Evidence of meeting #131 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 million.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Jane Philpott Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
There are many models that have been successful. Jordan's principle funding is one of the ways.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
When you look at Jordan's principle, one of the challenges, of course, is that communities are dealing with a lot of challenges. I will also be talking about suicide here.
When you look at the smallness of some of the communities and the crises they're facing in terms of having their children taken into care, not having the resources, and sometimes kids going far away, to apply for something like Jordan's principle might be the very last thing they can make themselves do because they are trying to deal with the crisis.
What kind of supports are you giving to communities when they are in these kinds of crises to help them do things that are applying for other funding and resources?
Liberal
Jane Philpott Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
I'll come to some of the other ones, but I'd just like to say, on Jordan's principle specifically, that it has a very strong support system built into it, with a 24-7 helpline. We provide support directly to leadership in communities to make sure they know how to access Jordan's principle funding.
If I may, I would also like to add details about the $1.4 billion in new funding that we got access to, which was provided in budget 2018 specifically for the kinds of things you're talking about. I would need to get some details from you as to the names of the specific communities, because some of them work with a first nations child and family services agency, and we've made it very clear to those agencies that we will pay the actual cost that it takes to prevent the apprehension of children. So that's one of the mechanisms, to work through those agencies.
Where there isn't a first nations agency in the community, there is also funding for something called the community well-being initiative, where we provide support to the communities directly to find out what the needs are, again, to prevent the apprehension of children. I'd be very happy to have my team work directly with these communities and be able to find out other ways that we can support them. It's not a question of not having the resources to do so. We are continuing, as we did with Jordan's principle, now with the new funding for preventing apprehensions. There's work to be done to make sure everybody knows it's there and then, as you say, to really support the communities so they can actually get access to what's available.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
In the spring, the Auditor General's report talked about some serious concerns around the measurements of well-being not being very comprehensive. The indigenous communities, the first nations communities, were not engaged to measure properly. There was inaccurate reporting on education.
Could you tell us how that's being addressed, and on the issue of education specifically, when there will be more resources for education? I'm getting a lot of calls from indigenous communities within my riding that are still seeing the cap, and they need it gone. I'm wondering when that's actually going to happen.
Liberal
Jane Philpott Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
As you know, we have made significant new investments in education. This was actually brought in initially under the leadership of Minister Bennett, with $2.6 billion for education. We're continuing to see that funding roll out. There will be more rolled out next fiscal year, and we are also working at a region-by-region level to make sure we are not only achieving equity in terms of first nation on-reserve education funding, as compared to provincial funding, but actually what we are achieving is equity-plus. The communities will get the same as their provincial standard, plus additional resources for culture and language training, for special education and for all-day kindergarten for four- and five-year-olds.
Again, as to the specifics of your particular community, there is outreach from the department to regions, and from regions into communities, so everyone knows how much more funding is coming next year. I suspect that you may be amongst the communities that are going to see further additional investments next year, and we're going to achieve that equity-plus.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
I look forward to that.
I have only one minute left. I just want to hear a bit more about the work that's being done on suicide. We heard recently that in northern Quebec there were 31 deaths this year alone due to suicide. Several communities are facing multiple suicides. I don't want to name them all because there are, frankly, too many. I think of one of my communities, where a young man recently hanged himself from the bridge in the community. This is something that continues to happen.
You talked about Jordan's principle, but how are you actually going out to the communities to support them through these crises? I can't even imagine a community losing 31 people by suicide in one year.
Liberal
Jane Philpott Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
It's hard to do justice to that really important question in a short period of time, and I know that the committee has done an entire study on this, which was a fantastic study.
As it relates to northern Quebec, I would point you to the work that has been done through the national Inuit suicide prevention strategy, which is one of the best suicide prevention strategies I have ever seen. Nunavik is a land claim region in northern Quebec that is working alongside the provincial government to make sure that those youth get access to the services they need. That national Inuit strategy, I think, points to the levels: Yes, you need the emergency workers to go in, but you have to build in all of those other layers of addressing social determinants of health, etc., in order to eventually build hope and fairness for communities.
Liberal
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
Thank you again, Minister, for joining us, and thank you to your officials.
I would second Mr. Bossio's comments. I really appreciate your leadership. I appreciate how you have tackled the splitting of the department. I think it's bearing fruit.
Specifically, I appreciate your comment about having lifted 75 long-term drinking water advisories, with 66 more to go. That's a major achievement. Certainly, there's a lot more work to do, so I wanted to give you the opportunity to speak a bit more about that work. In so doing, I wanted to highlight what I think many Canadians perceive to be an unfortunate reality, which is that while certain long-term drinking water advisories are lifted, others are added. There are some challenges around that.
Could you speak a bit more to that issue?
Liberal
Jane Philpott Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
Thank you very much for raising that question.
You're absolutely right. This matter is of interest to all Canadians. Everywhere I go in the country, I am amazed by the fact that not just indigenous peoples, but non-indigenous Canadians are really seized with the need to make sure there's access to clean drinking water for all Canadians. We have made progress that I'm grateful for. It's good news to celebrate, but there is still more to do.
You're right, though. We discovered early on that, as long-term drinking water advisories were being lifted, new ones were being added. This is something I became aware of as I was starting in this portfolio. We had developed a robust plan for every one of those long-term drinking water advisories. However, initially, what we hadn't yet done was to ask who was at risk and which communities might develop a long-term drinking water advisory.
I'm happy to report to you that we have invested more, as well, in the area of prevention and extra attention for communities where we believe the system is vulnerable. We have also provided more resources for vulnerable systems to be able to pay attention before it gets too late. We are also working directly with communities to make sure they have the necessary construction equipment in place.
However, often it's more than just equipment. It's also about the operation and maintenance plan for the community. Do they have trained water operators? Are those water operators supported to be able to stay and be retained in the community over the long run? It actually requires a pretty comprehensive approach.
I won't say that there aren't setbacks from time to time, and sometimes the timelines get adjusted a bit. This is something we pay very close attention to. I have to give a shout-out to our officials, who have really put together a very strong team and made sure that we provide support to communities.
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
Thank you, Minister.
As a follow-up, I met recently with a constituent, Emma Lui, who is a long-time water campaigner for the Council of Canadians.
There was one issue she raised, which I thought merits your consideration. Her comment was that there are a number of short-term drinking water advisories that tend to get repeated, so they're not necessarily considered long-term situations. However, her perspective was that repeated short-term advisories ought to be contemplated more as a long-term situation. Do you have any thoughts or a response on that?
Liberal
Jane Philpott Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
Thank you for your question.
It's probably a little difficult to answer in a hypothetical situation, because one thing I have learned is that the circumstances of every community are quite unique. Yes, there are some places that have multiple short-term advisories, but you really need to dig into what the reality is and what's behind that.
In Stouffville, there are a lot of potholes on the road where we live. I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but from time to time, they'll be doing road work and I'll get a little notice on my doorstep that says not to consume our water for the next 48 hours because they're working on the water mains. Those kinds of things happen all over the country. There are short-term drinking water advisories that come and go. We had a recent situation where a mudslide contaminated the groundwater in a community and we had to put a short-term precautionary advisory on.
Even when all long-term drinking water advisories are lifted, there will continue to be short-term advisories. That's the nature of public health and water systems.
You're absolutely right, though, that if we see that a single community is getting a lot of those, that's a sign to the department to ask what's going on and to find out whether that system is going to break down. Paul and his team are making sure that we have resources for those vulnerable systems and they look at whether we should maybe start to develop a plan for some upgrades to the system or sometimes even a brand new system.
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
Thank you.
Before my time is up, Minister, I want to make a positive statement about a particular issue that is being handled by your department in my riding. I think that constituents in my riding would want you to know this and would want this to be on the public record.
Your department has been having discussions with the community of Rapid Lake for a number of months with a view to ending the third party management that has been in place for many years there. I understand those discussions have reached a successful conclusion. This opens the door to some really important work that goes to the infrastructure conversation we're having today for the budget.
It is of the utmost importance to our whole riding, and not just the community of Rapid Lake, that the community receive the housing investments and the education and school investments it needs, and that the diesel power source that it has been relying on for many years, which is utterly unreliable, be replaced and their connection to the hydro system be achieved.
I deliver thanks to your department for working on it, and through you, to your department officials. Please stay on top of it, because that issue is of primary concern to the people of Pontiac.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair. Unless there's unanimous to consent to double my time, I'll have to halve it with Mr. Waugh, so cut me off at two and a half minutes. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister.
I'm going to give one example, but I really want to say that it represents a lot of examples. About a month ago, I walked in the evening with the Bear Clan Patrol, and I saw them deal with a sexual assault where they very compassionately had an escort take the woman to hospital. I saw them dealing with domestic abuse. I saw people saying, “Thank you so much for being there.”
These are large groups of volunteers who are going out in the frigid weather of Winnipeg and doing absolutely incredible work. They got $100,000 in 2016-17, and in an email to them for 2017-18, they were told, “[T]here was an overwhelming demand for funding to address urban Indigenous issues. As a result, Indigenous Services Canada...is not currently issuing a new call for proposals while we work with partners...”, blah, blah, blah. Basically, we're consulting, and that $100,000 you got last year is not going to be available this year.
I just find that incredible. I make a point, when I'm in cities across this country, to see what our urban aboriginal organizations are doing. To be frank, I think they're the forgotten cousins.
Let's talk about this. How can your department, when these guys are going out and they're picking up needles and they're looking for people who are frozen behind garbage dumps...? There are hundreds of them. They're told, “There's no $100,000 for you to maybe have someone who's going to coordinate this or put some gas in your trucks.”
We're spending almost $100 million on an inquiry and, in the meantime, we have this group of grassroots, compassionate people doing this. Tell me how your department can just say, “So sorry, we're consulting.”
Liberal
Jane Philpott Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
Thank you for the question and for drawing attention to the really great work the Bear Clan is doing. I am aware of their really important work. It is one of many outstanding organizations across the country that work with indigenous peoples in urban settings.
I heartily agree with you that there is more that needs to be done to support these fantastic organizations. You may be well aware of the fact that, historically, federal governments, including the past one, have not had major investments to support programming for indigenous peoples in urban settings. It's a reality.
I am happy to say that we continue to increase the funding for urban programs for indigenous peoples, and that the funding has been significant and has supported a large number of programs across the country, including the work of many friendship centres that do great work.
There is a need for more; I acknowledge that. As it relates to Bear Clan, I'm happy to have heard, as you have heard, that they have found a solution in the short term with money that has come from the provincial government, which I think is fantastic.
I think all orders of government have a responsibility to address the needs of indigenous peoples in urban settings, and this is a good thing when we're working together with other orders of government. We are looking for ways to do more in the future, and I'd be happy to hear your suggestions.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Thank you for coming, Minister.
On page 6, you talk about education: the Manitoba schools initiative, the Lake Winnipeg schools bundle and the northern Ontario schools bundle. Are these one-offs, or do we actually have a national plan that we can celebrate? I see these three. I've talked to several others in this country, and they're envious of these three, to be honest with you. They want to know if you have a national plan.
Liberal
Jane Philpott Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
Thank you for the question.
There's good news and there's bad news. The bad news is that there is a lot of lost time that we are making up for in terms of investments for education on reserve. I'm happy to say that we have made very significant investments and that we do in fact have a planning approach.
Whether it be around educational infrastructure or health care infrastructure, the capital needs across the country on reserve are significant. These three that are highlighted here are some of the areas that have some of the most significant needs.
I was delighted to be in Manitoba just a couple of weeks ago to celebrate with the chiefs of the four communities that are part of the Manitoba schools initiative. There is $248 million in funding. That's going to see new schools in each of those communities, plus an upgraded school. This means that there will be K-to-12 education in those communities. They will not have to send their kids far away. This is a huge celebration that I hope all Canadians are thrilled about.
Yes, there's more to do. We look forward to further announcements on some of these other bundles that are to come. There is going to be more work to do after that. This is an area that unfortunately has not had attention. I hope that all parties will support further investments and call for more investments.
This is an incredibly important thing—to build schools so that every child in this country has access to a good education, with good teachers. To be able to see that these schools are built, there will be more announcements in the months to come.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk
We are now moving to MP Yves Robillard, but for a short portion because we have motions to pass.
Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, Lib.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Madam Minister, thank you for your excellent testimony.
I know you were in Manitoba recently to celebrate the signing of a contract to build four schools, which will allow young people to complete their high school education in their region.
Madam Minister, could you briefly discuss your department's efforts to improve the education of indigenous youth from kindergarten to grade 12?
Liberal
Jane Philpott Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
Thank you for your question.
Two weeks ago, we made an extraordinary announcement in Manitoba about new schools. Four communities will be granted $248 million for the construction of four schools and the renovation of one other. This amount also includes support for the teachers.
I'll just jump to English, if you can forgive me.
Liberal
Jane Philpott Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
I didn't get a chance to give all the details in my previous answer, so I'm happy to report that we were also able to respond to some of the requests around what they call “teacherages”, which may be a term that people aren't familiar with. It's housing for teachers to live in.
What I hear from time to time across the country is that communities can't recruit teachers to these remote communities because there's no place for teachers to live. Some of the communities said that it was part of what they really needed: not only a new school, but a place for teachers to live. We were able to respond to that part of the request as well.
We believe that not only will this build a great place for students to go to school, designed in a way that is respectful and culturally appropriate, but it will also attract teachers who will want to stay in those communities. I cannot tell you how happy those chiefs were. Dan can attest to their literal tears of joy and happiness in realizing what this means to their communities.