Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 6th, 2019

Evidence of meeting #155 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 grassy.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Main Estimates 2019-20: Vote 1 under Canadian High Arctic Research Station, Votes 1, 5, 10, L15, L20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 and 55 under Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Votes 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 and 65 under Department of Indigenous Services Canada

Grassy Narrows First Nation

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Keith Conn Assistant Deputy Minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada

Susan Humphrey Associate Regional Director General, Strategic Policy Branch, Ontario Region, Department of the Environment

Greg Carreau Director, Water and Air Quality Bureau, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Department of Health

Tom Wong Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer of Public Health, Department of Indigenous Services Canada

Jennifer Mercer Director, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services Canada

Grant Wedge Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Indigenous Affairs, Government of Ontario

Rudy Turtle Grassy Narrows First Nation

Frank Miklas Director, Northern Region, Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Government of Ontario

David Sone Advisor, Grassy Narrows First Nation

10:40 a.m.

NDP

Niki Ashton NDP Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB

Madam Chair, I raise this in the context that we are about to close this meeting in two minutes. We will no longer have an opportunity to speak to Grassy Narrows. We've just heard about the fact that we all have the political will to get this done. Can we put forward a unanimous motion to urge the government to act on this to ensure that the trust fund will be put in place before the House rises in the next two weeks? We've all said the political will is here. This committee meeting will finish and, once more, all we'll have to talk about is that we heard about the tragedy of Grassy Narrows.

10:40 a.m.

Liberal

Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON

Excuse me. That's not a point of order.

10:40 a.m.

NDP

Niki Ashton NDP Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB

I'm very concerned about what's happening here.

10:40 a.m.

Liberal

Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON

I'm sorry, but you've just cut into my time to ask a very important question of the chief.

10:40 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk

It is true that you don't have a point of order.

10:40 a.m.

NDP

Niki Ashton NDP Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB

I'm very disappointed.

10:40 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk

MP Mike Bossio, you have two more minutes to complete your question.

10:40 a.m.

Liberal

Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON

Thank you, Chair.

Chief, once again, given the funding and the research done previously to locate the sources of contamination, do you in the community have your own theories where the sources of contamination might lie and what needs to be done to clean them up?

10:40 a.m.

Grassy Narrows First Nation

Chief Rudy Turtle

Right now, I'm interested in hearing what Niki Ashton had to say.

10:40 a.m.

Liberal

Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON

Unfortunately, we can't move a motion through a point of order. There's a procedural issue that can't be resolved.

June 6th, 2019 / 10:40 a.m.

David Sone Advisor, Grassy Narrows First Nation

Will you move the same motion?

10:45 a.m.