Human Resources Committee on Dec. 3rd, 2024

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thanks for that.

The premier also mentioned a few other shared priorities, as you said: eliminating child care wait-lists, making $10-a-day child care more accessible and moving ahead with a universal school meal program.

Could you share more about the status of these shared priorities? Are you having constructive conversations with the new government, and what should we expect to see in the next months?

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata—Carleton, ON]

Specifically on the wait-list piece, I was actually in Charlottetown last week. We had our federal-provincial-territorial ministers “most responsible” table. Although the new minister was not there, some great work was shared by officials on what they are doing to create a central data portal that is the envy, honestly, of every other province and territory that was at the table. That will go a long way towards making it easier for parents to find spots and having clear reporting for operators. Lastly, on school food, we're certainly at the table. It's great to have a willing partner there, and I hope we'll be able to share more soon.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Ms. Chabot, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Congratulations on your French.

In your opening remarks, you talked about your main mandates, learning services and Canada's national school food program, among other things. However, one of your mandates is also to advance the implementation of the community services recovery fund to help charities and non-profit organizations adapt and modernize.

We have met with charitable groups, such as Imagine Canada, which is a group of charities and non-profit organizations. They shared a number of concerns with us, which may even warrant a study by our committee. I'd like to hear your opinion on one of the main concerns.

We rely on these organizations a lot, but there's a big problem, which is that these organizations receive funding mainly on a project-by-project basis, rather than receive funding based on their core mission or autonomous mission.

How far along are you in your mandate to advance the implementation of the community services recovery fund? What does that mean for those groups? Is any work under way?

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata—Carleton, ON]

Thank you very much for the question.

You're absolutely right that these organizations across the country are working to meet people's needs.

These individuals are being supported by the incredible work of not-for-profit organizations. It's incredibly important that we as a government continue to do what we can to support them.

Throughout these last few years, we've seen the impact of the community services recovery fund, which specifically helped not-for-profit organizations increase their capacity and do quite a bit of internal work to grow their impact.

The other program I would point to, which even in my own riding is really impactful for our not-for-profit sector, is the Canada summer jobs program. In my community, I see hundreds of young people gaining meaningful employment, and most often, not-for-profit organizations benefit from their employment.

One last piece I will point to that might be—

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Minister, with all due respect, you're giving me examples of jobs that can be held by young people in those organizations.

Those organizations are numerous in Canada. They are numerous in Quebec, as well, but that's another system. In Canada, charities and non-profit organizations need sustainable funding to ensure their survival and to fulfill their mission to young people and all the people you are talking about. Therefore, they are asking for funding that would be granted not on a project-by-project basis, but based on their fundamental mission, their core mission.

Have you started thinking about that? Do you have any funds to satisfy those requests?

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata—Carleton, ON]

There are a few initiatives I will mention that are currently under way, one of which is a home within government for the not-for-profit sector. When I am meeting with not-for-profits across the country, one thing they talk to me about is how to better engage with government to ensure they're able to access the resources that are available to them. We're undertaking that work with the input of not-for-profits across the country to get that piece right and to help facilitate better information sharing and relationships.

The other piece they've asked for help with, which we did include in the last budget, is moving forward with a volunteer strategy. Not-for-profits have shared that, since COVID, it is very difficult to find volunteers to help maintain their operations. Often, many of them are predominantly run by volunteers. We're doing work collaboratively with them on developing a volunteer strategy for the not-for-profit sector.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

I'd like to know what kind of work is under way. The groups we talk to meet with a lot of ministers or MPs on Parliament Hill and would like to know what data is being collected and what strategies are being put in place to address their concerns. If you have any other data to share with the committee about this fund, among other things, I would appreciate it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Give a quick answer, Minister.

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata—Carleton, ON]

Sure.

I would reiterate that the work under way on the home within government for the sector addresses the questions you just asked, and the opportunity to feed into that work exists.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

Madam Zarrillo, you have six minutes.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Minister, for being here.

I'm going to start with my questions on Jordan's principle.

Minister, you're responsible for children. My colleague Lori Idlout raised in the House just last week that the Liberals are actively fighting against the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal's orders and allowing first nations children to die. In fact, three first nations children have died in care since January of this year.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said that the Jordan's principle process is too slow. Just recently in Steinbach, Manitoba, the Hanover School Division had to share with families and kids that 93 of their valued educational assistants had to be laid off. This difficult decision, they said, arose from circumstances beyond their control, specifically the unexpected loss of federal funding for Jordan's principle's programming in 2024-25.

Minister, I know that the Liberal government has decided to very much silo indigenous issues outside of other ministries. I asked an indigenous housing question last week, and the housing minister didn't feel that it was worth responding to, so I am going to pose it to you. What is happening with the funding for Jordan's principle? Why is the Liberal government refusing to uphold the human rights of indigenous children? Lastly, can Hanover School District please get their money?

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata—Carleton, ON]

I'll have to follow up on that last piece, but I appreciate the question you've raised. Obviously, it's incredibly important.

I'll share that, predominantly, the work that I have been doing with indigenous communities has been with respect to the early learning and child care program. Having said that, additional ministers are specifically working with communities and have responsibility for Jordan's principle.

I will, if you'll entertain it, perhaps ask our ADM, Catherine Adam, if she can speak to the current status.

[Catherine Adam, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Results and Delivery Officer, Strategic and Service Policy Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development]

I am very cognizant of what you said on siloing issues, but the reality is that Jordan's principle is an important funding base to ensure that indigenous children are receiving the same kinds of services, commensurate with what we're seeing provinces and territories provide. It's about not having these children and their development, in a sense, set back, as jurisdictions may argue back and forth over who has accountability on the issue. Jordan's principle really does run through Indigenous Services Canada and through Crown-Indigenous Relations—

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I know you know that I don't have much time, so I'm going to go back to the minister.

Are you telling me, Minister, that you do not have any influence or jurisdiction over indigenous children as it relates to Jordan's principle, even though you are the Minister of Children and Social Development?

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata—Carleton, ON]

I would suggest there's a team effort. It is not solely me who has any decision-making capacity there. There's a tremendous amount of collaboration among me and my colleagues to ensure that, as the ADM quite rightly said, indigenous children have the same rights and opportunities as all children across the country.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Minister, are you aware that there are 40,000 Jordan's principle requests in the backlog?

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata—Carleton, ON]

That would be the purview of another ministry that has that visibility, but—

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I'm going to go on with the silo topic. Recently—this week, actually—the AG released a report on seniors, saying that the Liberal government was not analyzing or even tracking the data on their programs for seniors and that there needed to be in their recommendations some interministry communications.

I'm interested in knowing exactly what the interministry communications are for Jordan's principle and indigenous children. If you can't share that today, I'd like to have it brought to this committee so I can understand what the links are between the Ministry of Families, Children and Social Development and Indigenous Services Canada. I think that's where you said Jordan's principle is sitting. I'll give you the opportunity to answer, but I would also like a follow-up answer.

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata—Carleton, ON]

I'll ask ADM Adam to address that.

[Catherine Adam]

We'd be happy to provide in writing, working with our colleagues in other departments, information about the backlog situation, if we can, and information to address your other issues about how we're going to work together as ministries.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

That's great.

Minister, you mentioned that your work is also about looking at child care spaces for indigenous children. There were 3,300 promised. I'm wondering about the workforce strategy to get us there.

There is a sectoral round table. Can you update us on the status of that sectoral round table and any workforce strategy you have for early learning and child care?

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata—Carleton, ON]

I'm sorry, but is that specifically for indigenous educators or in general?

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

No, it's just in general.