House of Commons Hansard #48 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was aboriginal.

Topics

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

David Wilks Conservative Kootenay—Columbia, BC

Mr. Speaker, the regulations that will come into force will be equal to the provincial and territorial requirements in each of the said provinces and/or territories. By ensuring we have one collective system of regulation, we will ensure that we fall in line with the regulations of both the provinces and territories, and the federal government will ensure that occurs as well. It is very important that we have one standard that everyone understands is safe for all Canadians.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe NDP Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General's report on the living conditions in first nations communities says that, in the past five years, conditions have generally not improved and have even deteriorated. I am sure you are aware of this.

The deputy minister said that he had done everything he possibly could and that the government would have to give the department more tools if it wanted the department to do more. The hon. member mentioned legislation on drinking water, which we are very happy about.

However, does the hon. member know whether the government intends to continue to introduce legislative tools to help the department?

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

David Wilks Conservative Kootenay—Columbia, BC

Mr. Speaker, this government fully intends to continue down the road of ensuring that first nations have the best drinking water and waste water treatment centres available to them. We will work with first nations across Canada to ensure that occurs.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

Greg Rickford Conservative Kenora, ON

Mr. Speaker, just to move this discussion a bit further, whether we are talking about first nations or non-first nations communities, we have understood the importance of working on water treatment and waste water treatments. Obviously, the most important goal is residential, but there is also the commercial and industrial capacity. I know this member has been working hard on the committee around economic development.

I am wondering if he sees the economic development that we are looking at, specifically around land use modernization, or whether he sees that in part as a capacity exercise to ensure that first nations have the kind of infrastructure they will need to support a variety of activities, not just safe drinking water and waste water treatment.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:40 p.m.

Conservative

David Wilks Conservative Kootenay—Columbia, BC

Mr. Speaker, certainly we have heard from several people at committee with regard to economic development in first nations reserves. Speaking from the perspective of a former mayor in my community, I know the importance of waste water treatment plants. I know the cost of them. However, the fact of the matter is, to encourage business to come we must have good water and we must have good waste water treatment plants, specifically. If we do not have that business will not come.

Some first nations across this great land have recognized the importance of waste water systems and they are moving forward to ensure that they have the best that is available to them. I believe that if we can encourage that and continue to move that forward on all first nations reserves, we will have a great opportunity for all first nations to become economically sustainable within their first nations communities.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:40 p.m.

NDP

Mike Sullivan NDP York South—Weston, ON

Mr. Speaker, I had the chance a couple of weeks ago to visit the Six Nations reserve near Brantford, Ontario and was astounded to learn that in southern Ontario, in a fairly built up urban landscape, there are 345 residences with no water whatsoever. They must truck water to their homes. This has been a problem for many years. There is already good drinking water on part of the reserve, so I am not sure what regulation is necessary to provide pipes.

Could the member explain to me, perhaps, how it is that the Government of Canada has neglected over many years the ability for these 350-odd residences to actually have drinking water in their homes?

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:40 p.m.

Conservative

David Wilks Conservative Kootenay—Columbia, BC

Mr. Speaker, we will ensure and work toward making sure those people at Six Nations get drinking water to those 325 homes that the member referred to. The infrastructure that is required to be placed into those homes has to be done through whatever means is required: putting pipes in the ground, ensuring they get to the homes, ensuring they are hooked up to the water system, and ensuring they are hooked up to the waste water system.

I am confident that this will occur very quickly. It is unfortunate that it has taken so long, but I can assure the House that our committee and the minister will ensure that it happens sooner than later.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:40 p.m.

Liberal

Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

Mr. Speaker, picture a black and white postcard of a toddler. His face is covered by a rash, his eyes are dark without shine, the headline is “Water is a human right” and the bottom caption reads “Do you have running water? I don't...and I live in Canada, I need your help”.

This card is part of a campaign by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to raise awareness about the lack of safe and clean drinking water on many remote first nations reserves.

Now imagine walking down a path lined by trees to the lake on the Garden Hill First Nation. This is the walk a young boy must make every second day, just so he can break a hole in the ice to draw water for his family.

The former Auditor General Sheila Fraser reported that the government had failed time and again to take measures that would improve the quality of life for first nations. The basics of life, such as adequate housing, clean drinking water, child welfare, education, are persistently and dramatically substandard. As a result, Ms. Fraser said, in her parting words to Parliament:

I am profoundly disappointed to note...that despite federal action in response to our recommendations over the years, a disproportionate number of First Nations people still lack the most basic services that other Canadians take for granted...In a country as rich as Canada, this disparity is unacceptable.

She went on to explain that on first nations reserves conditions are getting worse instead of getting better, and recommended a complete overhaul of federal tools and increased participation of first nations.

Let me provide a specific example. The home of 82-year-old Mr. Taylor, who is a diabetic and requires dialysis every few days, has no bathroom and no running water. The hole in the ice is where he draws his water. The slop pail, a bucket covered by a garbage bag serves as his facilities in his upstairs bedroom. There is an outhouse, but it is inconvenient at minus 40°C.

Not being able to wash can have much more serious health consequences than diarrhea and skin infections. Lack of running water and therefore hand washing, a means of infection control is part of the reason northern Manitoba aboriginal communities were so badly impacted during the H1N1 pandemic.

Over the former Auditor General's 10-year term, her office produced 31 audit reports on aboriginal issues. Last year Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, itself, reported there was little or no progress in the well-being of first nations communities. A gap Ms. Fraser called unacceptable.

She explained that she actually thought it was quite tragic when there is a population in this country that does not have the sword of basic services that Canadians take for granted. Ms. Fraser concluded that too many first nations people still lack clean drinking water.

The federal government has jurisdiction over water on reserves, and provides support and funding to help these communities construct, upgrade and manage on reserve water systems.

Aside from federal policies, administrative guidelines and funding arrangements, there is no regulatory regime covering the quality and safety of drinking water in first nations communities, just as there is no legislation setting out responsibilities for educating children on reserves and no funding is assured.

Bill S-11, an act respecting the safety of drinking water on first nation lands was tabled in Parliament in May 2010, and attempted to address the regulatory void. Bill S-11 would have enabled the federal government to regulate drinking water on reserves, and incorporate and adapt relevant provincial legislation for the needs of first nations communities.

Bill S-11 was met with substantial resistance by first nations groups because it infringed on their jurisdiction. Furthermore, the 2010 Auditor General report warned that it could take years before regulations under Bill S-11 could be developed and fully implemented. The bill died when the federal election was called in the spring of 2011.

Water is essential for life. No living creature can survive without it. Water is a prerequisite for human health and well-being, as well as for the preservation of the environment. Water is the lifeblood of the land and of indigenous peoples who rely upon it.

First nations have, therefore, always viewed water as a sacred trust. From time immemorial, first nations have focused their existence on water; for example, their careful selection of community sites for transportation and harvest from waters. The amount of freshwater on earth is limited and its quality is under constant strain. Preserving the quality of freshwater is important for the drinking water supply, food production and recreational water use. Water quality can be compromised by infectious agents, radiological hazards and toxic chemicals.

Today, nearly two billion people live in water-stressed areas of the world and three billion have no water within a kilometre of their homes. Every eight seconds a child dies of water-borne disease, deaths that could be easily preventable with access to clean, safe water.

The lives of indigenous peoples are intricately tied to the land and the water. As those who live closest to the land and rely most heavily upon it, indigenous peoples strongly feel the effect of water depletion, pollution and other changes. Safe water supplies, hygienic sanitation and good water management are fundamental to global health. Safe water could annually prevent 1.4 million child deaths due to diarrhea, 860,000 child deaths due to malnutrition, 500,000 deaths due to malaria and 280,000 deaths due to drowning. Almost one-tenth of the global disease burden could be prevented by simply reducing risks of water-borne infectious diseases through increasing access to safe drinking water and improving sanitation, hygiene and water management.

There are many examples of water tragedies in Canada. For example, in 2000, seven people died in the community of Walkerton, Ontario, when their drinking water was contaminated with E. coli. However, it is aboriginal communities that have been disproportionately affected by the water crisis.

Despite repeated government pledges to ensure first nations have access to clean drinking water, their water is still often contaminated. The former auditor general, Sheila Fraser, reported that although the federal government had drafted legislation to ensure water safety, concrete changes were years away.

Most disturbing still is the fact that water quality testing is being undertaken only sporadically and key information is not being shared. More than half of reserves' drinking water systems are at risk. This past summer a national study of nearly 600 drinking water and waste water systems on first nations found that nearly three-quarters were classified at medium or high risk of not meeting safety standards. Specifically, over one-third were classified in the high-risk category.

The Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development said that the report was identifying risk and stressed that the findings did not mean water was unfit to drink. I do not want to take a plane that has a high risk of not touching down, just as I do not want to drink water that has a high risk of not meeting safety standards. Thirty per cent of the high risk was from either the source water or the design. The rest was all due to operation, monitoring and reporting. I, therefore, would ask what concrete actions the government has taken to increase training, monitoring and reporting, and what moneys have been made available to pay for these urgent activities.

The world is waking up to the water and sanitation crisis. The lack of access to clean water is one of the greatest human rights violations in the world. We have the millennium development goals, with an aim to reduce, by half by 2015, the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. We are in the midst of the United Nations water for life decade, a decade of action to promote efforts to fulfill international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015.

When will the government address the water and sanitation crisis in our own country? Specifically, how will the government raise awareness about the water crisis? Action starts with awareness. How will the government undertake meaningful consultation on matters affecting first nations rights with respect to water and waste water? How will the government consult and work with first nations to address the resource gap? Will the government provide adequate financial resources to regions to conduct a thorough impact analysis to determine the financial, policy development and technical needs for each region?

In 2006, the expert panel on safe drinking water for first nations found that the federal government had never provided adequate funding to first nations to ensure that water quality standards on reserves could improve.

I want to make it very clear that our party will not support legislation on safe drinking water that is introduced without an implementation plan for additional resourcing that fully addresses the deficiencies identified in the national assessment of first nations water and waste water systems.

The government must collaborate with first nations and obtain their free, prior and informed consent on the range of regulatory options regarding safe drinking water identified by the expert panel on drinking water for first nations before the reintroduction of legislation.

The United Nations has recognized water and sanitation as a human right. On July 28, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly agreed to a resolution declaring human right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation. The resolution had 122 countries vote in its favour, while 41 countries, including Canada, abstained.

At the very time of the resolution, more than 100 boil water advisories were in effect on reserves and, for another 49 first nations communities, boiling water did not make the water safe enough for consumption. As of July 2011, there were 126 first nations communities across Canada under a drinking water advisory, an increase from 106 communities in 2008. As of October 31, 2011, there were 124 first nations communities across Canada under a drinking water advisory.

The MKO grand chief, David Harper, clearly told a Senate committee in February 2011 that the lack of running water in more than 1,000 homes in northern Manitoba was a violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He explained that his people were living in third world conditions, that families in the Island Lake region of Manitoba had less water every day than people in refugee camps.

People in the Island Lake region survive on just 10 litres per day, usually carried by family members in pails from local water pipes. Additional water comes untreated from lakes and rivers that have tested positive for contamination, including E. coli.

Just this week, Ecojustice confirmed earlier findings, namely, “although billions have been spent and new legislation has been proposed, water quality in first nations communities is still far below that of off reserve communities and it shows few signs of improving”. Specifically, Ecojustice issued a report card on water and its lowest mark was awarded to the federal government, in part for the local improvement in water quality in first nations communities.

Global assessments indicate that the annual cost of not addressing water and sanitation amounts to 1.8 million deaths, health care costs of $7 billion U.S. to health institutions, $340 million U.S. to individual households and an opportunity cost of time lost in illness and care of $63 billion U.S.

For a number of decades, water and sanitation issues were considered synonymous with disease and poverty. Inadequate water supplies, unsafe water resources, poor water management and inequitable access translated into time loss, financial cost, a burden of disease and high health care costs.

Over the past 15 years, this thinking has considerably changed. Water and sanitation issues are now considered an engine for development. Universal access to improved water supply, safe water resources and water resource management all have the potential to contribute to time and financial savings, better health and averted disease costs, and economically productive populations.

As discussed earlier, infectious water-related diseases are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is important to remember that newly recognized pathogens and new strains of established pathogens are being discovered and present additional challenges to both the water and public health sectors. For example, between 1972 and 1999, 35 new agents of disease were discovered and many more have re-emerged. Some of these pathogens may be transmitted by water.

Canada should be aggressively pursuing new ways to protect public health by reducing contaminants in the drinking water for all Canadians by protecting drinking water resources, modernizing the tools available to communities to meet their clean water requirements and providing affordable clean water services in rural communities.

It is time for the Government of Canada to implement a comprehensive national water strategy that upgrades national drinking water standards. In April 2008, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that there were 1,766 boil water advisories currently in place in Canadian municipalities, not including first nations communities.

Of the roughly 90,000 houses on reserves in 2008, approximately 2,100 homes had no water service and 4,700 had no sewage service.

Advisories are intended to be a precautionary measure in the public health tool kit. However, given the fact that some have been in place for at least five years, they are apparently being used as a band-aid solution.

As part of a national strategy for water, the government might consider the urgent need for infrastructure investment, committed federal funding for municipalities and first nations communities to upgrade public water utilities, protection and preservation of water for all forms of life and for future generations, and federal backstop legislation to keep water in its basins and effectively ban bulk water exports.

Clean water is one of life's most basic needs and, therefore, it is unthinkable that communities are told to manage without it. The fact that over 100 first nations communities cannot drink their water is a national disgrace. One chief asked,: “I wonder how different the response would have been if the residents of Toronto were without access to water?”.

I will finish by asking whether hon. members worry about the safety of their drinking water.

It is time that everyone in this chamber joined with first nations in demanding accountability and the right to safe drinking water. Moreover, it is time that the federal government be held accountable for its poor water protection grade.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4 p.m.

Blackstrap Saskatchewan

Conservative

Lynne Yelich ConservativeMinister of State (Western Economic Diversification)

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a correction to the member's statements about not having a strategy and not giving attention to water and waste water.

Between 2006-07 and 2012-13 the government allocated over $2.5 billion in water and waste water infrastructure in first nations communities: through the economic action plan, $187.7 million for water and waste water projects across Canada; with those funds in Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada invested in 23 water and waste water projects.

I could go on. I could go to the best-based funding. Every government currently invests approximately $422 million annually to support ongoing projects such as roads, bridges, electrification, infrastructure in first nations communities and about $290 million for on-reserve housing needs.

We have invested in education, in housing and also in economic development because the first nations have asked for the creation of an economy in which they can participate. Since 2006, our government has done a lot.

Has the member any record of what was done before 2006 to set the record straight, given that she goes on about how many years first nations communities have been in such dire straits? Our government has paid attention to that and has made huge investments.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4 p.m.

Liberal

Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

Mr. Speaker, there was no need for a correction. This is about getting results.

While $330 million in the 2008 budget was allocated to safe drinking water in First Nations communities over two years, the current government has backed away from the Kelowna Accord that dedicated $5.1 billion to improving the socio-economic conditions and access to water for Aboriginal people. Although the Accord would not have closed the gap between the standard of living for First Nations and non-aboriginals in Canada, it was a sign of progress. “The Kelowna Accord was not the whole solution, but it was an incredibly important first step in implementing a comprehensive plan that would lead to a lasting solution,” said National Grand Chief Phil Fontaine in addressing the Senate Standing”. It was reached in November 2005 by the Government of Canada, provincial Premiers and Aboriginal leaders.Committee on Aboriginal Peoples.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

NDP

Glenn Thibeault NDP Sudbury, ON

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. friend for her passion and compassion on this issue.

We can all point fingers and talk about what was done in the past and ask if we are doing enough right now, but in my riding of Sudbury, many times the Canadian Red Cross has come to support the folks from Kashechewan who have been evacuated. Too many times we have seen aboriginal people from the north come to our communities, being pulled from their homes because they cannot find water to drink. That is appalling in this day and age.

To address this issue is we need to stop finger-pointing. Let us get to work and end this, because there is no reason that people in Canada should go without drinking water.

Could the hon. member comment on that?

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is absolutely right, this is what today is about, that we bring attention and that we work to get 100% of people living on first nations reserves the water and waste water treatment the rest of Canada has.

Nursing stations in Island Lake offer baths to medically vulnerable people who have no running water at home.

The physicians say, “We complain to each other about how much time we spend on this stuff. We would like to spend more time on education, heart disease, diabetes prevention, maternal child issues, but we cannot, because we have to take care of what needs attention right now”.

Being unable to wash can have much more serious health consequences than diarrhea and skin infections, as residents of St. Theresa Point discovered when H1N1 flu exploded in the spring of 2009. “Lack of access to water and overcrowding facilitated the spread of these viruses”, a Health Canada media spokeswoman acknowledged.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

Green

Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the hon. member for Etobicoke North a question that has not been put forward today.

Does she think that part of the problem is that we do not regulate safe drinking water for Canadians? All of our drinking water standards are guidelines, so when the federal government fails to provide safe drinking water it is not breaking any law.

Similarly, when the Newfoundland government hid from Newfoundland and Labrador residents that trihalomethane, a cancer-causing substance, had contaminated local drinking water, it was not breaking any law.

Do we need to take a different look at the way Canada regulates drinking water overall, without taking anything away from the fact that the worst situation is in first nations communities?

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is time for the government to implement a comprehensive national water strategy as well as upgrade our national drinking water standards.

As part of that national water strategy, I see the urgent need for infrastructure investment, committed federal funding for municipalities and first nations communities to upgrade public water utilities, protection and preservation of water for all forms of life and future generations as well as federal backstop legislation to keep water in its basin and effectively ban bulk water exports.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON

Mr. Speaker, I want to comment on the member for Etobicoke North's reference to the national assessment report on risk.

Two-thirds of the risks associated with first nations water facilities actually relate to their capacity and the challenges that first nations have in training qualified water plant operators.

Since 2006, the number of certified operators has increased from 375 to 775 in 2011. Therefore, rather than support the Liberal record of inaction, will the member not support the legal standards in place?

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

An hon. member

She doesn't have the answer.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:10 p.m.

Liberal

Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am trying to understand what the question was actually. Because I found it difficult to follow, I will raise a health issue.

I will bring this back to what this discussion is supposed to be focused on and talk about baby Jacob. He is covered in crust and sores that look painful. The nurses are not certain what his skin condition is, eczema perhaps, but they have told his mom that the best way to help this child's skin heal is to keep him clean all the time.

This is a tall order. His mother has to haul water from one of the town's outdoor taps. She only has one pail. It is a 38 litre pail for five family members, which works out to about 8 litres of clean water per person each day in a community where everything is covered in a thick layer of mud from unpaved roads. That is half the amount of water the family would likely be given by international aid agencies if the situation were recognized as a health emergency.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:10 p.m.

NDP

Mike Sullivan NDP York South—Weston, ON

Mr. Speaker, I spent a day recently at a reserve in southern Ontario, which amazingly has for decades not had clean water for many of its residents. Those decades span federal governments of all stripes, except the NDP, yet there has been no pipes run. Somebody needs to run pipes and there is no action. Regulations will not fix it. Talking about it will not fix it.

I also discovered that my hon. colleague's riding is the subject of a land claim by these same people at the Six Nation. I do not know if she is aware of that.

Could she comment on the need, not for regulation and not for talk, to actually send somebody with bulldozers and pipes and put water in the ground.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:10 p.m.

Liberal

Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

Mr. Speaker, we were there a few weeks ago and I am very aware of the issue.

I work very closely with first nations. I will again stress the health issue here.

Ruth Wood is 64. She lugs a latrine pail up a hill to the outhouse to dump it because her husband is in a wheelchair after neck surgery and cannot walk to the privy. He worries that they will be forced out of their home when his wife can no longer handle the buckets.

In winter, Nicole Mason, who is 14, and her little brother Andy, who is 6, haul drinking water home in St. Theresa Point on a plastic sled through driving snow.

Bernard Flett can barely walk, so one of his daughters sometimes hauls two buckets at a time with a wooden yolk over her shoulders.

Today is about bringing everyone together to take action on a national crisis in the country.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:10 p.m.

NDP

Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Edmonton—Strathcona.

I stand here proud to represent the people of northern Manitoba, recognizing that we have incredible diversity in our part of the country and, with it, tremendous opportunity as well with the wealth of human resource in our region. We are also one of the youngest regions in Canada and northern Manitoba. Many young people looking ahead at what they hope will be a bright future are part of communities that are looking down the line to see how they can make our part of the country a better place in which to live.

However, along with our tremendous opportunity and that wealth of knowledge and incredible diversity, there are also some extreme challenges that people in northern Manitoba face. Perhaps the most acute of these challenges exists on some of the northern remote first nations that I have the honour to represent.

I would like to point particularly to the reality faced by the Island Lake region's four first nations, St. Theresa Point, Garden Hill, Wasagamack and Red Sucker Lake, communities that are quickly growing. Many of the people who live in these communities are young people looking ahead at a reality that is very different from the reality most Canadians realize. I would argue that reality, as more Canadians have come to know of it today, is one that shocks many people because it is so far from not just the kind of services Canadians have, but the kind of daily actions that we expect any Canadian to go through.

The more than 40% of the 1,880 first nations homes in Canada that still do not have water service are located in these four Island Lake first nations. More than 800 homes in the Island Lake first nations are without water service. As many people in the House know, homes are often overcrowded, leaving multiple generations to live with the social turmoil that is involved with such a reality. What exacerbates that is the fact that so many of these houses do not have running water.

A couple of years ago, it was important for me to stand, along with people in the NDP, and call for urgent action when it came to the H1N1 pandemic that hit the Island Lake first nations disproportionately. Many people wonder why that was the case, but we know that the correlation between influenza, viruses and illnesses of all kinds and no running water is a very strong one. Instead of a long-term plan, the government focused the discussion around hand sanitizers. Even when we asked for a proper response when it came to medical professionals, the government took a long time to be there.

The story of the Island Lake first nations is one that is more extreme than others. The other communities I represent, such as Shamattawa, Hollow Water, Bloodvein and Marcel Colomb, which is working to build its first nation, also face extreme challenges in providing proper water services to their residents.

Simply put, the situation facing so many first nations in northern Manitoba and across Canada is unacceptable. First nations people across Canada face third-world living conditions, conditions that so many of us could not even imagine.

I think of the people I visited in communities across my constituency and communities in Island Lake, where I have the chance to drive on the ice roads to go and visit every year, if not more than once a year. I remember in the last election, following extreme pressure from both the media and the leadership in the first nations in Island Lake, the response given to them by the Ministry of Indian Affairs was a slop pail for every home. In fact, I took a picture with a slop pail and for many people it was a mix of shame, disgust and perhaps awe, trying to understand what the government meant to say on how little it thought of the reality faced by people in Island Lake.

Today, I am pleased to hear the government is supporting the motion in front of us and is committing to action. I am eager to know that this action is not around sending a new round of slop pails or water tubs, but that it looks at long-term investment in these communities.

I am also concerned that the reality today is not just one that has been developed over the last five years. Previous Liberal governments have committed to the unacceptable reality that so many first nations face in northern Manitoba, through the starving of capital funds to first nations due to the 2% cap, and through the refusal to understand that first nations people, under Liberal and current Conservative governments, deserve the dignity that we all deserve as Canadians.

Today, I am proud to stand with my colleagues in the NDP to call for a real action plan that supports the needs of first nations and changes this unacceptable reality that they face. I would like to call for a visionary approach, recognizing that it is not just about clean water, housing and education, but it is about understanding that first nations people in Canada fall well below their non-aboriginal counterparts when it comes to quality of life.

It shows a structural inability of government after government to deal with first nations people on an equal level, to recognize the self-governing capacity of first nations. We must work with them in partnership and recognize that, in the case of Manitoba and first nations across the country, we must respect their treaty rights. In doing so, we commit to changing that reality together. As first nations face third world conditions, it is something that all Canadians face.

We must recognize that making such change brings tremendous opportunity to our country. If first nations young people have proper housing conditions, water conditions and education, they will be able to contribute to Canadian society like anyone else. Our economy will benefit, our social fabric will benefit and we will all benefit.

As the member of Parliament for Churchill, I am asking on behalf of so many first nations and as a proud New Democrat, for us to put an end to the piecemeal approaches or the public relations stunts. We need to work with first nations who have worked very hard, whose leadership and community members and organizations have worked very hard to put the issues on the table and to bring solutions forward. These solutions are based on partnering with other jurisdictions, such as provincial governments and municipal actors, to discuss economic development. At the end of the day, though, the Government of Canada has a fiduciary obligation to first nations. The third world conditions that exist on first nations in Canada today are a shame to the Government of Canada and a shame to all of us.

I am asking today that we put aside the debates about who has done what. We are far off the mark in ensuring that first nations and aboriginal people in Canada have the same dignity that we all deserve, that we share with them in building a vision that looks at equality, fairness, dignity and a new way of thinking of the kind of Canada that we want: a Canada where we enjoy the equality, but recognize the rights of the first peoples of our country. No one in Canada today should live the reality that so many first nations experience and we all, as Canadians, first nations, Métis and Inuit deserve dignity in a Canada of 2011 and moving forward.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:20 p.m.

Kenora Ontario

Conservative

Greg Rickford ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development

Mr. Speaker, the member for Churchill and I share a vast border together and communities in her riding and mine are long-standing families. She and her father have done some work on this file and others for her communities. I have had an opportunity to be the nurse in charge at St. Theresa Point and nurse in Cross Lake and Norway House, a beautiful part of the country. There are certainly some challenges there.

With respect to Island Lake, this government has taken immediate measures that resulted from meetings with department officials last year. Septic trucks, water trucks and other equipment were brought in over the winter roads and a plan was put in place to conduct an assessment on a house-to-house basis of community water and waste water needs.

In terms of her comments with respect to a piecemeal approach, that was an urgent intervention. Would she not agree that the three critical components to a good comprehensive plan would be capacity development, certifications to report, monitor and maintain those facilities, infrastructure needs, and legislation, and that this triumvirate forms the basis for a good strategy moving forward?

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:20 p.m.

NDP

Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB

Mr. Speaker, I respect my colleague's work in the critical area of health care services in northern Manitoba and across northern Ontario.

I am encouraged to see the attention to dealing with the reality of so many first nations. However, many promises have been made. Recent promises to the Island Lake region resulted in people getting new slop pails and water containers. The parameters that we are setting in our policies are not translating to real change on the ground. That is why when I hear the minister committing to a plan, I know the Island Lake first nations and people across northern Manitoba are keen to see how this will make a tangible difference in ensuring that there is clean running water in their homes and communities.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:25 p.m.

NDP

Glenn Thibeault NDP Sudbury, ON

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for her great work on this subject and the work she does for her constituents.

This is an issue for those of us who live in northern communities. I am from an urban centre in northern Ontario, but I see the effect among those who come from the northern communities into Sudbury when they have been evacuated because their drinking water supply has been contaminated by solid waste treatment. Money has been spent on evacuation, which is necessary. It is sad that we still live in a day and age when those who live in rural communities in the north, especially aboriginal communities, are going without water. It is a necessity of life.

I would like to hear what my hon. colleague has to say in relation to what we can do right now to ensure that we are addressing this catastrophe.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:25 p.m.

NDP

Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB

Mr. Speaker, I would like to note the work done by my colleague from Sudbury in ensuring that northern Canadians of all backgrounds have the kind of fairness that they deserve, whether it is in terms of health, education or the economy.

The point he made was about putting emphasis on right now, which is the critical piece. This is an urgent situation. We know the health impact as a result of the lack of clean running water. We know the tremendous social and even psychological impacts that people face while living in such undignified conditions. Let us ensure that the plan being put forward by the government echoes the plans that are being asked for by first nations.

First nations have done extensive work. They have pointed to opportunities for partnerships and information that needs to be pursued. Let us listen to them, work in partnership with them and make sure that the third world living conditions that first nations experience today are no more.

Opposition Motion—Aboriginal AffairsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

It is my duty, pursuant to Standing Order 38, to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Saint-Jean, The Economy; the hon. member for Vaudreuil—Soulanges, Canada Post; the hon. member for Cape Breton—Canso, The Environment.