrastructure capacity gap is growing and other countries believe that our ports do not have the capacity for the current demand of goods.
In closing, I will say that the government and the Prime Minister's actions have been too little, too late. I have seen it with the aviation sector. I have seen it with the supply chain capacity and, unfortunately, we have seen it here with the Port of Montreal dispute resolution.
View Iqra Khalid Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Iqra Khalid Profile
2021-04-16 11:07 [p.5739]
Madam Speaker, I join Muslims in my riding, across Canada and the world in observing the month of Ramadan.
As we fast from sunrise until sunset, and yes, even from water, Muslim Canadians will again this year have Iftars at our homes, isolated from others, missing out on gatherings with loved ones and praying at mosques.
Ramadan is a time to do our part to help those most in need, and I am thinking of community organizations like the Naseeha mental health helpline, which supports mental health for young people.
As Muslim Canadians do their part in supporting community, I am proud to be part of a government that stands shoulder to shoulder with Muslim Canadians to call out and take action against hatred in all its forms, including calling out Islamophobia by its name and proclaiming January 29 as a national day of remembrance of the Quebec City mosque attack and action against Islamophobia.
Our Canadian mosaic is a resilient one. Ramadan Mubarak.
View Patrick Weiler Profile
Lib. (BC)
Madam Speaker, good day and áma sqit. I am speaking to members today from the traditional unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam nations. My riding also includes the traditional unceded territories of the Líl'wat, the Shishalh and the N’Quat’qua nations. I am very grateful to also call this place my home.
Tanúyap. It is particularly important to start with this language acknowledgement as we are debating Bill C-15, which seeks to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into Canadian federal law.
It is important because we need to remember that indigenous peoples have lived on these lands and waters since time immemorial. Their laws, their practices and their ways of life did not end when settlers reached Canada’s shores. However, our nation has stubbornly not been able to reconcile this reality and has instead sought to carve out a box, figuratively, to isolate first nations in society. It has sought to marginalize indigenous people in Canada or to assimilate them into society more widely.
The actions of settlers and Canadian governments over time have been to dispossess indigenous peoples of the land they enjoyed communally, to separate families, to suppress indigenous culture and to deny the same basic rights to indigenous peoples that the rest of Canadians enjoy freely.
The advances on indigenous rights we have seen in our country were not simply given to first nations. They were the result of long, arduous litigation that led to the development of aboriginal law. This was by no means easy: It started from a point of first nations not having the right to legal counsel to having rights protected under section 35 of the charter. The common law has evolved to recognize aboriginal rights to traditional practices such as fishing under indigenous leaders and visionaries like Ron Sparrow.
Recognition of aboriginal practices and title in seminal cases such as Delgamuukw had to be built from an evidentiary base that was recorded through oral history, when the law did not recognize it. These cases had to be heard in front of leading jurists who, only 30 years ago, dismissed indigenous ways of life as nasty, brutish and short before they finally worked their way up to the highest courts in our land where our laws continue to evolve.
The adoption of Bill C-15 would help flip this script with the government finally taking a proactive approach to recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples, including the inherent right to self-determination. Nothing less is required to move forward in reconciliation.
Since 2016, progress has been made by introducing new approaches to negotiations and establishing mechanisms for co-operation and collaboration, as well as through ongoing steps to implement and respond to the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called upon the Government of Canada to fully adopt and implement the declaration as a framework for reconciliation, and Bill C-15 responds to calls to action 43 and 44.
Bill C-15 would take this step by further requiring that our laws be consistent with UNDRIP, or else modifying them so that they are. It is a simple and short bill, but its implications are wide-ranging. For that reason, an up to three-year timeframe is established to develop an action plan to implement this legislation. I know that seems like a long time, but when we consider that this implicates all federal ministers, the whole of government, and 634 first nations in this country speaking 50 different languages, as well as the amount of federal legislation that will have to be looked at, we can understand the scale of the task.
This is not the first time we are debating this bill in this chamber. This bill was first introduced by Cree former Liberal MP Tina Keeper in a 2008 private members' bill, which failed to be enacted. Former NDP MP Romeo Saganash’s private member's bill passed in the House, but unfortunately languished in the Senate for over a year before the last election.
I have to emphasize that we are not the first movers in this space of adopting this bill into domestic legislation, given that the provincial government in British Columbia did so in 2019. We can learn from its experience. The sky has not fallen since. Instead, the province has had one of the most robust economies in our country since then. I mention this to dispel a common misconception about the likely impact of this bill.
When it stalled the previous iteration of this bill, the official opposition in this chamber and the Senate voiced fears that the article recognizing free, prior and informed consent from indigenous people for projects on traditional indigenous land would paralyze resource development. However, these fears disregard the fact that the Government of Canada already aims to secure free, prior and informed consent when actions are proposed that impact the rights of indigenous peoples on their lands, resources and territories. Case law has grown to recognize that significant impacts to closely held rights require a meaningful process that seeks consent, in practice anyway, to uphold the honour of the Crown and to meet constitutional obligations under section 35.
These fears also disregard that industries already work from within this frame because their shareholders expect it, because it is necessary for social licence and business certainty, and because they know that the projects will become fixtures in the communities. Partnership with indigenous peoples is the way forward.
Giving first nations a say in projects that affect them does not mean that projects do not get built. It means that bad projects do not get built, and that the issues that impact first nations are addressed in the process. The Squamish Nation in my riding pioneered an indigenous-led environmental assessment process that a major project proponent agreed to be bound by. Rather than reject the project, the EA approved it with important conditions that would mitigate the impacts of the project. From that, an impact benefit agreement was then ratified by the nation through a referendum.
Similar progressive processes have been developed by nations such as the Tahltan Nation in northern B.C., where mining is a hotbed of activity, and the Secwepemc in the interior of B.C. Processes like these are now allowed, and indeed encouraged, by the Impact Assessment Act that became law in 2019. It is a great departure from the assessment regime that the official opposition brought in, in 2012. When the Conservatives were in power, they treated fist nations as stakeholders rather than as the rights holders that they are, and treated consultation with indigenous peoples just the same as with other individuals: as a box-checking exercise. This was not only dishonourable, it was also unlawful, and it is one of the reasons that inspired me to be where I am today.
The Impact Assessment Act is one of nine federal laws that references, and was created within, the spirit of the declaration. We need not fear these developments, because when first nations have clear power over decisions that affect them trust is built, confidence increases and opportunities become available for indigenous peoples. Decolonizing our relationship with indigenous peoples presents perhaps the greatest opportunity for economic growth in this country. If first nations can get out of the absurdly titled Indian Act, they can gain access to basic abilities, such as getting a mortgage from a bank, among many other benefits.
I wish to recognize Shishalh Nation hiwus Warren Paull, who was a councillor in 1986 when the Squamish Nation became the first self-governing nation in our country through visionary leadership, blazing a trail for many other nations. The nation has since developed advanced land-use plans to guide development and is assuming new areas of responsibility from other orders of government. It participates as a full partner in the Sunshine Coast Regional District, has reformed its constitution and voting laws, negotiated detailed provincial agreements on reconciliation and inspired the next generation of leaders, all while continuing complex negotiations on rights with the federal government. This is also happening against the backdrop of a community where survivors of residential schools still painfully recount their experiences.
Chief Paull was one of many dignitaries at the B.C. legislature for the announcement that the province would be the first in Canada to introduce and pass legislation to implement UNDRIP. There he noted that:
It's been 52 years since Frank Calder and the Nisga'a Nation did the first court case on land claims. Since those 52 years and counting, we finally get back to the place where recognition is there.
It is high time, 14 years after UNDRIP was introduced to the globe, that we recognize the same rights here. It is time that we work with first nations proactively to advance reconciliation rather than respond remedially to court decisions. It is time that we co-develop the future that we want to see in this country.
As my time is running out, I will conclude with that.
?ul nu msh chalap.
View Elizabeth May Profile
GP (BC)
Madam Speaker, it is an honour to join in on this debate this evening. I want to thank my colleagues in the New Democratic Party for bringing this forward as an emergency debate. I completely agree, this is an emergency. I am speaking to members from the traditional territories WSANEC first nations and raise my hands to them.
[Member spoke in SENCOTEN]
[English]
It is important tonight that we remember we are talking about a university that offers programs for anglophones, francophones and in indigenous languages.
I want to start at a broader analytical level of post-secondary education in Canada in general in crisis and then focus in on Laurentian. I hope to be able to offer some useful suggestions.
Back in 2005, the last book written by Jane Jacobs, one of Canada's great minds, was Dark Age Ahead. She spoke of the threats to five major pillars of civilization and culture, and she said they were all under assault. The pillars were family, community, science, proper taxation and education.
She said that post-secondary education was under assault because it was becoming “transactionalized”. We were trading in education for the purposes of broadening our minds and exploring what we could be internally, finding out talents. We were trading education for something she described as” certification”. We pay our money and we get our ticket, so that young people were increasingly consumers, as Jane Jacobs explained, of a decreasing and impoverished intellectual experience with larger and larger classroom sizes, and less and less contact between students and their professors.
It led to more insecurity around the finances of universities. We have seen a real trend where universities have to be beholden to large corporations, some foreign, some Canadian, with chairs in this and that.
When I was teaching at Dalhousie University, it was very hard to see that the professors working on the threats to marine mammals from seismic testing would get far when Shell gave a lot of money to the university to run a chair in offshore oil and gas development. The money also tended to flow in ways that meant that the research that was produced by universities became proprietary. The information that was gleaned from academic pursuits had suddenly become the property of the corporations funding the universities. These trends are dangerous.
We have also had an increasingly large bureaucracy in universities, often focused on fundraising. There are these trends toward raising money. What do wealthy people want? They want to give money so that the building is in their name. We do not see tenure-track positions created with a big plaque with the name of the professor that says the wealthy person who gave them money so that professor has a tenure-track position. The trends are not good and these apply right across Canada.
As I mentioned in an earlier question to the hon. member for London—Fanshawe, the federal government provides billions of dollars in federal and provincial transfers to provinces for universities and post-secondary, but we do not track where those dollars actually go. The trend lines are not good and, as I said, Jane Jacobs pointed this all out in 2005.
We see some of those poorly paid workers in Canada or the exploited group of recent Ph.D.s who do not ever really get a tenure-track position, but teach part-time and are sessional lecturers. We see increasingly reduced opportunities for students, and increased tuition and increased student debt. I suggest that the whole pile of financial mistakes and failure to support post-secondary education adequately is a national crisis.
I want to turn now to Laurentian University, which is tonight's focus. Laurentian is in Sudbury, a wonderful community. I have been very honoured to have given lectures at Laurentian University over the years. The community of Sudbury went from being described as a moonscape to being a green and sustainable place. Laurentian University and the research done there in places like the co-operative freshwater ecology unit are part of that story, so too is what has been happening with a francophone education and indigenous education. I want to speak of the students tonight, because we have not heard their voices.
My daughter's friend Kristen Lavallee, a student at Laurentian, wrote this letter, which was published in the local newspaper, saying the people who made the financial mistakes that led to Laurentian being in bankruptcy protection need to be held accountable. These are Kristen's words, because the students have been going through a terribly stressful time. She wrote:
We, as students, deserve to have clarity about our choices in order to continue our education. Laurentian University is a publicly funded institution which should be receiving the support of the provincial and federal governments. Instead staff, faculty and students are experiencing the brunt of the irresponsibility of a select few in administration.
It is important that we hold the people who are responsible for having caused the current fiscal chaos at Laurentian University accountable.
I also note that Senator Moncion has made it very clear that what we are talking about here are constitutionally enshrined rights and must be protected. She states, “Upholding these rights requires strong institutions. Canadian courts have long recognized the importance of maintaining strong institutions, protecting language and the culture of official language minority communities. Substantive equality requires it.”
Laurentian University's situation is not unique. It reflects the continuing underfunding of post-secondary institutions that wholly or partially serve official-language minority communities across Canada. The case of Laurentian University is sounding the alarm, as is this underfunding that threatens the constitutional rights of communities. It is a very important point that we are not just talking about one small problem; this requires really creative out-of-the-box thinking for the federal government to take control of this and say it is sorry it applied corporate commercial insolvency protection in the case of a publicly funded university.
I also want to say in French that we now have a crisis affecting francophone minority communities in Ontario, but also across Canada. The elimination of education programs at Laurentian University, and in particular the treatment of francophone programs, is an attack against the vitality of the French language in minority communities. I want to say clearly that we must now do something and do it in a different way.
To protect this university, the federal government must say it is sorry to the province. It is provincial jurisdiction usually, but constitutionally protected rights are at risk.
Mismanagement of this university includes a mania for building. A spending spree is the proximate cause of its financial disaster of the moment. I agree with the students and the faculty association. I say to the students and faculty, the 110 fired professors of Laurentian University, that this is a wrong that members of Parliament understand is wrong and we want to fight for them.
We will demand that there be a special new paragraph drafted right now for the budget we will see on Monday to ensure the midwifery, indigenous language, environmental studies, philosophy and theatre programs at Laurentian University be resurrected and that it not go under. It is the canary in our educational coal mine. We will fight for it.
View Sukh Dhaliwal Profile
Lib. (BC)
View Sukh Dhaliwal Profile
2021-04-13 13:59 [p.5506]
[Member spoke in Punjabi]
[English]
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate Vaisakhi, Khalsa Day and Sikh Heritage Month. Khalsa Day and Vaisakhi are very important dates for Sikhs who pay tribute to the birth of Khalsa and the harvest season, respectively.
April is also recognized as Sikh Heritage Month in Canada, where the contributions and accomplishments of Sikh pioneers are celebrated for the way they have positively impacted our country. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, Sikh values of hope, universality, rebirth, renewal, goodwill and compassion toward others are principles we can all embrace.
I want to wish everyone celebrating them a very happy Vaisakhi and Khalsa Day.
View Jag Sahota Profile
CPC (AB)
View Jag Sahota Profile
2021-04-13 14:05 [p.5507]
Mr. Speaker, today Sikhs around the world are celebrating the creation of the Khalsa Panth known as Vaisakhi, by the tenth Guru. The Khalsa Panth was a confederation of sovereign groups committed to a social justice model, humanism and enhancing diversity. It was an early participatory democracy that employed dialogue and reasoned argumentation for consensus building.
The principles taught in the Khalsa are principles that we Sikhs continue live by. As we saw throughout this pandemic in my own community and across Canada, Sikhs opened their kitchens to ensure that our frontline workers had access to food and basic needs during the pandemic and that those most vulnerable were not forgotten and were helped.
From the Conservative Party of Canada, we wish everyone celebrating a very Happy Vaisakhi. Conservative Party walo aap saraya nu lakh lakh vadia.
View Randeep Sarai Profile
Lib. (BC)
View Randeep Sarai Profile
2021-04-13 14:07 [p.5508]
Mr. Speaker, today is a day to celebrate, reflect and observe. Sikhs across Canada are celebrating Vaisakhi, a celebration of the creation of the Khalsa and the Sikh Articles of Faith. On this day and for the entire month of April, we are also celebrating Sikh Heritage Month and the accomplishments and contributions of Sikh Canadians across the country.
Today, Muslim Canadians will begin a month of fasting, peace and reflection as they observe Ramadan, one of the most sacred times in Islam.
For Hindu Canadian friends, today is the beginning of Chaitra Navaratri, a nine-day celebration remembering the goddess Durga and praying for her protection and for happiness.
As a nation of diversity and inclusion, we are fortunate and blessed to be able to celebrate our traditions and faiths side by side, in peace and harmony. As we celebrate this year, make sure we nurture these cherished Canadian values. Let us remember to celebrate safely.
Vaisakhi diyan lakh lakh Vadhaiyan, Ramadan mubarak, and happy Navaratri.
View Tim Uppal Profile
CPC (AB)
View Tim Uppal Profile
2021-04-13 16:19 [p.5529]
Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Lethbridge.
Since today is Vaisakhi, I want to start by wishing all Sikhs across Canada and around the world a very happy Vaisakhi. This is an opportunity to recognize the generations of Sikhs who have contributed to building this great nation, Sikhs who today are on the front lines fighting this pandemic, Sikhs serving in Canada’s military and Sikhs who continue to support their fellow Canadian through Seva or a duty of selfless service.
[Member spoke in Punjab]
[English]
I am honoured to rise in the House today to debate Bill C-14 on behalf of my constituents of Edmonton Mill Woods.
The bill has some aspects with which we agree. It would provide more support to those who need it during this pandemic and it would top up the Canada child benefit, which was in the platform of the leader of the Conservative Party. The bill would also fix the gaps in the second version of the rent relief legislation, a mistake that could have been prevented if we were afforded more time to properly examine the bill before it was rushed through the first time.
Throughout this pandemic, the Conservatives have proudly supported programs to help Canadians who have been the hardest hit. However, I do have concerns surrounding the increased debt with which we will be saddling our children's future. The last part of the bill would amend the Borrowing Authority Act to significantly increase the borrowing limit of the federal government, which I cannot support.
One of the things I have been hearing the most from my constituents throughout this pandemic is their concern about the state of Canada's economy and the impact COVID-19 spending has had on our federal deficit. The parliamentary budget officer estimates the government ran a deficit of about $363.4 billion in the 2020-21 fiscal year and will be running another massive deficit this year.
How will the government pay for all of this stimulus spending? The answer is found in part 7 of the bill where the government would raise the upper limit on the borrowing authority by 56.8%, from $1.1 trillion to $1.8 trillion. However, $700 billion is far beyond what the government needs to fund all the emergency programs, the stimulus and even additional spending promises. This is another $700 billion that will be left to our children and future generations to pay.
Spending to protect and support Canadians who have been hit hard by this pandemic was the right thing to do, and the Conservatives supported it, but we cannot pass unsustainable debt on to future generations.
I would ask members to apply this scenario to real life. If I went home to my wife tonight and said that I was going to ask the bank tomorrow to increase our credit limit by 56%, she would probably want to know why, and my bank would want some type of plan as to how I would repay it. However, the Liberal government is asking us, as MPs, and the bank of the Canadian taxpayer to trust it with another $700 billion without a plan. That is completely backward. We need to see a plan for the spending.
It is worth noting that the $700 billion increase in the maximum borrowing limit that the bill proposes is vastly beyond what is needed for all the emergency programs and stimulus suggested to date. This leaves the question: To which ineffective pet projects is this money really going to? Perhaps this provides the leeway needed for the universal basic income program, or the UBI program, that the Liberals passed at their convention this past weekend, a big step toward their plan of reimagining Canada's economy. This would require the Liberals to increase personal income taxes by almost 50% and triple the GST. The simple fact is that this kind of risky and unknown experiment will leave millions more Canadians behind.
The reason we are in this position of borrowing more money is because of the Liberal's mismanagement and failures during this pandemic over this last year.
Right now Americans are seeing businesses open, restaurant patios busy and fans returning to watch in-person NHL, NBA and MLB games. Canadians on the other hand are seeing businesses close again, workers losing their jobs again or having their hours cut again, and the mental health crisis continues to drag on. That is the real-world result of the Liberals’ failures during this pandemic, especially on vaccines.
We should be focused on a plan to secure jobs and get our country back to work. On this side of the House, we know that every Canadian deserves the security and dignity that comes with a secure, stable and well-paying job. We know our economic recovery should create opportunity in all sectors of the economy and all parts of the country, not just in areas where the Liberals find political success in sectors they support or by giving handouts to politically powerful corporations with inside access to the Prime Minister’s Office. We know that only paycheques will reduce Canada’s debt, put food on Canadian’s tables, roofs over their heads and tax dollars into schools, hospitals and roads.
That is the reality of this and it is the crossroads about which our Conservative leader has talked. The two paths before us could not be more different. One veers off into the unknown, with more risky shutdowns and unfunded, unknown and untested changes that will leave millions more Canadians behind.
The other is a path of the Liberals' reimagined economy, where an Ottawa-knows-best approach picks and chooses which jobs Canadians should have and in what sector or region. It is a path where the connected few get richer while working families get left behind; a path where the budget does not balance itself but where sky-high deficits and burdensome debt will have to be paid for by some means of new income for the government, meaning higher taxes and possibly taxing the capital gains on personal property, as some Liberals have proposed.
Our Conservative team is offering a path of security and certainty that will safely secure our future and deliver us to a Canada where those who have struggled the most throughout this pandemic get back to work. It offers a Canada where manufacturing at home is bolstered, where wages go up and where the dream so many Canadian families have of affording a better life with their children can be realized.
Bill C-14 would increase the upper limit on the borrowing authority by $700 billion without a plan. The Liberal government has no plan for that spending, no plan for Canada's economic recovery and no fiscal anchor to keep our country's finances afloat. Again, while I agree with some parts of the bill that would directly help those who are struggling throughout this pandemic, I simply cannot be in favour of increasing the government’s credit card limit by 60%, especially without a plan for the spending.
View Patricia Lattanzio Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, on March 28, the Italian Canadian community was saddened to learn of the passing of Senator Marisa Ferretti Barth, a caring and selfless woman, a pioneer.
Senator Ferretti Barth was well known in Montreal. She dedicated her life to the well-being of seniors. She set up over 88 seniors' clubs and founded the Regional Council of Italian-Canadian Seniors, or RCICS. Thanks to her initiatives, hundreds, even thousands of seniors have access to living environments that help them break the fetters of isolation and allow them to flourish.
Her impressive community achievements and memberships in various boards were recognized in 1997 when she was duly named to the Canadian Senate. Her appointment was historic, as she was the first woman of Italian origin to ascend to the top leadership position in Canada's Parliament. Her accomplishments were remarkable and noteworthy, as she achieved them despite the challenges of gender equality. Her contributions to the well-being of our seniors and to the Italian community will always be an inspiration to me and to the many who knew and worked with her.
[Member spoke in Italian]
[English]
View Arif Virani Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Arif Virani Profile
2021-03-26 11:02 [p.5351]
Madam Speaker, the start of spring signals the start of the new year for the Ismaili community. As an Ismaili Canadian serving in the House of Commons, I take great pride in wishing fellow Ismailis across the country, and indeed around the world, Nowruz Mubarak.
With the start of the new year, we obviously reflect on the one that has just passed. COVID-19 has presented incredible challenges not just for Ismailis, but for all Canadians. What I have been most impressed by is their resilience. The Ismaili community stepped up in its commitment to serving others by providing essential medical services, working on the front lines and, most importantly, looking after Canada's seniors. This has been a shining example of the model of seva, or volunteerism, that His Highness the Aga Khan teaches about. The arrival of a new year always brings a sense of hope and optimism, never more so than this year as vaccines roll out and we work to build back from COVID-19.
To all Ismailis celebrating this week, I wish them Nowruz Mubarak. May the new year bring them and their families health, happiness and prosperity.
View Ya'ara Saks Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Ya'ara Saks Profile
2021-03-26 11:10 [p.5353]
Madam Speaker, tomorrow evening marks the beginning of Passover. In my riding of York Centre, across Canada and around the world, millions of Jewish families will observe a millenia-old tradition, retelling the story of Exodus at the Seder table. Some of us this year may be celebrating alone, and others will be celebrating with family members on Zoom, together yet apart. Though we cannot gather this year, the story of Passover, of triumph over hardship and liberation from oppression is a timeless reminder of the lessons that guide us through our challenges today. The spirit of our communities in overcoming the pandemic and working together to protect our most vulnerable gives us reason to celebrate. It is a community that is strong, resilient and compassionate and truly an important part of the rich and diverse tapestry of Canada.
As we see vaccinations increasing in anticipation of an end to the pandemic, the arrival of Passover, the holiday of spring, Chag ha'Aviv reassures us in the hope that perhaps a timely, modern, but temporary rewording of the Chad Gadya is appropriate this year. Next year—
View Annie Koutrakis Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Annie Koutrakis Profile
2021-03-25 14:07 [p.5260]
Mr. Speaker,
[Member spoke in Greek and provided the following translation:]
One hour of freedom is worth 40 years of slavery and prison.
[English]
This is a famous Greek phrase as we mark the bicentennial of Greek independence today.
March 25 marks the 200th anniversary of the beginning of Greece's struggle to regain independence after four centuries of oppression under the Ottoman Empire. This fight ultimately led to the return of democracy in Greece, 2,000 years after its birth.
This victory was won thanks to the sacrifices of all Greeks who loved their freedom, their language, their culture and their religion.
It is with immense pride that I rise in the House to pay tribute to the sacrifices of my ancestors and celebrate the vibrant culture and heritage of Greece. I invite all Canadians to join our community in celebrating this historic milestone.
[Member spoke in Greek]
View Emmanuella Lambropoulos Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Emmanuella Lambropoulos Profile
2021-03-25 14:11 [p.5261]
Mr. Speaker, today, March 25 marks 200 years since the Greek war of independence began, the start of the revolution which would allow the people of Greece to regain their freedom after 400 years of Ottoman occupation.
On this day in 1821, the words eleftheria i thanatos, freedom or death, became the slogan of the nation, and brave men and women fought courageously for a better future for their country, for a liberated Greece.
It is thanks to the heroes of 1821 that Greeks are still around today to thrive in communities around the world.
The bicentennial of Greek independence is a momentous occasion for Hellions and Philhellenes to remember and honour these heroes, but it is also a moment to reflect on how far Greeks, both in and out of Greece, have come in the 200 years since independence and where they are headed in the future.
[Member spoke in Greek]
View Maryam Monsef Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair,
[Minister spoke in Ojibwe, Anishinabe and Arabic as follows:]
boozhoo, aaniin, as-salaam alaikum.
I join from my home in Peterborough—Kawartha, where Curve Lake First Nation and our entire community are grieving the loss of Cileana Taylor, who lost her life due to an act of violence perpetrated against her by a man she knew.
I would like to thank my hon. colleagues for agreeing to this important discussion. I am not sure when the last time, or if there was a first time, the House of Commons had a take-note debate on gender-based violence. My team and I have been looking for that, but this is historic. I want to thank the Liberal women's caucus for sounding the alarm, our House leader for listening to us and for taking us seriously, and every single party in the House for agreeing to have this important conversation at this very important time in our history and for women.
These conversations are important and our government will continue to create spaces for them. However, this cannot just be about words, but has to be followed by action. When I see my Conservative colleagues vote against transferring essential funds to support women and children escaping violence and abuse in Quebec tonight, I have to question their sincerity. I hope my Conservative colleagues will account for why they voted the way they did in the time they have tonight.
I would like to talk about the women we lost, our government's response during the pandemic, the illness that causes the violence against women in the first place and how parliamentarians can lead the cultural shift necessary to put an end to this shadow pandemic.
Let me say the names of the seven women we lost in Quebec in just seven weeks. Elisapee Angma, 44 years old, was the loving mother of four children. Marly Edouard, 32 years old, was a Haitian Canadian well known in the Haitian music scene and a former manager, producer and radio host. Myriam Dallaire, 28, was the young mother of a precious one-year-old child. Sylvie Bisson, 60 years old, was Myriam Dallaire's mother. Nadège Jolicoeur, 40 years old, was the mother of five children. Rebekah Harry, 29 years old, was the mother of a nine-year-old son and was described as a good friend and family member who lived life strongly. Nancy Roy, 44 years old, was loved and cherished by those around her. These women were loved and they will be missed.
To Quebeckers and to Canadians grieving, we grieve with them.
One life lost is too many. We grieve with them. We will continue to put survivors and the loved ones we lost at the centre of what we do.
We lost more than 160 women to femicide last year, and one life lost is too many. We grieve with them and we will continue to keep survivors and families at the centre of our work.
When the pandemic was first declared, we reached out to leaders across the country, and they all said the same thing: They warned us the rates of violence would go up. We asked what the Government of Canada should do and they said we should get funds as quickly as we could into the bank accounts of organizations that would be the last stop for women and children fleeing violence and abuse, and we did that. Through an innovative model that had never been done before, we were able, with our partners, provinces and territories, the women's Shelters Canada team, the Canadian Women's Foundation and a separate agreement with the Government of Quebec, to get got money into bank accounts.
Over a thousand organizations in this country have been able to keep their staff paid, their doors open and to get the PPE, cleaning supplies and the laptops necessary to provide this critical care. I thank these organizations for their care. Because of them, we managed to prevent many, many more tragedies. Close to a million women, children and non-binary Canadians have been able to find care and refuge through these organizations during the pandemic. On behalf of the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada, I would like to thank these leaders. They are in every single one of our ridings, and we could not do this work without them.
The issue of gender-based violence is not new. For decades, feminists, survivors and their families have been advocating for change. The pandemic has magnified and intensified the reasons for the violence, and people are under pressure, but violence against women is unacceptable. It is a violation of their dignity and human rights, and it costs all of us.
Our government is working with provinces and territories to move forward on a national action plan on gender-based violence. Our partners at the YWCA, led by Maya Roy, and our partners with the Blueprint coalition, led by Women's Shelters Canada's Lise Martin, have been out there ensuring that the voices of survivors are fed into our national action plan.
Provinces and territories have agreed to move forward. We have spoken with over 1,500 stakeholders across the country, and over the past five years we have increased funding to frontline women's organizations more than any other government, and five times more than the previous government. We have opened up regional offices and have lifted the gag order that prevented too many feminist organizations from advocating for their clients and those they serve.
Every step of the way, including with the economic development measures that our government is working on, we will continue to rely on strong feminists across this country. They know the way. They have brought us to this moment in time when parliamentarians are having this courageous conversation, and every step of the way we will continue to work with them until every woman and child in this country is safe and free to achieve her dreams and reach her full potential.
I see that Madam Speaker has taken the Chair. I appreciate your leadership and advocacy in this chamber and in the women's caucus. You are a rock, and your feminism and advocacy strengthen the rest of us.
We have not always been brave enough to call the reason for this violence what it is. We have not always been brave enough to name it, but toxic masculinity is creating less safety for women and it is robbing men of their dignity, too. There are 238 honourable men in the House, and I am calling on all men to join us to help fight this preventable crime from happening in the first place. We need them. For too long, women have carried the burdens of violence against them, their families and their bodies, but more and more we are seeing guys step up as allies, like my former parliamentary secretary, who has been incredible in his advocacy, and like the Prime Minister of Canada, who shares power and space with other women and encourages us to lead and be strong in our advocacy for those who do not have a voice at the table.
There is a reckoning happening, and this reckoning requires us as parliamentarians to ensure that we seize the moment that has been offered to us, unpleasantly so because of the pandemic, to put an end to this violence once and for all.
Not too many days ago on a schoolyard not too far from where I live, an 11-year-old girl was kicked in the hips really hard by a boy because she had outperformed him on the sports field. He told her that she was fat and ugly and that she had no friends. Her friends laughed, and she left that place crying.
In another place, in another school not too far from here, a 14-year-old boy, when cornered in a difficult conversation, told another 14-year-old girl that she was too ugly to be raped and asked her why she was even debating with him the safety of women.
Within a matter of minutes, the entire school was calling him out. The girls had circled the wagons around this 14-year-old girl and they were calling out the toxic masculinity. Our teenagers are seeing this and they are calling it out. We have to be courageous enough to do just that. They are—
View Ali Ehsassi Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Ali Ehsassi Profile
2021-03-22 14:10 [p.5032]
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in the House today to wish an exceptionally healthy and happy new year to the many Canadians celebrating Nowruz.
Over the weekend, many in our country joined 300 million people around the world with cultural roots in western and central Asia to welcome in a new year.
A 3,000 year old tradition, Nowruz is a festive holiday celebrated, among others, by Persians, Afghans, Turks, Kurds, Zoroastrians, Baha'is and Ismailis. Over the weekend, I had the pleasure to virtually join many around their haft-seen tables to mark the spring equinox and to embrace the promise of new beginnings.
Celebrated for several millennia, Nowruz is meant to bring together people of different cultures and languages to celebrate renewal, optimism and light, all essential qualities that can guide us as we emerge with all the necessary vim and vigour to put the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic behind us.
[Member spoke in Farsi]
View Angelo Iacono Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Angelo Iacono Profile
2021-02-18 14:09 [p.4243]
Mr. Speaker, I want to wish my son Gabriel a very happy seventh birthday.
[Member spoke in Italian]
[Translation]
I rise today to recognize Hooked on School Days, which is being held February 15 to 19. Let us be honest: Our young people could use a reason to get hooked on school these days.
It has not been easy to adapt to the many changes education has undergone over the past year. Between having classes in the kitchen or living room, not being able to play with classmates or even having to wear masks, it has been an entire year of learning and adaptation for all students and teachers in Alfred-Pellan.
I congratulate all the teachers, support staff and students, young and old, on their perseverance, resilience and daily victories in a school setting that is completely different. Everyone continues to amaze and inspire us. My message is this: Do not give up, you are doing great, way to go.
View Fayçal El-Khoury Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Fayçal El-Khoury Profile
2021-02-17 14:13 [p.4166]
Mr. Speaker, in 1976, I was welcomed to Canada by a pioneering member of the Lebanese community, Georges El Khoury.
We lost Mr. El Khoury three weeks ago. He was a noble and generous person who gave so much to Canadians of Lebanese origin and contributed to the growth of jobs and investment with the Middle East as well as to the education of many young people. He helped everyone who needed help regardless of their faith or background. In fact, I owe the first two years of my university studies to him.
I would like to extend my sincere condolences to his wife, Thérèse, his daughters, Sylvana, Denise and Barbara, and his sons, Maroun and Michel. May his soul rest in peace, may his life be an inspiration to others of Lebanese origin, and may his legacy live on.
[Member spoke in Arabic.]
May his memory be eternal. Rest in peace.
View Majid Jowhari Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Majid Jowhari Profile
2021-02-16 14:00 [p.4126]
Madam Speaker, last Friday, February 12, many East Asian communities in my riding of Richmond Hill and Markham celebrated the lunar new year and the beginning of the symbolic Year of the Ox. The ox is known to symbolize positive traits such as hard work, reliability, persistence and honesty. The new year symbolizes a change and a chance to start fresh and connect with loved ones safely. Many organizations in my riding, such as the New Canadian Community Centre, Canada Confederation of Fujian Associations and RedMaple Sunset Glow Cultural Association, have demonstrated the qualities of the ox in the past year through community service and donations.
I want to thank these organizations for their continued advocacy, service and commitment to their community. I wish everyone celebrating a happy, healthy and prosperous Year of the Ox gung hei fat choy, xin nian kuai le.
Happy lunar new year.
View Alice Wong Profile
CPC (BC)
View Alice Wong Profile
2021-02-05 11:06 [p.4058]
Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to send best wishes this lunar new year to all Canadians, especially to Canadians of Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese descent.
Lunar new year honours the history and ancient customs of one of the oldest civilizations in the world. This year is the Year of the Ox. The ox traditionally symbolizes prosperity through hard work. With economic uncertainty, all of us need to work tirelessly to bring stability to the economy, maintain jobs and care for the most vulnerable.
Lunar new year celebrations are important community events, not only in Richmond and the Lower Mainland but all over the nation as well.
From my family to yours, happy lunar new year.
Gung hay fat choy. Xin nian kwai le.
View Angelo Iacono Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Angelo Iacono Profile
2021-02-04 14:04 [p.4002]
Mr. Speaker, with their paints and brushes, artists make us see our community and our everyday lives through their eyes.
Today, I pay tribute to a grande maestro, signore Umberto Bruni, who was born in Montreal in 1914. A painter, panellist, mural artist and sculptor, Mr. Bruni is universally recognized for his luminous pieces.
Umberto Bruni drew his inspiration from the beauty of our beautiful province and received numerous awards recognizing the excellence of his art. After 106 years, this incredible artist and unforgettable master has left this world, leaving the artistic community in mourning.
[Member spoke in Italian]
View Alexandra Mendès Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, February 12 marks the first day of the Year of the Ox. This year, because of the pandemic, we will not be able to celebrate with the traditional festivities.
However, in the same spirit of resilience and creativity we saw in the Year of the Rat, I think we will all find inclusive and festive ways to celebrate this important date.
After one of the most most difficult and challenging years the world has lived through since 1945, I would especially like to wish all a healthy and safe new year.
The Year of the Ox will hopefully provide us all with the positivity, good health and the hard work we all need after the hardships the pandemic has meant for all of us.
I wish everyone a happy new year. As this year comes to a close, I thank Canadians for being models of resiliency, solidarity and compassion.
From the bottom of my heart: Xiè xie. Gong Xi Fa Cai. Gong Hey Fat Choy.
View Shaun Chen Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Shaun Chen Profile
2021-02-03 14:05 [p.3945]
Mr. Speaker, next week, Canadians of Asian descent will leave this difficult year behind and begin celebrations for the lunar new year. For Chinese communities, it marks the beginning of the Year of the Ox, an animal that represents strength, hard work and unwavering determination. In the coming weeks and months, I hope these important virtues will remain with all Canadians from coast to coast to coast as we charge forward like an ox to tackle any challenges ahead. May the Year of the Ox bring good health, protection and security, especially for our seniors and most vulnerable.
Although festivities are different this year, I know that families will find new virtual ways to be together while staying safe and physically distanced.
[Member spoke in Mandarin and Cantonese].
View Peter Fonseca Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, today I have the pleasure of highlighting Tamil Heritage Month during the month of January. Adopted unanimously by Parliament in 2016, this month provides Canadians an opportunity to celebrate the vibrant culture and significant contributions of Tamil Canadians to Canada's social and economic fabric.
Thanks to our MP for Scarborough—Rouge Park, this year many of us had the wonderful virtual opportunity to learn more about Tamil culture and heritage and to recognize the many contributions Tamil Canadians have made to our great nation. January is an especially significant month for the Tamil community, celebrating Thai Pongal, the Tamil harvest festival. Belated [Member spoke in Tamil].
[English]
Tamil Canadians have overcome tremendous obstacles and have made significant contributions to the growth and prosperity of Canada. We will forever celebrate Tamil heritage for future generations by having declared January every year Tamil Heritage Month.
View David Lametti Profile
Lib. (QC)
Madam Speaker, I would also like to wish you, as well as the table officers, pages and everyone who works in this building, happy holidays.
[Member spoke in Portuguese as follows:]
Feliz Natal!
It is with great pleasure that I speak to Bill C-7, an act to amend the Criminal Code in relation to medical assistance in dying. First, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights for their excellent work on this difficult matter and to all the witnesses who appeared before the committee and for their compelling testimony.
Unfortunately, the Conservatives have made it clear that they are not interested in improving the bill. They want to stop it from moving forward, all this while people continue to suffer across the country. In creating this important piece of legislation, we consulted with over 300,000 Canadians, including key stakeholders. At every opportunity we acknowledged that this was a complex and personal issue, and that we would respect the different views of parliamentarians and Canadians.
During these consultations I engaged with many disability advocates and experts who participated in most of the 10 round tables I hosted across the country in January and February, along with my colleagues, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion.
Two of the engagements I was involved with focused exclusively on the disabilities community, one in Vancouver at a round table with disabilities groups and another forum in Ottawa organized by the Canadian Association for Community Living, now Inclusion Canada, and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities in January, entitled End of Life, Equality and Disability: A National Forum on Medical Assistance in Dying.
During these consultations our government heard the voices of individuals with disabilities and degenerative illnesses who shared their perspectives and concerns, including those who believe that limiting medical assistance in dying to those who are dying is a violation of their rights and self-determination. These were individuals like Mr. Truchon and Madam Gladu, who initiated legal proceedings alleging that being precluded from accessing MAID violated their charter rights and deprived them of their preferred way of responding to intolerable suffering. Also Julia Lamb in Vancouver said quite clearly that she spoke for herself and that the leadership of the disability community did not speak for her.
We respect those voices from the disability community, which are as diverse as any community. These interventions had a direct impact on the structure of the legislation, including the non-end-of-life regime with additional safeguards as well as the substantive safeguards themselves, which affirm autonomy but balance safeguards for people who may have been in a vulnerable position. We heard those voices and we incorporated it into the very legislation that we proposed.
We also heard a clear consensus during the consultations that the additional 10-day reflection period—
View Yvan Baker Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Yvan Baker Profile
2020-12-08 14:00 [p.3144]
Madam Speaker, Gandhi once said, “The future depends on what you do today.” Today I rise to honour someone who shaped our future by what she did every day.
Last month our community lost Anna Kisil. Anna immigrated to Canada from Ukraine in 1990 and with her family built several businesses. Then she gave back to our community, to Canada and to Ukraine, and not just with her generosity, but with her leadership, eventually becoming president of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations.
Anna received many medals and awards for her service, including the Cross of Ivan Mazepa awarded by the president of Ukraine.
What struck me about Anna is how she supported younger people to ensure that they could make a difference for today and for the future. In fact, one time Anna fought for me and gave me an opportunity without which I would likely not be standing here today living my dream, and I am not alone.
About that moment, Anna once said to me, “I fought for you because I believed in your potential to make a difference.” Anna Kisil not only made a difference, but helped others to do so as well. In so doing, she made a monumental contribution to Canada, to Ukraine and to our community for today and for the future.
Vichnaya Pamyat.
View Maryam Monsef Profile
Lib. (ON)
[Minister spoke in Ojibwe, Anishinabe and Arabic as follows:]
Boozhoo, aaniin, as-salaam alaikum.
[Translation]
Madam Speaker, it is a great privilege for me to stand here on traditional Algonquin land.
Fifty years ago on this day, a report was tabled in this House. I will be tabling a copy of this report in both French and English here today. The report was tabled after three years of hard work, heart-breaking testimony and courageous conversations. It was a report that was tabled in this House long before there was a charter of rights and freedoms, long before the famous phrase, “women's rights are human rights” was ever uttered, long before a gender-balanced cabinet and long before an intersectional and gendered lens being applied to the budget.
The Royal Commission on the Status of Women was chaired for the first time by a woman. CBC journalist Florence Bird took the helm. She took the lead. While the commission was mocked at first, it became really difficult for journalists to mock women's first-account experiences of rape, incest and challenges in the welfare system. I would like to thank those who pushed for this report, Florence Bird, Judy LaMarsh as the only woman in cabinet at the time, Laura Sabia and the two million women who threatened to march to Parliament Hill if the commission was not granted. I would like to thank all those who made it happen and all those who have pushed relentlessly for the progress that has been made.
The report was tabled at a time when a woman could not qualify for a mortgage without her husband's signature on the mortgage application. We have come far. We owe it to those who have come before us to ensure we protect the progress they struggled and fought so hard for. We owe it to those who have come before us to protect the fragility of the progress, but also unite a sisterhood of feminists to ensure we finish the unfinished business of that report.
Here we are 50 years later. When that report was tabled there was only one woman in this House. Today, for the first time ever, there are 100 of us in the House of Commons and gender parity in the Senate. There are more women at the table than ever before. I would like to think and work together to see what we can achieve together.
Though we have come far, when the report was tabled the gender wage gap was at 40¢ between women and men; we are now at 87¢. When the report was tabled, none of the 167 recommendations mentioned violence against women. Yesterday, though we were not able to come together as a country and mourn École Polytechnique and the Montreal massacre, we were still able to mourn together in solidarity. There may be seats for women and gender-diverse folks across the country, but only 5% of Canada's CEOs are women, and of those women at those tables, they earn 68¢ on the dollar that men earn for the exact same role.
We may be applying an intersectional and gendered lens to our budgets. We may be creating and enhancing tens of thousands of child-care spaces. We may be moving forward with the universal early learning and child-care system. However, COVID threatens all those hard-won gains. Of course, so does the inevitable backlash that comes with every step we take forward in advancing equality, women's rights and gender justice.
Today, we get to stand up in this House, one after another, all of us women working to better the lives of everyone in Canada. I hope we can reflect on that unfinished business, commit to working together in unity, focus on ensuring women are safe, their families are cared for and they are working and paid their worth. We owe it to those who have come before us to ensure that we make things better.
Yes, progress has been uneven. It has been slow. At times, the movement we all belong to, a movement that has existed long before any of us existed, a movement that will continue long after we are gone, has been divided. We owe it to stay together, stay united, focus on the common denominators, ensure we do right by those who have come before us and ensure this great country reaches its potential.
I encourage Canadians to mark this anniversary by recognizing women of impact in their own communities, women like Lynn Zimmer, who helped start the first women's shelter in Canada. She did so three years after the report was tabled in this House.
Individual actions matter. When she opened that shelter, she had no idea somebody like me would end up staying in one of her shelters some day, and I would not have known that somebody like me staying at a shelter would go on to support women's shelters and Canadians across the country.
All of us are here because someone has opened the door for us. All of us get up every day because we want to make things better for the young and the young at heart. All of us have worked tremendously hard, particularly during the pandemic, to make the most of the opportunities these seats have provided.
As we move into the next 50 years of the history of the feminist movement, let me thank those who have struggled and let me thank those who have opened doors for us. Let me thank our male colleagues, allies, accomplices, cheerleaders and mentors who have enabled the rest of us to step up and do what we can.
I will know we have reached gender equality when women are safe, including politicians who put their names on a ballot in the pursuit of duty and care. I will know we have reached gender equality when we close the gender wage gap. I will know we have achieved gender equality when women and gender-diverse folks can go outside without fear for their lives.
View Anju Dhillon Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, congratulations to everyone celebrating the birth of Guru Nanak Sahib Ji. He brought enlightenment at a time when the caste system was particularly brutal. He challenged these inhumane practices from a very young age and dedicated his life to equality and social justice.
Langar is the perpetual incarnation of that commitment. This concept of a community kitchen is about sitting down with one another and sharing a meal, regardless of any imposed labels.
[Member spoke in Punjabi]
[Translation]
This means that no act is more generous than offering food to the needy. He taught us to be compassionate and to open our hearts to love our neighbours.
Throughout the pandemic, gurdwaras' kitchens have continued to run at full capacity around the clock, sending meals to front-line workers and anyone in need.
Gurdwaras' doors are open to everyone.
[Member spoke in Punjabi]
View Tim Uppal Profile
CPC (AB)
View Tim Uppal Profile
2020-11-30 14:11 [p.2677]
Mr. Speaker,
[Member spoke in Punjabi]
[English]
Today is Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Gurpurab, meaning it is the birthday of the founder of the Sikh faith. This year, Sikhs across Canada and around the world are thinking of and praying for India's farmers, who are peacefully protesting new farming legislation. Hundreds of thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and other parts of India have made their way to Delhi.
Shockingly, along the way, these peaceful protesters were met with blockades, water canons, batons and tear gas, but they persisted peacefully. In fact, they even provided food and water to the same security forces who were attacking them.
The right to peaceful protest is fundamental in any democracy. These farmers deserve to be heard and respected. Therefore, as the world watches, we urge the Indian government to hear out the farmers because the fact is, if there are no farmers, there is no food.
View Jag Sahota Profile
CPC (AB)
View Jag Sahota Profile
2020-11-30 14:13 [p.2677]
Mr. Speaker, today, Sikhs across the world are celebrating Guru Nanak Dev Ji's birthday, the founder of the Sikh religion.
The Sikh religion was established during a time of political upheaval and societal divides. Guru Nanak Dev Ji fought to uplift people regardless of religion, class, gender, caste or race by imploring non-oppositional ways of living with one another.
The passion and commitment that Sikhs display in all walks of life across Canada stem from his teachings. We believe in strength and equality in the face of adversity.
In my own community and across Canada, we saw Sikhs open their kitchens to ensure that our front-line workers had access to food and basic needs during the pandemic. This is exactly what Guru Nanak Dev Ji's teachings are, and we continue to live by those teachings.
From the Conservative Party of Canada, we wish everyone happy Gurpurab.
[Member spoke in Punjabi].
View Nelly Shin Profile
CPC (BC)
View Nelly Shin Profile
2020-11-03 14:13 [p.1612]
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honour the life of Corporal James Choi, a member of the Royal Westminster Regiment and a patriot who devoted his life to his country, family and community. Tragically, Corporal Choi passed away at age 29 after succumbing to wounds obtained during a live-fire training exercise in Wainwright, Alberta.
James was born in Mission, B.C., and grew up in Coquitlam as the eldest of three children to Korean immigrant parents. He was a football and lacrosse player, and studied criminology before joining the Canadian Armed Forces in 2016. He was described by his family as having been exceptionally responsible. Everything he did was about serving others and ensuring that his loved ones were safe and well.
Corporal James Choi will forever be in the hearts of those who were touched by his humility and love. I express my deepest condolences to his family, and I am here to support them during this season of grief.
[Member spoke in Korean]
[English]
May James rest in peace.
View Marilène Gill Profile
BQ (QC)
View Marilène Gill Profile
2020-10-30 12:31 [p.1492]
Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Joliette.
Today, I want to begin my speech by extending heartfelt greetings to the Innu and Naskapi communities in Nitassinan on the North shore, which is in my riding.
Essipit, Pessamit, Uashat Mak Mani-utenam, Ekuanitshit, Nutashkuan, Unamen Shipu, Pakua Shipi, Matimekosh, Kawawashikamach: It is for them and for all indigenous communities that I rise today in the House to talk about Orange Shirt Day and Bill C-5, which would create a holiday of commemoration and celebration of indigenous first nations and their culture.
I would like to speak to them in their language, Innu.
[Member spoke in Innu]
[Translation]
When we think about the residential schools, it is impossible to really understand or experience what these first nations peoples went through and, I would add, what they are still going through.
What we can do, and what we should humbly do, is to listen, to try to understand and to work toward reconciliation. I listened with respect, friendship and trust and I felt and still feel sick. I understood and I am still listening to what the first nations have to say and what they want for our common good.
Canada's efforts to wipe out indigenous peoples would not succeed, but the first nations paid dearly for it. Children were abused and kidnapped. Children disappeared to never be seen again. Children were stripped of everything: their language, culture, land, family and future.
We must not mince words. Canada's objective in the past was to eliminate indigenous peoples. Today, in the chamber where members voted on the Indian Act, we are taking the time to speak in an attempt to repair the horrors of the past, the effects of which are still felt to this day.
We must certainly learn from the past, but it is important to put into practice what we have learned about the Indian Act, residential schools and missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Orange Shirt Day is a step in the right direction, but everyone agrees that we need to do much more.
It is much easier to understand when we take the time to listen. Today I decided to give a great woman and constituent of mine, Marjolaine Tshernish, an opportunity to speak. She is the executive director of the Institut Tshakapesh, which advocates for Inuit culture and identity. Here is what she has to say:
Let us remember in order to draw closer together. On September 30 of every year, Canadians across the country participate in Orange Shirt Day. The Innu nation in particular, most of whom live on the North Shore, commemorate Orange Shirt Day to show support for every individual whose life was and may still be affected by residential schools.
It is a day to reaffirm to survivors and all those affected by residential schools that they are important and that their experiences are respectfully acknowledged.
Every child counts, even if they are now an adult. We recognize and honour all residential school survivors and all those who never came home.
There are as many stories as there are children who were sent to residential schools, children who were taken away from their families, their communities and their culture, people who are still in search of their lost identity and pride. Imagine, as a parent, having your child taken away from you. Imagine, as a child, being forced to learn a language and live in a culture different from one's own, finding oneself in a whole other world. Imagine if they had resisted.
Some families never saw their children again, do not even know what became of them and cannot find them. They do not know how they died. There is no greater pain than the loss of a child. Imagine.
Need I remind the House that it has been proven that having one or more parent who attended Indian residential school increases one's likelihood of experiencing childhood trauma or spousal abuse?
Intergenerational transmission has also been well documented. Imagine the repercussions: having to reclaim your past; living your present while constantly struggling; having difficulty envisioning your future because everything has been taken away from you; having to defend your own identity; fighting prejudice; being subjected to looks, comments, actions or inactions; suffering violence; and being asked to be content with resilience and patience.
We must remember in order to understand not why it happened, but rather the needs that exist and why there has been so much suffering since. We must remember in order to share the story and the need to become oneself and have a common future that respects everyone. We must remember to respect everyone's desire to live fully and to understand. We must remember to support the right of all children and all individuals to have a dignified and serene life and to look to the future with as much optimism as possible. We must remember to share and to come together. That is the way it should be.
I stand in solidarity with all the families and friends of the Innu nation. I hope we will all have the privilege of remembering, learning and making connections, one day and one opportunity at a time, and especially to add all sorts of colours in our lives.
[Member spoke in Innu]
[Translation]
I wish to thank Ms. Tshernich whose message I am conveying in my own words. I would like to say that, when it comes to respecting first nations and working with them in their best interest, the Bloc Québécois will naturally be an ally.
My Innu and Naskapi friends, I respect and admire you. Know that I will always be by your side to march from history to truth, from truth to reconciliation, and reconciliation to the vitality of first nations. We must never forget. We owe it to our children, to our nations, to humanity.
[Member spoke in Innu]
[Translation]
View Emmanuella Lambropoulos Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Emmanuella Lambropoulos Profile
2020-10-28 14:05 [p.1349]
Mr. Speaker, this year, for the first time in over 30 years, Canada's foreign affairs minister paid an official visit to Greece to discuss the conflict in the eastern Mediterranean with Prime Minister Mitsotakis and his Greek counterpart.
Speaking of Greece, today, October 28, Greeks around the world are celebrating Oxi Day, perhaps not all together like other years but virtually and in spirit, to commemorate 80 years since Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas' response to Benito Mussolini's ultimatum to allow the Axis forces to enter Greece or go to war.
Metaxas bravely responded, “Alors, c'est la guerre”. The Greeks held the Germans back for six weeks and played a pivotal role in the outcome of World War II. Referring to their role in this war, Winston Churchill said, “Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks.”
[Member spoke in Greek]
View Soraya Martinez Ferrada Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Soraya Martinez Ferrada Profile
2020-10-02 11:07 [p.476]
Mr. Speaker, October has been celebrated as Latin American Heritage Month in Canada since 2018.
More than 400,000 people of Latin American heritage contribute to the social, cultural, economic and political fabric of this country. On that note, I want to honour the dedication of certain MPs from various parties who have served in this House, including my compatriots Osvaldo Nunez, Paulina Ayala and of course, my colleague, the hon. Pablo Rodriguez.
I am Chilean, the daughter of a valiant, resilient people that takes pride in our ancestors. For over 20 years, our freedom was taken away. Children, women, men, members of my family, and artists and journalists were tortured, arrested, kidnapped or murdered, including Victor Jara, one of Chile's greatest poets and singers.
[Member spoke in Spanish]
View David Sweet Profile
CPC (ON)
View David Sweet Profile
2020-09-28 14:14 [p.174]
Mr. Speaker, yesterday at sundown, Jewish communities across Canada and the world gathered to observe Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Marking the end of a 10-day period of prayer, fasting and introspection, Yom Kippur is a sacred day of atonement when those in the Jewish community seek forgiveness for the past year and reflect on where better choices and actions could have been made. However, this is not only a time for reflection, but also a chance to look forward to the future for new and more hopeful days of joy and opportunity.
Hamilton is blessed with a vibrant Jewish community. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of Beth Jacob Synagogue, Temple Anshe Sholom and Adas Israel Synagogue, along with all Jewish Canadians, for the profoundly positive contributions they have made to Canadian society and will continue to make for generations to come.
As Yom Kippur draws to a close, I hope the day has been an easy fast and brought meaningful reflection to all Jewish people who are celebrating this solemn, sacred day.
G'mar chatima tova.
View Majid Jowhari Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Majid Jowhari Profile
2020-03-11 14:05 [p.1925]
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in this House once again to speak on the occasion of Nowruz.
On Thursday, March 19, at 11:50 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, those of Persian, Kurdish, Turkish, Azari, Baluch, Afghan and Pakistani descent in my community of Richmond Hill, and in the greater Toronto area, will ring in the new year with festivities, dinner and charity drives.
We face an uncertain time in Canada and the GTA as cases of COVID-19 are on the rise. However, I want to acknowledge the ongoing hard work of all levels of government and our health care providers in helping to maintain public safety. I thank all event organizers who put the safety of our community first and postponed, rescheduled or reformatted their celebrations.
To the 300 million people celebrating Nowruz in Canada and across the world, I say:
[Member spoke in Farsi]
View Jenica Atwin Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Jenica Atwin Profile
2020-02-25 14:00 [p.1504]
Madam Speaker, in light of the recent tensions in this House, I wish to call attention to a bright patch in the Canadian record, something we can all be proud of. Today, I want to honour and congratulate the Translation Bureau.
The Translation Bureau's staff support the Government of Canada in its efforts to serve Canadians by communicating in both official languages, but their efforts go far above and beyond that mandate. I was touched to learn how incredibly inclusive, respectful and committed their work is.
A fine example of their efforts is the new gender and sexual diversity glossary, a free glossary that lists the English and French equivalents of 193 concepts on gender and sexual diversity.
The Bureau also offers translation for international languages, sign language and five indigenous languages and counting, including recent work to include Wolastoqey latuwewakon, a language with only a few hundred speakers in my home riding.
[Member spoke in Wolastoqey and provided the following text:]
Wolasuweltomuwakon, Nuhkomossok naka nmuhsumsok, Woliwon ciw latuwewakon, Kisi monuwehkiyeq ‘ciw nilun, nilun oc tokec nuleyutomonen, ciw weckuwapasihtit. Nit leyic.
[Member provided the following translation:]
Maliseet language honour code, grandmothers and grandfathers, thank you for our language that you have saved for us. It is now our turn to save it for the ones who are not born yet, may that be the truth.
View James Bezan Profile
CPC (MB)
Mr. Speaker, today we honour the lives and memories of the Heavenly Hundred.
For three months, thousands of Ukrainians occupied Kyiv's Independence Square and peacefully protested the corrupt regime of President Viktor Yanukovych.
I stood on the Maidan in Ukraine six years ago among the ash and bloodstains left from the brutal crackdown on these innocent Euromaidan protesters. Their bravery and sacrifice as they stood up against Yanukovych's thugs deserve our highest praise.
Ukraine and their friends around the world now carry forward the legacy of the Heavenly Hundred and all those who took part in the Revolution of Dignity as the battle for democracy and the territorial integrity of Ukraine continues even today.
Canada's Conservatives will always support the people of Ukraine in their pursuit of freedom, democracy and human rights.
[Member spoke in Ukrainian]
View Angelo Iacono Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Angelo Iacono Profile
2020-02-18 14:00 [p.1151]
Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by wishing my son, Gabriel, a happy birthday, as he turns six today.
[Member spoke in Italian]
[Translation]
The work we do in this House is for him.
This week we are celebrating Hooked on School Days, which highlights the hard work and efforts of our students.
Whether it is creating favourable learning environments or connecting youth with inspiring role models, we can now play a role in encouraging perseverance among the young people in our communities to help them reach their full potential.
I invite my colleagues to actively participate in this social challenge by recognizing success and encouraging young people in their communities, since all such actions contribute to their success. That is what I have done for the primary schools in Alfred‑Pellan, where grade five and six students who have excelled will receive a certificate of recognition.
I congratulate those students for all they do every day to contribute to their own success.
View Taylor Bachrach Profile
NDP (BC)
Madam Speaker, to begin I will note that I will be splitting my time with the member for Winnipeg Centre.
[Member spoke in Wet'suwet'en]
[English]
We stand here today at a historic moment when trains across this country are at a standstill, critical infrastructure is being blocked, Canadians are so concerned about what is going on and indigenous people across this country are wondering what the Prime Minister means when he says the word “reconciliation” and when he says there is no relationship more important than the one with indigenous people.
The riding I represent, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, has been living this issue for years now. It is a difficult one for many people and for no people more so than the Wet'suwet'en.
I asked Sue Alfred if I could share her story and she gave me her permission. Sue carries the hereditary Wet'suwet'en name Wil'at. She is 80 years old and she lives in the community of Witset just west of Smithers. Peter Michell and Annie Tiljoe were her grandparents.
In 1914, her mother was one year old and one of seven children. Her grandparents lived in a place called Misty Falls near the community of Houston where they had a homestead. They were living on land the Wet'suwet'en had occupied for a millennia and one day in 1914 the RCMP came to her property with the Indian agent and told her grandparents that they had to move along.
They packed their things and walked dozens of miles to an area near Smithers called Glentanna. They tried to establish a home there. What happened? The same people showed up. The RCMP and the Indian agent came and again told them that they had to move along, and so they did. They moved to another place on the Telkwa High Road near the community of Witset and made their home there.
Sue tells me she remembers her grandmother crying as she told her this story of displacement. We can understand why the police action we have seen in recent days and weeks on Wet'suwet'en territory is so troubling to so many people who call that place home. This is why further police action threatens to undermine any chance of real reconciliation.
In the northwest we have been having the difficult conversations around reconciliation, resource development and respect for indigenous rights for years. As communities, we have started to face the difficult colonial history that has held back our relationship with indigenous people. We have begun to work on how to work together to be better stewards of the lands and waters and create a future for our children.
In my hometown of Smithers we sat down with the Wet'suwet'en chiefs and elders and they told us their stories. We worked with them, the municipal government and the hereditary government, to tell the difficult stories about our community's past. It is one of the first steps in moving forward together.
Across the region I represent courageous indigenous people have been working for years to gain recognition and respect on their own lands. Some, like the Nisga'a people, succeeded in achieving British Columbia's first modern treaty, a treaty that set out a path for self-government and was signed in 1998.
At the same time, it was the hereditary leaders of the Gitxsan and the Wet'suwet'en who went to court to establish and affirm their rights, to have them affirmed by the court, in the Delgamuukw-Gisday'wa court case. They fought for 20 years against the Crown, which for all that time maintained a policy of denial. It denied them their rights and denied them their stories.
They fought it all the way to the Supreme Court where on appeal their rights were affirmed and the judge said that their stories did matter and that they did have rights on that land. The Supreme Court ruled that their title to the land in northwest British Columbia that they have occupied for thousands of years remains unextinguished.
We have landed at a place where the only way out of this crisis is through dialogue, understanding, humility and true nation-to-nation talks. I am very pleased to see that those talks are starting. No matter how late in the game they are coming, they are of the utmost importance. I want to commend the Minister of Indigenous Services for the respect and dignity he has brought over recent days to those conversations.
We also need to ask ourselves whether we could have foreseen this. The Wet'suwet'en heredity chiefs are the same group that fought that Delgamuukw court case all the way to the Supreme Court. They fought against the government policy of denial and established a precedent for indigenous groups across the country.
The court recognized their standing and it set a precedent. In that ruling the judge directed the federal government that it had “a moral, if not legal, duty to enter into and conduct those negotiations in good faith” on the question of their indigenous title.
In over 20 years since that historic ruling, successive Liberal and Conservative governments have failed to step up and begin the difficult work of upholding, acknowledging and affirming Wet'suwet'en title.
There has been so much said in recent days about what percentage of people support what, and my fear is this only serves to further deepen the divides that have been created.
The assertions made today by the leader of the official opposition suggesting that the Coastal GasLink project has majority support by one group or another group very much fall into this category. The reality is that the heredity chiefs represent a legitimate decision-making body for indigenous people outside of reserves. The court has said so.
I was at the balhats, the feast in Witset, where the chiefs ratified their non-consent for this pipeline. This came after they had recommended and suggested alternate routes, which were rejected by the company.
Throughout all of this, where was the federal government? Where was the Prime Minister and his commitment to reconciliation?
The reality is that we talk about changing our relationship with indigenous people, yet we see a reluctance to change anything about the status quo and the way we do business. As the blockades have shown, that is just not going to fly.
We have landed in a predicament that cannot be fixed by police action. If it could have, it would have been fixed in January 2019 when the police arrested and removed 14 people from the Morice West Forest Service Road, or it would have been fixed last month when they did the same thing again.
The images of RCMP tactical teams pointing rifles at unarmed Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan people, the images of indigenous people being dragged over the very land their ancestors once walked, and the vicious racist social media commentary we have seen online in recent days and weeks have sparked a solidarity movement the likes of which our country has never seen.
We find ourselves where we are today with people across the country blocking the infrastructure that Canadians need in their daily lives for the services they rely on and the products their lifestyle relies on. We can discount the voices of the people blockading as those of fringe radicals or anarchists. We can choose to discount those voices, or we can listen closely to what indigenous people on those blockades are saying.
If we listen closely we can hear there is too much of a gap between what the government says about indigenous people and its actions. Do we actually grasp the gravity of a situation in which young indigenous people are telling us that reconciliation is dead? I am not sure we do.
As I said before, this issue is a very difficult one for northwest B.C. communities. There are indeed indigenous groups in the riding I represent that support this project and that stand to benefit from it. I spoke today with Crystal Smith, the chief councillor of the Haisla Nation. She told me about the educational and employment opportunities that people in her community are already experiencing. These voices are important too. We cannot ignore these voices.
Ultimately, the only way out of this is through nation-to-nation talks, dialogue and humility. The problem is that the government keeps talking about doing things differently without being willing to change the status quo one iota.
Sue Alfred's late husband was Wah Tah K'eght, Henry Alfred, who was the last living plaintiff from the Delgamuukw-Gisday'wa court case. Her daughter is Dolores Alfred, who teaches the Wet'suwet'en language and culture in Smithers, and her grandson is Rob Alfred, who opposes the pipeline.
The story of her family, the story of displacement and of being denied a voice and fundamental rights, is the story of so many indigenous people. It is time to write a new story, and that starts with the Prime Minister sitting down with the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and hearing their stories.
[Member spoke in Wet'suwet'en]
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Madam Speaker, I want to share with this House something very personal, that I have not shared with anyone other than close friends and family, about an incident that occurred 30 years ago.
Thirty years ago, at the age of 16 turning 17, I decided to enrol in the Canadian Armed Forces. Along with my other brothers and sisters in arms who decided to sign on that dotted line of unlimited liability, I was prepared to lay my life down for the country that I love. I did the infantry basic training and did okay, and that summer I was deployed to Valcartier, along with another group of people in my platoon, to work and dedicate that summer to serving in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Why I did so was multifold. I wanted people to be proud of me. I wanted to serve my country. I wanted to learn some discipline that is not natural to me; it comes with difficulty and I still have not gotten there, but my effort and my heart was in it. I wanted to learn discipline and do things that I could not do outside the classroom.
That summer was a difficult summer for Canada. There were in my platoon four Mohawk brothers in arms. As everyone knows, 30 years ago the Oka crisis exploded. There was one night in Valcartier as we were all out, that word came down that the Royal 22e Régiment would deploy and put under siege their community. The next morning, they were no longer there. They were asked to make a difficult choice, choosing between the country that they would lay down their life for and their families. For them, the choice was clear.
It was a privilege for me not to have to make that choice myself. I have not thought about that day much, for a long time. However, we all know or should know what happened at Oka. We should know that no individuals should have to choose between their families, their nation and the country that they would readily lay their lives down for. We vowed that this would never happen again, and it should not happen again.
When we called on indigenous people in our hardest times, they served us. They defended us. They form statistically the highest percentage of people who serve in our armed forces. We should never forget that this relationship, for many communities, is based on alliance and loyalty.
I know that the recent events in B.C. and in various places across the country are deeply concerning to all Canadians. It is a very difficult situation for everyone, for those people who are non-indigenous but especially if they are indigenous. All of Canada is hurting and we are all hoping and working for a peaceful resolution. This is a challenging situation that is evolving by the hour, and the safety of all involved is of primary importance. We all want to get the same conclusion. There are some disagreements, some deep ones, as to the steps. We all want peace, we want to get rail traffic going again across this country and we want prosperity for all peoples of Canada.
There is time for all parties to engage in open and respectful dialogue to ensure this situation is resolved peacefully. To that end, I want to acknowledge the leaders of the NDP, the Bloc Québécois and the Green Party for their support and partnership in seeking a peaceful resolution. This work is not easy and it will require all of us working together in the immediate future and in the long term. We cannot move forward without honest and respectful dialogue, and that is why I am happy to take the opportunity to share my thoughts this evening and to take questions from members of this House.
Seeking an honest, open and respectful dialogue is essential for renewing the relationship and building a strong future for indigenous peoples and Canadians alike. The untold story that should be told today is that despite years of tarnished relationships, we all want to see peace and our relationship renewed, and to have a relationship based on the recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership.
It is in this spirit of peace and co-operation that I went this past Saturday and gathered with members of the Mohawk nation along the rail tracks in Tyendinaga to discuss peace and friendship with a nation that has not felt part of this country. We pursued an open dialogue and made concerted efforts to move toward a peaceful resolution.
Modest but important progress was made through this dialogue. Parts of this conversation were very difficult, very painful and very personal. Upsetting stories were shared about this country's troubling treatment of indigenous peoples. There was an immense amount of suspicion toward my presence; fear that it was a ruse and that the police would move in. It is not every day that people are surrounded by police, and the reactions are normal. They are a peaceful people, and they reiterated it time and time again. We shared laughs, and as tradition dictates, we had a meal before the discussion. We listened to one another with openness and with a shared goal of finding a path forward.
I made a commitment to share our conversation with the Prime Minister and my colleagues, and I did so that night. Yesterday we had a more fulsome conversation at a meeting of the incident response group, which was convened by the Prime Minister in response to the urgent and considerable need to further open the dialogue and continue the dialogue we started in Tyendinaga on Saturday morning.
My colleague, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, also remains in communication with the Province of B.C. and hereditary leadership, with the hopes of meeting in person soon. She also had a very productive conversation with the leadership to open up that path to de-escalation. It will not be an easy one. There are many demands, many historical grievances, but there is a clear sense that there is a protocol to be observed and a pathway toward de-escalation.
We are a country built on the values of peace, order and good government. We hear it all the time. We need to make sure we remain focused on those ideals. One of the steps necessary to achieve peaceful progress in an unreconciled country is to continue that open dialogue at the very highest levels of government based on a nation-to-nation and government-to-government relationship, and that is exactly what has guided and underlined our actions over the past few days.
Unfortunately, in the case of indigenous peoples, we have too often discarded the first pillar, which is peace, for the sake of order and good government. I am someone who spent a long time in private practice. I have two law degrees and am accredited to practise in two jurisdictions. Let me say that the rule of law is very dear to me. I have spent my life and career upholding it.
I hear from the indigenous communities I serve, to which I have a fiduciary obligation that goes back before Canada to the Royal Proclamation of 1763, to uphold the honour of the Crown. Those people say too me too often that rule of law has been invoked to perpetrate historical injustices. We need only look at the examples of Louis Riel, Big Bear and Poundmaker to have some of the more poignant examples, as well as those perpetrated on a daily basis.
People have said to lock them up. Guess what, that has been tried. The level of incarceration is six times higher for the indigenous population of Canada, and in some provinces, much worse. These are very serious issues that demand our attention and have demanded it for hundreds of years, and there is no place in this discussion for rhetoric and vitriol.
The question I find myself asking time and time again as I look at my children is whether we are going to do things the way we have always done them, which has brought us to this point in our relationship, or whether we are going to take a new approach that prioritizes open dialogue built on respect, one that engages us in a true government-to-government relationship. The conversations we started on Saturday, and those my colleagues have offered to have across the country at the highest level, will help us find a more collaborative and therefore constructive way forward.
It is only through meaningful engagement with those who have felt ignored and disrespected for too long that we can find a way forward that builds peace and prosperity for all.
For almost 500 years, indigenous peoples have faced discrimination in every aspect of their lives. The Crown, at times, has prevented a true equal partnership from developing with indigenous peoples imposing, instead, a relationship based on colonial, paternalistic ways of thinking and doing.
As I mentioned in introduction, many of our relationships were based on military alliances to ensure our own sovereignty. Let me say, they stepped up when we needed them. A little over a year ago, this whole House rose to celebrate Levi Oakes and the untold story of the last Mohawk code talker. Sadly, a few months later after this lifting up that was long overdue, he passed away. He was born in Snye, Akwesasne, part of Quebec. He served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
A story that has not been told is why he did not serve Canada. He did not serve Canada because his brother was beaten up by a policeman, and he vowed never to serve in our forces. We need to think about that, when we think about the people who serve us best. Those who came back from having served overseas, arm in arm, brothers in arms, sisters in arms were not treated that way. They were discriminated against. They could not get their pensions or medical benefits. The list is long and it is painful.
Here we are today. It has been mentioned by members of the opposition and it needs to keep being mentioned that we face a historic challenge, an injustice that we keep perpetrating towards the most important things in our life, children, in this case, for indigenous peoples, their children. There is a broken child and family system where indigenous children up to the age of 14 make up 52% of kids in foster care and care, even though they represent 7.7% of all Canadian children. There are shocking rates of suicide among indigenous youth causing untold pain and hurt that will plague families and communities for generations to come. There are untenable housing conditions, where water that is unsafe to drink or even bathe in comes out of the taps.
In Lac Seul where we lifted a boil water advisory for the first time in 17 years, the kids in the room had never had clean water from their system. One of the elders I spoke to giggled with a sense of humour that we see in, and is almost unique to, indigenous communities. She said to me that now it would not itch after she took her bath.
There are communities where overcrowding and mould are far too common. There are communities that do not have reliable access to roads or health centres or even schools. That approach has left a legacy of devastation, pain and suffering, and it is unacceptable and untenable.
For hundreds of years indigenous peoples have been calling on the Canadian government to recognize and affirm their jurisdiction over their affairs, to have control and agency over their land, housing, education, governance systems, and child and family services. We have undeniable proof that self-determination is a better path to take. For example, look at the Mi’kmaq communities in Nova Scotia. In 1997, the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia signed a historic agreement with nine Mi'kmaq communities, restoring their control over their education system. The result is that now more than 90% of Mi’kmaq students graduate. It is higher than the average in most provinces.
That is what comes when Canada steps out of the way and accepts the necessity of self-governance and self-determination. This is what has to happen in every sector. This is what communities are asking for now, and have been asking for for far too long. It is what is at stake when we speak about self-determination. Self-governing indigenous peoples have better socio-economic outcomes because they know best what to do with their resources. More children finish high school. Fewer people are unemployed. Health outcomes are better. Self-determination improves the well-being and prosperity of indigenous communities, and that is something all Canadians should strive to support.
When we formed government, we took a different approach founded on partnership and co-development, built from a place of listening to indigenous leaders, elders, youth and community, working with members, and working to support the attainment of their goals based on their priorities.
It is important to highlight this while the events gripping the nation are on the front page of the newspapers. The progress, while slow, has been determined, forceful and backed up with historic amounts. Since 2016 we have invested $21 billion into the priorities of indigenous partners, and together we have made some progress. Sixty-nine schools were built or renovated. Some 265 water and waste-water infrastructure projects were completed and 88 long-term drinking water advisories were lifted. We are contributing toward the establishment of a wellness centre in Nunavut in partnership with the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated. We are supporting the national Inuit suicide prevention strategy and ensuring that Inuit children have access to the health, social and educational supports they need. We are working with the Métis nation to advance shared priorities such as health, post-secondary education and economic development.
However, we still have a long way to go to close the unacceptable socio-economic gaps that still exist between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. Our government is committed to working in partnership on improving the lives of first nations children, and our track record of the past four years shows this. We have almost doubled funding to first nations child and family services agencies, from close to $677 million in 2016 to $1.2 billion in 2018-19. That funding is based on actual needs and with an emphasis on prevention.
There have been 508,000 requests for Jordan's principle approved, which ensures first nations children have the health, education and social supports they need, when and where they need them. I was in Whitefish River First Nation about three days ago, and I saw the work that Jordan's principle does for children who need it, and we are striving to ensure they get substantive equality.
We are providing predictable funding to education that is provincially comparable. We know this is essential to strengthen first nations education and improve outcomes, because indigenous peoples must have control over first nations education systems. We know when that is done indigenous graduation rates are the same, if not better, than non-indigenous graduation rates. We have launched a new funding formula for kindergarten to grade 12 education that has resulted in regional funding increases of almost 40%. The number of first nations schools offering elementary full-day kindergarten, for example, has increased by over 50%.
We have a tough road ahead of us. As I mentioned, this road will be demanding on all of us. We will have to work together very hard and listen even when the truth is hard to hear. We will have to continue discussions even when we do not agree. We will have to keep working together, looking for creative ways to move forward and finding new paths towards healing and true understanding.
We have all seen what happens when we do not work together and engage in dialogue. We end up with mistrust and confusion over who should speak on behalf of rights holders on issues like consent, as well as the rights and titles of indigenous peoples. This confusion can lead to conflict, as we are seeing now, and prevents us from moving forward together.
I realize that the challenges we face are many, but I know that the difficult road ahead of us is worthwhile. It is worthwhile for the youth in the next generation and for those who will follow. It is worthwhile for all those who will grow up knowing that together, the Crown and indigenous peoples are working hard to create a future, to improve their quality of life and to heal. We will not fail another generation of indigenous children.
I have spoken about a lot of the difficulties, a lot of the pain and a lot of the successes that are progressive, yet slow, that we have done as a government. We have a lot more to do, and we cannot discount mistakes, but we do it in good faith and in good partnership with indigenous communities.
I ask everyone in this House as they contemplate the next few days to look at their children or those that are young and are dear to them and ask themselves what they will tell them when this conflict resolves. We cannot repeat the errors of the past, and there are many to base ourselves on.
[Member spoke in Mohawk]
View Yvan Baker Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Yvan Baker Profile
2020-02-04 14:05 [p.900]
Mr. Speaker, in 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine. Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker, who is here with us today, was arrested on trumped-up charges of terrorism and sentenced to 20 years in a Siberian labour camp. In jail, as a protest he undertook a hunger strike, which lasted for 145 days.
Canada, led by our now Deputy Prime Minister, was at the forefront of the international effort calling for his release.
During his trial, Mr. Sentsov once said:
[Member spoke in Ukrainian and provided the following translation:]
I do not know what your convictions are worth if you are not willing to suffer for them or even to die for them.
[English]
As we speak, many political prisoners are suffering in jails in Russia. As we speak, Ukrainian women and men are dying defending their homeland from a Russian invasion.
As Canadians, we share these convictions.
Today, I hope that we draw inspiration from Mr. Sentsov's courage. I hope that we live by the courage of our convictions.
View Jean Yip Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Jean Yip Profile
2020-01-27 14:09 [p.454]
Mr. Speaker, chuc mung nam moi. Saehae bok manui badeuseyo. Gong hey fat choy. San nihn faai lok.
This past Saturday marked the beginning of lunar new year for Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean communities. It is a time in Canada and across the world to celebrate the Year of the Rat, which is sure to be a year filled with wealth and abundance.
According to legend, the rat used its quick wit to ride in the ear of the ox in a race to the heavenly gate. It leapt across the finish line to earn its place as the first of the zodiac animals. The rat's arrival ushers in brand new beginnings.
In Scarborough—Agincourt, friends and families will be enjoying festivities filled with beautiful red decorations, delicious meals and gifts of lucky red pockets.
May all Canadians have a year filled with joy, prosperity and good health.
View Jaime Battiste Profile
Lib. (NS)
View Jaime Battiste Profile
2019-12-12 14:49 [p.349]
Mr. Speaker, this is my first time rising in this House. I want to thank the good people from Sydney—Victoria for electing me as their member of Parliament. I would also like to thank all the volunteers whose hard work resulted in our victory.
[Member spoke in Mi’kmaq and provided the following text:]
Msit Nokomatut, Eymu'tik tan teluwitmek UN year ujit Lnu`sltikw, aq kejitu teplutaqn etek ujit apoqnmitamukw tan teli Lnui`sltikw. Ketu pipanimk mawi espipite'w Kaplnewel maliaptoq lnuekatik, tali kisi apoqnmatisnukw tan teli lnu`sltukiw ujit elmkinek. Mita menuaqlu'kik nutkwotlitewk siawi`lnuisltenew iapjui.
[Member provided the following translation:]
All my relations, we are currently in the United Nations Year of Indigenous Languages. While I understand legislation has been created to ensure protection of languages, my question for the Minister of Indigenous Services is how do we plan on implementing the language act, so that future generations of indigenous peoples are given the resources to ensure they can continue to speak the language proudly?
[English]
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
[Member spoke in Mi’kmaq and provided the following text:]
Wela’lin ta’n telpi panigasin.
[Member provided the following translation:]
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question.
[English]
We are implementing the indigenous languages act in collaboration with those who know best how to revitalize their languages, indigenous peoples and teachers, and we are doing so by providing $337 million over the next five years for indigenous languages and $1,500 per year for each kindergarten to grade 12 first nation student as part of the new co-developed education funding policy.
This government is firm in its resolve to support indigenous languages.
View Arif Virani Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Arif Virani Profile
2019-12-10 14:01 [p.208]
Madam Speaker, today is the 30th anniversary of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
As the member of Parliament for Parkdale-High Park, I take great pride in representing the largest Tibetan diaspora in North America.
The Dalai Lama is not just a leader for the people of Tibet; he is a leader for us all. Thanks to his efforts to promote non-violence and to defend religious freedom around the world, this Buddhist leader has become a champion for justice and human rights for millions of people throughout the world.
I was humbled to meet with the Dalai Lama in 2018 in India. What I will always recollect from that meeting is his wisdom, his kindness and most of all his dedication to the Tibetan people and his promotion of the Middle Way approach.
To our honorary Canadian citizen, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, I say a simple thanks [Member spoke in Tibetan] for all he has done, not just for the Tibetan people, but for the global community and promoting the cause of peace and pluralism internationally.
[Member spoke in Tibetan]
View Angelo Iacono Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Angelo Iacono Profile
2019-12-10 14:08 [p.209]
Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to congratulate you on being elected Speaker of the House. The fact that you are the first Speaker of Italian Canadian descent, like me, fills me with pride.
I would also like to say thank you 26,015 times to the constituents of Alfred-Pellan who have once more placed their trust in me. This solid and growing trust strengthens my sense of duty to move forward together, to fight climate change, to strengthen the middle class, to support the businesses and organizations in my riding and to remain present and receptive.
As the holiday season is fast approaching, my son Gabriel, my wife Rana and my team join me in wishing the residents of Laval and all my colleagues happy holidays and a happy new year.
I wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Buon natale e buon anno a tutti.
View Jenica Atwin Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Jenica Atwin Profile
2019-12-06 10:00 [p.27]
Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the unceded, unsurrendered homeland of the Anishinabe Algonquin nation on which we stand.
Today is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women. We remember the victims of the December 6, 1989, attack at École Polytechnique. This attack was a vile, anti-feminist act, and it was not an isolated one. This attack was a direct consequence of the rampant misogyny in our society. Violence against women has not been eradicated in our communities.
Misogyny continues to exist today and has seen a resurgence as of late. As with racism or homophobia, we must name it so we can end it. There can be no place for gender-based hatred in our society.
This day commemorates a living history of ongoing violence against women and girls and members of the LGBTQIA2+ community, particularly those who also face other forms of discrimination for their race, religion or economic status. Whether it is in the echoes of a fight from the apartment upstairs, in hateful comments on Facebook or Twitter or in the backlog of case files of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, we must not forget that there is still so much violence and marginalization facing women across the country.
We must work to educate society about consent and our responsibility to call out violence where we see it, to intervene and to help prevent instances of abuse. We must also support women who are seeking to end the violence they face. We must believe them.
Yesterday, CBC/Radio-Canada reported that New Brunswick had the highest number of domestic murder-suicides of all Canadian provinces. Seventy per cent of these homicides are committed in rural communities. These tragic deaths prove that there is a glaring lack of essential services to support women who are facing all kinds of violence.
By the same token, we need to support women who continue to push boundaries and break through the glass ceilings in their own worlds, despite the challenges and sometimes the dangers that this brings.
Today I remember the 14 women cut down in the massacre at École Polytechnique, and today I commit to women across Canada, and indeed across the world, that I believe them and support them. There is no room for misogyny in Canada.
I remember.
I remember.
[Member spoke in Wolastoqiyik and provided the following text:]
Nwewitahatom.
[Member provided the following translation:]
I remember.
[Translation]
View Anthony Rota Profile
Lib. (ON)
Hon. members, I wish to express my humble gratitude to the House for the great honour it has conferred upon me by choosing me as the Speaker.
While I was waiting, I put down a few notes. I want to say thanks, merci beaucoup and meegwetch to all members.
I would first like to congratulate the four other candidates.
Congratulations and a heartfelt thanks to the member for Halifax West, who allowed me in the last session to be Assistant Deputy Speaker. It was an honour then, and I owe a great deal to him personally.
Congratulations to the hon. member for Simcoe North, who as Deputy Speaker was an amazing person to follow and to ask for guidance.
I congratulate the hon. member for Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, who served with me as Assistant Deputy Speaker and did amazing work. Again, I thank her for letting her name stand.
View Anthony Rota Profile
Lib. (ON)
I also wish to thank the hon. member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier for putting his name forward. It is a true honour to have a fellow MP stand as a candidate, knowing that he has no experience in this position, because he wants to do more in the House. I thank him for putting his name forward.
Maybe I should not include my own name in that, but there were five very good choices. It was not easy, so I thank all members for taking the time in going through it and coming up with a decision that was very favourable. I thank them for coming out to do this.
I also want to thank the dean of the House, the hon. member for Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel, for presiding over this election. He acquitted himself admirably. He is getting used to it, since he has done it for several years. Congratulations.
There is also another group that we can never thank enough, the table officers. Thank you for overseeing the election.
Again, I want to thank all members for giving me the biggest honour of my political career in being chosen as Speaker. I want to thank them for the confidence they have placed in me. I hope I will not disappoint them and that they remember I am here to serve them and make sure that everything runs well for all of us so that we can conduct the business of Parliament to ensure that it works well. My promise is to be fair, to be non-partisan and to do my best in the House, at members' service.
I ask members to indulge me for a moment. Some may not understand what I am about to say, but I am very proud to be the first Speaker of Italian descent to sit in this chair. I am sorry the translators will not be able to help with this.
[Speaker spoke in Italian]
View Elizabeth May Profile
GP (BC)
Mr. Speaker, this is my first time calling you that, and I want to congratulate you.
I would also like to congratulate all my colleagues.
It is an honour for me to have the opportunity to speak in the beginning of our first hours in the 43rd Parliament. I want to begin by acknowledging that every single day we will meet on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin peoples. To them, we all say meegwetch for patience and tolerance and hospitality. Let us hope that is one of the issues on which we can agree and that we make progress in this Parliament toward true reconciliation.
I also want to thank the voters of Saanich—Gulf Islands. It is indeed an honour to stand here representing such an extraordinary place and such deeply engaged citizens as live in Saanich—Gulf Islands. Permit me as well specifically to thank the voters of Fredericton and the voters of Nanaimo—Ladysmith that I no longer sit alone in a corner over there, but with three in a corner over here. It is extremely exciting progress.
Now I would like to talk about respect, about discipline in the House of Commons, about our dignity and about the rights that the Speaker of the House must safeguard for us.
As the hon. leader of the official opposition has pointed out, the job of the Speaker is to protect the rights of every single member of Parliament. In this place, in Westminster parliamentary democracy, all members of Parliament are equal. The Prime Minister is seen as first among equals. We turn to the Speaker to protect those rights and protect our essential equality.
The biggest threat to our equality as individual members of Parliament is the political party system, which increasingly imposes itself on the traditions of Westminster parliamentary democracy. Some members may know this, and for those new members of Parliament who may not know, we are the only parliament in the Westminster democratic tradition where the choice of who speaks has been voluntarily ceded by many Speakers to party whips. In every other Westminster parliamentary tradition and House, it is the Speaker only who decides which member of Parliament may be acknowledged to have the floor of this place.
I would hope that we could work together to ensure that we push back the partisanship that gets in our way and find ways, human to human, each to each, with respect and dignity and, may I say, love, and find ways to work together. We do it always recognizing that it is you, Mr. Speaker, who protects our right to speak, to speak our minds and to speak on behalf of our ridings and our constituents, not with pre-prepared messages from party whips behind the doors. We are here as equals. We have a right to speak.
I ask all parties to join in an effort to recognize that the problem of heckling, lack of discipline and lack of respect does not come because we cannot control ourselves.
We, as individuals, are not the source of the problem. The problem arises from the fact that politics is ruled by partisanship. I would love to see all my colleagues urge their caucus and their whip to let us behave the way we ought to behave.
As the Speaker has already said, let us act in this place in the way we want our children, our nieces, our nephews and our grandchildren to see us on television.
To you, Mr. Speaker, my most sincere congratulations. Thank you.
Again to my friend from Halifax West, I thank him for the years he has put in as Speaker. He did a wonderful job.
Let us hope for the best in the 43rd Parliament, hope that we find ways to work together.
View Patrick Weiler Profile
Lib. (BC)
Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I would like to offer you my congratulations on being elected today. You play a central role in the work that we all do here, and I wish you well.
[Member spoke in Salish and provided the following text:]
Tanúyap. Áma s7ats?xentumúlhana! Ch’ich’iyit tula te shishalh.
[Member provided the following translation:]
Everyone, it’s good seeing all of you. Greetings from the Shishalh.
[English]
It is an honour to rise in this chamber today and to second the motion of my esteemed colleague, the member for Brome—Missisquoi, regarding the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne.
Canadians have delivered to the government an ambitious mandate to improve their lives, strengthen this country and bolster Canada's place in the world. Today's Speech from the Throne provides our government with a road map on how to get there. Over the next few minutes, I will speak with pride to this House about some of the details of how we plan to navigate through this road map.
First, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the people of West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country. They have given me the privilege to serve them in the House of Commons as their member of Parliament. I want to thank my constituents for placing their trust in me. I am grateful to my constituents from all corners of our large and diverse riding. I would like to recognize the thriving communities in Pemberton, up the Sunshine Coast and on Bowen Island. Every day I take my seat in this chamber, I will never forget why I am here: to serve the people in my constituency and to help build a better Canada.
Before going further, I would also like to give special thanks to my family, especially my partner Nicole, who have supported me in this endeavour, often doing the hard work behind the scenes, which is often a thankless job.
Indeed, I believe the Speech from the Throne has provided us all with a reminder of the responsibilities that have been entrusted to us. Millions of Canadians cast their votes in the election this October, and they have sent us all a very clear message. Canadians want their politicians to put the public interest first. They want us to work together on the things that matter to them, to their families and to their communities. They have elected a minority government with an important agenda: to fight climate change; to strengthen the middle class and help create good, well-paying jobs; to make life more affordable for Canadians; to continue firmly on the path of reconciliation with indigenous peoples; to keep our citizens safe on our streets with less gun violence; to strengthen our health care system and modernize it for the 21st century; to provide more affordable housing; to provide investments in infrastructure, public transit, science and innovation; and to secure Canada's place in the world. These are just some of the important challenges that lie ahead of us. They are challenges not just for the government, but for all parliamentarians. It is that simple. We all have a mandate to find common ground in this Parliament.
The government is ready to work hard to make historic progress in all these areas. I am confident that, with goodwill, my colleagues from all sides of the House can work together to make the changes that Canadians want. Indeed, I know we can come together as parliamentarians. I have seen it in my work before being elected to this House. As an environmental and natural resource management lawyer, I have seen first-hand what can happen when people collaborate. I have supported governments around the world to improve the management of aquatic ecosystems, as well as the governance of natural resource sectors, on behalf of the United Nations and other international development agencies. I have represented first nations, municipalities, small businesses and non-profits on environmental and corporate legal matters.
It is not unusual for people to come to the table with very different interests, but it is also not unrealistic for them to walk away with a shared agenda and common goals. It happens in communities throughout the country. It can happen here in the House of Commons. That spirit of co-operation can also happen as leaders throughout our country work together to find solutions to our shared challenges.
As someone who was born and raised in West Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast, I am proud that the Speech from the Throne has spoken clearly about the importance of all of our country's regions and their local needs. This government knows that the economic concerns being felt by Canadians in our regions are real. It is listening to Canadians in those regions.
On this, Canadians can be sure that the government will work with provinces, territories, municipalities, indigenous groups, stakeholders, industries and Canadians to find solutions.
There is no greater challenge facing this country, and indeed this world, than fighting climate change. The science on this growing threat to our planet is clear. It is undeniable. Already we are seeing the effects: devastating floods and forest fires, coastal erosion and pollution of our oceans.
The changes to the world we know now will only grow worse, spiralling faster and faster in the coming years and decades. We are leaving a world to our children and our grandchildren that could be much different from the world in which we have grown up. We recognize this threat. We must act. We must do our best to fight this threat.
I believe strongly in this government's pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change. I am committed to building upon this groundbreaking plan to ensure that Canadian businesses will seize upon the immense economic opportunities that are involved in the transition to the clean economy of the 21st century.
Over the past four years, our government has provided national leadership to take action on climate change. In October's election, a clear majority of Canadians voted in favour of ambitious climate action.
The Speech from the Throne has made it clear that this government will deliver. We will set a target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Our goal will be ambitious but necessary as we protect the environment while we grow the economy. We have already taken the lead in ensuring that there is a price on pollution throughout the country. We will continue working with our partners to reduce emissions in the years ahead.
There are many other important measures that this government will take. We will help make energy-efficient homes more affordable. We will make it easier for Canadians to buy zero-emission vehicles. Whistler is already leading the way in this in changing our transportation habits. Last month, I attended the electric vehicle sustainability summit in Whistler, B.C., to talk about how governments and companies could work together to achieve our zero-emission targets.
We will work toward making clean and affordable power available in all our communities. We will work with companies in the transition to the clean technology future. An example of this is Huron Clean Energy in Squamish, which is facing the climate crisis head on. It is just one example of the companies providing the technology and the solutions we need in our transition to the low-carbon economy. Their leadership in the field of carbon capture is turning our home riding into a hub for clean technology.
Over the last four years, our country has experienced strong growth, but too many Canadians have difficulty keeping up with the rising cost of living. Our government is determined to take action to make life more affordable for Canadians. The Speech from the Throne has identified some of the areas where we will be taking action on behalf of our citizens.
We will cut taxes for all Canadians except the wealthiest. This will provide more money in the pockets of hard-working Canadians who need it the most.
We will continue to take action with significant investments in affordable housing. Too many Canadians are unable to buy their first home. We will also introduce measures to make it easier for more people to purchase their homes.
This government will take action to ease the concerns faced by workers, families and seniors. We will assist parents with the time and money they need to raise their children. We will support students as they bear the costs of higher education and skills training. We will increase the federal minimum wage. We will reduce cellphone bills by 25%. We will strengthen pensions for our seniors.
As we take these measures, we will press ahead with an economic agenda that benefits all Canadians in the years ahead.
Our government is committed to moving ahead with the new NAFTA with the United States and Mexico. We will continue to make significant investments in infrastructure throughout the country. We will work to tear down the trade barriers now faced by businesses and farmers when they look to achieve success both internationally and domestically.
As we are doing all this, our government will stay focused on growing the economy with a fiscal plan that is responsible.
The Speech from the Throne has placed a great emphasis on another key pillar of this government's agenda. Four years ago we promised to put Canada on a path toward reconciliation with indigenous peoples. For far too long our country neglected to take the actions necessary to give indigenous peoples a real shot at success. We said that must change, and we took the first steps on that road to reconciliation.
It is a long road, but we have seen real progress in just four years. Eighty-seven long-term drinking water advisories have been eliminated. There is greater equity in funding for first nations education. Parliament has passed legislation to protect indigenous languages and affirm indigenous jurisdiction over child and family services. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls held important hearings and delivered its report. However, this is just a beginning. The work toward reconciliation has not ended.
This government is committed to doing more, and I will mention some examples. We will work toward eliminating all long-term drinking water advisories on reserve by 2021. We will codevelop and introduce legislation to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the first year of our mandate. We will codevelop legislation so that indigenous peoples have access to culturally relevant and high-quality mental health care and quality health care services. We will ensure that indigenous peoples who grew up and were harmed under a child welfare system that has been discriminatory will be compensated in a fair and timely manner. As well, we will live up to the spirit and intent of treaties, agreements and other arrangements with indigenous peoples.
One of any government's top responsibilities is to provide a place for its citizens where they can feel safe and where their quality of life is good. In recent years, Canadians have increasingly seen stories in the media about deaths in their communities as a result of gun violence. Each of these violent episodes has been a tragedy. Too many Canadians have been killed. Too many relatives have grieved the loss of a loved one. Our government has pledged to act.
We will crack down on the gun crime that is haunting too many of our communities. We will ban military-style assault rifles and take steps to introduce a buyback program for the weapons. We will work toward giving municipalities that want to ban handguns the ability to do so.
In each of our communities and, indeed, within our own families, there is often no issue more important as the ability to access high-quality health care. For many decades now, Canadians have recognized that a publicly funded universal health care system, medicare, is what makes us strong as a country.
As we head into 2020, more than half a century after the birth of medicare, it is important that we all work together as Canadians to strengthen and to modernize it. The Speech from the Throne has laid out an ambitious but achievable agenda to make that happen. Our government will be working with the provinces and territories to strengthen the health care system so that Canadians get the service they deserve.
Too many Canadians cannot get access to primary care family doctors and to mental health care. We will work with provinces, territories and health professionals to change that.
The scourge of opioid and substance abuse has also cost too many lives and shattered too many families. We need to do more to help people struggling with their addictions.
Finally, it is time to bring medicare into the 21st century. Modern-day medicine means physicians are increasingly able to treat their patients through medication, and yet too many patients who fall ill are unable to afford the costly prescriptions they are prescribed and they become even more sick. This is just not fair.
As the Speech from the Throne says, pharmacare has become the key missing piece of universal health care in this country. Our government will take steps to introduce and implement a national pharmacare program so that Canadians have the drug coverage they need. I look forward to all members of this House working together to achieve this historic objective.
As we look toward improving the lives of Canadians, we must never forget that we have a responsibility to also promote our core values on the international stage. Those values include the promotion of democracy, protection of human rights and respect for international law. Our government will work in the tradition of being a coalition builder globally in these areas. We will stand up for rules-based international order and we will renew our commitment to NATO and to United Nations peacekeeping missions. Canada's voice will be heard at the United Nations, particularly in the Security Council.
We will not forget that Canadians are a compassionate people. We will provide targeted funds for international development, including for education and gender equality.
I would like to conclude by returning to where I began my remarks. Canadians have sent us here to work constructively on their behalf. As the Speech from the Throne reminds us, our role in this democratic process is a privilege and a responsibility. Indeed, we have been reminded that we are here to serve everyone, regardless of gender, faith, language, custom or skin colour. We are here to make a better Canada. I believe the Speech from the Throne has provided us all with a road map of how to travel that route, and I would encourage members to join together and work in collaboration as we move forward.
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