Madam Speaker, I think the best thing I can say to the member is that the role of the federal government is to lead by example. When it comes to the issue that is affecting Caledonia and the Haudenosaunee, which was raised also by the member from the NDP, we have to appreciate that the law enforcement responsibilities that are being acted on are those of the Ontario Provincial Police. In my city, we have the Toronto Police Service.
Where we have situations with the RCMP, under contract or otherwise, not acting in a manner that appears to be addressing systemic racism, which is quite visible and marked to all of those who are observing, I think we have to lead by example in terms of ensuring that the training is sufficient, that the leadership understands the nature of the issue and that action is being taken.
I will say with some confidence that I think we are on the right track insofar as very recently, this week, with something that is squarely within federal jurisdiction, that being the judges training bill. When that was before the justice committee, we passed an amendment to expand out the judges training bill so that the training occurs not just on sexual assault law and social context, but by expanding out what social context means, including the terms “systemic racism” and “systemic discrimination”, amendments that were suggested by the leaders of the Black caucus and the indigenous caucus in this Parliament.
By ensuring that training is occurring, by ensuring that people are receiving the message loudly and clearly that systemic racism exists and is a phenomenon at all levels of government and in all of our institutions including law enforcement, we can lead by example, which hopefully can trickle down to the law enforcement that is operating currently in Ontario with respect to the Six Nations dispute.