Mr. Speaker, the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc for over a year. Canada has now lost 24,000 people: loved ones, friends and community members. In our region there is a ray of hope as people aged 18 and over can get the vaccine. First nations have been leading the vaccine efforts here. I acknowledge the leadership of chiefs, councillors, front-line workers and MKO.
In December, I joined the MP for Vancouver Kingsway in pushing for urgent federal action to get vaccines to indigenous and northern communities. The vaccine is critical, but it is also not enough. We need paid sick days for all workers.
The death of 13-year-old Emily Viegas must be a wake-up call. Many working people in industrial workplaces who are racialized or immigrants have paid for this crisis first with their lives, and now their children's. Coming out of this we need a different world where the elderly, first nations and the working class are not exploited and marginalized: a world where lives matter before profit.