COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on June 2nd, 2020

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, this government was the first government to recognize anti-black racism, systemic discrimination and unconscious bias and to take concrete actions against them in the context of the UN International Decade for People of African Descent but also in the context of a country that stands up for human rights and protects everyone.

We have made significant steps forward, but there is so much to do, and I look forward to working with all members in this House to do just that.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

I did not hear an answer. Will the Prime Minister end the racial profiling of black people in Canada?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, our justice system unfairly targets in many situations racialized Canadians, including indigenous Canadians and black Canadians. We know we need to improve our justice system and rates of incarceration and we will work on it.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Will the Prime Minister end the over-policing and over-incarceration of black and indigenous people?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, systemic discrimination means that people of colour are at greater risk of being incarcerated than others when facing negative outcomes in the justice system. We know we need to work on all the determinants of that. We will work as a country together.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Will the Prime Minister make sure Canada is collecting disaggregated data on the impacts of COVID-19 on racialized people, particularly indigenous and black people?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, not just on COVID-19 but on all ranges of data, we've made investments over the past years to Statistics Canada so that they are better able to collect data in a disaggregated fashion. We need to know what is happening within vulnerable communities. Disaggregated data will help, and we're working with provinces on the COVID-19 data.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

We know people are frustrated with anti-black racism. People are also incredibly frustrated with anti-indigenous racism. Will the Prime Minister commit to ending the over-incarceration, over-policing and racial profiling of indigenous people?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, I referred to that in an earlier answer.

Yes, we need to work to ensure that the rates of incarceration for indigenous people and for racialized Canadians are reduced. There are many measures we're working on to move forward to make our justice system fairer, to reduce systemic discrimination and eventually to eliminate it.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Here are two specific things we can do. I asked the Prime Minister if he will commit to stop taking indigenous kids to court, and if he will stop delaying the response to the murdered and missing indigenous women and girls calls for justice.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, tomorrow is the anniversary of the end of the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls inquiry. We have been working over the past year with partners on the ground to formulate the measures and the response that needs to move forward. Many of those partners over the past months have been engaged in keeping their communities safe and working hard on that, and that has delayed the putting out of the report.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Will the Prime Minister stop taking indigenous kids to court when it comes to indigenous child welfare?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, we agree that we need to compensate kids and indigenous peoples who have suffered harm at the hands of our child and family services over the past decades and we will do that.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Will the Prime Minister commit to not just pretty words but real action ensuring that all indigenous communities have access to clean drinking water?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, the NDP needs to know that we have eliminated over 80 long-term boil water advisories through our work over the past years, and we are on track to eliminating all of them on time by next spring.

This is something we committed to Canadians and we are doing.

[The Acting Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

You have 30 seconds left, Mr. Singh.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Chair, the Prime Minister needs to speak to indigenous communities who talk of a completely different reality. They do not have access to clean drinking water, and communities are going off the list only to return back on to the list of boil water advisories.

Will the Prime Minister commit to ensuring all indigenous communities have clean drinking water?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, that was a commitment we made to Canadians and a commitment we are keeping. The member opposite continues to talk as if there has been no progress made. There has been significant progress made. We are on track to eliminating those boil water advisories.

It would be great if the members opposite talked about some good news instead of just highlighting the very real problems that are there. There is good news and there is challenging news. We are working on those together.

[The Acting Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We'll now go to the honourable member for Carleton, Mr. Poilievre.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Chair, what share of Canada's national debt is owed to foreign lenders?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Chair, we continue to manage our fiscal situation in a responsible manner, and we'll continue to do that.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

How much does the Government of Canada owe to the People's Republic of China?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, we would be happy to provide information. If the member would like to send my office questions directly, I'd be happy to provide this information.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

It turns out I did a week ago. They still haven't provided answers to the questions, in particular the question regarding who owns Canada's foreign-held debt. We know that roughly a third of our debt is owned by foreigners. How much of that debt is owned by lenders from the People's Republic of China?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, as I said, we'd be happy to reply to these questions directly. We'll do so. We'll get to it in order, as we work through this crisis, making sure we focus on Canadians first.