Evidence of meeting #4 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pandemic.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you.
I want to start with Mr. Obed. I'm going to ask everybody the same question, but you could start.
The transition to remote education has been a bumpy one for everyone. I'm just wondering if you could speak to some challenges that you have faced in terms of access to the Internet but also access to key equipment like computers and whatnot.
President, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
The access to connectivity is one that is particularly acute during COVID: the ability to hold Zoom meetings or Microsoft Team meetings, any of these sorts of things. We had our AGM and board meeting last week at ITK. We had certain people who couldn't participate because the connection wasn't strong enough or reliable enough. If you have meetings just staggering along, waiting for people to get back online or you can't hear them for certain periods of time, that's just the reality of our connectivity and we are not able to conduct business. We are not able to conduct health care or education in the way in which we need to and in the way in which others in Canada can, because of the lack of connectivity.
Moving forward, we need an Inuit Nunangat solution. There are many different solutions that are being proposed that might help one region or another, but as the Government of Canada has said, there will be universal broadband connectivity in 2030, I believe, and we need to be on the forefront of that as well. We've always been a number of generations behind when it comes to connectivity in Inuit Nunangat. And the reliance on satellite technology for the entirety of our bandwidth is not acceptable.
Regional Chief, Assembly of First Nations Alberta Association
Regional Chief Marlene Poitras
Thank you.
One of the biggest concerns I've heard in terms of remote education is the child care aspect for working mothers. It creates a lot of issues, other than the connectivity and the access to technology to provide good-quality education. Those are some concerns that I've heard.
As we go forward, I know Alberta has opened some of the schools. With the rising cases of COVID, that's been an issue. Parents had to apply by a certain date to be able to provide remote education for their children. It's creating some issues.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
We'll have to stop there.
We have one more five-minute question, from Ms. Zann.
Lenore, please go ahead. You'll close with five minutes.
Liberal
Lenore Zann Liberal Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Thank you so much to everybody for your very intelligent and impassioned comments and presentations. I've been listening intently.
One thing that concerns me, and I'm sure it concerns you too, is the twin pandemic of overdoses and addictions, and the rising deaths of our young people, middle-aged people. Many people are getting this disease—it's a disease, and it's very concerning.
The pandemic has cast a grim light on the ongoing crisis we've been facing in Canada for many years, the overdose epidemic. I know that while some cities have significantly higher numbers of overdose deaths than others, the need for harm reduction services and the calls from advocates for a safe drug supply are continuing to rise across the country.
Also, I notice an increased risk of deaths and overdoses if the substance supply shifts, and especially if newly contaminated substances, including fentanyl or its analogs, are introduced into the communities.
What exactly are your communities doing to prevent or to counterbalance this rise in activity? Madame Poitras, would you mind going first, please?
Regional Chief, Assembly of First Nations Alberta Association
Regional Chief Marlene Poitras
Yes, the mental health concerns have been a real issue that is being dealt with, not only with the increase in suicides and overdoses, but also in domestic abuse. Even having safe places for women and their children to go is an issue. One thing we've tried to do is have our elders...because they're a very important part of the fabric of our society and our ceremonies. As I said, those things have been scaled back because of COVID. Some ways they've tried to deal with them is to go online to have counselling services or somebody to talk to. The issue, of course, is people not having the technology to be able to do that, from elders to young people. It continues to be a concern.
I think the way we need to deal with it is for all of us to put our heads together and address these issues in a good way. With the numbers rising, we have COVID fatigue. One thing I hear people saying is, “Yes, I'm positive, but people are recovering from it, so I'm going to continue to party or do whatever.” Those are very concerning issues we're dealing with. I don't think that's only for first nations, but for everybody. We all have to come to the table to deal with it effectively.
Thank you.
Liberal
Lenore Zann Liberal Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Mr. Obed, do you know if naloxone kits are available widely? What's happening on that end of things?
President, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
I'm sorry. I don't have a specific response in relation to that question. I can get that information, along with the other promised information, to the committee.
President, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
In relation to harm reduction and safe drug supply, in our Inuit Nunangat communities we just don't have the resources for a lot of those types of facilities to exist. There are a lot of challenges from not having harm reduction principles employed within our homeland.
For urban Inuit and for Inuit who are at risk, who are homeless or on the streets in many cases, there needs to be more supports for urban Inuit organizations and for first nations, Inuit and Métis-specific organizations that provide support at the community level in southern Canada. They do amazing work with almost no resources, and there need to be more supports for those institutions.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
Mr. Chartrand, you did make some very pointed comments on this subject earlier, which, of course, were captured by our analysts as part of the testimony.
I also hope that all of our guests, whom we deeply enjoy having, could hear the respectful tone of our committee's questions, which reflects the concern we have for the work we're doing for the people under our charge, according to the way this committee is mandated. We feel that it's very important and should be beyond partisan politics. I hope that feeling came across, because we're pretty proud of the work we're doing. Of course, we're not proud of the outcomes yet. We need to fix that.
Just before I let you go, I'm going to ask the clerk to advise the committee on what we need to do to get into the last few minutes of the meeting, which is committee business in camera.
Mr. Clerk, what's the process now?
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Naaman Sugrue
We'll suspend the meeting, which will end this Zoom meeting, and you'll use the information provided to you by email to connect to the in camera portion. It's new meeting info and a new password.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
Okay. Does everyone have that?
Thank you. For just a few minutes now, this meeting is suspended.
[Proceedings continue in camera]