House of Commons Hansard #78 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was servants.

Topics

Criminal Code (passive detection device)Private Members' Business

7:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Criminal Code (passive detection device)Private Members' Business

7:15 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

No.

Criminal Code (passive detection device)Private Members' Business

7:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

Criminal Code (passive detection device)Private Members' Business

7:15 p.m.

Some hon. members

Yea.

Criminal Code (passive detection device)Private Members' Business

7:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

All those opposed will please say nay.

Criminal Code (passive detection device)Private Members' Business

7:15 p.m.

Some hon. members

Nay.

Criminal Code (passive detection device)Private Members' Business

7:15 p.m.

The The Assistant Deputy Speaker Mr. Anthony Rota

In my opinion the yeas have it.

Criminal Code (passive detection device)Private Members' Business

7:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

And five or more members having risen:

Criminal Code (passive detection device)Private Members' Business

7:15 p.m.

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mr. Anthony Rota) Speaker

Pursuant to Standing Order 93, the recorded division stands deferred until Wednesday, September 28, 2016, immediately before the time provided for private members' business.

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

Official LanguagesAdjournment Proceedings

7:15 p.m.

NDP

François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to be following up in the House today on the question I asked during the previous Parliament about a complaint by, among others, my former colleague from Acadie—Bathurst, Yvon Godin, who worked very hard for his constituents and for Acadia and the Francophonie as a whole.

There were some key moments in people's busy lives when they had trouble getting service in French from the RCMP outside Parliament. There were complaints, and not just from Mr. Godin. Private citizens also spoke up, and the Commissioner produced a report.

According to the report, the complaint was admissible, and the RCMP had failed to fulfill its obligations under the Official Languages Act. Corrective action was called for because the RCMP did not fully comply with part IV of the Official Languages Act, communications with and services to the public.

Consequently, the commissioner called for improvements, insisting on two key recommendations. The first recommendation was that the RCMP draft and implement a procedure that requires biannual reminders of official language obligations to be made to all officers assigned to Parliament Hill security so that they understand the obligations set out in part IV of the act. It was simply a reminder for all officers that they have obligations and that they must respect these obligations. It is very simple, but very important. Reminders are always a good thing.

The second recommendation was extremely important. The RCMP was to establish a monitoring mechanism available at all times on Parliament Hill by August 31, 2016. The deadline has passed. This is the first week the House of Commons has sat after the recess. I am pleased to be back and to ask my colleague, who is here today, the question about official languages. Can he confirm that a monitoring mechanism that is available at all times on Parliament Hill was established by August 31, 2016?

I am pleased to see that the parliamentary secretary responsible for official languages is here with us this evening. As such, maybe he can tell us about this oversight mechanism, what it refers to, and how we can access it. Members of the public who lodged this complaint want to be sure that they can receive services in both official languages from the RCMP and our security officers when they come to the House of Commons or take a stroll on the Hill. It is also extremely important for the members, for the people who work on the Hill, and for all those who provide this service to the public.

I hope that we will get an answer soon. I wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons to get an update on this matter. I was told there would be news soon.

As such, I would like the parliamentary secretary to tell me whether any information on this oversight mechanism has been made public and whether he can confirm that the service is now available at all times on Parliament Hill in both official languages.

Official LanguagesAdjournment Proceedings

7:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

Before we continue, I would remind hon. members that they are not to allude to the presence or absence of anyone in the House. I know that sometimes this happens rather quickly, but it is just a reminder. I know that after a summer away we are still getting back on track.

Resuming debate, the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

Official LanguagesAdjournment Proceedings

7:20 p.m.

Edmonton Centre Alberta

Liberal

Randy Boissonnault LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to once again be here in the House for this session.

I thank the member for Drummond for his question.

We are aware of the complaints about the service offered by RCMP officers on Parliament Hill. Those complaints have been brought to our attention and we are taking them very seriously.

We have also taken note of the preliminary report of the Commissioner of Official Languages and the two recommendations he made in that regard. I would like to assure my colleagues that we will pay due attention to this matter.

Our government believes in encouraging and promoting the use of two official languages throughout Canadian society, particularly in our federal institutions, agencies, and departments. It is important to remember that official languages affect all federal institutions. The Government of Canada is committed to mobilizing all federal departments and agencies to give our official languages the importance they require.

Let me assure the member opposite from Drummond and all members of the House that respecting official languages and ensuring the safety of Canadians on Parliament Hill is a priority for our government.

We firmly believe that it is important to provide federal services in both official languages across the country. We will work with the federal departments and agencies, including the RCMP, to ensure that our institutions can communicate with Canadians in the official language of their choice.

With regard to questions and issues related to the compliance of federal services with the Official Languages Act, we are working closely with the President of the Treasury Board to ensure that all federal services are delivered in compliance with the Official Languages Act.

The Government of Canada promised to go further and promote French and English through linguistic duality-themed programs and activities.

Right now, we are also focusing on preparing, by 2020, new multi-year official languages action plans that will be in effect until 2023. We are proud to report that we have already held 20 roundtables across the country this summer. We will hold two additional roundtables and one with all the leaders in the country.

Three thousand people answered our official languages questionnaire on the Government of Canada website. That is 50% increase in participation compared to last time.

We are in the process of building a serious pan-governmental approach, a real government action plan on official languages, and the services offered to people on Parliament Hill are part of that.

We take our official languages responsibilities very seriously. We are working hard to ensure that all federal departments and agencies comply with the act.

Official LanguagesAdjournment Proceedings

7:25 p.m.

NDP

François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. parliamentary secretary for his response.

I would like to thank him for his hard work related to filling the official languages commissioner position. Unfortunately, the current official languages commissioner will be leaving the position soon, and we must not be without an official languages commissioner for any period of time. May I reiterate the importance of beginning the search for someone to fill this upcoming vacancy as soon as possible. I know he is working very hard on it, but he will have to work even harder.

I asked him a very simple question. One of the recommendations was for a monitoring mechanism. I looked everywhere yesterday and today, but I found nothing about a monitoring mechanism, which should have been in place as of August 31. Maybe I did not search thoroughly enough.

I would like the parliamentary secretary to tell me where that monitoring mechanism is and make it public. It should be in keeping with the Commissioner of Official Languages' recommendation.

Official LanguagesAdjournment Proceedings

7:25 p.m.

Liberal

Randy Boissonnault Liberal Edmonton Centre, AB

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his second question.

Our government believes in the importance of promoting and encouraging the use of the official languages in Canadian society. Canadian Heritage works closely with the President of the Treasury Board on matters and issues pertaining to compliance of federal services with the Official Languages Act to ensure that appropriate measures are implemented to guarantee full compliance with the law.

We agree with the Commissioner of Official Languages who said, “The time it takes to provide service in the language of the minority and in the language of the majority must be comparable in order to provide service of equal quality for the members of both official language communities.”

We expect that both the RCMP and the Parliamentary Protective Service meet these recommendations. Bilingualism is a fundamental element of our Canadian identity, and our government is proud to promote both official languages.

Our government must appoint a new commissioner of official languages, and we are working on that.

Indigenous AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

7:25 p.m.

NDP

Sheri Benson NDP Saskatoon West, SK

Mr. Speaker, on April 15, I asked the government to prioritize the issues of indigenous youth and mental health, two separate but related issues. On May 28, the government announced a renewed focus on indigenous policy, but sadly, it was too late for many. The urgent need from last spring to address these issues continues. The time has come for the government to stop reacting to issues and instead start addressing them proactively.

I think we can all agree that suicide is a last resort. It is the final cry of someone who feels hopeless. This begs the question of why an individual would feel hopeless about their future in a place as wonderful and full of opportunity as Canada.

This January the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the federal government had been discriminating against aboriginal children by providing them with inadequate access to services. It called for immediate relief, but the government has chosen to continue to study the issues rather than to act immediately. It is situations like these that feed a narrative of hopelessness in indigenous communities, as the federal government actively chooses to ignore its obligations and promises.

Just last week the tribunal issued a second compliance order to force the government to take immediate action and rectify the funding shortfalls to ensure that first nations children, who primarily live on reserve, have access to public services on the same terms as all Canadian children.

When will the government recognize and dismantle the systemic discrimination embedded in our country's policies toward aboriginal peoples?

Mental health is too often spoken about in a manner that homogenizes an individual's experiences. The common discourse places people in subgroups with labels, removing agency from the way they are feeling. Aboriginal peoples are often subjected to the same treatment. The experiences of one group become generalized into the national narrative as the experiences of all aboriginal peoples or communities.

This past March, three Saskatchewan first nations declared a state of emergency after four people died in one day. Three of the deaths were attributed to prescription drug overdoses. Ted Quewezance, senate chair with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, said in response to this tragedy that “A normal person goes to about seven to 10 funerals in his lifetime, and you know what? I've been to 400 funerals in my three communities”.

The government's passivity in addressing the state of mental health in aboriginal communities is simply unacceptable. While its promise of more permanent health care workers for communities identified as high risk does address the immediate concerns, it is a Band-Aid solution that fails to address the root of addiction and mental health issues.

Ryan Jimmy of Saskatoon recognizes the intersectionalities that aboriginal people are battling while trying to receive proper access to service. He has created a hub at the University of Saskatchewan consisting solely of aboriginal focused research. It is aimed at the experiences of depression, suicide, and post-traumatic stress disorder, with an explicit acknowledgement of the long-term affects of residential schools and the sixties scoop on aboriginal people today.

When will we see the government taking an active stance and creating groundbreaking, long-term, sustainable programs, like the hub at the University of Saskatchewan, instead of the same old solutions that maintain the status quo?

With meaningful investments and the simple fulfillment of our obligations to indigenous communities, I hope my community and our country will see fewer funerals of our youth and more high school graduations.

There are steps that the government can take immediately. Will the government commit now to working with indigenous communities and their agencies to use the money where it can make the most difference?

Indigenous AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

7:30 p.m.

Brampton West Ontario

Liberal

Kamal Khera LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health

Mr. Speaker, we remain committed to a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples to make progress on the issues that they have identified as being more important to them, including health and mental wellness.

Earlier this summer, the Minister of Health met with the Assembly of First Nations Youth Council to discuss life promotion. This was a great opportunity to hear from first nations youth on their holistic views about what would make a difference in their life.

They have published a report entitled “Calls to Action on Life Promotion for First Nations Communities”, which provides a path that clearly shows health services as important, but also that many other dimensions are critical if we want to achieve wellness.

Among the things asked by the Assembly of First Nations Youth Council are investments in culturally-safe prevention, health promotion, and mental health treatment services. This is what we have initiated this summer with the announcement of a number of interim mental well ness measures.

The minister also attended the launch of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's “National Inuit Suicide Prevention Strategy” in Kuujjuaq. This strategy was developed by Inuit partners, which proposes a wide range of culturally and evidence-based interventions. This was an opportunity to confirm federal support to the strategy at the same time that it was made public. This is partnership.

In response to mental health and suicide crises in some communities, the Government of Canada announced an investment of $69 million over the next three years for immediate interim measures to support first nations and Inuit communities.

Funding is being used to increase the number of mental wellness teams in communities from 11 to 43, and to support 4 mental health crisis intervention teams in regions located in Ontario, Manitoba and Nunavut, which were identified as having the greatest need. I am pleased to say that the work is under way with partners to enhance services available and support through the communities.

These measures also provide $9 million in funding for Inuit-specific approaches to mental wellness to address the unique needs of this population and to establish a culturally safe, 24-hour crisis support line.

These are also complementary to the range of health programs and services funded and supported by Health Canada. The department is investing approximately $2.7 billion in first nations and Inuit health. Of this amount, we are investing over $300 million in mental wellness programs and services, with the goal of providing first nations and Inuit individuals and communities with culturally appropriate mental wellness services and supports that are responsive to their needs.

This includes $13.5 million annually for the national aboriginal youth suicide prevention strategy, which supports 138 community-based suicide prevention projects in first nations and Inuit communities.

Our government is also investing an additional $8.4 billion over the next five years to improve socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples and their communities, as highlighted in budget 2016.

Our government remains committed to working with indigenous leaders to ensure we have strategies that are grounded in culture, based on evidence, and where first nations and Inuit play a central role in defining the goals, planning the approach and managing the services.

Indigenous AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

7:35 p.m.

NDP

Sheri Benson NDP Saskatoon West, SK

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for outlining the investment and the leadership the federal government making. I encourage that to continue. It sounds like large numbers of investments, but I want to remind her, it is a big issue.

Suicide rates are five to seven times higher for first nations youth than for non-aboriginal youth. An indigenous child born in Saskatchewan is 13 times more likely to end up in care. Only a third of these kids will graduate high school. They will be six times more likely to be murdered than the national average.

No province has a higher on-reserve HIV rate. In fact, some Saskatchewan first nations have HIV rates equal to African nations, and there are calls to declare a state of emergency.

There is a mental health crisis, and I hear my colleague echoing that they agree, faced by our indigenous youth and the government's response needs to equal the scope of crisis I have outlined.

Canada's future and our children deserve no less.

Indigenous AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

7:35 p.m.

Liberal

Kamal Khera Liberal Brampton West, ON

Mr. Speaker, providing mental health services is a shared undertaking by first nations and Inuit communities, and federal-provincial-territorial governments.

For its part, Health Canada is supporting culturally appropriate mental wellness programs and services that are responsive to the needs of first nations and Inuit individuals and communities.

Our government also recognizes that investing in the early years of a child's life leads to greatly improved long-term health outcomes. To this end, Health Canada is investing over $102 million this year in programs and services that support healthy pregnancies and births, and healthy child development for first nations and Inuit.

Moving forward, we will look at ways to strengthen mental wellness programming with our partners toward more coordinated and effective approaches to better meet community-specific needs. I look forward to working with my colleague opposite in making that happen.

Indigenous AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

7:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted.

Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:38 p.m.)