Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I understand that my time is up. I am open to any type of questions.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, committee members. I as well offer my recognition of the unceded territories of the Algonquin peoples. I'd also like to begin by recognizing Jordan River Anderson, who will be honoured on what we call Bear Witness Day on May 10. I hope that all parliamentarians will

Canadian Heritage committee  I think it's really key. When I was recruited by the women's movement, I couldn't relate to it. The discrimination I experienced as a first nations person was far greater than what these women were experiencing in the workplace. Of course, I had that on top of it, but compared to

Canadian Heritage committee  I think the media really are an outgrowth of the type of education about indigenous peoples that's been offered in this country, which means that very few of them have had any meaningful education at all on first nations, Métis, or Inuit peoples in this country. I'm grateful to

Canadian Heritage committee  That's why I was talking about the importance of the Spirit Bear plan in getting at the structural drivers, and just in general in child welfare. I'd like to see that reflection on the definition of “neglect”, because it implies that the parent is the one doing all of the neglect

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, we support it.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think it is a distinct relationship. It's a distinct constitutional relationship, a distinct historical and discriminatory relationship. Take the systemic underfunding of first nations children's services. That is not is something other groups of children experience in this co

Canadian Heritage committee  I think one of the things that we need to keep in mind is that these are little kids who at every turn of their lives are getting less of an opportunity to succeed and be healthy. They don't know that people in Ottawa are making a decision that they get less; they just know that

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't have it with me, but I can certainly submit it.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think we do, because you find different constellations of indigenous peoples in urban areas. However, I think it's fundamentally the same: having a responsiveness to culture, a responsiveness to language, and equity as the base. It's targeting those areas that put families unde

Canadian Heritage committee  I think that is a key piece. I'm not an expert on the economic development piece. That's more to the national chief of the AFN and others who are in that portfolio, but I think that relates back, for me, on the children's issues of education. If we have an underfunded first nat

Canadian Heritage committee  I think there is something to be said for rethinking how child welfare is delivered. Personally, I'd like to see the definition of neglect thought out a bit more so that it doesn't codify structural discrimination as a parental deficit and it holds families accountable for what t

Canadian Heritage committee  Right. Those are two separate funding streams, and what the tribunal was looking at is exactly what you're talking about. The other piece is we need to have equitable salaries for social workers. We need to have safe buildings for children and families to come into, and that who

Canadian Heritage committee  We don't know exactly what it would be to erase the gap fully. We know regions are preparing those summaries right now. We have suggested as of the ruling date, as of January 26, that our best estimate, based on government documents, is it would require an immediate injection of

Canadian Heritage committee  I think that's where the Spirit Bear plan is really critical in costing out that number for all of those inequalities. We know from good-quality research that the drivers of the over-representation of first nations children in care are predominantly poor housing, poverty, and sub