Bill C-5 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Bills of Exchange Act, the Interpretation Act and the Canada Labour Code (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation)

This enactment amends certain Acts to add a new holiday, namely, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which is observed on September 30.

Bills of Exchange Act

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

This being a hybrid sitting of the House, and for the sake of clarity, I will ask for only those who are opposed to express their disagreement. Accordingly, all those opposed to the hon. member for North Island—Powell River moving the motion please say nay.

[Some hon. members]

Nay.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Accordingly, there is no unanimous consent.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, it would have been nice to see this bill proceed as there is a great deal of expectation among many groups to recognize the importance of the issue. Having said that, I was impressed with the member's sharing of those personal stories. I thank her for doing that.

The member was talking about the severity of the impact on children. In the province of Manitoba, there were in excess of 10,000 children in foster care. I do not know the actual number today, but what is quite striking is I believe over 90% are of indigenous background.

What it emphasizes to me is that there is so much more that we still need to do. We need governments and indigenous leaders to come together and do more collectively so that we can try to keep more harmony within the family unit.

I wonder if the member might be able to add some thoughts from her perspective in terms of what Ottawa could be doing, working with others, to try to deal with this very serious issue.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I hope the member takes some time to look at the reality of his own government. Bill C-92 came up in the last Parliament. One of the things that was fought for, by me as the vice-chair of the indigenous and northern affairs committee and by many indigenous leaders across Canada, was the amount of resources the people need to get this work done.

The reason indigenous children are in care today at such high rates is because we have had continuous Conservative and Liberal governments pass the buck and continue to use language like the parliamentary secretary did in his question: to get indigenous communities to come together and create solutions. They are coming together. They are working hard every day because they do not want to see their children leaving their communities. What they require are the resources. Any time any government wants to stand up and be accountable for that I will be happy to work with it, but I still have not seen it.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from North Island—Powell River for her speech. It left me speechless. I understand the depth of emotion in her speech. I agree with her that we must not forget.

We are talking about designating a day of commemoration, and I am absolutely certain that it is essential for these communities. I have many friends, young and old, who belong to the Innu nation and the Naskapi nation. Through no fault of their own, they were part of a real cultural genocide. I am feeling a little emotional, but I imagine that will be part of the conversation we need to have with first nations peoples.

My colleague also mentioned the need for actions and resources. Time is also part of the equation. I hope that everyone will vote in favour of this bill.

In her opinion, what actions need to be taken quickly and urgently, and what resources are needed?

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, for me, the resources most urgently needed are resources to support families to help children stay at home, and to look at and address systemic racism across Canada. When we see such high numbers of indigenous children being removed, we need to ask more questions and stop laying blame on families who are struggling. All families have to be accountable, but we need resources there to support those families.

Moving forward, we also need actual resources and planning so indigenous communities are not dealing with huge crises such as the ones we are seeing right now across our country. They need to have those supports beforehand so they are not left cleaning up significant messes.

[Jenica Atwin, Green, Fredericton, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to sincerely congratulate the member for North Island—Powell River on that incredible speech. There should not be a dry eye in the House. That was amazing, and I just wish to send her my love and appreciation.

The member mentioned the ongoing issue of the fishery dispute in Nova Scotia. Could the member perhaps comment on the juxtaposition of the idea for a national holiday and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission with what we are seeing on the ground, regarding protecting the rights of indigenous people, and how we continue to fail? I would like to hear what she would say about that.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's congratulations and her response to the important subject we are talking about today and the personal stories I have to share. When I look at what is happening with the Mi'kmaq, I remember a chief saying to me not too long ago that if there is a court decision where the indigenous people do not win, it is implemented the next day, but if a court decision is made and the indigenous people do win, it takes 21 years.

I look at this and think, how long do indigenous communities have to wait? How long are we going to have governments that say their rights and title are something they can negotiate, and how long are we going to have decisions that say indigenous people are allowed to make a moderate living?

I hope everybody takes a moment to think about what that actually means. It means they can make a little bit, but not too much, because if they have too much what independence could they take that the government could not fight back? That is a continuous concern. Economic development in indigenous communities has been put by the wayside by different levels of government repeatedly, and that is a part of reconciliation we have to own.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth and to the Minister of Canadian Heritage (Sport)]

Mr. Speaker, I only rise today to express solidarity to the member for North Island—Powell River. I watched intently as she expressed her emphatic desire to have this passed. I also wanted to rise to express disappointment that it will not be as expedient as we had hoped. I know I should be framing this as a question, and I will, but I wanted to go on the record and express solidarity and an interest in supporting her, her community and various other indigenous communities in any way possible.

My question is, how can I help?

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his statement and bit of a question.

One of the things the elders told me is that it is not our job to fix this. I think people do the work inside themselves and make sure that they are understanding the history and not putting that on indigenous people to teach them.

The member is on the government side, so I hope he is working hard to let the others know that they need to fund appropriately the services and supports that are needed for communities. If we want to see strong and resilient indigenous communities, which they are doing mostly on their own, they need to get the adequate resources to take the next step and we need to get out of their way.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

For all hon. members, during this period of questions and comments, comments on their own are perfectly fine. It is absolutely not necessary to pose a question. Comments are quite acceptable.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Vancouver East.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to thank the member for North Island—Powell River for her incredibly moving and thoughtful speech. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for her, time and again, to share her personal experiences and those of her family to provide lessons for all of us, to make the point to Canadians that action has to be taken and for us to stop dithering, especially on the government side.

She raised the issue of indigenous children. This is, in essence, really a commemoration of indigenous children who were ripped away from their families. Even today, in my riding of Vancouver East, indigenous children continue to be taken away from their families. It continues. This is modern-day colonization. Part of the reason is because they cannot access safe, secure, affordable housing.

I wonder if the member has any comments with respect to the programs, or lack thereof, from the government with respect to addressing urban, rural and northern indigenous housing.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her tremendous work on addressing the housing issue and how important it is.

I am still waiting for the indigenous national housing strategy that the government said it would provide years ago. When I look at the numerous urban indigenous communities that exist across the country, I can see that they need housing desperately. This is a huge gap in supports and services. It is heartbreaking when children are taken from their families, sometimes incredibly strong families, simply because they do not have adequate housing. Putting in a bill that we will not do that is not enough. Children should be kept safe: all children should be recognized and indigenous communities, both off and on reserve, need the housing. We have to stop dithering. We have to take action.

How long are indigenous communities going to have to wait? That should be a question that all government members ask themselves daily.

[Jaime Battiste, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to speak to Bill C-5, an act that would amend the Bills of Exchange Act, the Interpretation Act and the Canada Labour Code to add a new statutory holiday, a national day for truth and reconciliation.

I want to begin by acknowledging that I am speaking from the largest Mi'kmaq community in the world in my home community, which is also the unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq.

Today, we are discussing an important step forward on the path of reconciliation and healing for first nations, Inuit and Métis people. It is a step forward in publicly honouring survivors, their families and communities by implementing calls to action 80 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to establish a statutory holiday, a national day for truth and reconciliation.

Before my time as an MP, I was a professor at Cape Breton University. I taught Mi'kmaq history and about the Indian residential schools. I was also the treaty education lead for Nova Scotia, which meant that I would do presentations for schools, businesses, industry and all those who asked about the truth and reconciliation and the Indian residential schools. People would ask me why they were never taught this before, why they were just learning this for this first time.

The Indian residential schools operated in my home province of Nova Scotia between 1929 and 1967 in Shubenacadie. In my home province, for more than 40 years, children were forcefully removed from their homes. They were forcefully removed from all they ever knew, taken from loving Mi'kmaq families.

I will share two startling facts that I always shared in those presentations.

The first comes from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The odds of dying for a soldier in World War II was one in 26. The odds of dying for children in the Indian residential schools was one in 25. Let that sink in. These were not soldiers with guns and helmets. These were children wearing their Sunday-best clothes, Sunday dresses, and they never came home. That is why we call them survivors, like my Aunt Eleanor Mitchell, my Uncle Fudd Lewis and the brave author from Sipekne'katik, Isabelle Knockwood. When I was a young student at that same university, I read her book and realized the horrible legacy of the residential schools and the horrible treatment of these children.

When we talk of truth and reconciliation, we speak of the children. However, I want members to think about their children at home. For all who are listening and for all in the House right now, imagine all the joy children bring into our lives, the birthdays, Christmas. Imagine all the things we do with our children that brings utter joy into our lives. Now imagine a community without those children, without that joy—