COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on June 18th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Thank you for your comments, but I've made my decision.

Mr. Singh, you may go ahead.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I want to begin by acknowledging the words of the Prime Minister today and to thank the Prime Minister for those kind words.

I also acknowledge that the Prime Minister has again committed to change, but we need that change right away. Will the Prime Minister commit immediately to putting in place concrete policy changes to address the systemic racism in the RCMP?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Yes, Mr. Chair, we need to take concrete action right away to address systemic racism in this country. We have much work to do. We will do it with partners. We will do it with everyone in this House who wants to work with us on this.

I thank the leader of the NDP for his commitment to this. We will work together in short order on making this happen.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Thank you very much for that response.

I want to go into some details. Will the Prime Minister commit to what was in the motion, which was supported, it seemed like, by most of the members of this House, to do a full review of the nearly $10-million-a-day RCMP budget to see where we can allocate funds to a health care response instead of a police response?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, I've talked about this over the past weeks. This is important for us to do. We need to make sure we are spending every dollar of taxpayers' money in the right way, to keep people safe and not to perpetuate unjust systems. It is not, however, either/or—either the police or community services. Obviously, we need both, but we need them done right.

We will work with everyone to make sure we are getting that balance right and we are getting the money spent in the right ways.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Chair, we certainly, though, need more investments in non-policing interventions. That is where we have seen some serious problems. Families have raised the concern that we need to have more investments in non-police interventions, non-violent interventions, and health care responses to health care crises.

Will the Prime Minister commit to that course of action?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, we have heard those calls as well, and we agree that this is something we have to work on. We need to make sure that we are encouraging de-escalation programs and that we are encouraging front-line interventions around mental health and around care that isn't necessarily done by the police. These are things that we need to do together.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Chair, today, a report of RCMP use of force incidents was released. I'm glad to see that. We'll review that.

Will the Prime Minister also encourage a release of the associated costs of the settlement of cases that flowed from those uses of force?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, we will of course be taking a very careful look at this report. It highlights a real challenge that we've seen around systemic discrimination in our country and our institutions, including in the RCMP.

There are many concrete actions we need to take. As I've said many times, I'm committed to taking those actions. We need to make a significant change in our country for the better.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Chair, one specific element of the motion that was nearly passed yesterday was to commit to a full review, specifically of the use of force. Given the release of that report, will the Prime Minister commit clearly to a review of the use of force by the RCMP?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, these are important conversations that have to be had within the RCMP, between the government and the RCMP, and between Canadians and their police forces. These are some things that we will certainly move forward on together.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Chair, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and the mother of Chantel Moore, who was killed by the RCMP, have requested a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss and determine immediate actions to implement in order to prevent more indigenous people from being killed by the police.

Will the Prime Minister meet with Chantel Moore's mother and the tribal council of Nuu-chah-nulth?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, our government has continued to meet with Canadians who face extreme difficulties. Obviously, our hearts go out to Chantel's family and to the entire community. I will ensure that members of our government engage directly with her mother and the rest of the family and with the community. We need to work together on changing things for the better in Chantel's memory and in the memory of all Canadians who have fallen in this situation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Mr. Singh, we have about 20 seconds left.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Yesterday, the House recognized that systemic racism existed within the RCMP and that action was necessary.

Will the Prime Minister commit here and now to taking action swiftly? We need concrete action quickly.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Yes, we recognize that systemic racism exists in our country. We are committed to taking concrete action quickly to address the issue in partnership with others.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We are going to take a quick break to allow those supporting the proceedings to substitute each other safely.

We will now go to Ms. Alleslev.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Chair, the outcome of Canada's bid for the UN Security Council must be a wake-up call. Canada lost quickly and decisively on the first ballot. This was a report card on how the world views this Liberal government and this Prime Minister.

Can the Prime Minister answer for Canadians, if the world needs more Canada, why at the UN did the world say, “No thanks”?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The honourable minister.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of International Development]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would once again like to begin by thanking the incredible diplomats and everyone in team Canada who worked so hard on what was a truly excellent campaign.

Of course we are disappointed by the outcome, but Canada will continue to be engaged, will continue to believe in multilateralism, and will be a constructive partner in the United Nations, working with all those who are elected to be—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We have a point of order.

Mr. Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

The French interpretation hasn't been working for a few minutes. Can we get that fixed? As a member from Quebec, I would like to be addressed in French, and as a parliamentarian, I think that's important.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

It's very important. We'll find out what's happening. It's probably the result of a technical issue. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.

Does it work now?

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Yes. We can hear you very well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Are you hearing me in French now?

I see that everything is running well now.

We'll continue with Ms. Alleslev.