Mr. Speaker, I am going to carry on with my question to the interlocutor for the Metis about first nations housing.
More and more first nations are forced to live off reserve for social and economic reasons, but it does not matter where they live. Either on reserve or off reserve, conditions are appalling, they are disgraceful, they are dangerous, they are cold, they are unheated. They are third world conditions as confirmed by the United Nations. These are Canadian conditions if one is a native person in Canada.
The federal government has a responsibility for accessible social housing, but in particular is responsible for first nations people in this country. Our first nations people should not be dying in garbage dumps in Ontario or freezing to death on city streets. There is enough wealth in this country for everyone.
I received a letter today from the Lubicon which states that in the richest province in one of the richest countries the Lubicon live without even the necessities of life, such as running water and sewage disposal. Families of 10 to 15 people are crowded into a single, uninsulated house with no money to repair even a broken window. Tuberculosis, diabetes and cancer rates have soared. With 95% of the adults unemployed, social ills have taken an enormous toll. All the while, over $9 billion worth of resources have been extracted from Lubicon lands. This is a similar situation faced by first nations people all over the country.
This could be avoided by making the “Gathering Strength” document actually work to treat the first nations as if they are partners, not as if it is a master-servant relationship.
The booklet of the National Aboriginal Housing Association of May 1998 asks for the transfer of housing to be halted. The need for housing can be justified either as a fundamental human right recognized by international law or as an aboriginal right specific to the aboriginal peoples in Canada.
Canada is signatory to many international covenants and conventions, including the United Nations charter. It is involved in the working group which is drafting the universal declaration on indigenous rights. These covenants and conventions were fully discussed in a paper entitled “First Our Lands, Now Our Homes” in response to the urban and rural native housing cutbacks in 1993.
There is absolutely no reason that we cannot properly house the first nations people of this land. They are not in an equal situation and they need housing as a basic human right so they can attain equality in other areas.