Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 10th, 2021

[Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Ministers, for being here and for your speeches and answers.

The Prime Minister has stated that your government has the tools and processes to force the Catholic Church to disclose the residential school documents that remain. The Prime Minister has also said that he would only use these tools when it is necessary.

Minister Bennett, why don't you view this as necessary now, when indigenous children have been found dead?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

We are asking the Catholic Church to release the documents, if there are any documents that have not been, as Martin said, released already as part of the settlement agreement class action. We need to know what might be there to be able to proceed. This will be essential in being able to identify the lost children.

[Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

I'm specifically asking why your government isn't viewing it as “necessary”. As an indigenous person, Minister Bennet, it's really insulting that you are deciding what is necessary when indigenous people across the nation and I are telling you that this is necessary.

Do you believe that family member records are the family members' property? These documents are not the church's, nor the government's. These are ours—indigenous peoples'. Why are you, as a non-indigenous person, deciding what is necessary in terms of our documentation?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

I agree with you totally. As a physician, I know that records belong to the patient. That is hugely important. Now some of the churches are voluntarily giving over documents, and if there's anything left that hadn't been given previously, we are hoping they will do that. However, I believe that families and survivors expect everything to be there for the examination to be able to do the extraordinarily important work of identifying the children.

[Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Last week, Minister Bennett, you said that the government had already earmarked $33 million in 2019 to, as the CBC notes, “implement the TRC's burial-related recommendations”. However, that $27 million has not yet been spent. Why hasn't this money been spent since the 2019 budget?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

Some of the money has been earmarked for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation for their ability to keep comprehensive records of deaths and burials in cemeteries that families can access. The advice given to us was that we must design a program that would meet the needs of all of the possible communities and survivors' families, and that is the work we did. It has resulted in a very flexible program that communities will be able to apply to for research, gatherings and commemoration—whatever the community needs. We now have a program that will be able to meet those needs and help them unlock the healing and move forward.

[Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Let's also be extremely clear that finding the remains of these children was not an initiative set out by the federal government. It was an initiative funded by the provincial government. How much longer would we have been waiting if that didn't happen? This didn't happen because the federal institution cares. This happened because a provincial government cares. This was brought to light because of a provincial government, not because of the federal government.

Why is it suddenly such an urgent matter to distribute this money? Why was this not a priority of your department? It took the B.C. government's funding to uncover the mass grave in Kamloops. Do you think it is the federal government's responsibility to fund these searches?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

It most certainly is the federal government's responsibility to fund these searches, and that is why in budget 2019 we put that money aside for that purpose.

I think in the case of Tk'emlúps, they've been working on this for 20 years. They were able to secure, from the federal government, money from Heritage Canada in the pathways to healing, and we will move forward with all other communities to take responsibility, for us to support communities in their way forward.

[Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Now, not only does it sound like the federal institution didn't fund this, but it sounds like they've known about these kinds of initiatives for the last 20 years. They know that these kinds of things have been needing to happen over the last two decades and just haven't put in the time, effort or funds.

Minister Bennett, you have used phrases like working at the speed of indigenous communities until there's a political opportunity like we have seen in the recent weeks. As an indigenous person and a member of an indigenous community, the constant use of that phrase is insulting. We're ready for action now, not when the next tragedy occurs. You need to get to action.

Thanks for the time, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thanks very much.

I think what we'll be able to do, given the time left before the vote, is to include each of the parties in the next round—the two five-minute turns, and Ms. Qaqqaq and Madame Bérubé for two and a half minutes.

Mr. Melillo, can you go ahead for five minutes, please?

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the ministers for joining us.

Today I will direct my questions to Minister Vandal. Minister, it's nice to see you again, and I hope you're doing well.

You spoke about quite a few topics in your remarks. I hope to get to them all. One of the big ones we've been talking and seeing a lot about in recent reports is housing in the north. We know there are housing shortages and housing issues with mould, disrepair and overcrowding across the territories and northern Canada. In particular, Nunavut especially has many challenges, and I do know that the government has allocated funding towards this. You spoke about that in your remarks.

Closing the gap is also something you say a lot, and the gap still remains quite large, even with this funding. It seems to me that a lot of the bureaucracies that have been created are not really getting the funds they need to go to build these units in some cases. As well, your government's anti-development approach to many projects, I believe, has also made no real incentives for developers to do their work and build new units.

I'm wondering if you can comment on that. Given that your government has spent so much money, as you like to talk about all the time, the results for people across the north...the job is just not getting done right now.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Thank you for that very important question on housing in the north and in Nunavut.

You're absolutely right. The gap is huge, and the gap was made even larger when, before 2015, 10 years of complete non-funding by the previous government only exacerbated an already bad situation—

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

With respect, you have been in government for six years.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Since being elected in 2015, through our $70-billion national housing strategy, our government has helped over 9,000 northern families on housing issues, including finding homes for thousands of them. We've signed 10-year housing agreements with all three territorial governments—agreements that were non-existent before—who will invest close to $800 million over those 10 years.

We've signed a $400-million housing agreement with Inuit rights holders, who will invest in housing in Inuit Nunangat. In the last budget, 2021, we're—

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Excuse me, Minister.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

—allocating an extra $1.5 billion for rapid housing in the north.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Do you know how many units have been built in the territories?

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Since 2015, we've helped 9,000 northern families on issues concerning housing, including several thousand new units.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Okay, would that be 9,000 housing units that were built?

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

We've helped 9,000 families on important housing issues with at least several thousand homes in the north.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Okay. By your estimates from the department's work, how many units would you say are still needed?

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Listen, the gap in northern housing is huge due to chronic underfunding by previous governments, and I'll be fair—

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

That's under your government as well.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

—that is including some of our previous Liberal governments, but mostly there was zero funding under the previous tenure of the Harper government, but I will admit—

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Minister, your government has been in power for six years.