Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity to welcome that member to the chamber.
I cannot tell the House the exact number in my riding, but there have been families who have been impacted. During the vigil in Whitefish River First Nation, Marjorie Beaudry told her story about Mona Redbreast, a teenage girl with whom she had close ties, who died at the age of 13 while she was in CAS care.
Her comment was:
Last Sunday, Tina Fontaine, who was only 15, was also found dead (in the Red River, Winnipeg). These two aboriginal girls were stolen from us, both so young. There is no accountability for these children's deaths. Today I am going to declare these girls warriors because they both died fighting for their lives.
That does not sound like the statistics that the member for Sault Ste. Marie explained a while ago. These are girls. They are daughters. Some of them were aunts. Some of them were mothers.
I cannot get it out of my mind how shameful it is for a member of Parliament who represents first nations to get up in this House and make those statements.