Status of Women Committee on Oct. 8th, 2009

[An hon. member]

A friendly amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

No, this is a brand new motion, I'm sorry; it's not an amendment.

Madame Demers, have you seen it?

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair, I listened carefully to my colleagues. I am pleased to find out that the government has to report to the United Nations on the situation facing Aboriginal women. All the government can do is to report on the current situation. The government cannot report on what has been done to ensure that the situation does not happen again or to ensure that an inquiry is held so we can find out what happened to these missing or murdered young women.

Unfortunately, I do not think that this amendment is sufficient. A report is one thing, but action is another. Reporting on a problem is one thing, but acting on it is another. That is my only reservation. If my colleague wanted to add to my motion, I would be delighted. An addition of that kind would be even better for First Nations women. I would be delighted, because it would say that we are truly concerned and that we truly want to take action in this regard. I am certain that all the women in your community would be satisfied too. There are too many of them, Madam Chair. More than 500 women have been killed or have disappeared, women in the prime of their lives, who had everything to hope for, for whom we have now created programs to help them move forward, to work and to find safe jobs.

Unfortunately, we are not helping them to not disappear and not be killed. In that context, what is the point of all the rest?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Cathy, I would like to say why I say it's a separate motion. It's because the key part of the motion as Nicole made it is to “follow up”. There's an action required other than just reporting on the report. Yours calls for a report only, so it changes the intent of her motion.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Madam Chair, could we perhaps, in the melding of the motions, go with Madame Nicole's right through to “over the past 30 years in Canada” and then say that “whereas” and then have the motion that I have—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

That's what I thought you wanted to do initially, which would have made sense.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Then we would meld the motions, so that after “30 years in Canada”, it would be “whereas”....

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Now I shall read it. It would read:

That the Committee call on the government to follow-up on the reports of both Amnesty International and the United Nations regarding the hundreds of young Aboriginal women who have disappeared or been killed over the past 30 years in Canada; and,

whereas the government is already scheduled to report to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women on the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women, that the government ensure that the report shall also be submitted to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women and that NGOs such as Amnesty International have access to the said report.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Madam Chair, I do not like the word “whereas”. I do not like it, because it is as if we were ignoring what precedes it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

All right. You've made clear you don't like the “whereas”, but I notice Ms. Neville. Does anybody else want to speak? We have Ms. Wong, Madame Boucher, Mr. Harris, and then Ms. Neville.

Alice.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond, BC]

Definitely I know how everybody feels, and I feel the same: that these women have been missing, they have been in a terrible state, and there's been a lot of attention in the past number of years. However, there are two things I need to point out.

First of all, in asking the government to respond and take action with respect to an NGO, probably we start at the president. We probably have a lot of follow-up to do in order for NGOs to present something, and then the government has to do exactly what they propose.

That's why we amended it in such a way that we let them have “the said report”, so that they will know exactly what the government is doing and will be doing and will commit to do.

The other thing is that when you say “actions” and you look at all the action requirements here, there are a good number of things that might.... We don't know what the report will look like and we don't know what follow-up actions the report will propose. Usually in a report there is some kind of recommendation towards the end about what the government has to do.

So I would vote for the amendment. The follow-up is that we wait for the report.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Ms. Wong.

Madame Boucher.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

I'm sorry, Madam Chair, but Madame Demers had asked that the “whereas” be removed. I think we want to clarify the motion we're speaking to before we debate this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We're debating the amendment, actually.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Yes, before we debate the amendment, I'm perfectly happy to take out the “whereas.” We just need something to make it flow together.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We've made a suggestion on how you can flow them both.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

The recommendation is also “since.”

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Let's read what we're suggesting instead of the “whereas” and see what Madame Demers says. At the end of the day we still have to vote on the amendment. It would be:

That the Committee calls on the government to follow up on the report

etc.

...or been killed over the past 30 years in Canada; and also, since the government is already scheduled to report to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women...

etc., that we

....have access to the said report, and that the Committee report this motion to the House as soon as possible.

So we're adding a little piece that is saying that they are going to report, that this committee gets a copy of the report, and that Amnesty International or other NGOs have a copy of the government report that they are going to present to the United Nations.

That's the addition she's adding to yours. It doesn't mean that there isn't going to be a follow-up; you're still asking for a follow-up and are asking for the motion to be reported to the House as soon as possible.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Madam Chair...

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

It's just to know what we're saying before we debate the thing. We're running out of time.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

I am afraid that the government may confuse the report and the action. Madam Chair, I do not want to debate the motion, but there is some confusion. We are told that we will see action when the report is tabled, but, in the meantime, nothing is being done.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

All right. You're speaking against the amendment.

Madame Boucher.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I just want to clarify something. We are all aware of what is happening with regard to Aboriginal women. I was the first to recognize this. We must not forget that we are working in areas of provincial jurisdiction.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Now hang on a moment!

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I just want to make sure that we are working with all of the police forces. Do you understand? To make sure that everyone is working together.

British Columbia must have figures showing what has gone on.