Evidence of meeting #110 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vote.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Thank you.
Madam Minister, I apologize for that. I know we're short on time now.
Can we talk about UNDRIP? I know that Bill C-262 will be debated today for the third hour. One difficulty we have is that two major parties are supporting it; our government's supporting it. It would be a good sign if we had all three major parties supporting this legislation. I'm wondering what you have to say to the Conservatives on this, because I think this is the time to set the history right.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
Right. I think what I have to say is what I said at the UN a year and a half ago. It's not scary. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the way forward in the original understanding of peace, harmony, and a balance of interests. How you achieve consensus is by having indigenous rights holders involved at the very idea of a project, and then have them be part of every stage of that project. As we found with Kinder Morgan, even communities who objected to the project to begin with are very interested in being part of monitoring the project and being part later on. Again, it's the kind of idea that happens in Nunavut, where good projects are accepted early on and bad projects are rejected, where mining companies come to understand the certainty that comes with doing a better job persuading those land use planning boards of the value of the balance of the economy and the environment.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Minister, you indicated that the new recognition and implementation of rights framework will be coming as corresponding legislation. Can you indicate a timeline in terms of the implementation of that legislation? I know the legislation is one aspect, but for it to be operationalized, what kind of timeline are we looking at?
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
We are hoping that we will have the compilation of what we've heard so far in categories by the time we rise in June so that we can go out and test the ideas over the summer and begin co-developing the legislation. We think it's quite simple. Like the Canada Health Act, it's based on principles. It's based on what you can expect. We hope that all Canadians will be with us so that no future government can roll it back and that the provinces and territories understand their role in this. I think the Prime Minister is hopeful that the legislation will be tabled in the fall and that we will be able to have royal assent before the next election.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
This will go to Mr. Thoppil.
I know there is a new estimates system, but certainly the Parliamentary Budget Officer and many other experts have clearly stated that the $7-billion slush fund through vote 40 might notionally apply to what was in the budget, but there is nothing that commits to that money being spent in the way that it was notionally signified in the budget. Clearly the Parliamentary Budget Officer and many others have said it is a $7-billion slush fund with no checks and balances that normal money is subject to in terms of parliamentary oversight.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
Cathy, let me have a go at it first. The issue is that the Treasury Board process is one where none of the funds are released until Treasury Board is comfortable that this is in keeping with what was said.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
But, Madam Minister, this is not about Treasury Board. This is about the MPs doing their job, which is holding you to account. There is going to be an ask for vote 40, and it will be $7 billion that can be spent where we do not have the ability to—
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
I will just finish by saying that the agreement now is that Treasury Board will post monthly every time they are releasing money, and this is for this transitional time.
Chief Finances, Results and Delivery Officer, Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Just as an add-on, I believe the President of the Treasury Board has made a commitment to provide clarity in the supply bill to make sure there is no light between the budget items and the items that are in vote so that, when parliamentarians vote on the supply bill, you are voting on specifically those items, and those are the only things the government will be able to spend on.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
I tend to have more comfort with the assessment of the PBO, but having said that, I have two more areas. I hope to get to murdered and missing women, but I have one quick question before I go there. This is related to marijuana and the excise tax.
When cabinet made the decision about the distribution of the marijuana excise tax to provinces and territories, why, as minister for crown relations, did you fail to stand up for indigenous interests and ensure they were part of this sharing agreement? We have communities that are going to be impacted by Bill C-45. Money was given to the provinces with the deal that they would share with the municipalities. It would appear, in spite of the commitment by the Prime Minister that this is the most important relationship to him, some of the communities that are going to be most impacted have been totally left out of any sharing agreements around excise tax.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
I think all of the implementation of the this and what will happen in communities is in active discussion as to really how this will be implemented.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
They have been excluded from the excise tax sharing, which has been given to provinces, territories, and municipalities.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
There are different approaches in terms of taxation, but the excise tax is one. I think that communities are in active negotiations.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
But they are excluded from the federally imposed excise tax.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
They can make their own decisions about growing, selling, taxing, or anything they want.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
They've been excluded from the dollars that are going to be collected across Canada for excise purposes and are being transferred to the provinces and municipalities for those communities to cope with the issues.
If a community decides on their own to sell a product and manages to have a taxation that's put into place around it, that's fine, but we have communities across this country that will be impacted and might not chose to take advantage of tax opportunities. They have been excluded from any opportunity that municipalities will be enjoying around issues such as how we even monitor something like four plants in a home.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
Technically, it was the provinces and territories, and then—
Conservative
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
—municipalities are part of the provinces and territories. Again, it's a negotiation.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
A negotiation that excluded first nations and indigenous people in Canada.
In November 2017, you received the interim report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. That was almost six months ago. Of the 10 interim recommendations, have you acted on any of them, and have you accepted any of these recommendations?
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
Thank you for that.
Yes, very shortly we will be able to provide a very comprehensive response to their interim report. We believe that in terms of all of the previous reports, all of the previous recommendations, this crosses many ministers' departments, and we look forward to sharing that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk
Thank you. We have run out of time. You have had your five minutes, so that fulfills that portion.
We're going to suspend, go and take care of the vote, and then we will return.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk
Welcome, everybody. We're back in our meeting, and we have the privilege of having the Minister of Indigenous Services.
As I said previously, we always recognize that we're on the unceded territory of the Algonquin people.
We're very pleased to have you, and without cutting any more time, I'll turn it over to you for what I understand is a fairly short presentation. Then we can do a round of questions.
Over to you, Minister.
Jane Philpott LiberalMinister of Indigenous Services
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to meet with the committee again, this afternoon, acknowledging that we come together on the traditional territory of the Algonquin people.
With me today are associate deputy minister Sony Perron and chief, finances, results and delivery officer Paul Thoppil.
I have abbreviated my comments significantly, given the time constraints that we have, but I did want to say that I am pleased to be here with you to discuss the main estimates that were tabled on April 16. For our new Department of Indigenous Services, they represent spending of $9.3 billion, and you will note that investments made in budget 2018 are reflected in the estimates of the Treasury Board Secretariat.
Before moving to main estimates, I want to take a moment to remind colleagues about the significant investments being made under budget 2018. You will notice, for example, that we have invested $1.4 billion in new funding over the next six years for the very important issue of indigenous child welfare.
In the matter of housing, there is funding of $600 million over three years for first nations housing on reserve, $500 million over 10 years for Métis nation housing, $400 million over 10 years for the Inuit-led housing plan, as well as other important investments such as $27.5 million over five years to support the elimination of tuberculosis in Inuit Nunangat.
I am pleased that important areas like water and wastewater infrastructure, child and family services, and health care are continuing to receive much-needed investments through the main estimates.
It should be noted that there are always more needs than what is reflected through these estimates, and I want to affirm that our government is committed to fully addressing the unacceptable socio-economic gaps that exist between indigenous peoples and non-indigenous Canadians. After I'd made a comment like that, a first nations elder once said to me, words do not feed a table. His comment was that we need more than words; we need action, including the resources to accomplish the ambitious goals we have. I'm pleased to say that these goals are being well resourced.
Nine months ago we started a transformation process with the dissolution of the previous Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and with the creation of two new departments. There are driving forces behind this work of transformation that you're aware of, which are, as I've said, closing the socio-economic gaps that exist, and also supporting and affirming the rights of indigenous peoples, including the right to self-determination as an essential part of the work of our government.
In the last nine months, we have focused on five particular priority areas, which are child well-being, education, health, infrastructure, and economic prosperity, and these appropriations for the main estimates that we are discussing today support these priorities. I was going to take time to highlight a bit about each of those priority areas, but I will dispense with that and simply say that I believe that the socio-economic gaps that exist in indigenous communities are shameful, but they are also solvable. As we work to support and affirm the recognition of indigenous rights and likewise invest wisely in the work of reconciliation, I believe that we will make great progress in this regard.
I am very happy to take your questions.