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Results: 1 - 15 of 549
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]
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