Evidence of meeting #47 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 money.
A video is available from Parliament.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
We will be able to release the plan to you.
Of the 12 new ones, three are from the 18, meaning that some of them just timed out at 365 days, so they are among the winners. But there's no question that we have to get work on the 71.
9:10 a.m.
NDP
Romeo Saganash NDP Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
My next question is on the childhood claims litigation. There's a supplementary request for an allocation of $3.1 million. I want some clarification with respect to that. Are there litigation activities involved?
When I asked you the question in the House, you were pretty clear that you would not appeal the decision on the sixties scoop, but later on, after you went out of the House, you weren't as clear as you were in the House, unfortunately.
We hear that there may be the possibility of a request for technical clarifications by your government, which is very clearly a procedural delay, in my view.
If my calculation is right, $3.1 million for the remainder of the fiscal year is about $100,000 a day. What is this money for?
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
This money is for the research to be able to estimate this. There are many childhood litigation claims. We really need to do the research on not only the kinds of claims and the unique nature of some of them, but also on the size of the class. Without having the facts, we won't be able to get going on the negotiations that we hope will be able to eliminate these.
As you know, the research is also necessary because language and culture are so important for the claimants in this. It's not just about money. It is about having lost their language and culture, and we need to know more about how that could be remedied, not only for the children that come after, but also for the families.
9:10 a.m.
NDP
Romeo Saganash NDP Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Are you confirming that your government will not be seeking a technical clarification?
Yes or no?
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
We always have to.... I can assure you that I....
We do not want to be in court. We want to be dealing with claimants and negotiating their way out.
9:10 a.m.
NDP
Romeo Saganash NDP Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Is that a yes or a no?
Will you be seeking that technical clarification in this case?
The ruling is pretty clear that you're responsible.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
Yes, and we have no doubt that we're responsible, and that harm was done.
9:10 a.m.
NDP
Romeo Saganash NDP Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Whether it happened in Ontario, Saskatchewan, or Alberta, it's the same thing.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
Everywhere, it's the same. That's what we feel very strongly about. We know that harm was done coast to coast to coast, and we want to negotiate these claims so that there is....
The wrongs will never be righted, but we are going to try to do everything we can, particularly for those who want an apology, for those who want real progress on language and culture and getting their language and culture back. We're serious about that.
That's the reason we were able to settle the Anderson class action. Even though Newfoundland wasn't in Canada at the time, we decided that we wanted to settle it, and we wanted those claimants to be able to understand that this government was prepared to do that.
9:10 a.m.
NDP
Romeo Saganash NDP Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Who makes the decision whether or not to seek clarification in courts? Is it your department, or the Department of Justice?
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk
Thank you.
We're moving on to questions from MP Gary Anandasangaree.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
I'm going to yield my time to Mr. McLeod. We're switching spots.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Michael McLeod Liberal Northwest Territories, NT
It's the other MP McLeod.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for your presentation to us today.
First off, I want to say that I'm quite pleased with the amount of progress we have made in getting the aboriginal governments back to the negotiating tables in the Northwest Territories. I think we are moving towards self-governance in the future, and having 10 sets of discussions all going at the same time is really refreshing to see. Also the idea of bringing in four MSRs to review some of the more challenging negotiations is something that I think is going to bring some good results.
I had an opportunity to meet with Mary Simon the other day on the studies she is doing, and we had a very good discussion.
I'm looking at the supplementary estimates document. There is one area in which we have money, but I want to flag something. I've said this before, so it's probably not going to be new to you. We are studying suicides across Canada, mostly in our smaller indigenous communities. In the north it is a huge issue, as you know. On average, doing my own math and using Statistics Canada information, we're estimating that in the three territories, we have a suicide every eight to ten days. Since we started our suicide study a little over a year ago, we have had over 50 in the north.
When we look at the breakout of the money, the $8.4 billion that was announced for aboriginal people, we don't qualify for any of those dollars. There is no real carve-out for us under that. The post-secondary education money that's been announced, we don't qualify for. The money Jane Philpott has announced through Health, for younger children, we don't qualify for. Jordan's principle doesn't apply to us. As aboriginal governments, we have never received housing money except this time around for the Inuvialuit, which was good. Hopefully that trend is going to continue.
We talk about culture and recreation centres. Our aboriginal centres don't qualify for those, because we don't have reserves, so almost everything you announce doesn't apply to us. We have communities that are full of aboriginal people, but they are public communities.
I'm hoping we are going to try to find a way through that so that it is fair. Our fears are being confirmed through the Auditor General. He's reviewed our community and said we're not meeting all the infrastructure needs, that we are really falling below what needs to be funded. The aboriginal government claims that have been settled, the Auditor General has reviewed and said we're not meeting our obligations, so we have a lot of work to do.
As I look at the supplementary estimates document we have in front of us, I see that there is going to be some work done on an Arctic regional environmental study, which I am really happy to see move forward finally. However, the breakout under vote 1 and vote 10 really doesn't seem to be fair. As you stated, vote 1, which is over $900,000, is for the department. Over 50% of the money is going to go to the government, to the department. Then there is $850,000 in vote 10.
Could you tell me what the department is going to do with the $900,000? Why does it need more than half of it? Are they going to do the bulk of the study? Is the $850,000 going to be available for the aboriginal governments or territorial governments? It's not clear to me.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
You're referring, Mr. McLeod, just to the regional environmental studies?
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal Toronto—St. Paul's, ON
Okay. Maybe I'll get Paul to explain how that breaks down.
9:15 a.m.
Chief Financial Officer, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
In answer to your question, Mr. McLeod, the money is going to be used to rent venues for the workshops and to pay for travel for individuals, for the community members, to come to the workshops. So it's not money for the bureaucracy in vote 1. It's actually—
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
9:20 a.m.
Chief Financial Officer, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
No. It all benefits the communities. Vote 10 is to help them to prepare before coming to the workshops, so all of that money is to the benefit of northerners.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
Michael McLeod Liberal Northwest Territories, NT
I guess the biggest question I'm trying to get at here is this. All of this will be spent in the north? Over 50% of it is not going to be spent in Ottawa?
9:20 a.m.
A voice
That's correct.