Debates of Nov. 26th, 2012

First Nations Financial Transparency Act

[Louis Plamondon, Bloc, Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees.

[Bruce Hyer, Independent, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will be voting yes.

(The House divided on Motion No. 2, which was negatived on the following division:)

Vote #511

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I declare Motion No. 2 defeated.

The next question is on Motion No. 3.

[Gordon O'Connor, Conservative, Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if you seek, it I believe you would find agreement to apply the results from the previous motion to the current motion, with the Conservatives voting no.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Is there unanimous consent to proceed in this fashion?

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP will be voting yes and agrees to applying the vote.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

Mr. Speaker, Liberals agree to apply the vote and will be voting yes.

[Louis Plamondon, Bloc, Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois will be voting yes.

[Bruce Hyer, Independent, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Thunder Bay—Superior North will be voting yes.

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

Vote #512

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I declare the motion defeated.

[John Duncan, Conservative, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

moved that the bill, as amended, be concurred in.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

All those in favour will please say yea.

[Some hon. members]

Yea.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

All those opposed will please say nay.

[Some hon. members]

Nay.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

In my opinion the nays have it.

And five or more members having risen:

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #513

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I declare the motion carried.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last Tuesday I asked the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development about the unexpected cut to Kanesatake's national child benefit reinvestment, or NCBR. It was a simple question on a specific program.

The NCBR provides community-based support and services for children in low-income families, and in Kanesatake it funded important initiatives such as the youth centre and a hot lunch program. The answer I got from the minister was vague and completely disconnected. He seems to have at least recognized the importance of investing in children and families, but he refused to acknowledge the negative impact of the cuts in Kanesatake and gave no indication that he had any idea of the situation on the ground.

For the record, the investment, which was cut, meant that children would not go without food all day long and that there would be after-school programs to keep teens off the streets. According to a letter to the minister dated September of this year and sent by the grand band council chief of Kanesatake, Serge Simon, a number of other cuts have been made affecting children in the community, such as to post-secondary education funding and to the residency requirement, meaning that the community is being stretched to provide opportunities for its youth.

In the letter, he says:

When we take into account the statistics regarding native people in this country.... How...can the Canadian government justify such cuts to the neediest of our population?

It is worth noting that the community has put the investment to extremely good use for years. The money was a real way to help the community prevent crime. With a high poverty rate and limited employment opportunities within the community, the hot lunch program and the after-school activities were part of the solution for the children of the band. These cuts have already forced the closure of the youth centre, and the band will very soon run out of money to provide the lunches.

Even five years after UNDRIP, a document that is not just about special rights but about human rights, the government is not respecting the basic needs of first nations peoples. I recommend that the minister and the parliamentary secretary read the report from the Shannen's Dream campaign to the UN committee on the rights of the child called, “Our Dreams Matter Too”. It explains that:

There is little evidence to suggest that Canada is making any significant progress in addressing the gap [between on and off reserve education]. Current estimates are that First Nations children on reserves receive $2,000 to $3,000 less per student, per year for elementary and secondary education. This shortfall means less funding for teachers, special education, teaching resources such as books, science and music equipment and other essentials that other children in Canada receive.

First nations children deserve to have the basics that other children receive. Furthermore, they deserve to have it in and provided by their community with culturally appropriate content. The attitude of the minister has been up until now intransigent and difficult to work with for the community, despite their best and honest efforts to effect positive change for the community.

I hope that this time the minister or the parliamentary secretary will be able to answer the specific question. I sincerely hope that they will not use their answer time to pat themselves on the back for their lack of equitable treatment of first nations and their lack of concrete action.

I will ask the minister again. Does he understand that aboriginal communities need programming for children, especially in low-income communities such as Kanesatake?

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that question was put in good faith despite the condescending tone. I will take no lessons from that member given the length of time I have worked on these very important files. Nonetheless, I am pleased to rise to speak to the question by the hon. member.

The welfare of first nation children is a priority for our government. We believe that the best way to address the complex issues surrounding first nation child and family services is through collaboration with first nations, provinces and territories.

In 2007, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada announced the first of several incremental investments for an enhanced prevention focused approach. These investments provided more than $98.1 million over five years to implement a tripartite accountability framework on a new enhanced prevention approach to child and family services with Alberta first nations.

We are taking a similar course in terms of education and our relationship with communities through tripartite agreements, so that we can offer better education programs and services toward improving education outcomes on reserve. This is a priority of the government and the record is there to show it.

Today, our government continues to invest additional resources in education and child and family services. The funding is designed to provide increased flexibility to service providers and to implement culturally appropriate education and prevention programs and protection services that will help improve outcomes for children, youth and their families in their schools and communities.

Education and child welfare is an area of provincial or territorial jurisdiction wherein the provinces and territories have legislative authority. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada is compelled and happy to continue to move forward with all of its stakeholders toward improving education outcomes on reserve as well as child and family services.

We continue to invest significant resources in federal programs that extend to child care benefits, child tax credits, the Canada child tax benefit, the disability benefit, maternity and parental benefits and the child care expense deduction, sensitive to the issues of many of the isolated and remote communities in the north.

The issues that affect the quality of life of first nation children are a shared responsibility. While progress has been made, it will take continued efforts of government at all levels and the first nations themselves to achieve long-term progress.

We will continue to work in partnership with provinces and first nation communities on both education and an enhanced prevention focused approach to improve outcomes for first nation children and their families in education and child and family services.