Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on May 13th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you.

[Jaime Battiste, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

On a point of order, is anyone hearing a high-pitched buzzing when Chief Bertrand is speaking?

Chief Bertrand, do you have a pot of tea on? I'm getting a really high buzzing.

Is anyone else getting that?

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

Yes, I get a little bit of it as well.

[National Chief Robert Bertrand]

No, everything is turned off here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Okay.

Mr. Viersen, go ahead, please.

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

Thank you.

One of the issues I've had is this. I've now had two constituents speak to me, Renée and Rodney. They are concerned about inconsistencies, both in the enforcement of the rules and in the way the benefits have been rolled out. They both live on reserve but have family who live off reserve. They have family members who are struggling to pay for groceries and things like that. They're frustrated with the fact that they're unable to get the benefits they have on reserve to their family members who are off reserve.

I'll start with you, Mr. Bertrand, and then I'll go to the Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council.

Is this an experience you're hearing more about, and is there a solution that you could recommend?

[National Chief Robert Bertrand]

I'm glad that you brought it up, because just what you said shows the inequalities of what we—and by “we”, I mean CAP and our PTOs—are living through right now. With the distinctions-based approach that the government has been using, most of the help and resources are going to those on reserve, while the people off reserve are being denied access to programs, financial help and resources.

What we've been asking for, from the beginning, is just to be treated equally. As you mentioned, the people who are off reserve want the same help and the same resources that those on reserve are getting.

That is what we are asking, Mr. Chair, and by appearing before your committee this morning, we are hoping that you will also be able to stress to the government the inequalities that I mentioned before.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

You have one minute, Mr. Viersen. Go ahead.

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

I'd just like to hear a response to that from the Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council.

[Lindsay Kretschmer]

If I may, I'd like to turn it over to our president, Larry Frost, to have a chance to speak.

[Larry Frost, President, Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council]

What was the question? I had a little problem with my mute button about three minutes ago and I just got back on.

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

No problem at all.

I'm hearing from constituents in my area, where I represent 14 first nations. Particularly a lady named Renée was contacting me, frustrated with the fact that there seemed to be quite an inconsistency in the rollout of services and also how the lockdown has been affecting them in terms of getting groceries. That's just one of the things.

On reserve, the chief and council take care of their families fairly well. Off reserve, people who belong to their band but don't live on reserve are unable to access any help through the band.

I'm just wondering if you have a solution for that and if that's something you're hearing about.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Please answer very quickly.

[Larry Frost]

Is the question about on reserve or off reserve?

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

That's the challenge. It's the difference in the rollout of services.

[Larry Frost]

On-reserve tasks would help anyone, which we're doing with food hampers as I speak. On reserve, if we can work together somehow, it's all about helping each other, right?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I'm sorry. I'll have to interrupt at this point, because we're well over time. Perhaps you can flesh that out later in a further question or send us a written submission.

Mr. Powlowski, you have five minutes.

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

Thank you very much.

Thanks to all the witnesses.

I am from Thunder Bay, which I think has proportionately the largest urban indigenous population of any major city in Canada, so this conversation is very pertinent to us.

I'm trying to figure out the financing of the urban indigenous population. Am I right or wrong in thinking that if you're from somewhere like Pikangikum First Nation or Webequie First Nation and you're living in Thunder Bay...? A lot of people from these communities are living in Thunder Bay. Do they not continue to remain part of the Webequie and Pikangikum first nations and still get some benefits from the band?

[Jocelyn Formsma]

I could speak to that a little bit.

Yes, you're right, and I know that many first nations, but not all of them, have extended the support funds that they've received to their off-reserve members, but I guess it goes again to what's available off reserve that they can access. I guess $100, $150, $200, or $75, whatever it is, is not going to go very far to buy groceries for a couple of weeks so you don't have to go as often, if there's any transportation, if they're still working, if there are children in the home.

I think the piece is yes, they're very much still a member, like I'm a member of Moose Cree First Nation and living here in Ottawa. The benefits that are extended to off-reserve members are limited from the first nations, which is why we're saying the friendship centres are there to provide not just the services, but also accessibility to urban indigenous community members so that they're better able to access food. The centres help them to navigate and apply for the CERB or seniors benefits. Some friendship centres have actually installed computers inside, but the keyboard is outside, so people can come and apply for federal benefits at the centre in a safe manner. They're providing that full wraparound community support that I think is very crucial for anybody. Isolation, like mental health, is affecting our people. I don't want to say more than COVID, because I know our people are either infected with COVID or have passed away from it, and we don't even really know about it because we aren't collecting the data.

I think there's a lot to what you've asked, but yes, we're still very much members of our communities, but the wraparound community support that we're able to access is very limited when we're not living on reserve, and it's the same for Inuit living in the south. Friendship centres serve tens of thousands of Inuit who are living in urban settings and it's the same for the funding that Inuit land claim organizations receive. From what we're hearing, the access for urban Inuit isn't as robust, and our president would be able to speak more to that if there's a follow-up question. We talk a lot about first nations, but I think that population also has a lot of very unique needs, which we've been doing our best to meet without necessarily the support from the regions. In some cases, yes—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

One minute. Go ahead.

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

Okay. I think you already mentioned something else I was going to ask. I think the urban indigenous population and the indigenous population as a whole are still able to claim the CERB, the wage subsidy. I assume that part of what the friendship centres are also doing is trying to help the urban indigenous community to access those other programs and other sources of funding.

[Jocelyn Formsma]

Yes.

Maybe Edith could speak a bit more to that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

You have 30 seconds. Go ahead.

[National Chief Robert Bertrand]

If nobody is answering could I just chime in?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I'm not sure, Madam Clerk, whether we lost Ms. Cloutier or whether she was on mute.