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Results: 46 - 60 of 69
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 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 Cathy McLeod Profile
CPC (BC)
Madam Chair, again, I appreciate my colleague's speech. We are all rocked by the tragic and horrific discovery of 215 children in the mass burial.
I know that for calls to action 71 to 76, there were significant dollars allocated for moving forward. There is, I believe, about $27 million remaining. Would the minister commit to supporting Tk’emlúps te Secwe?pemc in the forensic work that needs to be done, and making sure that the dollars flow in a timely way so that the people can move forward on this important path?
View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Madam Chair, since we were elected in 2015, our government has invested over $30 billion of new money in infrastructure, in education, in health and in boil water advisories. I do not have a lot of that detail, but I believe it is already started. If it is not already started, it is something that we need to complete and I hope the member from British Columbia can offer her support to that initiative as well.
View Christine Normandin Profile
BQ (QC)
View Christine Normandin Profile
2021-06-01 19:57 [p.7791]
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his speech.
I would like his thoughts on the fact that money was announced in past budgets for certain Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action, including calls to action 72 to 78. The $33 million that was announced did not actually materalize. It was not earmarked so that it could be spent.
I would like to know if we constantly need to have a new crisis just to realize the importance of what needs to be done. Do we ultimately need a crisis every time just to get us do the right thing?
View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for her question.
I can assure the House that reconciliation is our government's number one goal. Since we were elected in 2015, we have invested more than $30 billion in education, infrastructure and health care, in partnership with indigenous, Métis, Inuit and first nations communities.
This has been a priority for our government from the beginning, not just since last week. We are working in partnership with indigenous nations, and collaboration is important. It is all the more important today, after last week's discovery.
View Christine Normandin Profile
BQ (QC)
View Christine Normandin Profile
2021-06-01 20:10 [p.7793]
Madam Chair, the government unfortunately likes to brag about setting aside money to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action.
In 2019, the government announced $33.8 million over three years to implement calls to action 72 to 79. However, that money was not budgeted in the main estimates for the three following years.
My question is simple. Where did that money go?
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Madam Chair, I thank the member so much for her very relevant question.
I do not think this is the time to boast about all of the financial and political capital this government has invested in indigenous communities. What we need to remember is that we will be there for the communities by responding to calls to action 71 to 76, knowing that call to action 71 talks about provincial coroners and the key role the provinces play when criminal investigations are needed.
We have a very difficult road ahead of us. We are talking about crime scenes, sites that will now be sacred. We will need to do this painstaking work while ensuring that indigenous communities are at the forefront.
Many people have asked me about the role of the federal government. The federal government's role is to make room for indigenous communities. We will be there to provide financial support, so there is no need to worry about that. However, the substance also depends on the form, and the form, which is an issue so critical to indigenous relations, dictates that first nations, Inuit and Métis peoples must be at the forefront.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
Madam Chair, I rise this evening not as the critic for Crown—indigenous relations, not as a member of Parliament, but as a father horrified by the tragic discovery in Kamloops of the 215 children buried and forgotten at a residential school in Tk’emlups territory. I want to acknowledge the deep sadness and grief that all indigenous peoples and survivors of residential schools are experiencing at this time and wish to express my deepest sympathies to the first nation itself, and those surrounding indigenous communities who are sharing in this tragedy.
A new page is being written on the dark shameful narrative that is the Canadian residential school legacy, a legacy that has had a profoundly lasting and damaging impact on indigenous families, culture, heritage and language. While communities and families grapple with this unthinkable revelation, it is time for all of us to come together and aid in the healing process.
This must be more than just words. I cannot blame indigenous leaders and communities who are listening to us tonight, wondering if our sentiments are just that, just words. It is time to act, and that time was actually long ago. That includes all governments, not just this one. We need to put the resources in place to protect, honour and identify these children, and to find and bring home all the lost children throughout Canada.
Last night, the Conservative Party sent a letter to the government, respectfully recommending that the following actions be taken.
First, the development of a comprehensive plan to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action 71 through 76 by July 1 of this year. The time for action is now.
Second, to put in place enough funding to investigate all former residential schools in Canada where unmarked graves exist, including the site where 215 children have already been discovered. I understand that only three of the 160 acres have been checked at the Kamloops location and the ramifications of that are too dreadful to even contemplate.
Third, ensure that proper resources are allocated for communities to commemorate and honour any individuals discovered through the investigation, according to the wishes of their next of kin. This must be done in consultation with the leadership of indigenous communities, to safeguard their wishes and to protect cultural practices.
Last, we must never forget what happened here. We call on the government to develop a detailed and thorough set of resources to educate Canadians of all ages of this tragic history of residential schools in Canada. I am sure all sides of this place will have recommendations, and I am sure the government will also table its actions and what it intends to move forward with. I look forward to seeing those details. As I mentioned, I offer my sincere assistance to the government in this regard.
Following the historic apology to residential schools, their students, their families and communities for Canada's role in the operation of the schools by former prime minister Stephen Harper, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada began the hard work and dedication of building public awareness about residential schools and to bring forward 94 recommendations to all levels of government, public and private institutions, and religious organizations. The goal of the commission's findings were to foster reconciliation, understanding and respect. The final report of the TRC helped to explain this dark chapter in Canadian history and the calls to action addressed the legacy of residential schools and advanced the process of reconciliation.
I thank the commission for its very hard work, but the torch has been passed. We need to address the outstanding recommendations in that report. They need to be addressed quickly so that we can move forward on the road to true reconciliation with Canada's indigenous peoples.
Manny Jules, the former chief of that first nation and survivor of the Kamloops residential school, said recently that everyone knew there were children buried on that site. He even went on to say that those children were also in unmarked graves in other places across Canada. He is demanding action, not just words. Indigenous people want action, not words, to find these lost children.
I implore the government to take action right now to fund and support the investigation of all residential schools in Canada, and bring those children home.
View Pam Damoff Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Yukon.
I would like to acknowledge that I am speaking from the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation from my home in Oakville.
My thoughts are with all indigenous families as they mourn. Like all Canadians, I am devastated by the horrifying news from British Columbia, where the remains of 215 children buried at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School were discovered. This is not news to indigenous peoples in Canada. My friend, the member for Northwest Territories, shared with me that there is a mission graveyard in his small community. Half of those buried there are children from the local residential school.
Many years ago, the Catholic Church removed the crosses, dug up the priests, nuns and brothers and moved them to a new graveyard. Then it plowed over the old cemetery and grew potatoes there. In the early 1900s, the community, working with elders, hired specialists to locate the bodies of the children buried there, reclaimed their names, remembered their ages and erected a monument. I am ashamed to say that I did not know this story, and I suspect that most Canadians do not know these stories.
Families deserve closure. Our government is committed to supporting survivors, the families as well as communities, to locate and memorialize children who were killed because they were forced to attend residential schools.
We invite indigenous communities to seek federal support, which is available, to conduct radar scans on other residential school sites to confirm if lost children are buried there.
The history of residential schools was not taught when I was a student. When I was first elected, I held a public screening of the documentary We Were Children. A former MP attended and said he wished he had known this history when he served in Parliament in the 1980s.
Duncan Campbell Scott, deputy superintendent of Indian Affairs in 1910, said of residential schools, “It is readily acknowledged that Indian children...die at a much higher rate than in their villages. But this alone does not justify a change in the policy of this Department, which is being geared towards the final solution of our Indian Problem.”
This month during #IndigenousReads, I am encouraging my community to read 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph. It is important to confront our past to learn what is true in order to move forward on the path of reconciliation.
Near my home, the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School operated in Brantford from 1828 to 1970. It served as a school for first nations children from Six Nations, as well as other communities throughout Ontario and Quebec. Just today, Six Nations of the Grand River has asked the federal government to help it search its grounds.
The Save the Evidence project from the Woodland Cultural Centre is working to restore the former Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School into a historical site and educational resource. Projects like this that are indigenous-led are vital for educating the public about our past and for understanding the realities of indigenous peoples in Canada.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission made 94 calls to action. If Canadians have not already read them, they should do so. Calls 71 to 76 deal with the missing children and burial information.
One of the honorary witnesses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a friend of mine who survived the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. We have talked about what Canada can do as we implement the recommendations of the TRC. Call to action 81 calls for a residential schools national monument in Ottawa to honour survivors and all children who were lost to their families and communities.
Now is the time to take action on this. Our government has worked to build a more equitable relationship with indigenous peoples based on partnership and honesty. We have introduced legislation to establish a national day for truth and reconciliation, to amend the oath of citizenship and to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We are working with indigenous leadership and communities to implement legislation that affirms and recognizes indigenous peoples' jurisdiction over child and family services to reduce the number of indigenous children in care. We are committed to continuing to take action to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance reconciliation across Canada.
I pray for the stolen little souls and I mourn their loss.
View 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 Andréanne Larouche Profile
BQ (QC)
View Andréanne Larouche Profile
2021-06-01 20:51 [p.7799]
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague from Yukon for his intervention. It is clear that he cares deeply about this evening's debate, which I hope will spur action and progress. I hope this evening will be as constructive as possible, so that we can undertake a nation-to-nation dialogue with indigenous peoples and communities with the utmost respect.
The budget allocated $33.8 million to address the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action 71 to 78. Unfortunately, that money does not appear to have made it to where it is needed.
Just as I am talking about re-establishing dialogue, we are learning that the Native Women's Association of Canada has lost confidence in the federal government and has decided to implement the recommendations of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls itself.
I would like to know what my colleague thinks. Can we change our approach? Can we take action? Can we get the money to where it is needed? Can we implement the recommendations of the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls?
View Larry Bagnell Profile
Lib. (YT)
View Larry Bagnell Profile
2021-06-01 20:52 [p.7799]
Madam Chair, the member said something I was really glad to hear, which is that this night should be for constructive debate on how we can move forward in a positive way and deal with such a tragic situation. The healing requires not a short time but, for some, a lifetime. She also made the very important point that it needs to be a discussion with indigenous people because they have to be led.
I understand that it takes time to go to the various sites and uncover potential graves. Everything has to be done after consultation with the families. They want it done in a culturally sensitive way and in discussion with indigenous people. That is why I think some of the $33 million related to calls to action 74 to 76 has not been finished. It is making sure it is done in the right way, but I have every confidence that the funding necessary to complete all these actions, many of the actions I outlined and in the TRC recommendations, will be forthcoming as it is needed.
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