Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Feb. 14th, 2017

[Chief Catherine Merrick]

Yes, that's true. We just want to be sustainable and to be a people who will be able to help themselves, through the elders and through the love of the land. I can't stop saying that this is where the healing is going to come from for our young people, if they go back to the land to be able to feel that connection to mother earth, that connection to the water.

We cannot stop saying that our young people have to protect the water. As we all know around this table, water sustains who we are, and we have to be very protective of that. We have to be very instrumental in how our children can go back to the land—live off the land and learn off the land. These are fundamental things that we need to do for our young people.

Meegwetch.

[The Chair, Liberal, MaryAnn Mihychuk]

We are at the end of the first round of questions, but we have a representative from the youth council who has a short presentation. He is holding an eagle feather. He was hoping to be able to present. We ran out of time. I'm wondering if the committee would feel open to allowing him to present his words onto the record.

Are we good with that?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, MaryAnn Mihychuk]

Thank you.

I'm going to turn it over to Kendall. You have something to say, and I'll give you an opportunity to go ahead.

[Kendall Robinson]

Thank you.

Good morning, members of the panel, Madam Chair, ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Kendall Robinson. I am a member of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation. I work and reside in Cross Lake, Manitoba.

If it is okay with the panel, I would like to explain why I am holding this eagle feather today at this gathering. This is an eagle feather that the late Elijah Harper, formerly a member of Parliament, gave to my late grandfather Etienne Robinson when he was chief of our nation some years ago. I hold it to honour the memory of the youth who have fallen at their own hands in recent times across the nation, including the youth we lost in our own community. We are speaking for them today. I am thinking of them today; I am thinking of their families; and I am thinking of their communities.

I am a member of the youth council of the four traditional councils of Pimicikamak. During the afternoon I work as an educational assistant at the middle years school. In the evenings, I organize recreational activities for the youth as a youth activities coordinator. As a member of the youth council, I also assist with youth activities in the community. In my spare time, I am a wrestling coach for Team Manitoba and also for our local high school. Team Manitoba will be competing in Toronto in July in the North American Indigenous Games, which our youth are all excited to attend. I graduated from the Cross Lake cadet program some years ago.

I am pleased to appear today, along with our chief Mrs. Merrick and Lisa Clarke, as a witness and presenter to this important panel that is studying ways to prevent suicide in our indigenous communities.

As you may have heard from our chief, our nation declared a state of emergency last winter after facing a rash of suicides. I was reassigned in my community to help with the youth intervention programs that followed and to work strictly with the youth in the organization of recreational activities. This is my 12th month as a youth activities coordinator.

Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the panel.

Meegwetch.

[The Chair, Liberal, MaryAnn Mihychuk]

You did well. Thank you for putting your words on the record. We're honoured that you came all the way here.

Committee, we are moving into the second round. We've basically ended our time allocation.

We have a request from a member of the audience to take a photograph. I understand that when we're in official sitting, this is prohibited. We must suspend.

Do I have permission to suspend, so that we could get our photo taken? And then we'll go in camera for committee business.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, MaryAnn Mihychuk]

[Proceedings continue in camera]