Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on May 8th, 2020

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you.

[David Chartrand]

I can add to that. We three leaders had a discussion with the Prime Minister with respect to what Canada was going to attempt to do and how it was going to go about distributing resources. That helped a lot and gave us a direction; it set the framework for us. Yes, everybody can say it's never enough, but from my perspective one of the key issues was to set the foundation so that the flexibility was there on that money. That was the key. If they had allowed it to move through the red tape and the bureaucracy—no, let's respect the bureaucracy—but if it had gone through that process, the money would have never gotten out the door.

I encourage the politicians to look at these systems, because if that money had gone through there, we never would have gotten it. Thank God that flexibility was there and we quickly reacted in our provinces. Is it enough? We don't know, but right now we're doing a lot of actions like keeping people isolated, keeping people distant and keeping people at home.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you.

Ms. Qaqqaq, please, you have two and a half minutes.

[Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Chair, my questions are for Mr. Obed.

Just being conscious of our time, Natan, I'm going to ask that you try to stick to about a minute. We saw Pond Inlet in Nunavut had the first false positive case, we also learned at the time they were facing major infrastructure challenges and water accessibility challenges. In Inuit Nunangat, can you give the committee members a better sense of delays in basic infrastructure across the four regions?

[Natan Obed]

Yes, [Inaudible-Editor] sewer to air transportation. We have certain airports in Inuit Nunangat that don't even have lights on their runways, and no flights are able to fly in after dark.

We have many communities where the water and sewer infrastructure is from the 1950s or 1960s, when these communities were first founded. We still have massive challenges in ensuring that we have the proper water and sewer infrastructure to be able to allow our citizens to follow the public health guidelines that are being really pushed upon us during COVID-19.

[Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Matna, Natan.

My next question is in regards to the airlines. I'm hoping that you can give us, once again in about a minute, a better sense of the kinds of services, resources and products that individuals in Inuit Nunangat rely on through airline transportation.

[Natan Obed]

Yes, ITK has been pushing for the term “essential service” to be used in relation to our airlines, and it's because we don't have roadways to our communities. We don't have railways. We only have sealift resupply for a short window every single summer. Anything else that comes into our communities comes through air.

If these airlines are not sustainable and are not given the proper support in this time, we're going to lose essential critical infrastructure that we cannot replace immediately. We don't want to have our small, isolated communities completely detached from southern Canada, because that's where we get our health services, that's where we get our non-perishable goods in our stores. I don't think that it's been an issue that Canada has considered forcefully enough.

[Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Matna, Natan.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you very much.

That brings us to our next round of questioning. I have on this list Mr. Viersen, Mr. Powlowski, Gary Vidal and then Adam van Koeverden.

Mr. Viersen, five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to our witnesses for being here, we much appreciate your time today.

A lot has changed since we saw you at committee before. It is well known that indigenous women and girls are by far the highest-represented group among sex trafficking victims in Canada. We know that, despite the COVID-19 health measures, the victims of sex trafficking continue to be exploited and exposed to the virus across our country. These victims don't have access to CERB or the other supports that other Canadians have.

Mr. Miller's mandate letter calls on him to work with first nations on the development and delivery of services. To your knowledge, has his department been doing anything to help secure indigenous victims of sex trafficking? Have they been providing funding to any of the groups that work in this area that you know of during this pandemic?

We'll start with Mr. Chartrand, then Mr. Obed and Chief Bellegarde, thanks.

[David Chartrand]

In fact, the Métis government... what we did in Manitoba is we have a very close relationship.... We actually have RCMP posted right in our building because it's a long-term relationship we've built with them, to work in conjunction with our communities. Second, we actually put the MMF government itself—and I thank you for your interest in that field, that area—we put a $10,000 reward to help for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. That's a standing reward we have now to assist our police system to hopefully better entice people to come out as witnesses.

We know that we need to look at solutions, but if you were standing in my building right now, Arnold, you would be quite shocked. Homeless people have set up tents right around my building. You would think this is a third world country. It is quite sad to see so much homelessness right around us in this village and this community, and so many people still using drugs out there. I have seen them with my own eyes, taking needles, from our windows here, and we don't want to chase them away. Where do they go? It is a sad state, but you're right, that's where a lot of these predators take advantage and situations occur where these people go missing.

I'm very encouraged by your ongoing interest in that field, but we're trying to do our best also to help out with the policing system. They can't solve it all by themselves. We have to give our helping hand in some way to give them the tools they need to find these predators.

[Natan Obed]

I haven't had any direct conversations with Minister Miller about this particular subject, although ITK is working with Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada to meaningfully implement the national calls for justice from the national inquiry. We are coming up on the one-year anniversary of the release of the calls for justice in June. We think this is an essential issue to bring forward in the national action plan and also in continued conversations not only with Minister Miller but also with other relevant federal ministers.

[National Chief Perry Bellegarde]

It's a big issue. It relates back to the missing indigenous women and girls, and it calls for justice to commit to all the 232 calls for justice. That's where this will rest, and we have to focus on the implementation strategy for that.

That is one big piece, and our Assembly of First Nations Women's Council has the lead and they are developing the plan for implementation.

Another big piece is Bill C-92, the child welfare legislation. We have 40,000 first nations children in provincial care across Canada. That's not acceptable, because that just leads to child prostitution. It leads to gangs. It leads to group homes. It leads to further jail. It is a cycle that has to be broken, so if you can start looking at the full implementation of Bill C-92 and respect first nations' jurisdiction and start focusing on prevention and keeping these children at home in their safe, loving, caring homes with their families and communities and their nations, that's the way to start. So for MMIWG, implement all the calls to action, and start respecting Bill C-92 first nations' jurisdiction over child welfare going forward.

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

In my riding, many of the first nations communities—all of them are Cree first nations—are very tied to the oil patch. Many of them have construction companies, road building, road maintenance and that kind of thing. With the oil price what it is and then COVID on top of that, we're facing unprecedented layoffs.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I'm sorry, Arnold, but we've run out of time.

Mr. Powlowski.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Thank you.

I want to talk a little bit about the plight of elderly people in your respective communities. This pandemic has really highlighted the plight of the elderly, the difficult circumstances so many elderly people find themselves in.

I have worked as a doctor in Nain and Iqaluit and Norway House, which was the main adjacent Métis community. I would suggest that in all of these communities you do a much better job of looking after the elderly than a lot of non-indigenous communities do.

In Fort William First Nation, they have been trying to get funding for a chronic care home. I'm wondering if you might comment on how the elderly are treated in your respective communities, and what this pandemic has suggested about the treatment of the elderly and the long-term prospects in terms of whether you want chronic care homes in your communities. Maybe you look at how the elderly should be treated in a bit of a different fashion.

[National Chief Perry Bellegarde]

There is a huge need for elders care homes on reserves. There is no question. More needs to be done on that. Back home in Saskatchewan at Standing Buffalo First Nation with Chief Roberta Soo-Oyewaste, they have an elders care home there. It's been operating for a few years but they don't get much support from the province or anything else. It comes from Indigenous Services, and the rates aren't the same.

You have to have a very specific program for elders care homes on the reserve, and more and more people are demanding that.

Once they leave their reserves, their communities, they go into town and there is racism and discrimination and they can't even get their foot in the door anyway, so there is all of that. If you keep them at home they are surrounded by family, their loved ones. They have their traditional foods. They can speak in their language. They are more at peace and there is a huge need for that need to be met.

We always say our elders are our jewels. We take care of them. They provide so much knowledge and wisdom and teaching for our families and communities, so there has to be a very specific program and it has to be resourced with the proper financial and human resources going forward.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

President Obed, go ahead.

[Natan Obed]

In our funds that were provided for Inuit-specific response, each of our four regions has specific considerations for elders within the use of those funds, whether that be vouchers for purchase of food at stores or the ability to access country food through community freezers. One of the immediate concerns in each of our regions was how to provide for food insecurity or for basic safety and protection of our elders. It remains one of the great pillars of our society, the way in which we respect our elders and the knowledge that they have.

The risk is also in relation to what National Chief said, around long-term care facilities. There are some long-term care facilities in Inuit Nunangat, but many of our elders have to go to southern care centres. There are many Inuit elders in Ottawa in long-term care facilities. There is a specific risk that some of our population has, based on the lack of infrastructure within Inuit Nunangat. This is just one example.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Mr. Chartrand, you have about a minute.

[David Chartrand]

That's a very important question. What's so beautiful about the indigenous culture, in particular my culture—I'll speak, of course, of the Métis nation—is that the elders always come first. That's the number one priority of our systems.

In fact, when COVID was being discussed throughout the media in December, we started talking within our own nation about what we were going to be doing if this ever came to North America. We started reacting very quickly. We were on the phones regularly, steadily, catching the attention of every elder. In Manitoba alone, we contacted over 1,500 elders. They knew the state of their finances, their health.

We also own a pharmacy here in Manitoba, so we made sure that all their prescriptions were intact and in place. We made sure that hampers were delivered to them. We did not want them to leave their houses. We knew they'd be the first and most susceptible to probably losing their lives if they became infected. Our action was very quick in Manitoba with how we took on this case.

It's the same way amongst others in the Métis nation. In our culture, it's fundamental.

As the previous speaker said, there are some key conditions that we face. Canada, for example, takes the position right now, “You're not our jurisdiction”, even though we won a Supreme Court case in 2015. We will hold them accountable for that. Trust me.

On the second phase, we just finished building our first elder campus. We have 10 units built: brand new homes. Let me tell you what I'm proud of as a Métis government. We are going to charge the cheapest rent for everything, intact—cheaper than the Government of Manitoba—for our senior citizens to move in there. They're all quality built to meet the needs of the aging population. I'll give you an example: The plug-ins are higher. If they have a wheelchair, they can go to the stove. Their washrooms are all designed for a wheelchair to move around in there. Their bedrooms are accessible. Everything about the house is designed for them as they age.

We're building seniors homes right across the province.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you.

Mr. Vidal, you're next, for five minutes.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

As we've talked much about in the last few days, and many of my colleagues have identified the serious situation in northwest Saskatchewan, I want to follow up on that a bit. Yesterday in the news from La Loche, the statistics from there were that the largest category of infected cases is in those under 19 years of age. We have the youth who are the most affected in La Loche. It's an increase of 238% since the public declaration of the outbreak.

The leaders, Chief Teddy Clark, the mayor of La Loche, and many of the surrounding chiefs and community leaders—as National Chief Bellegarde talked about—are working together. They've been tirelessly working to get the message out about how important it is for the people there to follow the health guidelines.

In fact, in the Leader-Post today, the mayor of La Loche said, “We keep repeating ourselves but it's important that we stop transferring the virus to other people.... 'Young people think (they're) invincible because they're not in too much danger but the elderly and the vulnerable are. We are very concerned about them getting sick. Please help us stop the transfer of the virus.'”

I would ask this question to President Chartrand and National Chief Bellegarde in this case, because they're familiar with the area.

How can you as leaders, we as leaders, support those people on the ground in getting that message out to the young people, the people in those communities, about how important it is to follow the advice of the public health officials?

[David Chartrand]

As I said, I do commend you, Gary. You're the first one to raise the Métis name and the whole issue of the media in northern Saskatchewan. It was always indigenous, indigenous, indigenous, and the concept that there was a crisis happening in the Métis community was getting lost.

When you look at the young population—and I was speaking to Leonard, for example, an elected official for the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan out there who lives in the community, and, as I said, the mayor is actually the president of the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan. When you look at it overall, there has to be a dual strategy, and that is a challenge. Young people feel they're invincible. We're trying to educate our people. Even, for example, in Manitoba, we have an education campaign aimed at our young people. We're trying to say to them, “if you don't think it's going bother you, and you're not going to die or it's not going to affect you, then ask yourself how you are going to carry yourself if it's your grandpa who dies or your grandma who dies because you thought you were invincible?” So we're trying to educate our people that it's not just about one person; it's about our community, about our family.

We're putting out a strong campaign in Manitoba, and I know Leonard and others are trying to do the same in La Loche. It's a challenging issue, but I think it's an achievable issue. I think we can definitely solve it. It goes to the concept we were talking about earlier: set aside jurisdictions; set aside differences. Right now let's focus on people and figure out how we get inside there and begin to work as a team. As Gary said, they're already talking as a team. How do we bring all the tools necessary to convince these young people that even though they're invincible in their minds, they can cause so much harm to their own personal self? And I use “personal” because if you say it's personal, then it might carry some weight of responsibility in that. If you say “somebody else” they might not care, but if it's their grandpa and grandma, they are going to care.

We're pushing that very hard right now because we think that's the only way we can really educate the people. It has to be a campaign. It has to be a dual and mutual campaign, with everybody working together. Set aside everybody's jurisdiction, whether you're a mayor or whether you're a chief or whether you're a local Métis leader. Set aside those issues right now. Whether you're provincial or federal government, come on, get off your heinies about who is responsible. Let's get together. Let's stop this thing before it takes off.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Okay, we're at time for that. I'm sorry to interrupt, but—