Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 15th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I call this meeting to order, acknowledging first of all that in Ottawa, where I am today, we are meeting on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonqui people.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on April 29, the committee is meeting on its study of the sex trafficking of indigenous peoples.

To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline the best practices. Participants, ensure that you have selected the language of your choice. Go to the globe at the bottom centre of the screen, click on it, and you can select either English or French, whichever language you would like to listen in. If you change back and forth while you are speaking, you don't have to make any further adjustments. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you're not speaking, your microphone should be on mute. If, in our discussions, you feel you would like to add something, you can use the “raise hand” function. I'll try to keep an eye out for that.

I'm looking forward to the next couple of hours together and am delighted that we're able to meet on this very important subject.

With us today are National Chief Elmer St. Pierre of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples; Grand Chief Garrison Setee, and manager, Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, from Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc.; and Bryanna Brown, prevention coordinator with the Alluriarniq program at the Tungasuvvingat Inuit.

I invite the witnesses to give their opening statements of up to six minutes each. We'll begin with Elmer St. Pierre.

Elmer, welcome, and go ahead.

[National Chief Elmer St. Pierre, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples]

Mr. Chair, members of the committee and fellow witnesses, thank you for the opportunity to speak on the issue of trafficking of indigenous people.

As you are well aware, my name is Elmer St. Pierre, and I am the national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.

I acknowledge my presence on the traditional and unceded territory of the Mohawk people. At this time, I would like to offer a virtual tobacco tie to each and every one of you for the information that we are going to be exchanging. Thank you.

CAP represents the off-reserve status and non-status Indians, Métis and southern Inuit peoples. Today, 80% of those indigenous people live off reserve. Forty-four per cent are in urban centres across the country.

The biggest human trafficking operation in Canada's history was the residential school system. Off-reserve and non-status people are survivors of this tragic system. Residential schools never ended.

Indigenous people are 5% of the population in Canada. Fifty-two per cent of the children in foster care are indigenous. Indigenous girls face more sexual exploitation in foster care than any other group. Forty-six per cent of our youth in prison are indigenous. In some provinces, over 90% of the youth in prisons are indigenous. Forty per cent of incarcerated women are indigenous, and that number is rising. Fifty per cent of the victims of human trafficking are indigenous women. Of those, nearly one-quarter are under the age of 18.

There are pathways among foster care, prison, sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Youth are ripped from their homes, more because of poverty than any other factor. They are abused in foster care. They wind up vulnerable on the streets, living with trauma and struggling to survive. They are denied education and employment. They cycle between homelessness, prison, abusive situations and trafficking and exploitation. Too often it only ends in a road of death. We need to help the boys and girls from starting on that road. We need to make sure that everyone caught in that cycle can escape it and find the healing and community they need.

The government has taken steps to work with some aboriginal organizations, but has shut out others at the same time.

Off-reserve and non-status communities are sidelined. They are denied housing funds to help give vulnerable women shelter. They are denied access to education funding to give kids a future. They are denied justice programs to open healing lodges and use alternative sentences. They are denied status as rights bearers under the indigenous child welfare legislation.

CAP's provincial-territorial organizations work to provide services in spite of being sidelined. Programs like “looking out for each other” partner with shelters in communities to give help to those at risk of going missing. They offer housing, shelter programs, homeless outreach, parenting support and health care support, but they cannot reach out to the need when they don't have the services. I would just add that these programs are run on the east coast. The “looking out for each other” program is in New Brunswick.

We offer the following calls to action. End the exclusion of off-reserve organizations from programs like housing, child welfare and justice. Support capacity building to address the multifaceted issues of the MMIWG. Support affordable, safe public transportation options to replace lost inner city bus routes. End the overrepresentation of indigenous women in corrections and prioritize treatment and community care in an indigenous-led process. Accelerate funding under the MMIWG action plan. Ensure that our off-reserve organizations can access funding for cultural, language and justice services, community safety and other essential services to keep women and girls safe.

Meegwetch. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Chief St. Pierre, thank you so much for your presentation.

We're going to Grand Chief Settee and manager, Ms. Anderson-Pyrz, from Manitoba.

Grand Chief, please go ahead.

[Grand Chief Garrison Settee, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc.]

Thank you for the opportunity to present to the standing committee.

I wish to acknowledge the land of the people of Treaty 1 and Treaty 5 territory.

My name is Garrison Settee. I am the grand chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.

As the grand chief, I am committed to working towards ending all forms of gender and race-based violence that impacts indigenous women and girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. We must look at the root causes of sex trafficking through the impacts of colonization.

The events that have occurred over the last two weeks have dominated headlines on the impacts of past, present and ongoing colonial violence in Canada against indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

On May 27, the remains of 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School were announced. On June 3, 2021, the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and the national action plan for ending violence against 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, along with other companion documents, were released.

I want to highlight some of the realities faced in the north, according to [Technical difficulty—Editor] 2017, rates of violent crimes against young women and girls are five to six times higher than those living in southern Manitoba, and in northern Manitoba it's worse. Predators are targeting indigenous girls at bus depots and airports to take advantage of their vulnerability during periods of transition, such as coming out of child and family services care to obtain medical care or educational opportunities not available in their own home community. MKO has observed that this also occurs when entire communities are evacuated to an urban centre due to fires and floods.

There exists an important opportunity to prevent violence and trafficking by intervening at these points of transition. Winnipeg, along with Regina and Saskatoon, are known as a city triangle where victims are shipped between these cities and different provinces. For instance, Thompson is the largest city in northern Manitoba. It has the highest number of missing youth in the province. It has been identified as a critical point of intervention to reduce the likelihood of their moving or being trafficked to Winnipeg.

MKO is concerned that there is insufficient policing and resources to combat human trafficking in northern and remote communities. Policing agencies across all jurisdictions are not mandated to report to the Human Trafficking National Coordination Centre. This results in the denial of the basic human and indigenous rights as related to culture, health, security and justice.

Education and employment gaps are major contributing factors to indigenous women's economic marginalization, which in turn makes them more dependent on others, leaving them more vulnerable to violence and less able to leave violent circumstances.

There is a need for safe housing, including increased housing on reserve and access to shelters; for culturally responsible health care services; and for laws, policies and practices of the Canadian state to adequately recognize, respect and make space for the inherent right of indigenous self-governance and self-determination.

Hilda.

[Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, Manager, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Liaison Unit, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc.]

My name is Hilda Anderson-Pyrz. I'm the manager of the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls liaison unit.

Our unit was established in 2017 as part of MKO. Our mandate is to provide support, services and advocacy to impacted families of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, survivors of gender-based violence and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. The unit also focuses on prevention awareness in ending all forms of gender and race-based violence.

I wanted to highlight that in the “Federal Pathway”, released on June 4, 2021, human trafficking is mentioned within the theme of “Safety and Human Security” and under “Supporting safe and healthy communities”, with a focus on prevention, and “interventions to support victims and survivors of human trafficking”, and “[a]ddressing socio-economic barriers to education, training and employment” through “[f]ostering a cultural shift and supporting allies” through raising awareness and public education about human trafficking and providing training to frontline police officers.

Under this same theme of “Addressing human trafficking and exploitation” through increased funding for “initiatives to stop human trafficking, including support for at-risk populations and survivors”, it states: “This will include supporting indigenous-led and grassroots organizations to advance efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking.”

These are clear actions that can be implemented immediately. Indigenous women and girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people cannot wait for action. We're experiencing violence and being murdered and going missing at alarming rates in Canada.

Here are the recommendations going forward.

They are that the 2019 to 2024 national strategy to combat human trafficking be immediately updated to respond to the calls for justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls final report; that a representative from the Manitoba first nations northern, remote and isolated communities sit on the advisory committee comprising victims and survivors of human trafficking; and that coordination and resourcing of immediate actions of the national strategy and the federal pathway be undertaken, including guidance from the calls for justice principles for change and the National Family and Survivors Circle's four pillars of inclusion, interconnectedness, accountability and impact.

We are all part of the solution and must work collectively to end all forms of gender and race-based violence.

Thank you for the opportunity for MKO to present today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you, Ms. Anderson-Pyrz and Grand Chief Settee.

Now we have Bryanna Brown, prevention coordinator of the Tungasuvvingat Inuit Alluriarniq program.

Was my pronunciation close?

[Bryanna R. Brown, Prevention Coordinator, Alluriarniq Program, Tungasuvvingat Inuit]

Yes, and thank you, Mr. Chair.

Atelihai. My name is Bryanna Brown. Hello.

I am from Nunatsiaq, Labrador. I would like to acknowledge that I am currently living on unceded unsurrendered Algonquin territory here in Ottawa, Ontario.

I'm here today representing Tungasuvvingat Inuit, where I am the prevention coordinator of the Alluriarniq program. “Alluriarniq” means stepping forward.

The program provides support for Inuit aged 16 and older living in Canada who are currently engaging or have in the past engaged in sex work or are looking to exit the sex trade and are victims/survivors of human trafficking. We also support victims of sexual violence and abuse.

I would like to read for you this quote from the missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people national action plan: “The full and independent involvement of families, survivors and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people is a defining aspect of a decolonizing approach in creating transformative change.”

As someone who has previous experience with many of the issues being spoken of today, I thank you for having me here with you. I appreciate being in the presence of each and every one of you.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you very much indeed for being here.

Mr. Clerk, are we still waiting for the other two witnesses?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Naaman Sugrue]

Yes. That's correct.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

That's fine. We will move on with questioning and rearrange things as necessary as we move along.

In our first round of questioning, we will have six minutes with Mr. Viersen, Ms. Zann, Madame Bérubé and Ms. Blaney.

Arnold, you have six minutes. Please go ahead.

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

Mr. Chair, I was hoping to ask the other witnesses who aren't here some questions, so I'll turn this time over to Gary Vidal.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Gary.

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

Thank you.

I want to pursue a little bit of what I heard from Grand Chief Settee.

Grand Chief, you talked about the rates in northern and remote areas compared to urban centres. As a member of Parliament who serves a very northern and remote riding, I'm very curious to drill into that a little bit. I'm not going to pretend that I understand much of this, so this is an education for me to understand some of the things going on in my own riding. I'm going to assume that northern Manitoba, maybe, is not that different from northern Saskatchewan where I'm from.

If you would take a few minutes and expand on your comments about the rates in northern and remote communities compared to more urban centres....

Also, you talked about the points of critical intervention, and I was really intrigued by your comments there. I want you to flesh that out. I want to give you some time just to talk about that a little bit more, if that's fair.

[Grand Chief Garrison Settee]

One of the things that I've always spoken about is the very different demographics that we live with in northern Manitoba. It's very different from southern Manitoba. In Manitoba, we have 15 isolated communities, and 85% of each community is unemployed, so there's poverty and a lack of resources to help women and victims of domestic violence. The services are just not there. Women tend to gravitate to urban centres, and that creates greater problems because they cannot access employment. They cannot access adequate housing or shelter, and they become victims of a cycle that has been perpetuated by a lack of resources and a lack of adequate support for them.

I always say that women's shelters are a must in every first nation. People running from domestic violence turn to urban centres. They turn to other communities, and they are led down a path of victimization everywhere they go. It's a sad state. We're living in a country that's prosperous. This situation should not even be in existence, but it is. It's a reality we live in from day to day.

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

Could I get you to expand on that comment you made about the points of critical intervention? I think you talked about bus stations. You talked about the situations when there are fires or evacuations. You even referenced some cities in my province of Saskatchewan. I think you talked about Saskatoon and Regina. Can I get you to just expand on the points of critical intervention and how we might help there? What are some ideas of ways that we could help at those points of critical intervention?

[Grand Chief Garrison Settee]

I think, with regard to the supports and the resources needed for people who are transitioning or moving into urban areas, there's a vulnerability there. There are risks there. We've seen it happen in Winnipeg. Young girls come to Winnipeg for medical appointments, and they go missing. We hear it on the news that they have died and become victims because there is not enough support to monitor the transition and the movement of young people. Those are areas of transition.

We need to look at how we can improve the system. It's the health system that has a lot to do with that. There are not enough resources and support for people who don't know the city life. They don't know the urban life, and they get lost and become very vulnerable and at risk. We need to concentrate on those transition points and ensure that there's protection and safety for all.

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

One of the things I've had some conversations with people in northern Saskatchewan about, and one of the results or one of the things we've maybe learned through the pandemic, is the ability to provide services. We're sitting here now in a Zoom meeting, and there are some things we maybe have learned to use to technology for better than we might have in the past: providing medical services and supports to some of the remote communities. Potentially, we've learned some things that might allow us to be better at providing them so that some of those young people don't have to travel to the big urban centres for those.

Do you think that's fair: to actually think there's maybe some opportunity to improve those services with what we've learned in the last year?

[Grand Chief Garrison Settee]

I think that probably more than ever, this pandemic has shed light on the insufficient resources that we have to deal with things. People do not have to move away from the first nation. I think that awareness and prevention would be the key to educating and protecting our young girls and women, before they leave their community, that there are pitfalls they must avoid. They must be informed on how to protect themselves.

Maybe I can pass part of the question on to Hilda, if you don't mind, because she works on the front line with these people.

[Hilda Anderson-Pyrz]

Thank you.

The pandemic has shown how responsive governments can be. I think that level of response must continue when we want to work towards ending all forms of gender-based and race-based violence against indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

When we look at our communities, especially our first nation communities that are remote and isolated, we see there are many barriers that are faced by indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, even men and boys. They pose many vulnerabilities to them if they're forced to leave the community to access their basic human rights—access to health, food security and even economic opportunities.

We really need to reflect on how we can improve the lives of indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people so they're not forced into vulnerable situations that could potentially put them at risk of being sex trafficked, going missing or being murdered. We really need to reflect and build on programs and services that are indigenous led and rooted in culture.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you very much for the response.

Committee, before we go on, I see that Ms. Blaney has joined us. Welcome, Ms. Blaney.

The technical procedure here is that we need accurate, clear speech to be picked up, normally through a headset microphone, so that the interpreters can properly interpret. The committee can't function without proper interpretation.

Let me go over to Mr. Clerk to see how the sound checks out.

Mr. Clerk.

[The Clerk]

Sure, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Blaney what I'll ask you to do is introduce yourself, where you're calling from and a little bit about your role. I'll ask you to speak slowly and clearly. Because you don't have a headset, hopefully interpretation will let me know that they can continue with interpreting your testimony.

Please go ahead.

[Fay Blaney, Lead Matriarch, Aboriginal Women's Action Network]

Thank you very much.

My name is Fay Blaney, and I am the lead matriarch for the Aboriginal Women's Action Network. I'm based out of Campbell River today.

[The Clerk]

Thank you, Ms. Blaney.

I'm hoping that one of the interpreters will be able to wave at me. They have, and we can hear you well enough.

I'll ask you to speak just as steadily and clearly as you did, which was good for them, and then we'll be able to continue with your testimony today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thanks very much.

Just so you that know, Ms. Blaney, we have already begun a six-minute round of questions. Ms. Zann will be next, followed by Madame Bérubé and Rachel Blaney, and then we'll get to your witness testimony.

Let's go ahead now to Lenore Zann for six minutes.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Thank you very much. Wela'lin.

I come to you today from the unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq, in Mi’kma’ki, Nova Scotia.

Part of the call for justice 3.4 from “Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls” of the national inquiry states that trauma and addictions treatment programs must “be paired with other essential services such as mental health services and sexual exploitation and trafficking services as they relate to each individual case of First Nations, Inuit and Métis women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA[+] people”.

My question for you today is, what progress has been made on this call for justice, and given that many of the services referred to are provided [Technical difficulty--Editor] with the provinces and territories to implement this call for justice?

Who would like to take that question first?