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Results: 76 - 90 of 632
View Cathy McLeod Profile
CPC (BC)
Mr. Speaker, with the tragic news out of Kamloops, it is clear that many indigenous Canadians and residential school survivors are being forced to relive their trauma. As Chief Casimir said, “We see you, we love you and we believe you.” We need to ensure that supports are available as they come to terms with these latest findings, as well as their own truth and trauma.
In addition to the support hotline, will the minister commit to requested mental health support?
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for that exceedingly important question. The answer is yes.
I will take this opportunity, because there is not a single indigenous community that has not been affected by this, to remind people that there is a crisis referral service hotline they can access by dialing 1-866-925-4419.
I have reached out directly to Chief Casimir and the surrounding communities to ensure that they have the full support of the Government of Canada and Indigenous Services Canada as they go through this difficult, emotional time. We will be there for them. We will be working with the First Nations Health Authority to be there for them, now and for the foreseeable future.
View Pablo Rodriguez Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Pablo Rodriguez Profile
2021-06-01 18:19 [p.7779]
moved:
That this committee take note of the discovery of the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in British Columbia.
View Justin Trudeau Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Justin Trudeau Profile
2021-06-01 18:19 [p.7779]
Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations.
Children's shoes and moccasins, a teddy bear, flowers, those are what surround the Centennial Flame, just steps away from this House, to honour the indigenous children who never returned home because of the residential school system. Those tiny shoes should not have to be there, because children should never have been taken away to those so-called schools, places where they were separated from their families and their communities, places where they faced terrible loneliness, places where they suffered unthinkable abuse.
Today, some of the children who were found in Kamloops, and who have yet to be found in other places across the country, would have been grandparents or great-grandparents. They would have been elders, knowledge keepers and community leaders. They are not, and that is the fault of Canada.
Our country failed the hundreds of children who are buried near a former residential school in Kamloops. Our country failed their families and the communities from which they were ripped away, and our country failed each child who suffered injustices at these appalling institutions across the country. That is the truth. We cannot close our eyes and pretend it never happened.
What we know is that the discovery in Kamloops is part of a larger tragedy and that from coast to coast to coast, many children forced into the residential school system disappeared without a trace. We know that the harm caused by the legacy of these institutions plays out today in the intergenerational trauma with which so many families must deal. We know that indigenous peoples still face racism, systemic discrimination and unacceptable injustices.
To all those who are suffering, I am so sorry that your country let you down. We need to ensure that this sort of systemic failure never happens again. Survivors, families and communities must be the focus of all our efforts to repair the harm caused by residential schools.
Today I renew my pledge to right past wrongs, to support the healing of survivors, families and communities and to walk with them on this difficult reconciliation journey. The residential school system was only one piece of a larger colonial policy designed to erase language and culture and to assimilate indigenous communities so they no longer existed as distinct peoples. We recognize that and we are committed to addressing it.
Earlier today, I spoke with National Chief Perry Bellegarde and Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. Chief Casimir expressed to me that all Canadians must stand in solidarity and ensure that these tragic stories are never forgotten. As I told her and the national chief, we are here as a partner to move forward on what communities need.
As we continue to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action, we have put in place legislation and support for indigenous communities to revitalize and strengthen indigenous languages and culture. This is about ensuring that every first nation, Inuit and Métis child grows up proud of who they are.
We must not forget the lessons we learned from the residential school system. We need to remember this terrible legacy and strive to do better every day. We are reiterating our commitment to helping the communities find their missing children.
Saying sorry for the tragedies of the past is not enough. It is not enough for the children who died, for the families or for the survivors and communities. Only with our actions can we choose a better path, and that is what our government will always try to do.
View Erin O'Toole Profile
CPC (ON)
View Erin O'Toole Profile
2021-06-01 18:24 [p.7780]
Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the Prime Minister for his remarks today, and I would like to thank the government for advancing Bill C-8 as part of our collective effort as a Parliament to recognize the trauma in Kamloops and to show swift action for the families. Bill C-8 is an example of that, as are calls to action 71 to 76 in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.
Can the Prime Minister inform the House of a way that we can all accelerate those provisions, which are intended for providing a road to healing for the missing children and the families affected by those lost in residential schools?
View Justin Trudeau Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Justin Trudeau Profile
2021-06-01 18:25 [p.7780]
Mr. Chair, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his words and his support in moving forward with the renewed citizenship oath, Bill C-8, which would ensure that we recognize indigenous peoples properly within the core of Canadian citizenship. I also thank him for his commitment to working with us to move forward on fulfilling the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
We moved forward with $33 million in budget 2019 to help communities across the country with the burial sites associated with residential schools. We need to work with those communities and with indigenous partners to make sure that we are meeting their concerns and getting support to them. However, we will do that together. All parties and all levels of government stand united in wanting to move forward together, as Canadians expect us to.
View Sébastien Lemire Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Chair, on behalf of myself and the Bloc Québécois, I would like to mourn alongside the grieving families and extend my deepest condolences to the Secwépemc nation and all indigenous peoples in Quebec and Canada who are united in their grief and suffering following the gruesome discovery of the children buried in Kamloops.
This situation calls for a historical perspective. We cannot rewrite history, but we can look to the future. Could this be an opportunity to do something more, to revisit the infamous Indian Act and rewrite it from scratch, which is what people want, and also rethink how we dialogue with indigenous communities? Can we take this opportunity to reflect on a nation-to-nation dialogue with indigenous peoples and finally put an end to the Indian Act?
View Justin Trudeau Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Justin Trudeau Profile
2021-06-01 18:27 [p.7780]
Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for his comments and his question.
We do indeed have to move along the path to reconciliation together. As partners, we have to respect indigenous peoples and listen to what they want, their dreams and their concerns.
Yes, we need a nation-to-nation dialogue. That does not necessarily mean Ottawa will be the one finding solutions. On the contrary, solutions that do not come from indigenous communities themselves are not solutions. That is why we want to get past the Indian Act, which is a colonial relic. However, we have to do it in step with indigenous communities. Many communities are no longer governed by the act, and there will be others. We will work hand in hand with them and follow their lead.
View Leah Gazan Profile
NDP (MB)
View Leah Gazan Profile
2021-06-01 18:28 [p.7780]
Mr. Chair, it is a privilege to ask a question in the House.
The Prime Minister spoke a lot about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but his government has been slow to act, including on calls to action 71 to 76. Also, in the midst of this debate, the government is fighting St. Anne's Indian Residential School survivors in court. It is a violent act that people who underwent the most genocidal violence still have to prove that violence even today, after the remains of 215 children were found in a mass grave. The government also continues to fight little children against the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling.
On this very occasion, will the Prime Minister commit to providing communities with whatever they need, so they can take the steps they wish in respect of calls to action 71 to 76?
View Justin Trudeau Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Justin Trudeau Profile
2021-06-01 18:30 [p.7780]
Mr. Chair, as I said, in budget 2019, we put forward millions of dollars for exactly that, and it is something we are working on with the communities. We understand that initiatives like this, given the trauma and hurt these communities have gone through and continue to go through as horrific discoveries are made, require care and support. That is why the communities themselves are leading this process, in rhythm and approach, and why there is support for communities. The federal government will be there with whatever supports they need as we uncover the truth, as we support families and as we get justice for these smallest of victims.
View Carolyn Bennett Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, I am addressing the House from my home in Toronto, on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. I would like to pay tribute to the indigenous peoples who paddled these waters and whose moccasins walked this land.
First and foremost, I want to say that we are heartbroken for the families and communities affected by the tragic news of last week's discovery of human remains buried on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops.
We are all profoundly shaken by this horrifying discovery, and our thoughts are with the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation people as they mourn and come together to heal and support one another. After decades of work because of a knowing, the Tk'emlúps First Nation has found its missing children.
We will be there to support Tk'emlúps and all communities across Canada affected by missing children, the legacy of residential schools and the intergenerational trauma it inflicted. We are also committed to supporting survivors, their families and communities across Canada to locate, and memorialize through ceremony, the children who died or went missing while attending residential schools.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to find the truth and the painful and lasting impacts of residential schools. In memory of all the children who went missing while attending residential schools, and in support of their grieving families and communities, our government has been working with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to develop and maintain the national residential school student death register and to establish and maintain an online registry of residential school cemeteries, in response to calls to action 72 and 73. Also, through budget 2019, we committed $33.8 million over three years to support calls to action 74 to 76.
Over the summer and fall of 2020, we hosted a series of 16 virtual engagement sessions, with over 140 participants, which provided a further opportunity for dialogue with a variety of indigenous organizations across the country, such as survivors groups, advocacy organizations, healing and cultural centres, churches and communities, archives and research institutions, provincial and territorial heritage practitioners, knowledge keepers and health support workers. They have been very clear. They want the work to be indigenous-led, community-based, survivor-centric and culturally sensitive. They want support for their research and access to archeological expertise. We learned more about their wishes for appropriate commemoration ceremonies and markers, and reburial in home communities where requested.
I thank all members of the House for the passage of Bill C-5 last Friday, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This will unlock $13.8 million in budget 2021 to support more commemoration and the ability to educate all Canadians on the painful legacy of residential schools.
Last Thursday night I was inspired by the resilience of the leadership in B.C. Charlene Belleau, the chair of the First Nations Health Council, said this would be an opportunity for healing and coming together. Kúkpi7 Casimir told me that she was making sure the community was supported and was bringing together the former Kúkpi7s to organize the ceremonies that the communities will need to unlock the healing.
Communities know what they need. We will be there to support their way forward.
I thank the Prime Minister for his heartfelt words when he said that saying sorry is not enough. He is committed to standing with communities as we begin to right these wrongs.
As the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, I want to give my profound apologies to the families and survivors. I promise that we will work together with them to find these lost children.
View Dan Albas Profile
CPC (BC)
Mr. Chair, I certainly appreciate the minister and her words today.
I would like to raise the experience and some of the words from Upper Nicola Band's Chief Harvey McLeod, whom I have tremendous respect for and who went to the school in question. He has said:
I went back to the two years that I attended. I know that there were incidents happening there because I went through a lot of experiences myself. I know people that just disappeared, and we assumed that they ran away and got away and are at home somewhere, but never did see them again.
We as communities and leadership will find the best way of doing this and taking care of our people. We want to all be on the same page when it comes to having the ceremony to bring our people home.
Would the minister please respond to some of the words from Upper Nicola Band's Chief Harvey McLeod?
View Carolyn Bennett Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, it is an honour for me to respond to that question. Chief Harvey McLeod has taught me a great deal, and I remember conversations with his heartfelt descriptions of the pain that so many in his community endured.
He is absolutely right. The communities know what needs to be done, and our job is to support communities in the way they choose to go forward. It is a partnership, but they know what is needed and we will be there for them.
View Sébastien Lemire Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Chair, meegwetch.
In this debate on residential schools, I would like to say that when my sister was at CEGEP, she made a documentary on a residential school that happened to be located on our Anishinabe territory in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
Richard Kistabish, my friend Ejinagosi, who was recently appointed a member of the Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages, said at the time that indigenous people “feel like apples”, meaning that they are red on the outside, but people want them to be white on the inside. These residential schools were designed to assimilate indigenous children, to kill the Indian in the child. Unfortunately, we can see that they also killed them for real.
The minister gave a forward-looking speech, for which I salute her. What measures can she take to commit to sustaining indigenous languages? That may be one way to honour the victims, by making sure indigenous languages are preserved throughout history. What will she commit to doing in that regard?
Meegwetch.
View Carolyn Bennett Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, I thank the hon. member for his question.
Indigenous languages have almost disappeared because of assimilation policies, as the Prime Minister said. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action are very important to us, especially for protecting indigenous languages.
That is why our government passed Bill C-91, an act respecting indigenous languages, in order to promote and protect indigenous languages. This is very important for all indigenous and first nations languages, including Inuktitut and Michif. This issue is very important to our government, and I thank everyone for their support.
Meegwetch.
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