Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on March 25th, 2022

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I know, I could talk about it all day long, but there's a lot of work to be done.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Yes, and I would listen to you and discuss it with you, but I was actually asking a question about the funding we need, because the work to be done requires funding to be allocated or increased. You received your mandate letter around the time we asked for more measures.

Has that been reflected in the supplementary estimates?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Not at the moment, and if it has, it doesn't reflect the real needs, because there's going to be a fair amount of sorting out to do. The committee should expect to see more spending that reflects this effort internally, but also externally.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Minister.

I understand your empathy and the work you want to do, but I'm thinking of the members of all first nations and the questions they're asking us about funding. They're telling us that some residential school survivors are seeing their time run out and they'd like to make peace with the past.

I have a question about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action 72 to 76. In the Supplementary Estimates (C) 2021-2022, your department plans to provide just over $40 million in grants to implement these calls. In addition, $33.8 million was announced in the 2019 budget and it took until 2021 to re-announce $27 million from this envelope.

How are you going to ensure that the funding you are planning to grant can be used in a practical way so that first nations stop waiting?

Thank you.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Even though it's still partial, I'll give you a slightly more complete picture of the commitments that have been made.

If I'm not mistaken, our department, for one, has promised $78 million to the first nations and the communities concerned to carry out research and digs on their territory. This does not include the funds that have been granted by Indigenous Services Canada and Canadian Heritage.

To get a full picture—

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Is it used—

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

To get a full picture, you would have to look at the commitments we made just before the election, which amounted to about $320 million. I would like to think that the requests will go beyond that, but it's a long-term job.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Would it be possible to send us a full picture?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

We're trying to produce one, following the election and the rollout of money that we've done very recently. I don't know if it's something my team could—

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

You give them work.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

You can expect to receive a full breakdown in May.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Mrs. Gill.

Just before we go to Ms. Idlout, Mr. Quan-Watson, did you find the number you were looking for to answer Mrs. Gill?

[Daniel Quan-Watson]

We think we did, but to be absolutely sure we got it right, we would like to do our checks, if we can, and get it to you later.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

That's fine, that's acceptable.

Ms. Idlout, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you.

You mentioned climate change and clean energy. I am sure you are well aware that all of the Nunavut communities use diesel fuel. How much of the investment you mentioned will go towards a transition to renewable energy in Nunavut?

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

We do know that climate change is very real. We know that the effects of climate change are more drastic in the north than the south. In our funding we realize that we have to do a better job of bringing green energy to the north, to all the territories, including Nunavut.

Through programs like Northern REACHE, Climate Change Preparedness in the North, and Indigenous Community-Based Climate Monitoring, our government is partnering with indigenous nations to address climate change through work in their communities. I've been to Rankin Inlet and I've seen a very creative program that has elders working with young people to monitor the ice levels as a way to share the knowledge and the information with the local community.

I'm also working very closely with the Kivalliq Corporation, which is working on the Kivalliq fibre optic hydroelectricity line to bring hydro up from Manitoba Hydro in northern Manitoba all the way up to the Kivalliq region so that they can get off diesel. That's something that the Canada Infrastructure Bank is now involved in, as is CanNor, which has supported that in the past. There will be some very exciting announcements into the future.

As you know, we want to follow a policy to be net zero by 2050. That means having some very aggressive initiatives all over Canada, including in the north. We want to, as part of a policy, replace all of the diesel that's being used in the north with alternative, greener, more sustainable forms of energy.

If you want specific dollar figures, I will maybe turn it over to our deputy minister or the associate deputy minister to provide very specific numbers.

[Paula Isaak, Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs]

I don't have specific numbers with me right now, but we can certainly follow up in writing on the figures for the programs the minister just mentioned that are supporting these projects to transition to clean energy.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you.

Also, if you could, how much are you setting aside? That energy, the power plants are very old in Nunavut. They need to be refurbished or new ones built altogether. How much have you budgeted for upgrading and updating the power plants in Nunavut?

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

I have found a number on protecting the environment, just to go back. It's $55 million for climate change adaptation and clean energy, which is an increase of $20 million, but we realize that's simply Northern Affairs. There are other government departments, including Environment and Climate Change and NRCan.

We're taking a whole-of-government approach to the whole issue of climate change and green energy, where there are many more hundreds of millions of dollars that will be invested in Canada. To actually pinpoint it for the north, we'd have to get you that information at a later time.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

I have one more question regarding oil tanks and power plants, which are very old infrastructure. Do you have any idea when you plan to upgrade those? How much have you budgeted for those upgrades?

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

It's an excellent question, once again.

We know that infrastructure in all parts of Canada is very old. I would imagine that in the north and the Arctic they're equally old. That is something that's a priority, not only for Northern Affairs, CIRNAC and Indigenous Services. We are taking a whole-of-government approach to that. Again, for specific numbers, we would have to get back to you at a later date.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you, Minister.

I have one quick question about nutrition north. The communities in Nunavut keep telling me that the foods that arrive through nutrition north, which are supposed to be nutritious and healthy, arrive expired. What we are now doing is wasting money on cargo rates. By the time the nutritious food arrives, those products have expired. How will this department take care of making sure that nutritious food is getting to Nunavut not expired? It's a waste of money paying cargo for nothing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

I'm not hearing the translation at this point. Is anybody else hearing it?

I'm sorry, because of time we.... Perhaps in the next round—

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Did I lose my time from interpretation though?

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

No. We were at the time limit, Ms. Idlout.

Perhaps Mr. Vandal can answer that in the second round.