Debates of Dec. 9th, 2019

Supplementary Estimates (A), 2019-20

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

Mr. Chair, there are all kinds of improvements that can be implemented for pilots, such as runway status lights or direct-to-pilot warnings. These things exist in 23 other countries, yet the minister has yet to implement them here in our country. Why?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Mr. Chair, we are doing a great deal in the airline business. I am very proud of the fact, and this was a long haul, of the pilot crew duty day and fatigue regulations that we put in after a great deal of interaction with the airlines.

We also are very proud of ACAP, which is the airports capital assistance program. It has been in existence for many years, including under the previous government, which also supported it. The program is specifically focused on safety at airports and includes lights, runway conditions and equipment to make sure ice is removed and sometimes fences put up to prevent animals from going in. I know my colleague knows quite a bit about airports and will know about ACAP. Some of it was funded in Prince George, which happens to be where he lives.

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

Mr. Chair, that is still not on par with what the previous government invested in that airport, but maybe we will get there.

Will the government consider in-cockpit electronic awareness aids?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Mr. Chair, I will not answer that specifically, but I will say in a generic way that we look at all ways of improving the safety of flying operations, including what is in the cockpit and what is available to pilots to do their jobs safely.

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

Mr. Chair, will the minister commit to providing federal funds to expand Highway 1 from Langley to Chilliwack, which is one of the most crowded major highways in Canada with one of the highest number of accidents?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Mr. Chair, for the clarification of all listeners, the federal government is responsible for highways that go through national parks. Other than that, it is a provincial or territorial responsibility to take care of the roads.

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

Mr. Chair, will the minister commit to partnering with the Province of British Columbia on the expansion of Highway 1?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Mr. Chair, as I said, we respect jurisdictions and areas of responsibility. I am always ready to speak with my counterpart, who in this particular case is Minister Trevena, on ways that will help to improve safety. Although that is a provincial responsibility, I am certainly ready to make her aware of concerns that have been expressed to me.

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

Mr. Chair, how much money has been allocated to alleviating the concerns and challenges with the no-fly list?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Mr. Chair, I do not have the precise amount, but it is in the tens of millions of dollars. A great deal has been put into this to ensure that we will not be in a situation in the future where certain people with certain names are not allowed to fly. At the same time, we must of course make sure to keep a no-fly list that has people we definitely do not want to see flying.

The investments we are making in public safety are leading that, but we are working with Transport Canada to find a better way to avoid refusing an air ticket to somebody who happens to have the same name as somebody else on the no-fly list. That has been happening for too long and we have committed the funds to correct that problem.

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

Mr. Chair, will that fix the challenges with no-fly list or will it alleviate them?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Mr. Chair, the decisions will be in the hands of the government, and I am confident that this will solve that problem.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

That concludes this round.

I commend the members and the ministers for their excellent management of the speeches and responses. The exchanges are extraordinary.

The hon. Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Mr. Chair, I will begin by acknowledging that we come together this evening on the traditional territory of the Algonquin people.

This evening I would like to talk about the government's commitments to reconciliation with indigenous peoples and how items included in the supplementary estimates (A), 2019-20, support our shared journey of healing and accelerate self-determination for first nations, Inuit and Métis in Canada.

As we begin this new session of Parliament, I would like to reiterate that our government's commitment to reconciliation with indigenous people is as strong as ever. This government continues to place the utmost importance on the relationship between the Crown and indigenous peoples. Reconciliation is too important to be a partisan issue, and I look forward to working with all parliamentarians across party lines to make significant and tangible progress on this journey.

A significant demonstration of our commitment is the fact that I address the committee today as the federal government's principal interlocutor with first nations, Inuit and Métis people, and not as the minister of Indian affairs. I am delighted to say that I was the very last minister to carry that title, and this past July the order in council was finalized to dissolve the archaic department known as INAC and establish new ministerial responsibilities for the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and the Minister of Indigenous Services.

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, INAC, was a vestige of colonial times. It was created to enforce the Indian Act and was in no way able to support indigenous peoples or establish partnerships in connection with their history, their situation and their particular aspirations.

I am very proud of what we have been able to accomplish working in true partnership with indigenous peoples. Together we have made significant progress but we still have much work to do. We must keep moving forward with a new level of commitment, determination and partnership. Above all, we must continue to build trust through stronger, more collaborative relationships with indigenous peoples, relationships founded on respect, co-operation, partnership and, above all, the affirmation of indigenous peoples' inherent and treaty rights.

The government's commitment to renewed relationships means working to support indigenous capacity building and indigenous peoples' vision of self-determination, including in the areas of fisheries, oceans, aquatic habitat and marine waterways.

These supplementary estimates provide $171 million to three organizations to advance the government's reconciliation strategy. The first item is $132 million to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to implement agreements signed in August 2019 with Elsipogtog and Esgenoôpetitj first nations in New Brunswick and the Maliseet of Viger in Quebec to advance reconciliation of fisheries and to continue engaging with indigenous communities and stakeholders on fisheries policies. The 10-year interim fisheries implementation agreements reaffirm our shared commitment to advance the recognition and exercise of these first nations' fishing and harvesting rights, a meaningful step towards self-determination.

These agreements were concluded in a spirit of collaboration and were built on the long and hard work of first nations to ensure that all members of the communities have job opportunities in the fishery.

The second item is $37 million to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs to implement the Haíɫcístut Incremental House Post Agreement.

In July I signed this reconciliation agreement with Heiltsuk Chief Marilyn Slett in Bella Bella on British Columbia's central coast. The reconciliation agreement addresses the priorities that are the most important to Heiltsuk self-government, housing and infrastructure, economic development, and language revitalization and preservation.

I was interested to learn that Haíɫcístut is a Heiltsuk word that means to turn something around and make it right again. It is the perfect word for this reconciliation agreement. The road that Canada and the Heiltsuk nation have travelled has not always been easy. Canada put up many roadblocks along the way. What is changed is that now Canada is listening and we are taking our lead from the first nation.

The third item is $2 million to Parks Canada to support the negotiation of three components of the rights and reconciliation agreement with the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, Wolastoqey and Peskotomuhkati, or Passamaquoddy, first nations: the stewardship of cultural and natural resources, the co-management of areas of mutual interest and the pursuit of a moderate livelihood.

At Parks Canada, natural and cultural heritage places established before 1982, the removal of indigenous peoples from traditionally used lands and the cessation of harvesting and cultural practices have resulted in profound cultural, spiritual and economic impact to individuals and communities.

The rights reconciliation agreements would include elements of harvesting and resource conservation and support capacity-building initiatives for the management of cultural resources. These resources support changes to existing monitoring resource conservation and planning processes, and the move towards the co-operative management of ecological and cultural resources.

Each one of us should ask what reconciliation means to us and how we can contribute to advancing it in our own way. Reconciliation is a path that must begin with listening, followed by action based on what we learned.

For much of the past century and a half, Canada was not listening. Instead, it put up barriers to true partnership with indigenous people and look where it has gotten us. We have to make the relationship right again. We need to embody the Haíɫcístut, a word of the Heiltsuk peoples which means to turn things around and make things right again, for all first nations, Métis, Inuit and indeed a better future for all Canadians. This will only happen if we accelerate the process to self-determination and self-government for all indigenous peoples based on how they want to define and govern themselves and how they want the relationship with the Crown to be.

We are determined to get this right, to work with indigenous peoples to break from the unacceptable status quo and build the Canada of tomorrow, a better Canada for everyone.

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Madam Chair, we understand that in the indigenous community across Canada, the youth population is the fastest-growing population. I would like the minister to help us understand where the money for supporting indigenous post-secondary education is going to go, because a lack of educational opportunities is creating a problem for the communities.

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

Madam Chair, it is so important to all first nations, Inuit and Métis. As Murray Sinclair has said, education got us into this mess and education is going to get us out of this mess.

The people on the Prairies talk about education as their buffalo, that this is the way that they will move forward. Again, as we have increased the funding for post-secondary education, it is going to be ever-increasingly viewed as an indigenous right. We have had processes where the continuing students have had first dibs, and then the high school leavers. However, we all know we have to do more because it is sometimes the young moms who want to go back to school to become social workers or nurses. We know we have to do better at this.

We also know that tuition and housing are not the only issues for indigenous students. There needs to be child care. There needs to be transportation back and forth to their communities. We want to work with first nations, Inuit and Métis and make sure that happens.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Chair, I appreciate many of the things that the minister has done on the indigenous file. Winnipeg North, the area that I represent, has somewhere in the neighbourhood of 18% to 20% indigenous people. There are many issues. The minister has made reference to one of the greatest challenges in terms of the importance of education. I think of the Children of the Earth High School and other high schools like R.B. Russell Vocational School that are putting in fantastic programs to try to get more young indigenous people to graduate.

From the minister's perspective, how important is it that we recognize indigenous leaders, school divisions and different stakeholders getting behind and showing the support that is so absolutely critical to indigenous leadership in making sure that young people are getting the type of education that is so critically important to their future?

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

Madam Chair, the situation in Winnipeg is very critical as the example of how we go forward. Even in Winnipeg it is going to be important for indigenous children and youth to see themselves in the programming to be able to speak their language and have a secure personal cultural identity. We know that is a key to success.

We also worry about people leaving high school. In some of the schools there are graduation coaches or consultants where, if they start by assuming every child will finish high school, they can actually turn around what had been the expectation previously. We are also hearing from the leaders that on-the-land and immersion programming, which may be in the summer, are ways that we can make first nations, Inuit and Métis students proud. That is the way we go forward as we build the role models and the other examples, so they can see themselves in these people who are now scientists and doctors and lawyers, but also guides on the land and all kinds of things as they walk in both worlds.

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Madam Chair, I appreciate what the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations was talking about, that INAC was the last bastion of colonialism and that the indigenous communities want to take charge of their lives. Under vote 40, “improving assisted living and long-term care”, how will that money help the indigenous communities have culturally sensitive long-term care?

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

Madam Chair, as we have gone to communities coast to coast to coast, we have seen way too many elders who had to leave their communities in order to get the kind of care they wanted.

We have begun to build accessible homes and seniors' homes with the idea of assisted living, so that elders can stay in their communities and be those knowledge keepers that young people look up to. It is just heartbreaking to be in some of the northern Ontario communities and realize that, when people see their loved ones in a hospital bed in Thunder Bay, it just breaks their hearts.

Even though that was not a line item that INAC used to pay for, in listening to communities, we have moved forward on this.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Chair, I would like to follow up with a couple of the initiatives that we had passed in the last session dealing with indigenous languages. A very positive piece of legislation passed through. We also did the child welfare reforms for foster care.

I wonder if the minister could comment on the latter one, but also, if time permits, on the importance of the language.

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. minister has 20 seconds.

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

Madam Chair, these are the first two pieces of legislation that actually incorporate the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It really is about that asserting of the jurisdiction, and about Canada's responsibility to help protect those languages that are all at risk.

Also, as we heard from the member for Timmins—James Bay, the present system has not worked. It will only be when first nations, Inuit and Métis have control over their child and family services that get them out from under the Indian Act that these—

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Unfortunately, I have to cut off the minister.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Madam Chair, I look forward to working with the minister. Maybe we can start with a bit of clarification here. The online sources and uses table for the 2019 budget stated that the $66 million for boil water advisories was allocated, but the line item in the authorities to date in the supplementary estimates (A) was empty.

Can the minister tell us whether it was allocated?