Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 28th, 2018

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

That's a great question. It's leading to many other possibilities, and it's also linking very nicely with another piece of some of the investments we're making around health transformation.

Colleagues might be very interested in knowing that just like the model we have seen working so well in British Columbia, the British Columbia First Nations Health Authority, there are opportunities now across the country to see health systems changed and improved, because they are delivered through an approach of self-determination.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation is actually working and has brought in Ovide Mercredi, who may be known to many around the table, the former national chief, to lead the process of health transformation. They are looking at going beyond just Choose Life, looking at how they might ultimately be able to design, build and manage a health system, a health authority perhaps. It will go in the same spirit of saying, “We understand what our people need. We understand what quality improvement looks like in health care, and we want to be put in charge of that.”

We are already seeing some very positive work in that direction.

[Mike Bossio, Liberal, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Wonderful.

I have one minute left, so I'll try to get to this question quickly.

Looking beyond the scope of Jordan's principle for first nations youth, we know that Inuit youth face a different set of practical realities, based on remoteness. Could you share with the committee some of the barriers that Inuit children face in receiving care, and how the child first initiative will make the provision of health and social services easier?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

Thank you for bringing that up.

We have seen the way Jordan's principle has brought access to health care and services to first nations young people and really had a profound impact on people's lives. We have heard from others, particularly Inuit, that they in fact face the same challenges, where they often have jurisdictional issues in terms of getting resources paid for. Sometimes there are particular things that they can't get support for. Some of these children are facing multiple handicaps, multiple disabilities that get in the way of their being able to enjoy quality of life.

They have asked us to work directly on an Inuit-specific approach that would be similar to Jordan's principle but designed by Inuit for Inuit, and they're calling it the “child first initiative”.

[Mike Bossio, Liberal, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Fantastic.

Thank you so much, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, MaryAnn Mihychuk]

We're now moving to MP Arnold Viersen.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being here today.

One of the things I really appreciate about your mandate letter is the accountability aspect of it, its heavy emphasis on transparency and accountability. Over the summer, however, the PBO did a report talking about the federal departments and agencies responsible for $14 billion being spent through phase 1 of the investing in Canada plan. One of the things they noted was that your department was unable to provide a plan or a breakdown of where that money was being spent. Is there a reason for that? Is that money available now?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

Thank you for the welcome.

I'll ask my chief financial officer to respond to that.

[Paul Thoppil, Chief Finances, Results and Delivery Officer, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

The reason why the PBO did not get access at that point was that the requisite Government of Canada internal approvals associated with that funding had not yet been secured. Therefore, we did not have the level of detail of information that the PBO had requested. After the approvals we sought were obtained, near the end of August, we were able to provide that to the PBO. It was a timing issue.

That being said, the minister has already referenced the fact that there is an infrastructure interactive map that does disclose to Canadians where infrastructure money is flowing, by first nation and by project class.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

How much money is in the investing in Canada plan for your department, and how much has been spent so far?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

I'll ask Paul to give you specifics on that. First of all, hopefully you have our brochure, which, on page 2, contains a section on mapping the way forward in first nations communities. It points to the website, which I encourage you to look at. It's really interesting to see where infrastructure is being built and where these funds are being spent. It's quite impressive, and I welcome your feedback on it.

I'll ask if Paul wants to answer the specifics in terms of how much has been spent to date.

[Paul Thoppil]

In terms of start-off in commitments, a total of $3.06 billion was committed to Indigenous Services Canada under phase 1 of the investing in Canada plan, divided as follows: $1.83 billion over five years in water and wastewater infrastructure; $416.6 million over two years for on-reserve housing; $76.9 million over two years for cultural and recreational centres; $319.9 million over five years for health-related infrastructure, including aboriginal head start; and finally, $108.9 million for solid-waste management on reserve.

As of June 30, 2018, after two years of programming, more than $2.25 billion of the overall infrastructure funding has been invested to support 3,385 infrastructure projects across the country. Of that amount, $1.58 billion is part of the investing in Canada plan, phase 1.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Thank you.

One of the issues being raised from my constituents is around band elections. Two bands in particular, Tallcree and one in Wabasca, have had inconsistencies. I'm wondering how the new department, moving forward, is going to deal with band elections and how band members concerned about irregularities can address that.

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

I appreciate your question, and I want you to know that if you ever have specific things that come up on a day-to-day basis in the House, I am always happy to hear from members of any party. You can come speak to me directly if you have a question on a specific issue, or you can send me a note. That way you don't have to wait until I come to committee.

On this specific question, each band has some measure of discretion in terms of what their election processes look like according to the bylaws and regulations of the band. For the most part, elections run quite smoothly. From time to time, there are concerns or challenges or issues raised. When these concerns are raised, I immediately ask my department to reach out to see if there is anything we can do to help. More often than not, these issues are addressed within the bands themselves according to the rules they have put in place to govern themselves and their election processes.

I don't know if you want to add anything to that, Sony.

[Sony Perron, Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

I just want to add that in order to move first nations out from under the Indian Act, provisions have been created for bands to set their own election rules and processes. Unfortunately, some, through the self-determination process, have taken this route. For those who have decided to stay under the Indian Act, the department, under the Indian Act, has the authority, under the statutory process, to investigate. This doesn't apply to those who have taken the responsibility over their election rules.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Okay.

Minister, I've been hard on you for this in the past, and I'm going to go at it again.

With regard to the Financial Transparency Act, we are currently living in a weird situation where the rule of law is not being respected in Canada. The last time many of the first nations in my riding disclosed their financial documents was in 2014-15. Those are still up on their websites, but we haven't seen anything since.

Will you be repealing the Financial Transparency Act so that we don't live in this weird spot where we are living outside the law?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

I know this is an issue that interests you. That's one of the reasons I wanted to refer to it in my opening remarks, to let you know that once again we are working on a new fiscal relationship, a relationship based on mutual accountability and respect, a nation-to-nation or a government-to-government type of relationship. Because of the issues you've raised in the past, I've had many conversations with Paul and with my other senior officials about this matter. I have asked them to specifically look at some of the questions you have put forward.

I think what you're getting at is whether Canadians can be confident that federal public funds are being expended accordingly. Is there accountability? I want to reassure this committee and all Canadians that, in fact, since long before the Fiscal Transparency Act came into place, this department has had robust processes to ensure accountability.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

But what about the bands that are—

[The Chair, Liberal, MaryAnn Mihychuk]

I'm sorry, MP Viersen, but we've run out of time. I gave you a little bit extra.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, MaryAnn Mihychuk]

We're now moving on to MP Rachel Blaney.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you so much for being here.

If you don't mind, I'd like to take a moment just to make sure everyone knows that I'll be giving a notice of motion:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Committee devote four (4) sessions to study the forced sterilization of Indigenous women; that the Committee, as part of that study, invite the Indigenous Services Minister to appear for no less than one (1) hour to brief the Committee on the government's efforts to immediately end this practice; that the meeting with the Minister be televised; that the study be scheduled to begin no later than February 2019; and, that the Committee report its findings to the House.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for coming today, Minister. I certainly hope to see you here again to talk specifically about indigenous women and sterilization. I know from many people across Canada who have contacted me that they're very concerned and distressed that this was still happening as recently as 2017.

As a person who represents a more rural and remote riding in Canada, I have some questions for you. When we talk about children going into care, really having a leadership role is one of those challenges for the communities, as is the fact that those communities are so small. I've had a few of them come to talk to me because they've tried to come together and create a plan strategically over a large area, as you can imagine, to work together to make a strategy, but they're not getting any support to do that.

I'm just wondering if there are going to be any resources to address this issue, and address it in these really small, rural and remote communities.

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

I'm just wondering if you can clarify. Is the specific issue the communities are struggling to address around children in care?

Is this what you're asking about? This is different. You started off on forced sterilization, and then you changed.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

That's right. I moved on.

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

Okay. Absolutely.

We are working on trying to keep families together, to support family preservation, to support children in need. There are a number of ways we support communities in this area. I would be happy to provide, either directly or through my staff, further information about what can be done. If there's some specific....

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Are there any specific models for more rural and remote communities that have been successful and that you are looking at right now?