Debates of March 30th, 1998

Aboriginal Affairs

[Mike Scott, Reform, Skeena, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Tsuu T'ina reserve suffered a tragic loss last week with the deaths of Connie and Ty Jacobs. This is a very wealthy reserve, a reserve of just over 1,000 people which took in $20 million last year alone.

The reserve, the government and the minister should have done better by Connie Jacobs and her family.

Will the minister now agree to stop digging in her heels and authorize a full public inquiry into the social and economic conditions that led up to this terrible tragedy?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I might take the advice of the hon. member seriously if I felt he had any credibility at all on aboriginal issues. His party has not read or understood the work of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. His party has not read or understood the response to that work from this side of the House in Gathering Strength.

We have a comprehensive approach that focuses on the issues of welfare reform, the provision of infrastructure, the strengthening of education, all things that will help build a stronger Tsuu T'ina Nation and other first nations in the country.

[Mike Scott, Reform, Skeena, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear the minister tell that to the people of the Tsuu T'ina reserve. I emphasize the $20 million to a thousand people including children, but this issue goes far deeper than money.

This morning an Alberta native elder advised me that Connie Jacobs' family also wants an investigation “into all of the conditions that created the situation that led up to the shooting”.

Why will the minister not commit here and now to carry out the wishes of Connie's family and order a public inquiry? What is she trying to hide?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, on September 11, 1997, the hon. member for Skeena said “The Tsuu T'ina band have used their wealth to build themselves into one of the most self-sufficient and successful bands in this country”.

I have to ask the hon. member why all of a sudden he has changed his point of view. Why is it that only when there is a tragedy or an issue of division the hon. member raises issues in support of aboriginal people.

The answers to these questions and the challenges are with us. They are about building in partnership strong aboriginal nations with accountable transparent governments.

Health

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, with the millennium scholarship fund it established to promote its own visibility, the federal government once again made a blunder by invading an area of provincial jurisdiction. Now, the Minister of Health is about to do the same with home care services.

Considering what is happening in the education sector, does the minister not believe that he should immediately change his position before it is too late and stay away from home care, which is a provincial—not federal—jurisdiction?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, my intention is simply to discuss with the provinces our shared priorities in the health care sector, which includes home care or community care. We are moving toward ambulatory care, as Minister Rochon is doing in Quebec. It is important to have a community care infrastructure to support the shift toward ambulatory care.

I intend to discuss a joint approach with Quebec and the other provinces, and to reach an agreement with them on what is a priority for Canadians.

Apec

[Beth Phinney, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The APEC meeting in Vancouver was an important event for the economy of British Columbia. What action is the government planning to ensure the conference leaves a lasting legacy?

[Ted McWhinney, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government is using funds left over from the recent APEC conference to grant $4 million for the new international centre for dialogue in Vancouver at Simon Fraser University's downtown campus. It will be a world conference centre for specialized professional and academic scientific reunions. It will have the most advanced state of the art communications and translation facilities.

The new centre will not merely commemorate the APEC reunion in Vancouver. It will also symbolize Vancouver's role as North America's prime gateway to the Pacific and a world metropolis for the 21st century.

Correctional Service Canada

[Myron Thompson, Reform, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago a local newspaper reported that 23 inmates at the Kingston Penitentiary for Women were given LSD as part of a psychiatric experiment in the early sixties.

The report says that CSC can only locate 2 of the 23 inmates and that the other 21 files have gone mysteriously missing. Is this a Somalia sequel or what is going on here? Are we to shut down CSC for a day to find these missing files?

My question is for the solicitor general. Other than advertising in the newspaper, what is his department doing to find these 21 victims?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the member for wild guess—I am sorry, Wild Rose—is wrong again as usual.

The fact remains that many people involved in this file do not wish to come forward. In many cases they have been pardoned. They are remarried. Sometimes their partners are not aware of their past.

This is a very serious and delicate matter and I urge the hon. member to deal with it as a very serious and delicate matter.

Merchant Navy Veterans

[Peter Goldring, Reform, Edmonton East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in 1995 changes were made to the last post fund legislation to allow merchant navy veterans to be buried in cemeteries as Canadian war veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes these merchant navy sailors as veterans when they die but will not officially recognize them as war veterans when they are alive.

Can the minister explain why Canada's merchant navy sailors must pass on from this land in order to be recognized by this land?

[Fred Mifflin, Liberal, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Secretary of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency)]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows that is not true. He also knows that the current legislation which governs merchant seamen was passed in 1992. This legislation extended equal veterans rights to wartime merchant seamen. It provided them with the same rights to all the benefits that were currently available to the armed forces, not a few, not some, but all of the benefits.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Gordon Earle, NDP, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I rise at the request of the Dene community of Deline, Northwest Territories.

The community calls on the ministers for health, Indian affairs and natural resources to meet with them to discuss the radiation deaths of their men and women and to address the loss to their families, culture and community.

I ask the Deputy Prime Minister on behalf of the Prime Minister to give assurance to the Dene that the ministers will meet with the community and this grave injustice will be dealt with honourably.

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, in partnership with my colleague, the Minister of Natural Resources, we are looking into the history associated with this particularly difficult circumstance.

It behoves us to understand the circumstances as they have occurred over the course of time. Indeed we will be involving the Dene people as we further our understanding of this investigation.

[Gordon Earle, NDP, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Dene community has outlined a plan for essential response and necessary redress. This is a constructive response to the radioactive contamination of the human and biophysical environment as a result of uranium mining activities by the federal crown.

Will the Deputy Prime Minister assure the Dene of Deline on Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories that his ministers will respect the community's request?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, just to reiterate, the government takes this circumstance extremely seriously. My colleagues and I are looking at the history associated with this. We will act to include the Dene people in our review. We are taking a very responsible and focused approach to this.

Hepatitis C

[Greg Thompson, Progressive Conservative, Charlotte, NB]

Mr. Speaker, according to the minister in his previous answer to me he said that they identified the principle on which they acted. I think everyone on this side of the House has told him that principle is obviously flawed.

I am quoting the minister now from February. In the Globe and Mail in February he said “This compensation package is about compassion, about fairness and appropriate compensation to people who were injured through no fault of their own”. How can he actually stand up in his place and say that this package is fair when it excludes 40,000 Canadians who are hurting?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the member is entitled to his view.

I can tell him that ministers of health from across the country looked at this tragedy. They decided that the period 1986 to 1990 is set apart from all the rest of the history because it was a period during which something could have been done to change what happened.

Before that, it is very difficult to distinguish the tragedy of those who were infected before 1986 from those who have an adverse outcome from any part of the health or the medical system when people act in good faith and unintended consequences occur.

[Greg Thompson, Progressive Conservative, Charlotte, NB]

Mr. Speaker, in the gallery today are members of that hepatitis C group who were not compensated.

The question for the minister is this. Instead of sneaking out the back door as he did in Toronto, is he prepared to meet them immediately following question period?

[The Speaker]

If the Minister of Health wants to answer that question, I will permit it. The hon. Minister of Health.

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the member can play to the gallery if he chooses, but this minister sat with his fellow ministers in front of those very victims on Friday. We sat there for an extended period taking questions from the victims. This minister has met with those representatives. This minister has spoken to the members of the Hepatitis C Society. He has met with the victims of before 1986. Then this minister made a decision and that is my responsibility.

Environment

[Charles Caccia, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of the Environment.

Ontario Hydro has apparently decided not to outfit an oil-burning power plant in eastern Ontario with the easily installed equipment necessary to reduce polluting nitrogen oxides. This decision will result in pollution which is seriously damaging.

Will the minister seek an opportunity to raise the matter with her Ontario colleague and urge a reversal of this decision?

[Christine Stewart, Liberal, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for raising this important issue here in the House.

Certainly the Ontario ministry has spoken to me about its concern with sources of air pollution coming from south of the border into the province. I will take the opportunity to speak to the province to make sure that it takes every effort to minimize sources of air pollution within the province of Ontario to ensure it does not affect Ontario citizens and citizens in other parts of Canada.

Financial Institutions

[Werner Schmidt, Reform, Kelowna, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this question is for the minister or parliamentary secretary who is in charge of financial institutions.

Canadians are being denied the right to choose freely. Large financial institutions, like banks, are bullying, intimidating and forcing certain individuals, consumers, to move their RRSPs for example from their independent investment dealers to the bank as a condition to get a loan. This is called tied selling.

When will the Liberal government stop this bullying and intimidating tactic by financial institutions?

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Finance.