Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 4th, 2019

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you. As I only have five minutes, with bells ringing, I'm hoping for short answers, but also if you don't have the answers to my specific questions, could you submit them to the committee at a later date?

Our committee worked really hard. We had a unanimous report called “From the Ashes” and that was after the extraordinary fire seasons of 2017. Your government responded positively to all our recommendations. We are now into the fire season of 2019, so here's my first question.

We had talked about ensuring that the funding was allocated for emergency preparedness, so updating emergency response plans. How many first nations received funding, and how many have updated their plans?

[Jean-François Tremblay]

We'll have to follow up with the answers.

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

We'll submit them to you, Ms. McLeod.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you.

You also talked about the requirement for the tripartite agreements, that all tripartite agreements would ensure culturally appropriate services. How many tripartite services now have that embedded into the agreements?

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

We'll submit them.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you.

Also, Pikangikum just had to evacuate. You agreed that we require that one or more resource person be identified to assist with the registration of evacuees and to highlight their specific needs. How many were on the ground as per that recommendation?

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

In terms of our employees, I don't—

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

No, this was to identify within first nations communities someone who would take on that role because they knew the community members, so that when they hit evacuation centres, there would be that local knowledge for the evacuation, so special accommodations could be taken care of.

Is that happening with that particular evacuation?

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

It is. I'm just not entirely sure if it's with a particular individual that you're talking about, so let's submit that.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Okay. We are heading into the season. I know that in British Columbia and Alberta we are very concerned. We thought these recommendations were valuable, so a complete response would be appreciated—

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Done.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Minister, as you know, on Thursday we're going to be having a review of the Grassy Narrows issue and the 60-plus-year ongoing tragedy. I know that the community had high hopes. I understand you went there for a signing ceremony and basically you left empty-handed.

Can you update this committee in terms of how you failed to come to the agreement when of course, obviously, that was what you went to Grassy Narrows to do?

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

I wouldn't constitute it necessarily as a failure on anybody's part. I would simply say that we had a deal. I was on the phone with the chief the night before. We were speaking to him then. The deal was fairly detailed, as I had done with Kashechewan and Cat Lake. There is a lack of trust in many of these communities, so they need to know—and have every right to know—timelines for specific project developments and have them costed. When we spoke the night before we were in agreement on all of those issues. When I arrived in community, they had changed. That happens; it's a negotiation. I've been in this job now long enough to say that's just all part of negotiations.

But certainly, we went there with a deal. We expected to sign a deal. The community had a community feast ready to go. The chief and his support staff changed their minds. Based on those changes, we want to come up with a meaningful response, because I'm determined to get this done—for those who are living with the effects, we believe, of mercury poisoning, for people who are living apart from community. We want them back in community, where we feel they can be better, where they can be closer to their families. I'm determined to make that happen. If we had been able to have that deal done last week, shovels would be in the ground now. I was ready to move.

We'll have to keep hard at it. This is the nature of negotiation, but I'm determined to get it done.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Obviously, we will be hearing from the chief, but I understand the switch was...focus on long-term support for those with mercury poisoning...to more of an assisted living model. Is that accurate?

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

No. I'm not sure what the fine line is between the two, but certainly, that's what we were going for. We were talking about two different facilities, in fact.

[The Chair, Liberal, MaryAnn Mihychuk]

Thank you. That concludes our time.

We have two pieces of business. One is to deal with the 2019-20 main estimates. The second is to deal with the budget allocation for the Grassy Narrows study.

We will group all of the motions.

CANADIAN HIGH ARCTIC RESEARCH STATION

Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$31,704,049

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

DEPARTMENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT

Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$3,316,984,242

Vote 5—Capital expenditures..........$5,491,717

Vote 10—Grants and contributions..........$2,625,384,706

Vote 25—Advancing Reconciliation by Settling Specific Claims..........$883,000,000

Vote 30—Enhancing Indigenous Consultation and Capacity Support..........$1,500,000

Vote 35—Honouring Missing Residential School Children..........$7,758,176

Vote 40—Indigenous Youth and Reconciliation..........$4,874,600

Vote 45—More Connectivity=More Affordable Electricity..........$6,000,000

Vote 50—Supporting Indigenous Business Development..........$25,777,783

Vote 55—Strong Arctic and Northern Communities..........$5,000,000

Vote L15—Loans to Indigenous claimants..........$25,903,000

Vote L20—Loans to First Nations in British Columbia..........$30,400,000

(Votes 1, 5, 10, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, L15 and L20 agreed to on division)

DEPARTMENT OF INDIGENOUS SERVICES CANADA

Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$1,954,110,539

Vote 5—Capital expenditures..........$5,617,593

Vote 10—Grants and contributions..........$9,496,193,599

Vote 15—Better Information for Better Services..........$4,279,699

Vote 20—Continuing Implementation of Jordan's Principle..........$404,100,000

Vote 25—Core Governance Support for First Nations..........$24,000,000

Vote 30—Ensuring Better Disaster Management Preparation and Response..........$5,520,000

Vote 35—On Track to Eliminate Boil Water Advisories On-Reserve..........$66,700,000

Vote 40—Improving Assisted Living and Long Term Care..........$40,316,600

Vote 45—Improving Emergency Response On-Reserve..........$32,705,600

Vote 50—Safe and Accessible Spaces for Urban Indigenous Peoples..........$3,700,000

Vote 55—Supporting Indigenous Post-Secondary Education..........$78,546,789

Vote 60—Supporting Inuit Children..........$30,000,000

Vote 65—Supporting the National Inuit Suicide Prevention Strategy..........$5,000,000

(Votes 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 and 65 agreed to on division)

Shall I report the main estimates 2019-20 to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, MaryAnn Mihychuk]

Thank you.

I believe that the budget has been distributed. I need approval for the Grassy Narrows First Nation project study, $10,000, and for Bill C-88, the Mackenzie Valley, $20,200.

Cathy.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

I believe at the very start we had talked about approving budgets, but at the end also having a follow-up budget so we can review what was approved versus what was spent. I think we have fallen away from that follow-up process that we originally considered.

[The Chair, Liberal, MaryAnn Mihychuk]

That's a good point. Perhaps we'll have an opportunity to do that before we adjourn. We'll talk to Leif about it.

Do we have approval for the budgets?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed

[The Chair, Liberal, MaryAnn Mihychuk]

Thank you.

The meeting is adjourned.