Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Victoria for his very important and value-added comments in this important debate. I recognize his work and the importance of human rights, but again, the definition of epidemic is that it actually has to stop. We thank that member and the member for Churchill for this work, which really should not be partisan.
On this day, when we in our party are talking a lot about parliamentary reform, I cannot help but be reminded of two years ago, when in this House, on Valentine's Day, we debated the need for a special committee. A little more than a year later, a year ago, we found that the special committee had completely been ruined by the presence of five parliamentary secretaries who did the bidding of their ministers and refused to listen to what the witnesses had said. They replaced recommendations that were much more in keeping with what had been heard at the committee with self-serving recommendations and a veritable laundry list of what the government was already doing, and thought it was doing well, using verbs like “continue” and “maintain”, instead of actually deciding that the government had to do something definitive and listen to the witnesses, the premiers who had spoken, the national aboriginal organizations, and particularly the families. They are in need of a national public inquiry so that we can get to the bottom of this and actually do the right thing.
As we stand here on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin people, I have to think of one of the first families I heard speak about this. It was regarding the terrible disappearance of Shannon and Maisy from Kitigan Zibi and how they had just been written off as runaways, even though their cell phones and purses were left on the table. Their stepfather was astounded. He said that as the stepfather of a missing girl, if he was not questioned, then who was questioned? He meant that this was never investigated properly and that somehow this was viewed as inevitable.
The current government is on the wrong side of history. The Prime Minister's heartless remarks on two occasions have shown us that he will be seen to have been on the wrong side of history on this. The reason it is wrong is because of what the member for Labrador said. What was once a faceless problem, and we had the NWAC faceless dolls campaign, now has names. We know the name of Tina Fontaine. We know the name of Loretta Saunders. We know and heard from Rinelle Harper, who was a survivor who had it almost happen to her last summer, in her poignant remarks at the AFN meeting.
We have seen the Walking With Our Sisters campaign and the haunting, beaded vamps by women and girls across this country who have made that amazing art. I hope that all members of this House will see, from the Walking With Our Sisters campaign, those haunting blue and black images of eyes peering and a sort of Grand & Toy beaded name tag on the vamp that says “my name is...”, and scrawled there it says “who cares”.
People care. Canadians care. This is not an aboriginal issue. It is not a women's issue. This is a Canadian tragedy and Canadians now expect it to stop. It will be an election issue.
As the member for Labrador said, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission spent six years studying seven generations of tragedy, and the members of the commission themselves know that there has to be an inquiry on the missing and murdered.
The Legal Strategy Coalition on missing murdered women includes Cheryl Maloney, Christa Big Canoe, Kim Stanton, and Mary Eberts. They know that there have been 700 recommendations in 40 studies, none of them acted on.
We need an inquiry just to find out why none of these have been acted upon. The terms of reference will be hugely important. It is not good enough just to produce a report. The pedagogical approach will mean that all Canadians are with us. All Canadians will understand the root causes, the sexism and racism in policing, and what we have to do.
Tomorrow the RCMP will probably bring out a report. It may well try to demonize men, but as Justice Sinclair said, we have to tie this to the problems with residential schools. I hope that all MPs in the House find the heart tomorrow, when they stand in the House and vote, to think of those families and think of those girls. They are not faceless anymore. As members of Parliament, we have to do something and stop this epidemic now.