Evidence of meeting #135 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Liberal
Brendan Hanley Liberal Yukon, YT
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. What I heard withdrawn was the word “lie”, but what I heard Mr. Cooper state was “liar”. I think the word that needs to be withdrawn is “liar”.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Jamie Schmale
At least I knew what he meant. I knew what he meant.
Okay. Mr. Cooper—
December 5th, 2024 / 9:30 a.m.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Edmonton, AB
Mr. Boissonnault, you're continuing to mislead committee. You did so today yet again. You said in your opening statement that all of the cloud of scandal and corruption reported in the media occurred after you had been elected in October 2021, but you know that isn't true, because you were a partner at Global Health Imports in June 2020. Is that correct?
Conservative
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Edmonton, AB
That is the very time that Global Health Imports, purporting to be wholly indigenous-owned, submitted an application or a bid on a federal contract.
Why did you say that all of the allegations occurred after you had left Global Health Imports as a partner because you were elected, when in fact you knew that this wasn't true?
One of the very material issues before this committee is that you have falsely represented yourself, or your company was falsely represented, as being indigenous. That occurred while you were not just a 50% owner but one of the two partners at the company. Why did you mislead the committee this morning on that?
Liberal
Randy Boissonnault Liberal Edmonton Centre, AB
Mr. Cooper, nothing could be further from the truth. As I've stated very clearly, I was not involved in any federal work whatsoever in any of my businesses, and I confirmed that with the Ethics Commissioner. Mr. Anderson was solely—
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Edmonton, AB
Those were your words [Inaudible—Editor]. Why did you mislead the committee? Why did you mislead the committee?
Liberal
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Jamie Schmale
Your time is up.
Mr. Carr, go ahead on a point of order. Then we go to the Liberals.
Liberal
Ben Carr Liberal Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Mr. Chair, Mr. Cooper very clearly heard you say on three occasions that his time was up, yet he took to the microphone again. I think that is a clear attempt to disrespect your authority in the chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Jamie Schmale
I appreciate that. I appreciate the co-operation of all members here.
We're going to the Liberals now for five minutes.
Ms. Gainey, you have five minutes.
Liberal
Anna Gainey Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Boissonnault, for joining us here this morning.
An earlier part of the questioning made me think of one of our colleagues and the question around language. I have a quote here from Zoe Miller, who is a Mohawk teacher, among other things.
She stated:
Learning a little bit about a different language is an excellent way to learn about the people around you and the land on which you stand, and it helps to bridge the gap [between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities]. This is what reconciliation ought to look like.
She taught Mohawk to our colleague Minister Miller, which he worked very hard to learn and deliver in the House of Commons, which I think at the time really made a meaningful mark on this exercise that we've all been very diligently trying to participate in while learning quite a lot along the way.
I wanted to raise that with respect to your interest in Cree, learning Cree and maybe contributing here and there to the use of the language. I think that it shows an interest and a commitment to learning about others. That's just a positive contribution I wanted to make in this conversation this morning.
A lot has been said. I'm just wondering in these minutes if there's anything else that you would like a chance to add here that hasn't been addressed or that was cut short. I'd like to give you the floor.
Liberal
Randy Boissonnault Liberal Edmonton Centre, AB
Thank you, Ms. Gainey. I really appreciate that.
Look, I also heard Minister Miller speak Blackfoot when we were in southern Alberta. It was very well received by that first nation.
Let me go back to the last line of questioning.
Mr. Anderson should never have applied for a federal contract through funds reserved for indigenous people. There's no scope for the company we ran to be 100% indigenous. He did that without my knowledge or consent. I found out about it in the news. I'm very happy that the safeguards in place prevented the company from getting that contract. If you take a look at the actual information request, you'll see that only Mr. Anderson was corresponding with the federal government.
Ms. Gainey, it's very important that the monies our government set aside for indigenous peoples are accessed by indigenous peoples. I think this committee has very important work to do to make sure that all necessary safeguards are in place to do that work and to prevent anybody who's not indigenous from accessing those funds.
Liberal
Anna Gainey Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
Based on this experience, which I know has been difficult on a few fronts, are there any other lessons you would take from this? You mentioned a couple of suggestions that you think this committee could probably look at a little more closely in moving forward. Do you have any other insights based on what you are going through, in terms of how we can do better as parliamentarians in tackling these kinds of challenges?
Liberal
Randy Boissonnault Liberal Edmonton Centre, AB
Maybe there's a role when we become MPs, or regardless of how long we've been MPs, to sit down with indigenous peoples and get a sense of how we share stories. How can we be an ally and a champion, and tell and share stories, without crossing any line and tell a story that is more than our own? I think it's about understanding how we can go beyond a land acknowledgement, which is very important.
To your point, what is the sensitive approach to using language? I enjoy sharing the words of Cree I know when I'm at an event. I use those words of Cree with one of my elder friends, because she's teaching me the words. She likes to see me use the words when I text her. If we can figure out how to navigate these waters in a thoughtful and respectful way that doesn't cause any harm or bring any pain to indigenous people, it could be a very constructive use of this committee's time.
This is also a very good onboarding experience for new MPs—and seasoned MPs, because this space also changes. In the 10 years since I came up with the term I referred to myself with, I have learned more about my own family's history.
I think that this calibration, if you will, and that ability to be sensitive in this space, as parliamentarians, is very important.
Liberal
Anna Gainey Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
I agree. It's been a privilege to learn, not only as an MP more recently but also as someone involved in the Liberal Party for quite a long time. I've had that opportunity, through our party's commitment to these things, to learn. I see this now in my kids, through their schools. This has grown dramatically.
Really, we've seen a tremendous shift over this last decade of commitment to reconciliation, and to learning better and clearer parts of our history. Language—