Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise in the House today to speak to the motion brought forward by my colleague from Winnipeg South Centre. I thank her for raising this matter and bringing it before the House for a full day's debate.
It is an issue that is very close to my heart, having served aboriginal people for 10 years in Labrador. Labrador is very much like Canada, in a smaller geographical context, in the sense that we have Métis, first nations and Inuit people. We have land claims that are resolved and unresolved. We have on reserve and off reserve people still looking for resolution of the outstanding, what we call Métis question in Canada, which is before us today as well as others.
The motion speaks to the need to be urgent, the need to move now on issues that are important to aboriginal people such as housing, education, water, sewer systems and health care.
To begin, I want to raise a particular issue which is urgent and it may apply more to the Minister of Health than it does to the minister of education. It is about an HIV-AIDS Labrador project that has been going now for some six years. We have learned in the last couple of months that the funding for this project has been cut.
I do not believe I have to give a lecture on how important health promotion and prevention of these types of sexually transmitted diseases are, not only in our country and in aboriginal communities, but world-wide. It is amazing to see the government cutting the funding. I have raised this with the minister three times and there still has been no action on this file. If I could be so bold, I would appeal, through this forum, to the Minister of Health or the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development to deal with the issue now. I would hope this is not indicative of the government's plans or attitude toward aboriginal health programs. If it is, it is a sorry state of how we will go forward.
I do not believe Canadians will stand for a government which ignores the most social and needy people in our society. I do not say that in the sense of them being inferior. I say that because it is a reality that exists in Canada, and we have to deal with that reality.
Many aboriginal people in Labrador and elsewhere in the country see ourselves as contributors. Sometimes during debate there is a sense of minimizing aboriginal people, that somehow aboriginal people are a problem that needs to be dealt with. We are Canadians. There are issues that need to be addressed and the Kelowna accord was one of those interventions that would have helped aboriginal people.
It is also interesting that the Kelowna accord invested money over and above the other initiatives that had already been announced by the Liberal government. It had $1.3 billion to address health care issues among Canada's aboriginal communities. That was on top of the $700 million we were investing. That was on top of the $1.3 billion for the first nations and Inuit health program in 2003.
I and my colleagues on the Liberal side are concerned and certainly Canadians are concerned about the short-sighted decision of the Conservatives to turn their backs on Kelowna. I believe that means we are turning our back on progress and setting back the clock. It is one thing to claim to support the objectives of the Kelowna accord, but it is another thing if that support does not come with any meaningful financial commitment.
The Kelowna accord had the support of provincial and territorial leaders and aboriginal leadership across Canada. The Kelowna accord was going to work for people in Labrador and for people throughout our great country. We were not only looking forward to the elements of Kelowna to help in terms of health care funding, but in all the other areas that were mentioned.
For instance, Kelowna had budgeted $1.6 billion for housing and infrastructure. It is depressing to think that this commitment will not be honoured by the current government.
I think about the Métis community of Black Tickle, which still needs water and sewer systems. I would challenge the ministers on the opposite side of the House, the Conservative ministers, to go to a place like Black Tickle and say that Kelowna was just a press release, that it did not mean anything.
There was hope in that accord. It meant something tangible for aboriginal people, not only in Black Tickle, because there are many Black Tickles in this country, but for all aboriginal people in all their communities.
As well, we made some advancements in terms of housing and infrastructure under the Liberal government, but more was needed. Kelowna offered that to people, such as those in Nain and in Hopedale on the north coast of Labrador.
Truly, I do worry about aboriginal policy under the government. Not only did we have the unfortunate episode earlier in this session with the statements made by the member that the Prime Minister appointed to the chair of the aboriginal affairs committee, we also had the comments from another government caucus member who described first nations reserves as “Marxist paradises”. This is a disturbing symptom of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Reserves, or Marxist paradises, as the hon. member described them, are so bad that the Innu First Nation of Sheshatshiu wants to expedite its process of establishing a reserve for its community. These Marxist paradises are so bad that the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, during the election, called on the federal parties to expedite that process as well. Indeed, even the Prime Minister, to some credit, promised to proceed in a timely fashion on establishing the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation. Unfortunately, this process has not been expedited in any way. It would put the Innu on the same legal footing as other first nations in Canada.
Friday before last, I attended the high school graduation in Sheshatshiu. It was a very special occasion. Too often we hear only negative news about aboriginal communities, but this was a good news story. It was one of the largest graduating classes in recent memory. Nearly the whole community joined in the celebration. There is a new emphasis on education in aboriginal communities like Sheshatshiu and it is paying dividends. Labrador Innu, Inuit and Métis youth are graduating from high school and going on to post-secondary education in growing numbers.
The Kelowna accord would have provided a further $1.8 billion in funding for education programs for aboriginal peoples in Canada. This was a commitment from the government and the people of Canada, not just a Liberal commitment. This is a commitment that the Conservatives have reneged on.
I worry as well about what this might mean for future graduating classes in the Innu communities of Sheshatshiu and Natuashish, in Inuit communities such as Rigolet or Makkovik, and in Métis communities like Cartwright, North West River or St. Lewis. We have to ask the question: will aboriginal students have the resources they need in the years to come under the Conservative government?
Last year, my first major speech in the House of Commons was on the bill to implement the Labrador Inuit land claim and self-government agreement. This agreement was over three decades in the making. Some people might think there is no progress, but I have seen progress and certainly have been a party to some of the progress made under the Liberal government. I am proud to stand here, I might add, as a Liberal and an aboriginal person. Not everything was right and not everything was perfect, but I am proud to stand here as a Liberal and an aboriginal person.
Three decades ago, it would have been unthinkable that aboriginal peoples would have had such a direct hand in resource development such as Voisey's Bay. It would have been unthinkable. We have been making some progress. It is foolish to think that all the hard work we have all put in has been for naught. It has not. We have made progress, we make to make more, and Kelowna offered that.
That is why it is so important that we move forward with this historic agreement. It is so important because the honour of the Crown, the honour of the Government of Canada and, I believe, the honour of the people of Canada is at stake.
It is almost like an intangible. Real progress comes when there is honour of the Crown and when the fiduciary obligation of the federal government and other levels of government is lived up to. Kelowna is important because of what was real and tangible to people at the community level, but this intangible of the honour of the Crown is also important.
I believe the honour of the Crown was breached by the Conservative government. Not only is it going to take some money for housing or water and sewers, it is going to take relationship building in order to achieve the real progress we need to make in aboriginal communities.