Debates of May 9th, 2013

Indian Affairs and Northern Development—Main Estimates, 2013–14

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, we will be doing questions and answers. I understand that it means they are the same length of time.

I want to follow up on the minister's statement about first nations, Inuit and Metis in Canada fully participating in the economy. Could the minister tell us what percentage of high school students living on reserve graduate from high school every year?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, unfortunately the rate of graduation is not similar to that of non-aboriginal Canadians not living on reserve. That is why it is about 35%. It is important that we invest in what we have proposed as a result of the work we have done with the Assembly of First Nations, which is to introduce a national education act. We are consulting on this at this moment with first nations and Canadians and stakeholders.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, the minister should know the rate has not changed in the seven years that the government has been in power. In some years it has gone backwards.

The government set a goal for an 8% improvement over the next five years, which people find disappointing. Does the minister believe this goal is good enough? What investments is he putting in to improve the number of students finishing high school?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, I am surprised the member is complaining about the rate not having changed. For the 13 years her party was in office prior to 2006, it did not change either.

If the Liberals are concerned about education and investments into education, maybe they could explain to first nation people and Canadians why they vote against every investment we have proposed to make into education.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, a real strategy is: what, by when and how? When does the minister expect that the on-reserve graduation rates for aboriginal students will arrive at the national average? What investments is he prepared to put in to make that happen? In what year will they be the same as all Canadians?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, the reforming first nations education initiative, which was launched in 2008, includes the first nation student success program and the education partnerships program.

In budget 2012 we committed, in response to a report by the National Panel of First Nations Elementary and Secondary Education, jointly undertaken by the Government of Canada and the Assembly of First Nations, to introduce a first nations education act to explore new mechanisms to ensure stable, predictable and sustainable funding. If we can achieve that, we will see the results and the graduation rate increase.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, the Conservatives have decided that they want to have a look at the history of Canada, yet in the proposal there is nothing there on indigenous people. There is a chapter on Canadian history that Commissioner Sinclair has called “the secret of shame”.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has said that it needs more time and more money to complete its work. It also needs the documents not only from the minister's department, but from all of the other departments, particularly the RCMP.

Will the minister be giving the Truth and Reconciliation Commission the time and money, as well as organize the documents so this chapter in Canadian history can be properly dealt with in truth and reconciliation?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, I have met twice, and no longer than two days ago, with Justice Sinclair and the other commissioners. When the member claims it needs more time, my discussions with the commission were with respect to implement the agreement that is court supervised. We are working together and I have committed to working with the commission to ensure that we fully respect the obligations of Canada under the settlement agreement that is court supervised. This is a continuing conversation and dialogue I will have with the commission in order to ensure the objective of the agreement is attained.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, the commission is supposed to finish its work next year. Could you tell us how you are complying with the court order that said you were to turn over all documents requested by the commission? When will you comply with the court order?

[The Deputy Chair, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

Before I go to the minister, I would just remind all hon. members to direct their comments, questions and responses through the Chair.

The hon. minister.

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, we will work diligently with all the parties. This is not just about the Government of Canada. This is an agreement to which there are many parties. It is court supervised and we alone cannot change the terms of a court settlement that is court approved. Maybe the member does not get that.

We will continue working to implement our obligations under the settlement agreement. We have committed to that.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, what I do get is that the commission had to go to court to get the documents.

Budget 2013 says that it will invest $24 million over two years through the family violence prevention program for first nations to contribute to improving safety on reserve. How can the minister justify cutting the funding by $7 million from last year, while repeatedly talking about the government's commitment to combatting violence against aboriginal women?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, with her experience, the member should know the difference between cutting expenditures and/or a sunsetting program. There have been no cuts to this program. In fact, the budget has increased the amount of funding for this prevention program. As a result, we will be able to continue spending even more this year than last year.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, the Department of Justice has been reducing the funding for the aboriginal justice strategy. A review of the program by the department in 2011 noted the capacity to expand this strategy reaching into additional communities is currently limited and that there are large geographical gaps in the access to community-based justice programs.

Given this, would the minister agree that he should be cutting funding to this program?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, these are the estimates of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, not justice.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, our government had an aboriginal affairs committee of cabinet where we dealt with these things together in order to make things happen, like the Kelowna accord.

Over the past six years there have been programs to build, operate and maintain infrastructure on reserves. There is no Canadian watching tonight who has not seen the scenes from Attawapiskat and 100 other communities in that shape, which received an average of $1.2 billion annually, but budget 2013 allocates $7 billion over the next 10 years.

Why has the minister decided to cut approximately $345 million per year from the 2012 funding levels and $500 million from the six-year average for first nations infrastructure programs?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, I thought the member was going to congratulate me. I announced this week that we were going to spend a further $2 million for housing needs on Attawapiskat. Now she is trying to picture this as no efforts being made on our part.

If we look at the last budget, we committed to infrastructure investment in first nations communities all across Canada for the next 10 years at a rate that would see real progress in the infrastructure needs of first nations.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, the cut to community infrastructure is also impacting water and waste water, which will lose $200 million in funding under the government by 2015.

How can the minister justify this when his own department's national assessment on first nations water and waste water estimated an urgent and immediate funding shortfall of $1.2 billion and an additional $4.7 billion that was necessary over the next 10 years.

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, the fact is that the investment in water and waste water that has been made from 2006 to 2013-14 is over $1.3 billion. It is important to understand, and I know Liberals do not operate that way, that this investment is part of a comprehensive long-term plan to improve on reserve water and waste water founded on three pillars: enhanced capacity building and operator training; enforceable standards and protocols; and infrastructure investments.

I was in a community where the government had invested a lot of money on a system and it had no operator. We are now training these operators so these investments can be protected.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, as the minister knows, three-quarters of first nations communities have water systems that are at high or medium risk.

I want to know how long the government anticipates it would take at the current funding levels to deal with at-risk water and waste water systems identified in that national assessment. In a strategy of what to buy and when and how, when does the minister expect that 100% of families in 100% of communities would have access to safe drinking water in Canada?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, since the 2009 and 2011 national assessments, the percentage of first nation drinking water systems that have certified operators has increased from 51% to 60% and the percentage of waste water systems that have certified operators has increased from 42% to 54%.

If the member wants to give me more time, I could talk about the water systems and their risk levels, but I know my time is up.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, the minister's own February 2011 evaluation of first nations housing concluded that the housing shortage on reserve is severe and getting worse. About 20,000 to 35,000 new units are needed to meet the demand.

We want to know how the minister can justify the department's plan, as found on page 42 of the report on plans and priorities for 2013, to cut approximately $20 million over the next two years from first nations' community infrastructure for things such as on-reserve housing when the minister well knows there are 99 other Attawapiskats.

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, this is, if not incorrect, misleading.

The fact of the matter is that between 2007 and 2012-13, our department provided approximately $1.2 billion in on-reserve housing support to first nations communities. According to the first nations' report, not ours, the Government of Canada's investments have contributed to an average of 1,750 new units and 3,100 renovations annually over the past five years.

Access to safe, sustainable and affordable housing is of course essential to improve economic and social circumstances and to support healthy, sustainable first nation communities. However, the fact of the matter is that the provision and management of housing on reserve lands is primarily the responsibility of first nations, with support from the Government of Canada, which we are providing.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would like the minister to explain why the 10,000 units the government claims it has built on reserve over the last six years is approximately 3,800 units fewer than what would have been built during that same period at the 2005 funding levels.

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, the fact of the matter is that the numbers I have quoted come from the first nations' report, and again, there is no cut from the previous year in the assistance that will be given for housing units.