Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on March 25th, 2022

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Imagine how further ahead we would have been had this work been ongoing over the decade the Conservative Party held power. I will just say this, we are committed to ending these long-term drinking water advisories. We work respectfully with communities. The money is in place. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has indicated the money is in place. We've closed the gap on operating and maintenance expenses. I have every confidence we will be able to work with our partners to get this done.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Well, Minister, think of how much further ahead we'd be if the party in power actually kept its promise.

On what date will all boil water advisories be lifted?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Again, we have a very clear outline for Canadians who are interested, and by the way, many Canadians are interested in this work with first nations communities. It is online at the Indigenous Services Canada website.

It's difficult to tell you an exact date, because communities have different barriers. They have different realities or different processes in the long-term list, but we are ambitious and we are working with our partners. As I said, I am pleased by the Parliamentary Budget Officer's assessment of our ongoing commitment financially, and we're working with communities on many of those other structural barriers that are in the way.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Minister, do you—

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Mr. Schmale.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

We'll go to the next person.

Mr. Powlowski, you have six minutes.

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

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Minister and staff.

I want to ask about post-secondary education funding for indigenous communities. I've been approached by Seven Generations, which is a post-secondary institution in Fort Frances. They've enquired as to whether more funding is available. They're certainly doing some really good and valuable work in northwestern Ontario, so perhaps somebody could tell me what, if any, funding opportunities there are for first nations or indigenous communities for post-secondary education.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Thank you. I've spoken with that group of people who are so passionate about post-secondary education indeed unlocking generations of poverty, and I completely agree.

By coincidence, I'm a first-generation, post-secondary graduate myself and certainly have seen the impact that has had on my own children.

I'm going to turn to Deputy Fox, because she has been doing some good work in this area.

[Christiane Fox, Deputy Minister, Department of Indigenous Services]

In terms of indigenous-led post-secondary institutions, right now we tend to have a lot of our programming based on a program of the institution itself, whether it's an economic development, business or nursing program. I think what we're hearing from post-secondary institutions is the desire for that core funding. We are looking at how the department can better support...versus program by program, in order to give that long-term support.

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

Thank you very much.

Concerning the second question, Webequie and Marten Falls have asked for funding for a permanent road so those communities can access the rest of the world other than by flying or by ice roads.

I think the province has agreed to some funding. Where are we in terms of funding? That said, I realize that might not be your ministry. It might be other ministries.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

MP, you're absolutely right. There's a strong provincial lead in the space of provincial roadways. To my knowledge, the Province of Ontario has not indicated yet to our department that they need additional supports. They might be working with the Minister of Infrastructure. We'll check into that and get back to you, but the Province of Ontario would be largely the party responsible to support the development of those roads.

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

Thank you.

On the third question, I'm not sure if you were here.... No, it was before your time. During the last session, this committee had a study looking at the enforcement of various laws in indigenous communities, and certainly lack of enforcement seemed to be a big problem.

I was very pleased to read quite recently that we'd started a consultation process looking at first nations police services legislation. I think that is being led by Public Safety and Minister Mendicino, but perhaps you could tell me a little more as to what our aims are and when we expect that to be done.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

It is one of the issues that comes up when I visit communities and is a priority for communities that don't have any policing or enforcement, or have little policing or enforcement. However, even if communities do, there has been a historic clash—if I can say it strongly enough—between indigenous communities and, sometimes, police forces. You and I are from Thunder Bay and we're in the middle of such a clash that seems to have been ongoing for all the years I've been a politician and then some. That's why these consultations are exciting, because there have been pilot projects through Public Safety to support the development of self-determined policing for indigenous communities that are run by indigenous communities and provided to indigenous members, and they have shown great promise.

These consultations are about the co-development of policing legislation that would enable even more communities to take part in setting up their own policing programs in their communities, or sometimes it might be in larger geographical regions through tribal councils or other kinds of indigenous organizations.

I'm not sure I have the timeline for the completion of the consultations.

[Christiane Fox]

The consultations actually started last week. They will be ongoing until probably May or June. However, there is some funding available now for the expansion of some of the existing policing agreements.

In addition, Indigenous Services Canada has a complementary piece, which is the Pathways program. It is aimed to be a bit of that prevention spending around safe transportation, peacekeepers, to start developing capacity and talent base to then become part of that future indigenous-led policing force.

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

Are we actually contemplating having a national police force, something like the RCMP, which would be separate?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

No. It wouldn't be national in scope, because each indigenous community or region has a different reality, and in some cases different customary codes. The idea is to enable first nations communities or regions to have policing and safety programs that are specific to their own area and their own cultural realities, and use their own members.

For example, many communities talk about the need for—I don't even know the right term—public safety officers, people who are engaged with the community in a preventative way, prior to needing enforcement in the classic way that we might think about it.

Those kinds of ideas are, in some cases, very historical for first nations groups. It's about peacekeeping prior to having to enforce the law. They would be very specific to each community or region. That's how we're anticipating it would unfold.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Mr. Powlowski.

Go ahead, Mrs. Gill. You have six minutes.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the minister and her entire team for being here today.

The minister said that first nations knew best what was right for them, and I agree with her.

In the course of our studies, the committee met with Chief Lance Haymond, from the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador. He spoke about the housing shortage, which is the number one priority of first nations in Quebec. First nations representatives from every province and territory told us the same thing, in fact. The chief said that first nations were ready, that they knew what their needs were, that they put a figure on the solutions and that they had the necessary strategies.

The department set a goal to eliminate the housing shortage by 2030. The $3.9 billion it had allocated to first nations in Quebec over five years will not fill the housing gap. With the population explosion, the funding will not meet the needs. The government allocated the $3.9 billion in 2018, but the situation has changed and the demand is even greater now.

My question is pretty straightforward. It's about the $3.9 billion. Does any of that funding appear in the budget? What does the government have planned for short-term investments? The target is 2030. That was what the government promised, but it's clear that the problem won't be fixed by 2030. What does the government plan to do? What proportion of that funding is included in the budget? If you don't have the figures with you, you can get back to us.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Thanks for your passion for housing. I agree that it's a critical ingredient to anybody's success.

The stories I've heard—

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Yes, Mr. McLeod.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Mr. Chairman, I have a hearing issue. There's a significant difference between the volume on the interpreter versus the minister's volume. I'm playing with this button on and off, and every time it switches, it's just about blowing what hearing I do have left out of my ears.

Is there any way we could get that balanced, so that I don't have to be switching back and forth?

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

We'll pause for a second to see if we can answer your question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

We'll resume. Thank you for your forbearance everyone.

I think you were in the middle of an answer, Minister.