Anticosti Island  Mr. Speaker, finally. After the Manicouagan-Uapishka Biosphere Reserve in my riding of Manicouagan, our fabled Anticosti Island has now become a UNESCO world heritage site. This recognition is first and foremost the result of the hard work and dedication of the people of the municipality of Anticosti, the Minganie, the Innu nation and the Côte-Nord.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to Bill C‑321 introduced by my colleague from Cariboo—Prince George. This bill seeks to ensure that for the purposes of sentencing, the court considers the fact that the victim of an assault is a health care professional or a first responder to be an aggravating circumstance.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, I was saying that I wanted to take a moment, before I began my speech, to thank all the health care workers and first responders who supported the people in my riding and, of course, across Quebec and Canada during COVID-19. They certainly experienced this crisis more intensely than many of us.

Manicouagan  Madam Speaker, I am immensely pleased today to extend a warm invitation to my colleagues and to all Quebeckers and Canadians to come visit my riding, Manicouagan, this summer. To the people back home, Manicouagan really means the north shore, a true country within a country, its 350,000 square kilometres teeming with so many wonders that the north shore tourism bureau aptly describes it as “nature beyond measure”.

Portneuf-sur-Mer Tragedy  Mr. Speaker, as the member for Manicouagan and on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, it is with great sadness that I rise to extend my sincere condolences to all those who were touched by the tragedy in Portneuf-sur-Mer. On June 3, a few adults and children were fishing on the edge of the St.

Luc Noël  Madam Speaker, when I was newly elected, I met a great man from Minganie who inspired me. His name is Luc Noël and, in fact, he has made a mark on the entire north shore. Today, as he steps down from his duties as an elected reeve, a position he held for more than 10 years, I want to ensure he understands just how grateful I and the people of the north shore are.

Red Dress Day  Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for her commitment to the cause of indigenous women and girls. I have a question for her. She mentioned something that I said myself earlier. Last year, we were here talking about the same subject. Despite the fact that we likely think about this every day, I still feel we are not making any progress.

Red Dress Day  Mr. Chair, when people are experiencing violence, not having a home and not being able to leave keeps them in that cycle of violence. Obviously there has to be more funding and solutions to provide housing for women. We are talking about women, but I believe my colleague from Winnipeg Centre would agree that this affects the whole community.

Red Dress Day  Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for the question. Certainly, we all have stories to tell. I cannot say that everyone I have spent time with has wanted to tell these stories. Sometimes it is so painful. We need to respect each person's choice. They might not be able to tell their stories.

Red Dress Day  Mr. Chair, obviously, it is unacceptable when the amounts allocated to resolve these situations are not spent. This is not the only area where we see that happening. It also happened with the indigenous languages commissioner. Money was available, but it was not used. When I spoke about mechanisms to measure and track progress, that is one example.

Red Dress Day  Mr. Chair, I feel like saying that we have already put all the ideas out there. We have the recommendations that resulted from the consultations. We listened to all the witnesses who told their stories and gave ideas to the commission. We already have all that information. Of course, we may run into difficulties, but I think that this is more a matter of will than a matter of means.

Red Dress Day  Mr. Chair, I will quite simply say yes. The Indian Act is the epitome of systemic racism. We are talking about segregation. We are talking about denying human rights. This exists, of course, and we need to eliminate it. The first nations, indigenous peoples, the Inuit and the Métis peoples will show us how to do this.

Red Dress Day  Madam Chair, it is with great solidarity with my female colleagues that I rise to speak this evening. Of course I am thinking of my colleague from Winnipeg Centre, my colleague from Nunavut and also my colleague from Edmonton Griesbach. Today I was thinking about this speaking opportunity, and there are some topics that truly speak to us as human beings.

Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. He is always smart and sensible. I would like to come back to the issue of employment insurance. The government is extending a pilot project that is not working at all and does not cover everyone. How much does my colleague think it would cost the government to provide this help to people working in the seasonal industry so that there is no longer a spring gap?

Air Transportation  Mr. Speaker, Air Canada is abandoning Quebec's regions and it is high time the federal government got involved. Even the Alouette aluminum smelter back home, the largest in America, has written to Air Canada because its lax attitude is threatening the company's operations. Air Canada is currently cancelling one out of five flights to Sept‑Îles and not a single flight leaves Baie‑Comeau anymore.