Status of Women Committee on April 26th, 2022

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Yes.

May I continue, Madam Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Did you get the answer to the question from Ms. Redsky?

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

I did have difficulty hearing the response, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Andréanne, did she get the answer from Ms. Redsky, or would you like to ask that question again. I have stopped the clock for you.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

It's true that there was a lot of feedback.

Ms. Redsky, after nodding, you added something.

My question was this. Has the long-standing refusal to sign the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples contributed to the exploitation of indigenous peoples by companies?

I would like you to repeat your answer. You can also add to it.

[Diane Redsky]

Thank you. I said yes, and this is another example of not signing on to UNDRIP, and thus not valuing the strengths and the inherent rights of indigenous people in Canada, which has implications that bring us here today and what we're talking about.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

That's fine.

I would now like to ask a more general question, which all witnesses can answer.

There is a need to consider economic development in some communities, as well as security and violence reduction. A balance must be struck between economic development, women's safety and environmental protection. Sometimes such projects can have an impact on the surrounding resources. I know how important, even essential, the protection of the environment, of Mother Earth, is for indigenous peoples.

Can you talk about this balance between the economy, women's safety and the protection of resources and the environment?

[Diane Redsky]

It's really important to acknowledge those natural laws that are inherent in the lives of those in our first nations communities.

I will make reference to one, Grand Council Treaty No. 3, which is one of many that I hope this committee explores. It has a Great Earth Law. Reading that law will really help you understand how everything is interconnected—valuing the connection to the land, water and sky, and also to the implication of what happens to people. We really have to look at this as holistic. Indigenous peoples and the first peoples have been on that from time immemorial with their natural laws. They do exist and would be helpful for this process.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 15 more seconds.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

I did understand that we can't just consider the economy and women's safety, and that we must also consider environmental protection. That is what I took from your statement, Ms. Redsky.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're going to pass it over for the next six minutes to Leah Gazan.

Leah, you have the floor.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much, Chair.

Thank you to all of the witnesses for being here.

I've heard a number of questions during committee. We very often talk about economic prosperity in terms of resource development. I think often in this discussion, particularly in places like the House of Commons, we forget that the prosperity of this country was built upon and continues to be built upon the exploitation of lands, territories and resources. The peoples in indigenous territories...that the reason we suffer from poverty is from development in the absence of lifting up human rights and involvement.

My first question is for Diane Redsky, whom I am privileged to work with in Winnipeg, and know very well. You spoke about sexual predators. One of the reasons this study is so important is the reality that we have many sexual predators who come into our community and work in these industries, and don't have safety checks or criminal record checks. As a result of that, we've seen a lot of sexual exploitation of women, girls and two-spirited, from as young as little kids. I heard a report of a young 13-year-old girl, in fact, in B.C.

Could you please paint a picture about how this sexual exploitation crisis around resource extraction companies impacts the health and wellness of communities? I know I only have six minutes, but I'll start with that and move forward.

Thank you.

[Diane Redsky]

Thank you, Leah. It's nice to see you.

There are two important things. It's really as basic as having men with money who are transient. You're going to have forms of sexual exploitation and violence. Through the national task force, as well as my experience working in an organization providing family violence support services, I have to say those are pretty consistent, almost guaranteed dynamics that exist. The impact on those communities and the women in those communities is terrible.

We also have to remember that these industries promote, allow or don't do anything about it. Silence is the same as consent. They do nothing about the violence that is being perpetuated. There really is an important role and responsibility in all of that.

Again, I want to draw this committee to the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission report that is really outlining what is happening in northern Manitoba. There is a lot of opportunity to not only learn from that report but also to ensure that our leadership is involved in developing those solutions.

Meegwetch.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much.

My next question is for Madame Varley.

Call for justice 13.5 calls for resource development industries, government and service providers “to anticipate and recognize increased demand on social infrastructure because of development projects”, and social infrastructure to be expanded “to meet the anticipated needs of the host communities”. We have numerous examples of what this looks like on the ground.

Briefly, can you tell me what that would look like? Is there currently adequate funding being provided to communities to make sure that communities can mitigate and put in place a proper safety plan for women, girls and two-spirit?

[Leslie Varley]

The biggest issue in northwestern B.C., where there's a pipeline going in, is in anticipation of all the housing needs. All the spare housing got taken up and all the worst housing, which is the housing that indigenous single-parent families are in, with mouldy, cold basements, even those went into impossible rental levels for indigenous families. We render a lot of indigenous people homeless even at the start of any major industrial project because those folks come in, swoop in, and buy up all the housing and stuff because they know they're going to live there for a few years.

That's the biggest issue, making sure that we're creating that safe housing for people.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I have a question on that because I'm running out of time. Would you say that the resource extraction is taking up space, is resulting in exacerbating the housing crisis in nations?

[Leslie Varley]

Yes, absolutely.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you.

Is there anything else? I think we have a couple more seconds.

Chair, is that right?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 33 more seconds.

[Leslie Varley]

Then again, I'm really troubled by this concept of finding a balance between violence, essentially, and resource development. I really think that we need to have zero tolerance for violence against indigenous women and demand that of the resource sector. I think that's an important change that we need to make in our sector, but again, it's housing, it's resources, it's access to food security. Child care becomes a big issue. Every single area of a family's expenses and outgoing costs are impacted when resource industries come to town. They don't actually benefit the people who are on the lower end of the financial spectrum. They get bumped out and their housing situations get awful and then the family becomes destabilized.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're now going to go into our second round, so to begin we'll have five minutes with Shelby Kramp-Neuman.

Shelby, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I'll start by suggesting that the safety of women and girls is important and all possible impacts of resource development need to be explored.

Leslie, you mentioned zero tolerance, and indeed I think of course that would be a goal.

Deb Greig, you raised the question of who plays the role in educating industry about resource development? I couldn't agree more. The government, industry and communities all need to be proactive.

We also heard earlier that there's often a link between poverty and violence, and further, that there is a link between resource development and economic reconciliation.

My first question would be for either Leslie Varley or Deb Greig. What current resources do you see that are currently being used to gauge the situation? What kind of enforcement is happening? Are the numbers consistent across the board?

[Dr. Debbra Greig]

I'm sorry, I don't have the statistics. I can't really see what else is going on. I can only see from my little community, which is Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory, and there are no resources. It's a mess. Everything that comes is short term. Everything that comes is not adequate. Everything that comes is not dealing with the base problem, which is the healing of the people.

[Leslie Varley]

My answer is the same. We don't have the resources to address the increase in violence against indigenous women and girls, particularly in the northwest, where the pipeline is going through. There have been no additional resources that I'm aware of that have been sent to indigenous women and girls.

I gave you the example of their resources. They came in there with their safety plan, which they hadn't bothered to consult a single indigenous woman on, and it was a ridiculous plan.

There are no resources and there should be. I agree with Diane Redsky that it's inevitable that there's going to be violence, even though we expect zero tolerance and we know that we are the commodity. At the end of the day, that gets tossed aside.

Why isn't the industry going in ahead of time and setting up some really strong resources with community, by and for indigenous women and girls? I think that's an important question.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

I'll ask another short question of Diane Redsky for clarification.

Earlier, you had an exchange with my colleague with regard to a program in Quebec. Could you possibly share the name of the program or the company itself?