Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Oct. 28th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you very much, Mr. Melillo.

We are now moving to our last questioner in the third round, which will be our last round.

Mr. Carr, you have five minutes.

[Ben Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.

My first question will be for Minister Hajdu.

Minister, I was quite blessed to enjoy a career as an educator—as a teacher, a coach and a principal. During that time, I was able to work alongside many kids and their families. In particular, I worked with many indigenous families in the northwest part of the city of Winnipeg. Unfortunately, for many of those families and others, a variety of reasons we understand quite well—intergenerational trauma, the poverty that comes from that and other substantial socio-economic issues—made it challenging for a lot of those kids to find success, relative to their peers.

In Winnipeg, just a couple of weeks ago, Minister Vandal and I, alongside others, joined Minister Sudds and Minister Freeland to make an announcement of $17.3 million, which will add on to a contribution the provincial government in Manitoba already made for a school food program. It is the second province in the country, in addition to Newfoundland and Labrador, to do so. Winnipeg has one of the largest urban indigenous populations in the country, I believe. It's about 100,000 plus in our municipality.

Can you speak generally, Minister, about the importance of programs like this and give us your perspective and perhaps concern when you hear individuals, such as the Leader of the Opposition, refer to these critically important social programs as nothing more than mere bureaucracy?

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

What a fantastic question. I think the big difference between Liberal policy and Conservative policy, to my mind, is that Conservatives don't understand that in order to actually fight crime, you have to prevent crime. You prevent crime by building up communities. You prevent crime by making sure that people have access to quality education and their bellies are full while you do it. You prevent crime by making sure that people feel like they, too, and their children, have a fair chance to succeed.

These guys want to focus on putting everybody in jail. I can tell you that there aren't enough jail spaces available to deal with the issues that you're raising, actually, as an educator. When children go to school hungry, when they're not well supported, when families don't have what they need to be able to help their children thrive, we all pay—and we pay a big price. It's not just crime, as you know. It's very expensive to leave people neglected in our communities.

This is the fundamental difference between Conservative politicians and Liberal politicians. We believe in our communities, and we believe in the possibility of our communities. That's why the school food program is so important.

[Ben Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thanks very much, Minister. I did happen to catch on my left, while you were answering, a comment from a colleague across the way: Why are they hungry? Well, they're hungry because generations' worth of policies on the part of previous governments, both Liberal and Conservative alike, have contributed to detrimental conditions for indigenous peoples, and we continue to live with those realities.

However, having said that, take into account some of the other substantial policy investments that we have made. For example, when it comes to the Canada child benefit, we've said this to families: Hey, do you know what we're going to do? We're actually going to scale this to income, because we recognize that people who have a household combined income of $500,000 a year and two kids don't need the same help that perhaps a single mother or father living in the centre or northwest part of Winnipeg needs.

When we combine the ecosystem with those types of investments, in addition to the foundation we're laying with the school food program and a variety of other steps that we've made, inclusive of that $650-million health care transfer to the Province of Manitoba—in partnership with a government in Manitoba that, I think, we haven't seen over the course of the past decade while there was a Conservative government that decimated the education and health care system in Manitoba—I think that we're finally starting to move in the right direction.

Because it will be perhaps my last opportunity to speak with Minister Vandal, I just quickly would like him to address Churchill, Manitoba. This is near and dear, of course, to many in Manitoba, but part of the reason that it's very dear to me is that my late father spent much of his time as a minister in this government working to advance the interests of the people of Churchill and the town of Churchill.

Minister, very quickly, can you just give us a lay of the land in terms of how those investments that we've made over the years are allowing the town of Churchill to succeed, and where you suspect we're going to be moving forward in order to help build on that foundation?

Thank you.

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

That's a great question. Since 2016, our government's invested well over $300 million to bring back the port of Churchill, which was nearly shuttered by the time Stephen Harper left office. We've invested, $300 million later, with Arctic Gateway Group, the indigenous owners of Churchill. The good news is that we now have a provincial government that is eager and willing to partner with us to invest for the good people of Churchill and for all the many first nations people down the rail line that leads to Churchill.

I know there's going to be good news coming in the not-too-distant future.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you very much.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Chair, I have a point of order I'd like raise.

Yes, Chair, I have a question of privilege I'd like to put before you. As I mentioned earlier, we had an instance today where ministers were asked direct questions by multiple different members of the opposition. They refused to answer some; they prevaricated in response to others. I believe you will find that this is a matter touching on the privileges of members. If you so find, I'm prepared to move the appropriate motion.

Witnesses are not allowed to just refuse to answer direct questions. Whether they are ministers or other witnesses, that is the rule of the process—hence, the question of privilege. I look forward to your ruling on that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

I'm just going to pause for one second here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

I appreciate the question that was brought forward by Mr. Genuis. It's something I want to take some time to think about. I will report back to the committee at our next meeting, after I've had a chance to think about this and review the blues of the meeting today. I will come back to the committee with a decision on that, and we'll be able to move forward from that point.

I do want to thank the ministers and witnesses for being here today for two hours answering questions.

Before excusing members, I just want to mention that a lot of members have asked for an extension on the amendments to be provided. We're going to extend that until midnight tomorrow. Make sure that you submit any of your amendments in writing before that point, so we're able to have that tabulated and put in a place so that we can start clause-by-clause consideration on Thursday morning.

With that, is it the will of the committee to adjourn?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed:

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

The meeting is adjourned.