Debates of Feb. 7th, 2019

Oral Questions

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please.

Just to be clear, “unconditionally” does not mean including the word “but”. There are no “buts”. That is enough.

The hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley is rising on a point of order.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as you are well aware, it is a convention in this place that in question period, when the opposition asks a question of the government through a minister of the Crown, the minister should seek to answer it. Throughout question period, we directed numerous questions to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and repeatedly the Attorney General answered instead, and not on her behalf.

This convention is important because as the Prime Minister once said, “sunlight is the best disinfectant”. In order to get the answers required in Parliament on behalf of the public we represent, we need the government to be accountable. Ministerial accountability does not end when a member is no longer the minister of a particular office. The questions we asked were pertinent to the time period when the member who is now Minister of Veterans Affairs was the Attorney General.

I seek some clarification from you regarding the government's obligation to be accountable to Canadians.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I thank the hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley for his point of order. I refer him to Bosc and Gagnon's House of Commons Procedure and Practice, third edition, at page 509, which says:

Furthermore, there are precedents indicating that a question should not...address a Minister’s former portfolio or any other presumed functions, such as party or regional political responsibilities

Now I believe the hon. member for Chilliwack—Hope has the usual Thursday question.

Business of the House

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the opposition House leader, I would like to ask the government House leader what the business before the House will be for the remainder of this week and the week after we return home to work in our constituencies.

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon we will continue with the second reading debate of Bill C-91, the indigenous languages act. We hope to see that referred to committee by the end of the day so that the committee can do its important work. We understand that we have a lot of support, but we do need to consider amendments.

Tomorrow we will start debate at report stage and third reading stage of Bill C-85, the Canada-Israel free trade agreement.

Next week we will be working with our constituents in our ridings.

I would like to note that Tuesday, February 19 will be an allotted day.

On Wednesday, we will begin consideration at report stage and third reading of Bill C-77, on the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-91, An Act respecting Indigenous languages, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Indigenous Languages Act

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

There are five minutes remaining in questions and comments following the speech of the hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.

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

Mr. Speaker, I listened very carefully to the words of my colleague's speech. He talked not only about the importance of the indigenous language bill but also about the broader government agenda regarding indigenous issues.

Today, of course, we learned some very disturbing facts regarding the former justice minister and Attorney General of Canada. In a speech on October 30, she noted that even someone in an important position like hers could be marginalized.

Could my colleague align the Liberals' firing of someone who felt marginalized at the cabinet table with the Liberals' veneer that they care about indigenous issues and that no relationship is more important than the one with indigenous peoples?

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

Mr. Speaker, we should be focusing on what we are accomplishing with the introduction of Bill C-91.

As I pointed out, it is historic legislation. Indigenous leaders from all regions of our country, as well as non-indigenous people, recognize the critical importance of a language heritage. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission came up with a call to action, and this legislation deals with three of the calls that I am aware of. I see this as a positive.

I would not want to take anything away from the value or significance of this legislation. I do believe that at the end of the day, for the residents of Winnipeg North and beyond, this Parliament as a whole can come together to recognize the value of this legislation and allow it to go committee. We can then hear from the different stakeholders who want to voice their thoughts, expressing concerns they might have or how they would support the legislation or would suggest ways we can improve upon it.

This is a good piece of legislation. It has been a long time coming. I look forward to it ultimately going to committee so that we can get it that much closer to receiving royal assent.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in reading through the piece of legislation, we see an omission that I wonder if my friend would agree needs to be corrected.

The preamble talks about the history of discrimination against indigenous peoples in Canada and about forced relocation and residential schools. It omits a serious part for many indigenous people, which was noted as the “sixties scoop”. Many people and many families are still feeling the effects of it. Many tens of thousands of indigenous peoples were swept up in that particular version or iteration of racist policy coming from the government.

I have a simple question for my friend. There are many aspects of this bill that I will get into in my speech in a moment, but this omission of this one categorically terrible part of Canadian history clearly needs to be addressed and admitted to. It seems like a very small thing to some, but to those families that were directly impacted, and have been impacted in generations that followed, it is more than a small thing. It is a very serious thing.

Would my colleague agree with me that it needs to be included in this legislation?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I think we will find that the minister responsible for the legislation has indicated fairly clearly that he is also anxious to see it go to committee. In fact, he is open to seeing different potential amendments. The government is very much open to anything that could be done to give further strength to the legislation.

We have to recognize that the legislation we have before us is an accumulation of a great deal of consultation with the strong leadership within indigenous peoples in the different regions of the country. I suspect there is always opportunity for us to improve the legislation.

That is one of the reasons I am asking members on all sides of this House to recognize the value, the principle of what is within this legislation. Going to committee in a timely fashion will potentially give the bill a greater likelihood of being amended in the way the member across the aisle is suggesting. I suspect we would also be receiving feedback directly from indigenous leaders on that particular point as well.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to speak to Bill C-91.

We are in the last stages of this Parliament. It may seem like the election is far off in October of this year, but legislation being introduced right now is on the clock, as we say. It is not unusual for even government bills to take more than a year to pass.

This legislation on indigenous languages was promised by the Liberal government three years ago. It was promised to be introduced last year. It was introduced just this week, and it is going to take a certain determined effort and a willingness, maybe a newfound willingness, on the part of the government to negotiate and make accommodations. While the bill is a good first step towards protecting indigenous languages in Canada, there are some significant and real opportunities the government missed in designing it.

The Prime Minister talks often, certainly more than any previous one, of the need for reconciliation in this country. I would say it is an inconsistent message on the ground, because many of the indigenous people I represent in northwestern British Columbia have heard the words but not seen actions that have taken us along that way.

For many years since coming to office, I have argued for support for indigenous languages and for the proper, stable funding of language programs. Much as we worry about the rare and beautiful species around the world that are becoming extinct or endangered, we are watching ancient and profound languages disappearing before our very eyes, within our lifetime, here in Canada. I have heard ministers talk about this as a crisis many times, yet we do not treat it like a crisis.

Let me start with the good, because it is important to try to give credit where it is due. While the bill is late and has yet to specify funding, the fact that we are now speaking about indigenous languages is something important and needs to be sustained.

We have a piece of legislation that is not necessarily very large but could potentially have a profound impact. It would perhaps allow for stable funding. The reason that is important, as anyone who has tried to acquire a second or third language would know, is that taking a week's course is insufficient. Taking a week's course once a year or every few years is not going to be enough.

What gives a person the capacity to speak with the range required to truly understand and incorporate a language is sustained effort over time, having instruction, and having materials there from the earliest stages of life right through. Learning to express oneself in one's own language in a proper way requires that kind of sustained effort.

While we see statutory funding made available in this legislation, there is no amount indicated. All the legislation points to in clause 7 is that consultations will be undertaken with indigenous groups to establish funding. One has to wonder what the government has been doing over the last three years.

The Liberals have talked about consultation a lot, and we would have assumed that there was a figure attached to this. We have a budget coming in a short while, but Canadians familiar with politics would know that budgets that are introduced in an election year are sometimes worth the paper they are written on, but not always.

The government has grown an addiction to what is called back-loaded funding. It announces a large number. Housing or transportation would be good examples where the number is large but it happens in the eighth, ninth or 10th year of the program. If anyone can predict what the government is going to look like, much less the budget, 10 years from now, I sure would like to talk to that person about the stock market and Vegas.

It cannot be done. These are promises that cannot be committed to. While statutory funding is outlined in the bill, no figure is given by the government even though we have asked several times.

It is frustrating, because that is not treating a thing like a crisis. When the Liberals say they want to consult after being in power for more than three and a half years, indigenous groups and leaders and maternal language speakers will ask what exactly the Liberals have been doing and why it has taken so long.

I need to talk about home a bit, because this is how I can relate to this type of legislation.

In the northwest of British Columbia are some of the most ancient and vibrant indigenous cultures: the Tahltan and Taku River Tlingit in the north, up to the now Yukon border; the Haida and Haida Gwaii down the Tsimshian coast to Bella Coola and Bella Bella, the Nuxalk, all the way up through the interior to the Carrier Sekani, Wet'suwet'en, the Haisla, Tsimshian, Wet'suwet'en, Gitxsan and others.

These languages are something to behold. When I am attending and observing a traditional ceremony in the feast hall, from naming ceremonies and weddings to funerals, smoke feasts and headstone feasts, I am reminded that central to any culture, and in particular indigenous culture, is the ability of a community or a nation to speak its own language to itself in those important moments in life: the passing on of an elder, the naming of young people or a chief acquiring her or his name. It is the ability to tell the stories and the ability to describe the meanings behind the words and locations.

I think of the court case that is often referred to in this place. The case of Delgamuukw and Gisday’wa took place at the Supreme Court of Canada, just a few blocks from here, when two chiefs of the Gitxsan and the Wet'suwet'en, appeared before court day after day to establish an important thing in our law and precedents, that oral tradition and oral evidence counted as evidence.

One of the great corruptions of colonial empires was to dismiss any legal authority of indigenous peoples in order to acquire the land, terra nullius, to say that there was nobody here and that anything that had existed in law here, in some cases for thousands upon thousands of years, was somehow done away with.

At the Supreme Court, the challenge was for the Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan chiefs to be able to describe in their languages, in Wet'suwet'en and in Gitxsan, the place names and histories and stories of their nations. By doing it consistently and over and over again under brutal cross-examination by the Crown, that case was successful. Because they were speakers of their traditional languages in their original form, they were able to establish in front of the highest court in the land their territorial rights and the ability to have some influence over what happens in their homes. That is the most basic concept of human rights we have.

Unfortunately, this is where I struggle with the current government, and I think many indigenous peoples do as well. If we look to the Wet'suwet'en and what is going on right now on their territory and the Unist'ot'en territories, there is a challenge and debate, with conflict from time to time, over a proposed pipeline. One of the things we are trying to establish with the government is that very ability to have some say over the land. We have called upon the Prime Minister and the government just to be involved in what is happening in the Wet'suwet'en territory. From the Prime Minister's Office on down to the indigenous affairs minister, we have been told it is not our business.

On the one hand, Liberals claim reconciliation as a priority. The Prime Minister often says there is no more important relationship than that with indigenous peoples. When there is a moment of conflict, we are able to engage the municipality; we are able to engage the police and we are able to engage with the company and the provincial government, but we cannot engage with the federal government under acts that exist that were created in this place.

The government suddenly wants to wash its hands of any implication and say it believes in reconciliation, except when we need reconciliation, when we need to reconcile things like the Indian Act and the hereditary governance system of the Wet'suwet'en. This would be an important thing to the government if it cared about reconciliation. Let us reconcile.

My family heritage is Irish. I was the first in my family to be born here after they immigrated, back in the 1950s. When I look through the Irish history, particularly the colonial history of Great Britain in Ireland, one of the tactics used by the colonial power was to extinguish language, to extinguish stories and history and where people come from, because if we cannot tell our stories, we do not know who we are. It is an attempt to erase a people. To truly subjugate them requires the colonial power, in this case, to try to remove their history and language.

We saw it in Ireland over centuries, and the British picked up that model and applied it when they were the colonial power in this country, to eliminate the language, stories and history. The settlers could pretend that there were no people here. There was no land taken because it was not in possession of anybody, as they were nomadic people without laws, traditions, language or culture.

Through the residential schools and the sixties scoop, which is not mentioned in the bill, and other oppressive tactics designed in parliaments, in this place, explicitly by successive prime ministers, they tried to extinguish indigenous people entirely and subsume them into the colonial melting pot. We can only imagine the courage and energy required from those indigenous elders to insist, even though it was against the law of the day, on speaking their language.

I was recently at a funeral where an elder was relaying stories of what it was like for him to go to school and the beatings he took any time he spoke Gitxsan. If the teacher, the nun in this case, heard the Gitxsan language spoken at any time, in excitement, in sorrow, in explanation to another student, he would be beaten.

This was a story my grandmother was able to tell from her Irish past. If she spoke Celtic in front of the British nuns, she was beaten as well. Therefore, across oceans and across time, we are able to see the influences. Now my family speaks hardly any Celtic at all, and I wonder what that robs me of as a son of the Irish, that I am unable to access my history, culture and traditions because of decisions made by the mother of parliaments in London.

Much like it is with species, once extinct there is no going back. When I look around at the indigenous communities I represent, I know the effort that has been put in, first when it was illegal, but even now that it is no longer forbidden. It is very difficult to ensure that indigenous languages are being practised.

In some of our communities, we can count on one hand the number of fluent speakers left, and fluency is critical in this. I urge the government to please understand, when designing the spending and ensured programming for the bill, that just knowing a few words, phrases, expressions and counting to 10 is a good start, but fluency is what is required.

As anybody who has attempted to learn another language knows, if one is not fluent in that language and cannot understand the depth and breadth of the language, then one does not understand its people. If that is true for native speakers of that language, they cannot understand themselves, and while that was a government design in the past, we cannot skim the surface of this effort. We have to be able to do it properly.

I will tell the story of being at a Haida feast, which was incredible. It was the chief's naming feast. It was a big deal. A friend of mine, Guujaaw, was getting his name, and it was a long feast. It was done in proper Haida style, with lots of food, song, gifts, performances and speeches. When I was there, I got to be an observer. That is hard for a politician, but I was not there to speak at all. I was just there to bear witness, because that is how a feast is held up, by those who bear witness.

At the very end of the speech, it was gift-giving time. It is a beautiful tradition of many indigenous peoples, and certainly the Haida, to offer gifts to those who have come and witnessed what has happened in the feast hall.

As the gifts were being passed out and there were so many it was taking a long time, one of the young Haida got up in the middle of the hall and said, “We'd like to sing a couple of songs. Does anyone want to come up while we're gifting? It's our tradition to sing songs.”

One by one, these young Haida were coming out of the crowd. By the end, there must have been 30 or 40 young Haida, singing song after song for an hour or more. I marvelled at this, knowing some of the history of the Haida, of the smallpox blankets and the almost extinction of their culture entirely. I was watching a renaissance, a rebirth of the language, particularly among the young people.

I was sitting beside one of the Haida elders and I said, “There's a lot of wealth here.” There were a lot of gifts being given, and the Haida, and this chief in particular, my friend, was able to describe his wealth and stature to the community, but the real wealth was happening in the middle of the floor. Their young people are able to speak with each other and their elders in Haida. It is so inspiring as someone who represents the Crown, who represents not just our present but our history. I know that people who previously held my office held the implicit racist views that indigenous people were less than and that their languages were barbaric. Those words were said in Parliament time and again. How barbaric are they was the debate of the day 100 years ago.

We watched the determination of the Haida, the Tsimshian, the Gitxsan, the Wet'suwet'en and on down the line, maintain their understanding of language, without support, and in fact, with aggression from the federal government.

We are here in Parliament. It means “to speak”. We hold and guard jealously our ability to speak in the two official languages. It is against the rules in this place to ever criticize or suggest someone speak in either English or French. We are free to express ourselves as well as we can. That is the rule of the House. We have a whole stack of books protecting that right to speak in Parliament, to express ourselves. If the bill can help move the country forward just a little to say one has the right to protect these languages, to express oneself in indigenous languages, then we will be doing a good thing.

My friend from Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou has spent his life facing challenges, political and personal, and a state determined to ignore him. His generosity and determination has stayed true to this cause, to allowing Parliament to hear speeches in indigenous languages and to seeing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples brought into law in Canada.

That part of the bill needs to move out of the preamble and into the substance of the act. If we believe in section 35 rights, if we believe in the UN declaration, and that should inform our law-making, then let it form our law-making. Allow it to express itself fully, because if Canada ever seeks to be the nation it is promising to be, then we certainly must do these types of things, and more, and do them together.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism (Multiculturalism), Lib.]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my friend from Skeena—Bulkley Valley for his very passionate speech today, and of course his long-term commitment to advancing indigenous rights.

I want to respond to a couple of his comments. First, he had a number of very important suggestions, which we hope will be debated and discussed in committee, including the addition of the sixties scoop and other incidents over the generations, such as forced displacement and so on. We look forward to having that discussion in committee and being able to accommodate as many suggestions as we can to improve the bill.

There is an organization in his community called First Peoples' Cultural Council in B.C. Since coming into office, I believe the funding has tripled from our government, from $1 million in 2016 to $6.2 billion or million, over two years in 2018-19. I believe that is still not enough, but it is the type of commitment the government has toward properly funding indigenous languages.

I know our ALI program has been very important. The $89 million over three years is all part of a broader commitment. It is essential that we get this legislation through in order for dollars to flow in the long term.

What kind of direct impact do you think this will have on communities in your constituency, and how can the practices there be expanded across the country?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I want to remind the parliamentary secretary he is to address the question to the Chair. I would ask him to keep his preambles a bit shorter to allow for the questions within the timelines that we have.

The hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Madam Speaker, it might have been a slip of the tongue, but my friend said, “$6.1 billion”. I will accept that first figure over the million that he had mentioned and I will take that back to the various groups.

The only point that I would make is that sometimes there is a tendency within Ottawa to say that Ottawa knows best. The programs are very top-down. The region that I know, the northwest of British Columbia, and I would say many other regions in coastal British Columbia and the Interior, without any funding at all, with an aggressive and oppositional government for many years, they have been able to create vibrant, beautiful language programs. We should pick up on the successes that exist and allow for maximum flexibility on the ground because there cannot be a cookie-cutter approach.

I would also note, and I am sure he has heard the concerns from Inuit, that aspects of the bill are not yet meeting the northern needs. Again, a language program that might work in Nunavut is not going to work well in Montreal or Prince Rupert. I would suggest that, when the government is looking to design these programs, it take direction from the communities whose very livelihoods are on the line and whose very cultures and histories are at stake.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Madam Speaker, I was listening with great interest to my colleague's speech. When he was speaking about his Irish heritage, it made me think of my own Scottish heritage and the Highland clearances and the elimination of the Gaelic language. When the Scots were forced out of the land, they then came to Canada and became colonizers themselves so it was a system that was perpetuated.

I also appreciated the member's comments about Bill C-262, which the current Liberal government voted in favour of. I very much agree with the member that we need to see a mention of that UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples not just in the preamble but in the legislation itself.

I think of my riding, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, which is home to the Coast Salish peoples and the beautiful Halkomelem language that they speak, which I have witnessed at ceremonies within their territories, and how beautiful it is to see children speaking that language. I wonder if the member can talk about how different languages very much inform our world views, as they allow different ways and different perspectives, and how important it is to promote that so that we have different ways of viewing what is essentially the same thing.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Madam Speaker, I have rarely talked much about my own heritage and history in this place. I begin to think that the importance of being able to talk about these issues from our own experience and history is the most important thing we can do for Canadians. There are so many Canadians who will say that the bill seems interesting but does not impact them, not realizing that the tactics used by previous governments to oppress and suppress language and culture and history hold the entire country back.

If we look back into almost all of our histories, when there has been a colonial power and there has been a successful attempt at oppression, language has been one of the key factors. The devious minds that came up with these protocols and practices and laws understood how vital languages were when they tried to oppress a people.

Therefore, if we are going to say anything about reconciliation, if we are going to say anything about improving as a country, understanding and identifying, as did our predecessors in a negative way, the importance of language, is the imperative of this bill now and how important it is to get it right for people in his communities and right across the country who are impacted by this. I would argue that, by extension, that is all Canadians.

[Bob Bratina, Liberal, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Madam Speaker, I had the pleasure last spring of watching a very special ceremony in which our “fightingest” ship, HMCS Haida, was named the honorary flagship of the Canadian navy. There were two hereditary chiefs of the Haida Nation, Lonnie Young and Frank Collison, who joined us and they spoke the language, and now the flag of the Haida Nation flies over that ship in Hamilton.

I wonder if my friend from Skeena—Bulkley Valley can comment on whether the Haida peoples, and other nations that he deals with in much larger numbers than we have in my area, are getting a sense of entering into the full broad spectrum of Canadian life.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Madam Speaker, I would quibble with that last turn of phrase, “the full broad spectrum of Canadian life”.

I do not want to rain on his parade at all, but that is actually a good example of consultations being inadequate. The Haida people in this case were not properly consulted beforehand, before using the name. There was some repair being done at the ceremony he was able to watch at the end. However, it is a good example of intentions sometimes going wrong, where the government says it is going to do this thing and they will be happy with it, but does not ask how to do it properly beforehand.

What is amazing to me is that indigenous communities, in watching our good intention efforts sometimes go sideways, have the ability to forgive, adapt and make it work. A good example of how not to do this wrong is to make sure that before the funding is designed and before the program is designed, the consultation and the money is directed, from the beginning, by indigenous peoples rather than by Ottawa.

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Madam Speaker, in 2016, the Prime Minister stood up and said that we were going to have an official languages act to deal with aboriginal peoples. Here we are, three years later, and we do not have it. Parliament will shut down for the summer soon.

Why does the member think it took the government so long? Why did it just start this yesterday?

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Madam Speaker, I do not know. The promise was in 2016. We would have liked to see it much earlier, of course.

As many of my colleagues know, in the passage of bills, especially important ones, they have to go through the committee properly and hear from people. There is an element in this legislation that is a big question, which is the funding. I think those are fair questions to ask: How much is it, over how long and how is it secured?

Sometimes the government is caught betwixt and between. It wants to do consultation. Sometimes the consultation take longer than it imagines. There is the promise of an introduction of a bill, and as with this bill, which was supposed to be introduced last year, it is now being introduced this year. We can quibble about it, but it cannot be lethal to the bill.

On the timing itself, we have to do our best to improve what is here and see its passage. Elections come and mandates disappear, and people have gotten too accustomed to promises not being delivered upon. Let us help the government deliver on this one a little better than what they have done to this point.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Labrador.

First of all, I want to say mahsi cho.

Today is a great day. It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak in support of Bill C-91, the indigenous languages act. This legislation supports a revitalization of indigenous languages, which have deteriorated over the years because of the racist and discriminatory policies of successive governments.

Three languages were spoken in my home when I grew up: English; the language of the Dene, the Dehcho Dene; and the language of the Métis, Métis French, Michif. It all kind of came to an end when I started school, because during that era, we were not allowed to speak anything except English. If we were caught or reported for speaking anything but English, we were strapped with an 18-inch, three-inch wide rubber strap.

There was no defence. We were guilty. It did not matter if we did it or not. A lot of my colleagues would sometimes falsely report their fellow students. They wanted to see them get strapped. There was no way to get away from it. If the principal came out, grabbed us and brought us to the front of the class, and we fought back, he would hit us wherever he could. However, if we let him, he would just strap us on the hands. Usually it was four straps per hand. The only time we could get him to stop was if he drew blood. A lot of my colleagues would take a piece of their hair and put it on their hands to see if they could get their hands to bleed so that after the first strap, they would not be hit anymore.

Why did this happen? Why did we have to go through this? It is because past policies were designed to strip away indigenous identity and discourage the use of traditional languages.

This bill is intended to support and promote the use of indigenous languages. It recognizes that languages are fundamental to the identities, cultures, spiritual beliefs, relationships to the land, world views and self-determination of indigenous peoples.

Throughout the government-led engagement sessions on this legislation, which I think took a total of two years, it was stated that language was integral to who one is as a person, to who we are as a people and to individual and collective pride and strength.

Indigenous youth across Canada need to be exposed to their histories through language and must be supported in their efforts to learn their languages and have pride in their cultures. If they park their languages to survive, they also park a big part of their culture, which is something I have learned from my experience.

Acknowledging the importance of indigenous languages in Canada will allow for healthier indigenous people and communities and a healthier country as a whole.

There have been many studies done on the use of indigenous languages and their role, or lack of a role, in the issue of suicide. Many studies have shown that indigenous communities in which a majority of members report conversational knowledge of an indigenous language also experience low to absent youth suicide rates. By contrast, in those communities in which fewer than half the members report knowledge of the language, suicide rates are up to six times higher.

The Assembly of First Nations' report on its national engagement sessions regarding this act states:

Language learning and identity reunification can be sources of healing. Schooling—residential schools, day schools, public schools, technical schools—were sources of disrupting Indigenous language use as a natural process. These institutions made us ashamed to speak our languages and parents were made to believe that their languages would harm their children and keep them from succeeding. Language revitalization can be used to help mitigate other issues such as addictions; people with a strong sense of language have better physical and mental health.

Past studies and reports have acknowledged the importance of youth and intergenerational learning to the revitalization of indigenous languages.

The 2005 report “Towards a New Beginning" by the Task Force on Aboriginal Languages and Cultures calls for funding for immersion programs for children and youth. The task force report reminded indigenous communities to be more mindful of children and youth by stating:

Go home to your communities and do not forget the youth. They sometimes get forgotten and shouldn’t be. They’re important and they’re the next generation. We need to ask the youth what they need and want, and get them involved and get them excited about this.

I have heard chiefs in my riding talk about encouraging people to talk to youth and talk to their children, to say one word or one sentence in their indigenous language, because it does not cost anything.

In the report, elders urge educational institutions to encourage youth to take leadership roles in language preservation. It is important to recognize that youth need access to sufficient financial support to assist in their language journeys so they can learn, use and promote their languages.

Through this bill, the Government of Canada has committed to supporting the efforts of indigenous people to reclaim, revitalize, preserve and maintain their languages in a variety of ways, including by implementing measures that would facilitate the allocation of funding.

A recent report published by the First Peoples' Cultural Council, entitled “Indigenous Languages Recognition, Preservation and Revitalization”, stated:

Youth energy is a driving force for language revitalization. It needs to be encouraged.

Young people need to be encouraged to take control over their languages, as they are the future of this country and will be responsible for the future of indigenous languages.

In 2016, Canada officially adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which proclaims:

Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations, their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons.

The declaration also asserts:

States shall, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, take effective measures, in order for indigenous individuals, particularly children, including those living outside their communities, to have access, when possible, to an education in their own culture and provided in their own language.

The bill recognizes the urgent need to support the efforts of indigenous people to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and also strengthen their languages. Indigenous youth and all peoples in Canada need to be supported in their efforts to reclaim their languages. Indigenous communities have been working diligently to revitalize and reclaim their first nations, Inuit and Métis languages, and it is important to acknowledge their work. The role of elders and language keepers is also very important to the languages of indigenous people in Canada, and their efforts should not be overlooked.

This legislation must be implemented with urgency to provide the necessary support for indigenous people before the language keepers are gone. I urge all hon. members to respect and honour the energy and perseverance of indigenous youth by acting swiftly to adopt this legislation.

I will conclude by reminding members that this bill is long overdue. We must continue to recognize the importance of indigenous language revitalization and the invaluable effects it has on indigenous youth, indigenous communities and Canadians. We have to hurry, because many of our indigenous languages depend on it.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Madam Speaker, the member and I are from the same end of the country, and it has been very, very cold up there. I had a friend in Yellowknife the other day who said it was -56°C. Where I was it was -41°C, so he said that it was warm where I was from. Either way, that is enough about the weather.

I would like to ask my hon. colleague what his brother, the premier, thinks about this particular bill.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Madam Speaker, since I come from a colder part of Canada, for sure I have to be a lot tougher than he is in Alberta, where they get spoiled with warm weather.

I cannot speak for the Premier of the Northwest Territories. I am going to assume that he is very excited that we are looking at coming forward with a strategy. We announced money in 2016 and 2017 for the Government of Northwest Territories to put toward aboriginal languages. It was well received and is being well utilized, but of course, it is not enough and has not been enough for many years.

We advocated for funding for the north during the time the Conservatives were in power, and it was not something we could obtain. We need money for language development, money for materials, money for instructors and money to train them. I am very happy that this is coming forward, and I look forward to the results.