Debates of April 12th, 2016

Situation in Indigenous Communities

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to acknowledge that we are here on the traditional territory of the Algonquin people.

I particularly want to commend the member for Timmins—James Bay for his unwavering commitment to the health and well-being of northern Ontario indigenous communities, particularly the young people.

As I heard him speak, I was thinking of my trip to Attawapiskat and one of those terrible homes and seeing this 10-month-old baby on the bed and thinking that baby cannot pay for whatever else is going on around it. That baby deserves a chance.

We are deeply concerned about the number of suicide attempts recently in Attawapiskat and other first nation and Inuit communities all over Canada. I want to offer my condolences to the families and to the communities that are dealing with these tragedies.

We join these communities in their grief and healing, and we know it is not just Attawapiskat. While adequate health and mental health supports are essential to dealing with the current situation, as the member for Timmins—James Bay reminds us, these communities need hope.

The children need to know they are valued and have value, and that we as a larger community support them. Tonight as we speak, I hope that the member will convey that to the community. Everyone here, and we are hoping by tonight all Canadians, will let these children know they have value. They need to know there is hope for them and we will be with them on this journey.

The Minister of Health has explained how we have been working with the Province of Ontario and how Chief Shisheesh and Grand Chief Fiddler have been working together at this particular time.

Those who know me know that the difference between health and health care is very much part of what my job is as the minister of social determinants of health, but also as the minister of reconciliation. We actually know that suicide is not just a consequence of individual vulnerability. It is about the causes of the causes. It is the numerous historical, structural, and societal determinants impacting mental health. This is racism, colonialism, the legacy of residential schools, child abuse, inadequate child welfare, lack of educational opportunities, overcrowded and unsafe housing, lack of access to healthy food and clean water, and limited access to health care services.

It was my friend, Bill Mussell, from the Native Mental Health Association of Canada, who a long time ago taught me that resilience comes when young people are grounded by a secure personal and cultural identity, when they are proud of who they are, when self-esteem and a sense of control over their life provides them with hope and vision. That results in good health, education, and positive economic outcomes. These are hugely important aspects of the overall picture of healthy communities.

There is no single answer to addressing this. We have all been clear that it will take a whole-of-government approach, as the member for Timmins—James Bay pointed out. It must be collaborative and co-operative, spanning a wide range of policies and programs in order to deal with the root causes of what we see going on in Attawapiskat, and what I know I will see on Friday in Pikangikum when I go there with Grand Chief Fiddler.

It is also so important that respect for community autonomy and self-determination, respect and recognition for rights and self-government are there.

We know from the very important research of Chandler and Lalonde in British Columbia that when communities have their language, as the member for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River spoke of, that is huge, as is control over their health care, education, doing their ceremonies. That is how suicide rates went down to zero in some of the communities that were studied.

In budget 2016, we committed to making historic investments.

We know that these investments have to be transformational for indigenous communities and that we will work nation to nation to actually set the goals for those communities and support indigenous-led initiatives.

I want to focus on two things. One is on education in kindergarten to grade 12 and what we are learning about what happens when a kid does not make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. If kids in grade 3 cannot make that transition, they end up faking it for the next number of years, until grade 8 and grade 9. As Dr. Stan Kutcher says, they are not stupid; they know they are not going to be able to cope and it is because the education system let them down.

The other piece I want to talk about is the effect of a staggeringly horrible child welfare system. We have more children in care than we did at the height of residential schools. This actually has to stop. Children are taken from their families, their language and culture and they do not see their place or any pride in who they are.

That includes the effect that child abuse has in that high-risk situation. Eighty per cent of people with addictions and 80% of people in prison are victims of child abuse. We have to talk out loud about that now. We have to talk about Attawapiskat, where Ralph Rowe abused over 500 kids as an Anglican priest and a boy scout leader, the people that Grand Chief Fiddler is trying to help. There are 20 years of abuse in that region. It was not difficult to understand and make the links as we heard that testimony in the TRC of what happens when a child is abused and then ends up in trouble with drugs, alcohol, violence, and often incarceration.

That region has an amazing program called Feathers of Hope. I would hope that any member here would listen to the children who have been in care, to hear what happens when a child gets put in a home with people who do not respect the child's religion but expect the child to respect theirs, or a child who is brought to a farm, or pulled away from his or her sibling and the child runs away to try to find the sibling. This is just unacceptable.

We are very keen to work with all members to change this child welfare system with the provinces and territories and to get on with dealing with the kind of distinctions-based approach that means that we will deal with first nations, Inuit, and Métis differently. This cannot be a pan-aboriginal approach. As the Minister of Health said, in Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homeland, the suicide rate is 10 times the rate for Canada as a whole. We need an evidence-based approach that is Inuit specific in nature, but globally informed.

Tonight is about ensuring hope and a brighter future in partnership with all indigenous communities. It is our shared responsibility. We know that doing it top-down will not work. We know we have to listen to the communities that know what they need and then help them get what they need.

I want to thank the member for Timmins—James Bay and all the members who are participating tonight. This is a night about getting all Canadians onside and turning this around.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we are all gathered here today because of a state of emergency and we all need to step away from our speaking points for a moment. We have two communities that are facing difficult times in the ridings of our hon. colleague from La Loche and our hon. colleague from Timmins—James Bay. The communities are facing grievous emergencies. It has been two months since the incident in La Loche and it is still waiting for services.

Let us step away from our speaking points. I know that both ministers have great passion for this file, there is no two ways about it, and I commend them for that. However, as leaders within our communities, as leaders within our nation, as leaders in the House, let us step away from our speaking points and talk about what we are going to do for these two communities that are facing emergencies today. I implore the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs and the Minister of Health to please tell us what we can do to help now.

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

Mr. Speaker, I wish it were only two communities.

I think that the community the member comes from has been through a terrible time, and ended up with an abusing judge, with the youngest-ever serial killer, and a medical examiner that had to be fired because the answers were not forthcoming in an honest way. I think all of us know what it is like, and I think that we are going to put in place the kinds of things that will offer prevention.

The member representing La Loche had asked us to look into things like Project Venture, which can take 100 kids in the summer out on the land. If we could ramp that up to 250 kids, I would like to help her do it. We know that getting out on the land and being back in touch with one's history, culture, and skills can prevent this. I do not want to wait until those kids are having trouble with addictions or are in trouble with the law. I think that we can work on programs that communities know have worked for them. We have to work together to make that happen.

[Georgina Jolibois, NDP, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate both ministers in the Liberal government for their understanding and the level of compassion that they have.

I thank the minister for bringing up Project Venture. I have a question around that which is coming from residents in my community.

In the budget, there was no mention of Project Venture or dollars to support it. Am I hearing correctly that, at least for my community, the Project Venture initiative will receive funding?

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

Mr. Speaker, because it had been funded through crime prevention and the budget of the Minister of Public Safety, it is something that we are working on together in terms of reinstating that program.

I look forward to working with the member. I do not know the details of the minister's budget in the same way, but I hope that we can find the money.

[Bill Casey, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I was elected 28 years ago, and one of the first debates we had was the debate that we are having tonight about the plight of aboriginals.

I remember exactly what the prime minister of the day said at the time in this building. He said that we could all go home that weekend and try to think of a way to harm our aboriginals, because we could not do any worse than what we had done over the last 100 years.

It was 28 years ago that we had that debate, and we are here now having the same debate again. I believe we have an opportunity, and every single one of us has to be committed to this. Every single one of us has to help the ministers involved.

I believe we have the right ministers. I believe our Minister of Health is committed and able to do this. I believe our Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs is the most passionate in the House.

My question is for every one of us. Are we ready to help? Are we ready to do something so that we do not do this in another 28 years, so that we do not have this debate in another eight years? That is my question for all of us, and not for the ministers.

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

Mr. Speaker, I think the challenge was put to all of us. On behalf of all of us, I hope that we can rise to the task that the member has set for us.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to note that I will be sharing my time with the member for Oshawa.

Certainly as we look at the current situation that has prompted the emergency debate, we see it is horrifying, tragic, and to be quite frank, a very sad reflection on what is a shared failure by all levels of government and Canadians. I do appreciate the comment from the member for Timmins—James Bay and also the more recent question of whether this will be an Alan Kurdi moment, when we take what is a very tragic situation and finally start to see what are some significant and important improvements.

It is a deeply personal debate, and many of us have talked about our stories tonight and how suicide has impacted us or how we have intersected with it in our careers. I reflect back, and as a nurse I had maybe a year or two of experience under my belt when I ended up in an aboriginal community with not a lot of community experience. I was pretty good in a hospital, but I sure was not ready to be thrust into a community as a solo nurse. During that first week there were three suicides. I can just remember thinking, “Oh, my goodness”. The community was reeling and I actually did not have the capacity or the skills to deal with it, nor were the resources there. That was in the 1980s, and it does not sound as if things have changed all that much since that time.

First I want to look at the nurses, the community health workers, and the drug and alcohol workers who are in Attawapiskat or in communities across this country, who are doing yeoman's duty in terms of dealing with very difficult situations, often situations that are really beyond their skill level. Everyone in this House should acknowledge the very difficult situation that the people, including the RCMP, are having to deal with right now.

How are we going to make a difference, and how are we going to make a difference forever? First I want to say that in this debate we are there in terms of making positive movements to go forward. I want to say that, unlike the H1N1 crisis, where it was leveraged for some political points with some very difficult literature that was sent out, we are there with them. However, we also are going to say this. What is happening in La Loche if two months later people are saying they cannot get help on the phone? That is not good enough. We know that has to be changed. There are people struggling with PTSD, and suicide rates are going up.

I have to go back to the whole framework that health care providers take to some of these issues. First, I have to say that solutions need to be within the community and in partnership with the community. However, we are always looking at a number of different levels of dealing with these emergency crises in communities, and certainly we would go back to tertiary, secondary, and primary prevention. We perhaps need to reflect on what we as the Government of Canada are doing in partnership with our provinces and within a partnership with our indigenous communities and indigenous leaders in every single one of those areas. We cannot just say that we have sent in some counsellors.

I do want to give the Minister of Health credit. From what I have heard of the current situation in Attawapiskat, it sounds as if there are some great resources there in a tertiary kind of model, people who are there supporting the community, whether psychologists, psychiatrists, or nurses. It sounds as if the government has deployed a relatively rapid response to that current situation. I do commend the government on that piece, but I am concerned to hear that two months later in La Loche that support is not there anymore. That sort of tertiary kind of prevention is not just a week, not a couple of days, but it is something that goes into a few months.

I am sure both the ministers have that same kind of framework when they look at how we are going to approach the secondary prevention element of it. There was a very intriguing photograph that I saw, and apparently it was done by the children of Attawapiskat, depicting what they need to help them in their community.

There were simple measures the children of the community asked for, recognizing that there was a crisis. They asked for recreation programs and things that many of our children take for granted. There was a board with three photographs that were powerful because it they showed what the children said they needed to help life in their community become a little better.

We can call it many things, but what is most important is primary prevention, a new relationship, how we are going to solve the problems of 150 years. I hear that 28 years ago there was the same debate. Frankly, the progress we have made is not what anyone should be proud of.

However, I hope we do not look at everything as doom and gloom, because I look at some of the things that I was watchful for in the 1980s and I have seen some important progress. I will take mental health as an example.

Mental health used to be in the dark, but look at Bell Let's Talk or the Mental Health Commission of Canada. We have resources out there that now have structure in place, and we need to take those resources like the Mental Health Commission of Canada because it has expertise in mental health. We have communities with expertise in who their communities are and what those communities need. We need to start to marry them.

However, more important is the fundamental issue of poverty and economic opportunity. At the end of the day, perhaps these other areas have to be dealt with, but we need to create that future that is so important.

I am going to focus in on that particular piece. The government has some plans, and where the plans make sense, we do support it. I have to say that moving back from the First Nations Financial Transparency Act is a terrible disservice to band members and community members, because that is one way they can hold their leadership to account when dollars come to the communities for recreation and education. The Department of Indian Affairs cares, but the parents of the children care more. They want to see that the money for health care and education is going where it is supposed to. That is a critical step in how we shine the light for communities to look at their leadership and what it is doing.

In the budget, the government focused on education because it is critical. An area I thought was lacking was economic opportunity and equity partnerships. In British Columbia there is a group saying to please backstop a loan so that they can actually become a partner in some of the natural resource opportunities.

In conclusion, I believe everyone's heart is in the right place. We commit to working toward solutions and, if those solutions are not there, everyone will be hearing from us.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it seems clear from the commentary so far that we have a really good grasp of the symptoms. I do not know, personally, if we know enough about the malaise, certainly not about the cure. As we approach this, the will that we hear from all sides of the House is that we have to do something, so let us get something done.

It occurs to me that Bobby Kennedy a long time echoed this quote, “Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?” Maybe there is a germ of something in there that we should be thinking about.

Can we not ask the people right in the centre of this, the first nations people themselves, community by community, what their vision is of a good world, a good life, and work with them to reverse engineer that? As we understand what the end should look like, the steps that we take, which might have to be unique from community to community, will all of a sudden start to reveal themselves.

I was on the radio in northern B.C. playing rock and roll for the kids in Neskonlith, Greenville, and Kincolith. I was also in Kenora. I saw the grinding misery of the Whitedog and Grassy Narrows First Nation reserves.

Does the member from my old area of Kamloops think that this is a good place to start? Can we say, one day, the future is wonderful, and live up to it?

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as my remarks indicated, there was some work done today, as I understand, in Attawapiskat. The children were saying what they needed in terms of perhaps giving them some opportunity and hope.

I really think the government needs to come up with a structure and a way to move forward on what is a tragedy and an issue. If I were looking at the horrifying circumstances of 1980 that were still there today, I would have to go back and say it is a sheer failure.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for her very heartfelt speech. I get the impression that the speech was very much because of her background as a nurse, and it is very much appreciated.

I have to go back to the response by Cindy Blackstock, the head of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, who said that she was very disappointed with the budget. Her statement was, “Children only get one childhood and they can’t wait for a government to treat them equally”.

Have the member and her colleagues rethought the previous position? We obviously want a lot more immediate and direct support for the mental health of the entire aboriginal community whose members are suffering this distress and committing suicide.

We need to look at the root causes. As my colleague raised earlier, one of them is the lack of basic facilities, even for the education of the children. In many cases they have to leave their own home and family to get a basic education.

I am wondering if the member could speak to whether or not, as a result of these mounting crises for aboriginal children in Canada, she and her colleagues have rethought the previous decision to withhold the funding to provide schooling for all aboriginal children in Canada?

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Mr. Speaker, money is important, but sometimes how things are organized and structured is also critically important.

I understand that in response to the tribunal's report, the government does not have a lot of time but it is going to take a little time because it has to make sure it is done right. Money is important. We had a solution in terms of a piece of legislation that we thought would actually create some structure that was going to improve results for the students. Obviously that piece of legislation has not gone through.

We anticipate that there is going to be, and there should be, some equal work, in terms not only of money but in creating a system and a structure that will achieve the results we intend to achieve.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for allowing us to participate in this debate, and to thank all members in the House for being here this evening.

My heart goes out to all those who have lost friends and loved ones to suicide, and those individuals who have been affected by the recent crisis that has unfolded in our northern communities, such as Attawapiskat.

In response to the state of emergency, I think everyone in this House understands the tragedy of suicide and the need for all of us to do more. However, to understand what we need to do in the future, we need to understand what was done in the past. Therefore, I would like to bring to the attention of those here tonight some of the things that have been done in the past, so that we can understand what we need to do in the future.

I will talk a bit about the commitments that were made under previous governments with the co-operation of Health Canada, aboriginal communities, and additional stakeholders. That will be to better understand suicide and mental health to aid those who feel the internal pain that leads them to believe there is no other option.

With initiatives such as the ones made by previous governments, Canada is becoming better equipped to help those who need it, and to renew hope. Obviously there are still significant gaps, particularly with our aboriginal communities. However, these initiatives are in part helpful aids to the current government to help it continue the work that needs to be done on mental health research and suicide prevention in Canada. As we all realize, even though Canada invests significantly more now than ever before in mental health initiatives, more can and needs to be done.

The previous government had taken a strong stance, for example, on innovative research related to suicide and its prevention. We recognized the very real impact that mental health conditions have on families. We all have a role to play to improving the mental health of all Canadians.

Since 2006, our past Conservative government had invested over $32 million to support over 130 aboriginal community-based suicide prevention projects. These are the projects that we work in a partnership that is necessary to get to the root causes.

There has been $1 billion invested in mental health and neuroscience research since 2006. We helped to establish the Canada brain research fund, which provides matching funds to complement funds that have been raised by private contributions for research in brain disease and mental disorders.

Additionally, our government had increased health transfers to the provinces to unprecedented levels, by 70%, accounting for close to 25% of the federal government's total spending. Ontario alone received increases, from approximately $10 billion a year in transfers, to close to $21 billion.

Furthermore, I was very proud that our government, during our mandate, had the opportunity to help establish the Mental Health Commission of Canada in 2006. The commission has been able to help communities work together and find solutions for mental health and suicide prevention.

The commission has proudly trained 100,000 individuals to support good mental health, in addition to the following initiatives:

1. Promote mental health across the lifespan of Canadians in homes, schools, and workplaces, and prevent mental illness and suicide wherever possible.

2. Foster recovery and well-being for people of all ages living with mental health problems and illnesses, and uphold their rights.

3. Provide access to the right combination of services, treatments and supports, when and where people need them [across our country].

4. Reduce disparities in risk factors and access to mental health services, and strengthen the response to the needs of diverse communities and Northerners.

5. Work with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis to address their mental health needs, acknowledging their distinct circumstances, rights and cultures.

6. [And, of course] mobilize leadership, improve knowledge, and foster collaboration at all levels [of government].

The Mental Health Commission of Canada continues to advocate for opportunities to establish initiatives of suicide prevention. In response to the Prime Minister's wishes for his ministry to focus on suicide prevention as a top national health priority, a proposal was made and presented to the finance committee that had detailed a community-based suicide prevention program. Unfortunately, the national suicide prevention project did not receive funding in the 2016 budget.

The national suicide prevention project would have focused on specialized support, including a range of prevention and crisis services, such as crisis lines, support groups, and coordinating, planning and access. It would have provided training and networks to better equip community gatekeepers, such as physicians, first responders, nurses, human resource staff and managers, and teachers, by providing access to training and ongoing learning opportunities. Public awareness campaigns in each community via posters, brochures, and social media would have been included.

It recommended means restriction, by helping communities to identify hot spots, the methods or places where a high number of suicides occur, and restricting access to them by building barriers on bridges or railway crossings; and protocols for medication access.

Also recommended was research, to increase the suicide prevention evidence base. This would have included setting research priorities and evaluating the model itself.

I hope that the current Liberal government takes the wise advice of the Mental Health Commission as it continues to address this state of emergency and starts moving forward to come up with a more permanent solution. At the end of the day, it is about a permanent solution.

Further initiatives that were moved forward by the previous government include an act respecting a federal framework for suicide prevention, which was introduced by my colleague, the member for Kitchener—Conestoga. He will have the opportunity to speak during this debate on his private member's bill, which achieved royal assent in 2012. The member has been committed to addressing the difficult issue of suicide, and I welcome his experience and insight during the debate this evening.

I am proud to have been part of a government that saw no reductions in aboriginal mental health services. Indeed, they were at an all-time high. Over $200 million had been invested annually for aboriginal mental health services. As a matter of fact, since 2006, we invested over $2 billion to improve mental health and wellness of aboriginals across Canada. These included building communities; developing community-based mental health programming; the brighter futures program, which supports mental health and illness prevention programs; and 10 mental health and wellness teams for aboriginal communities, increasing access to services.

However, we all know that money cannot do it alone. Additionally, we did work to increase the flexibility for Canadian student loan forgiveness for doctors and nurses who work in remote areas. The nurse recruitment and retention strategy recruits nurses from schools and supports graduate integration. There were investments of over $25 million into the pathways to health equity for aboriginal peoples project. This innovative research has ensured that primary health issues are addressed.

In the wake of this recent crisis, I would like to mention that a timely response is essential when handling a state of emergency, especially to preserve the lives and well-being of a community. We applaud those who have moved forward in this approach.

The minister has confirmed the commitment of $300 million in funding that is aimed toward the health and well-being of aboriginal communities, enabling the continuation of health and wellness of aboriginal communities like Attawapiskat. However, there is more that has to be done. In addition to an emergency response, there is a need for the government to develop a long-term prevention strategy that will help communities receive the necessary tools that a national framework for suicide prevention can deliver.

Again, I applaud the efforts of all my colleagues in the House, especially my colleague from Kitchener—Conestoga, whose private member's bill received royal assent. I ask the government to table a framework to avoid further states of emergency related to suicide.

[Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Liberal, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, there are systematic issues in the communities. One of the major issues is child and family services. These are the departments in the provinces that are responsible for children. In my riding, we do not just deal with immigration issues; I deal with child and family services issues, especially among first nations children.

In Manitoba alone, 11,000 children are in care of the state, which would work out to over 100,000 children in Ontario, or 90,000 in Quebec. Out of that, 10,000 are indigenous children, and 8,000 are first nations children. In fact, in the province of Manitoba, before the age of 15, around 22% to 23% of first nations children will be in the care of the state at some point. Is this any way to raise a child, or to love a child? Is this a way to produce good, long-term outcomes?

We often talk about suicide, but when I was on my trip to Cross Lake, I discovered that some of the children who had committed suicide, unfortunately had been in the care of the state. They had been taken from their families. In this House, in 2008, we made an apology in order to ensure we would not repeat the mistakes of the past with residential schools, yet we have been unable to do so.

Unfortunately, I do not have enough time to do this, but my comment would be to look at customary adoption. We do not seem to be going toward the area of a very simple solution, to allow indigenous families to make choices themselves.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Winnipeg Centre for his comments. I also want to thank him for his advocacy for children in his community and communities across Canada. He brings forward a very important point, in that the way we have been doing things has not been working.

My wife had a friend whose young child committed suicide. I cannot imagine the feelings of a mom and a dad who have lost a child, someone who had their entire future ahead of them, a child who thought there was no future and no hope.

I think all of us present in the House realize that we cannot continue doing what we have been doing in the past and that we need to work together. It is comments such as the comments from my colleague, the member for Winnipeg Centre, which add to the knowledge of the House and help us work together to develop programs. They will help us work with local communities to come up with programs so that we can prove we are committed to doing better. I thank him for his comments.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for taking the time to participate in this debate. For people back home, when they hear numbers being thrown around, they do sound very impressive: $200 million in health; $300 million in the present, which has been stabilized funding. However, the issue happening on the ground is a crisis in community after community.

We have some great programs, such as brighter futures, the community health and well-being program, which do some really good work. We have suicide posters in all the communities. However, I go into communities where they have the posters on the wall, and when a child is in need, the wait times to get seen are extraordinarily long. What happens is that indigenous affairs will turn down that child for counselling, and then the child will have to go to Health Canada and it will turn them down. By the time they finish that back and forth, that child has either gone to ground or we have lost him.

I think it is important in the discussion tonight that we get our heads outside of Ottawa. The bureaucrats, the ministers, and politicians will make it all sound great. However, on the ground, those dollars are not helping in the way they need to help. That is what I am asking my colleagues to work toward. Can we find a way to break through that, so that the people who need it are getting the services required to save the children and give them the help?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for the question. We all realize that he is on the ground. I think his participation tonight, and also asking for this debate and allowing us to discuss it, helps to bring this issue to the forefront.

I know, being a health care professional, that he is absolutely right. We have to ensure that the dollars are being utilized properly on the ground, and we have to be open to looking at things in a different way.

I know from my travels to remote first nation communities that what is important is that we start to put forward the importance of respecting culture and historical ways of moving these communities forward. I think with the understanding and compassion of learning what has been done in the past and what has worked successfully, we maybe have to take a step back so we can embrace these things moving forward into the future. I thank my colleague for that.

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member across the way for Timmins—James Bay for providing us with this very important opportunity to have this substantive discussion. I certainly want to acknowledge all members who are in the House to participate in this debate.

I am very proud to come from the small community of We Wai Kai, off the west coast of British Columbia. I am proud to be an indigenous person standing in this honourable House to speak to this important subject, the issues of indigenous peoples in our country, and to participate in the debate.

I add my name to the many names of people who have spoken with respect to the incredibly sad situation that exists in Attawapiskat, and in communities like La Loche and so many indigenous communities across the country, where we see conditions of poverty, despair and lack of hope. As an indigenous person who was raised to be proud of who I am and where I come from, when I look at indigenous communities across the country, I want to ensure that we collectively create that sense of hope and that sense that if they work hard, they can achieve anything they want to in our country.

I want to applaud all of the members who have spoken to this issue and who recognize that immediate measures need to take place within the community of Attawapiskat, and other communities.

I am here today as the Minister of Justice and a member of this honourable House, and I would like to speak to the critical work that is ahead of us all.

I thank my colleagues, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, for recognizing the importance of not only addressing the immediate needs and the situation that exists, but for understanding the need for meaningful and systemic change. We, in the House, must not lose sight of the role this change will have in ensuring the health and safety of communities like Attawapiskat. Collectively, we must chart a path forward.

The Prime Minister has tasked us to work with indigenous peoples to establish a nation-to-nation relationship that is based on recognition. A relationship based on recognition is transformative. It is a relationship based on respect, co-operation, and partnership. In doing so, we can make real progress.

As the former regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations, I had the great fortune and opportunity to work with the chiefs and community leaders in British Columbia to develop mechanisms and to build institutions of government to assist first nations in the transition. I did this as well as a council member in my home community of We Wai Kai.

Indigenous peoples from across the country are at an important juncture in our history as they seek to deconstruct their colonial legacy and rebuild their communities. We all have a role to play. Even with political will, support and resources, only the colonized can decolonize themselves.

Change is not easy. It is not easy to remove the shackles of 140 years of life under the Indian Act. Our government, and I hope all members of this honourable House, is committed to ensuring that we work in partnership with indigenous peoples to do just that. Relationships with indigenous peoples in Canada are of paramount importance, and we are committed to renewed relationships that recognize that solutions to one of the biggest outstanding public policy issues in our country need to be addressed in a substantive way.

For Attawapiskat, and for all first nations, the Indian Act is not a suitable system of government. It is not consistent with the rights enshrined in our Constitution, the principles as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or the calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.

In addition to the need for social and economic support urgently needed in Attawapiskat, all first nations, all indigenous peoples, need to be empowered to take back control of their own lives in partnership and with the full support of all Canadians. The good news is there are examples of how this can happen. There are successes in indigenous communities across the country, and we need to build on those successes.

The problem is that those successes are few and far between. Change has not happened quickly enough nor evenly throughout our great country, and Attawapiskat is one of those places. Our government is committed to establishing a nation-to-nation relationship, one, as the hon. member across the way said a moment ago, that respects an approach that will lay the framework for true reconciliation with indigenous peoples.

I have a few more words to say, Mr. Speaker, but I am pleased to share my time with the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River.

For indigenous peoples, the challenge is not easy. It is complex. Indeed, for far too long it has been ignored as a task, as too difficult and monumental. However, we can and must do better. This work, as has been said, is non-partisan. It is broader than the Department of Justice and it does not fall only to the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

A nation-to-nation relationship is one of the most challenging public policy issues of our time, and I challenge all members of the House to work with us in building this relationship. There are no quick fixes to these issues. A substantive nation-to-nation discussion with indigenous peoples is needed. We need to sit down and work jointly to ensure that indigenous communities are strong and healthy, and in charge and in control of their own destiny. We need to bring life to and move beyond the scattered programs and initiatives. Reconciliation is a national project that requires full engagement and commitment at the highest levels of government.

This transformative work in Canada is far from complete. Some positive steps have been made. There have been positive steps made in the budget but more needs to be done. We need to develop a national reconciliation framework in partnership with indigenous communities, and that requires the support of all parties and all members in the House. That reconciliation framework needs to survive the life of one government.

We have incredible challenges to meet with respect to our relationship with our indigenous peoples. We have incredible opportunities to gain from engaging substantively. As the Minister of Justice and as one of the members in this honourable House, I look to international minimum standards that are articulated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We need to ensure that we look at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations. We need to ensure, with respect to our relationship with indigenous peoples in the country, that we put it in place in terms of the constitutional relationship that is required with respect to section 35. We need to ensure that we breathe life into section 35 and that we complete the unfinished business of Confederation.

In doing so, we will have strong and appropriate governance in first nations communities wherein they have moved beyond the Indian Act. We can ensure that they are benefiting from the economy, that they are playing a substantive role in our country, ensuring the ultimate objective that I believe every Canadian wants to achieve, which is to improve his or her quality of life. In assisting indigenous communities to improve their quality of life, we can ensure that the amazing cultures, languages, traditions and the pride that I felt and was taught, rooted in the potlatch which is our governing system, is felt in indigenous communities and within indigenous youth. This is our national project of reconciliation. I look forward to every member of the House standing with us and ensuring we can achieve that.

Gilakas'la.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Mr. Speaker, we are all passionate about this, but unfortunately it has been brought up in the House that it has been 28 years. I would say we have been dealing with this issue for over a century.

One of the things that surprised me when I came to the House was the issue of education on reserves. I know the discrepancy of what first nations get from the federal government and what each jurisdiction and each province gives first nations. It is the value of education. We have been told many times that education is a way out of poverty. We have overstepped our boundaries because we have no accountability here.

I was a school board trustee for 10 years in Saskatchewan. For the first time ever we had a premier gather all 28 school divisions together because we had been doing things the same way for centuries and we were failing. It was Premier Brad Wall. He wanted to see accountability from the school boards, from the teachers, from the parents, and from the students. He said that we needed education and we needed graduation rates to increase by 50% by 2020.

Could we have accountability in education? I am shocked that we do not have an education minister on that side dealing with this. We need accountability—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I share the member's comments with respect to the importance of education. I recognize that education is the means to unlocking the potential in indigenous people as well as all people.

In terms of education and moving forward, I am pleased to be part of a government that is investing in education. We are not only just investing in education, such as flowing money to indigenous communities, but we are looking to indigenous communities for the solutions they have developed. We are looking to indigenous communities to ensure that we can approach and embrace first nations control of first nations education. There are examples right across the country of indigenous communities stepping up, and we are working with those communities. I will continue to work with my colleague the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs and government.

On the issue of accountability, indigenous communities have developed their own accountability mechanisms from first nations administration laws through education programs. We need to embrace their solutions.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have been following indigenous politics for the last 35 years, but I have not had the opportunity to hear that kind of speech on indigenous relations.

The minister referred to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She rightly pointed out that the standards that were provided for under UNDRIP were effectively the minimum standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of indigenous peoples.

I recall when we negotiated and drafted this U.N. declaration for a period of 23 years. We tried to think about every possible situation in the indigenous world when we drafted those articles. There are a couple of articles in the declaration that refer to health, articles 21.1, 21.2, and 24.

I want to ask the minister a simple question. I have been listening carefully to the Prime Minister. I have read carefully the mandate letters to the ministers and they all refer to the implementation of UNDRIP. Call to action 43 of the TRC refers to adopting and implementing the declaration. Does the minister make that distinction? Is that a simple oversight? If we adopt legislation and we—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. Minister of Justice.

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the hon. member across the way and thank him for his ongoing efforts and his commitment to ensuring the advancement of indigenous peoples in this country through such mechanisms as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We have been very clear that we will embrace the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ensure that the minimum standards that are articulated in the declaration are brought home here to Canada to ensure that we take declarations and mechanisms as such and translate them to form practical and meaningful benefits on the ground in communities here in Canada.

Under section 35, we have an opportunity with the minimum standards articulated in the declaration to ensure that we work together to define exactly what that means and how we can translate those into practical standards on the ground.

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there can be no question that the high suicide rates experienced in first nation communities are a national tragedy. Every suicide attempt and every life lost is one too many, and there are definitely far too many, as the staggering statistics underline.

There can also be no question that the Government of Canada is determined to work with first nations and their leadership to turn these distressing numbers around. We will do everything possible to support communities like Attawapiskat to prevent further suicides.

While much of the attention in the past few days has focused on the situation in Attawapiskat, we all know that it is not an isolated case. The recent work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission underscored the extent of the social breakdown in many communities, often the result of the residential school experience that damaged so many individuals and families. Suicide is the most alarming manifestation of these serious social challenges.

The loss of life to suicide and feelings of despair affect us all. They reinforce how important it is to work with first nations and indigenous peoples across the country to address the very real challenges facing many communities. It is vital to our country's future that the government work in genuine partnership with indigenous communities and provinces to ensure better social and economic outcomes for indigenous peoples, especially youth.

The government is currently working with all partners to design an engagement strategy for developing a national reconciliation framework. This reconciliation framework will be informed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations, calls to action, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Through our work on reconciliation, we commit to do important work where mental wellness, intergenerational trauma, poverty, child welfare, justice, and discrimination intersect. Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and Health Canada are collaborating with other federal departments, provinces and territories, and other partners to look at long-term needs in mental health, child welfare, education, infrastructure, and employment in indigenous communities.

Specific to mental health challenges, “Changing Directions Changing Lives”, Canada's mental health strategy, has placed a priority on working with first nations, Inuit, and Métis to address their distinct mental health needs. Priorities for action have been developed through dialogue between the Mental Health Commission of Canada and indigenous organizations.

Following discussions with Mr. Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the TRC, the Mental Health Commission of Canada pledged to bring a greater depth of understanding to indigenous issues through activities and capacity-building related to cultural competencies. It has created the position of senior adviser of indigenous affairs and is providing indigenous cultural competency training to all staff.

Of course, making real change also requires a new fiscal relationship with first nations, a relationship that provides sufficient, predictable, and sustained funding for communities, and that is what budget 2016 delivers, because there is no relationship more important to this government than the one with indigenous peoples.

We know first nations, Inuit, Métis, and northern communities need urgent action now. That is why budget 2016 invests a historic $8.4 billion over five years to improve the socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples and their communities.

As the chief of Attawapiskat First Nation told reporters this week, indigenous suicide is not just a mental health problem. Unemployment, lack of access to education, and substandard infrastructure are contributing factors. Economic hardships and the legacy of colonialism are key factors in high suicide rates also.

Understanding this, the Government of Canada is taking a comprehensive approach to social investments, from repairing and constructing homes and schools on reserve to providing early childhood development programs, from increasing supports for child and family services to boosting funds for skills development and job training.

We are keeping our promises for a renewed relationship with indigenous peoples, one based on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation, and partnership—in short, reconciliation—a relationship that provides sufficient, predictable, and sustained funding to first nations and indigenous communities, a relationship based on the understanding that unilateral decision-making and top-down solutions do not reflect the needs of indigenous peoples, and a relationship that understands that a secure personal and cultural identity is the bedrock of success for their communities.

The budget and our efforts to date demonstrate this government's commitment to closing the gaps and ensuring social justice.

As we move forward together in a spirit of reconciliation, honouring and respecting the cultural identity of indigenous people, we will sow the seeds for a more promising future to give youth both hope and opportunity to create a better country for us all.