Debates of June 3rd, 2021

Indigenous Peoples

[Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said that the remains of 215 children are from a dark and shameful chapter of our country's history, but indigenous peoples know that colonization is not just in the past. It is an ongoing reality.

More than 50% of children in foster care are indigenous, but account for less than 8% of the child population. More than 30% of inmates in prison are indigenous and Inuit in Nunavut die by suicide at nine times the rate of non-indigenous Canadians.

Colonization is not a dark chapter in Canadian history. It is a book that the federal institution continues to write. We are tired of living in someone else's story and refuse to continue to have it written for us. We have written and will continue to write new chapters and will not ask for permission to live lives full of dignity and respect. We will demand it.

The Environment

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this week is Environment Week, and I want to take this opportunity to emphasize the government's hypocrisy, after celebrating Clean Air Day yesterday.

The government claims to want to “recognize how important good air quality is to our health, our environment and the economy”.

Let us talk about health. Health Canada estimates that air pollution contributes to 15,300 premature deaths per year in Canada, including 4,000 in Quebec, and that does not include the non-fatal health outcomes. Those outcomes include 2.7 million asthma symptom days and 35 million acute respiratory symptom days per year.

Let us now move on to the economy. The economic cost of health impacts attributable to air pollution in 2016 was $120 billion, which is equivalent to 6% of Canada's gross domestic product. That is not nothing.

I will now conclude on the subject of the environment. This government keeps blithely subsidizing the oil and gas industry that, I should point out, emits the most greenhouse gases out of all industries, including transportation.

Can someone tell me what there is to celebrate? It is all one big charade.

The Conservative Party of Canada

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives have a clear vision for securing Canada's future, but unlike the Liberals, we believe our country's success lies in the Canadian people, not in government. Canadians are the problem-solvers, the solution makers and the wealth-creators. They have and will continue to make Canada great.

Instead of liberating Canadians to succeed without obscene interventions, the government is set on picking winners and losers based on a Liberal value system. Whether through excessive taxation, meddling with Internet algorithms to promote some Canadian creators over others, over-regulating industries it does not like so other industries it does like can succeed, or telling Canadians what they can or cannot say, the government is obsessed with engineering a future of its own making rather than letting Canadians determine their own fortune.

It is dictatorial. It is destructive, and it is all together wrong. A Conservative government will secure Canada's future by unleashing the power of Canadians right across the country. Canada's Conservatives will let the people design their future.

Indigenous Peoples

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Speaker, weeks before the discovery of the graves of indigenous children at the Kamloops residential school, our weekly webcast to Fleetwood—Port Kells featured two stories that illustrated Canada’s systemic racism toward indigenous people.

Genesa Greening, president and CEO of the BC Women's Health Foundation, told of how indigenous women still dress in their best clothes to go to the emergency room. They do that because still, today, it is too often suspected or assumed that they are drunk or high. If they take their kids in for care, well, there is always the fear that those kids will be apprehended.

Keenan McCarthy told us of how he only discovered his heritage shortly before his grandmother passed away. She told him about how, after her service in England during World War II, she came home only to be denied her demobilization package because she was Métis.

Much harm has been done by past governments, but we are the government now. Canadians look to us to act on truth and reconciliation, and we will do it.

Indigenous Affairs

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, empty shoes are being left at memorials across the country. Flags are at half-mast. Canadian families are grieving the loss of children, but they have not yet seen swift action.

We have been asking the government for a new plan and new resources to respond to calls to action 71 to 76 in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report, and to do this by Canada Day. Will the government commit to delivering the plan so that families can begin the process of healing?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services]

Mr. Speaker, we are all heartbroken by the discovery of the remains of children at the Kamloops residential school. Our thoughts are obviously with the Kamloops Secwépemc First Nation and the surrounding communities that had children stolen by that institution.

Presently, we are working with those communities, which have asked for space, to help them with their mental health supports and to help community members. We are working to help indigenous peoples across the country who are hurting and to accompany them in that search for truth. We have invested $27 million, and we will continue to do so to help those communities establish their protocols and give them the space to speak, so we can help them learn the truth and then heal.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, flags are at half mast and shoes are being left out, but Canadians want action. I asked the government for a plan and for new resources to address the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action 71 to 76 by Canada Day. Will the government commit to developing a plan to help these families heal?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, it is a question of healing and of grieving for all indigenous peoples in mourning right now, specifically the communities around Kamloops whose children were scooped up, only to die, as some did, at the Kamloops residential school. Our thoughts are with them. We will be there to take action, to support them in their needs. They have asked for space, and that is what we are giving them. We will be there for them with mental health and other services, as long as they need them. The process of uncovering the truth, and then healing, will take a long time, but it is essential.

Public Safety

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, last night, a Liberal spokesperson suggested the government would refuse to turn over documents to the House regarding the security breach at Canada's highest-security laboratory in Winnipeg. So far, what the government has released has been heavily redacted, and significant correspondence from the Wuhan Institute of Virology has been blacked out.

Has the government had any communication with the Chinese government about making this information public?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, as we have been repeatedly clear on this side of the House, of course we are committed to sharing information in a manner that will not compromise national security. There is a committee, as the member opposite knows, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, which is well situated to review these documents. This is an opportunity for the House to participate in this review.

As the member opposite knows, we will never jeopardize national security.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this security breach shows the minister has already jeopardized Canadian security. We know from the first media inquiries on these scientists that the lab directly involved security services and the Privy Council Office.

The Prime Minister and the minister knew they had a security breach on their hands from the start, and they know it is Parliament's job to hold them to account for it. Are Canadians going to get the truth from the minister, or is she at the origin of yet another Liberal cover-up?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the researchers are no longer with the National Microbiology Lab. As I have said, this government takes national security extremely seriously. In fact, as the member opposite knows, we have been repeatedly committed to providing the House with the documentation. There is an appropriate committee in this House to review that documentation.

I will just say this: We will not play games with national security, unlike the member opposite.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, a liberal spokesperson suggested the government would refuse to turn over documents to the House regarding the security breach at the laboratory in Winnipeg. The documents submitted by this government have been redacted, including important correspondence with the Wuhan Institute. Has the government had any communication with the Chinese government about making this information public?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said repeatedly in this House, the government is prepared to turn over the documents while protecting national security.

The member opposite knows that there is an appropriate committee of the House that can look at these documents. It is important that the member not play games with Canadians' safety and security.

Official Languages

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Quebec National Assembly has passed unanimous resolutions requiring that Bill 101 apply to federally regulated businesses. That is why the Quebec government introduced Bill 96, which seeks to ensure that Bill 101 applies.

However, in its language reform document, the federal government does not propose that Bill 101 be applied in order to protect French. Instead, it proposes that the Official Languages Act be applied in order to protect bilingualism. Why not stand with Quebec and support its will to apply Bill 101?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, it goes without saying that we want the right to work and be served in French without discrimination for being francophone to be protected in federally regulated businesses in Quebec and in regions with a strong francophone presence across the country. That is our commitment, and that is what we will do. I look forward to working with my colleague on this issue.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am hearing that my colleague wants to protect French in Quebec, and I am offering to help her. What the federal government can do is ensure that federally regulated businesses provide a French-language workplace, which only Bill 101 can do.

That is why the Bloc Québécois introduced Bill C-254, which would apply Bill 101 to federally regulated businesses. My colleague says that she wants to protect French and I would like to help. Will she vote for our bill?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned and as my colleague reiterated, it goes without saying that the Government of Canada wants to protect French because the use of French is declining across the country. We will protect it and we are the first government in our history to do so. That is why we will be introducing a bill on the Official Languages Act to ensure that we can do so.

Indigenous Affairs

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Canada violated the rights of indigenous children. Even so, the Prime Minister is still taking indigenous children to court. Will the Prime Minister support our motion and stop prosecuting indigenous children, yes or no?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services]

Mr. Speaker, our government and the Prime Minister have been clear. Our goal is comprehensive, fair and equitable compensation to support the healing of those affected by the historical inequity of discriminatory policies governing services to first nations children and families.

We maintain that there remain substantive unresolved questions about the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal's jurisdiction. We are committed to this project and to ensuring that all first nations children receive fair and equitable compensation.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found that Canada discriminated against indigenous children. It also found that it did so willfully and recklessly. Despite that, the Prime Minister continues to fight indigenous kids in court. Indigenous survivors of residential schools are demanding justice, but the Prime Minister is fighting them in court as well.

How could people take the Prime Minister's commitment to reconciliation seriously, when he continues to fight indigenous children and residential school survivors in court?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to be clear with the member opposite, and with all Canadians, that every first nations child who suffered discrimination at the hands of the child and family services system, which is broken, will receive just, fair and equitable compensation.

We maintain that there are substantive unresolved questions on the CHRT jurisdiction. On the other court cases that are outstanding in class actions, we are in discussions with the parties, but those discussions do remain confidential out of respect for the process.

Public Safety

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, our relationship with the Chinese Communist regime is strained right now, and the situation with the two Michaels plus the Uighur genocide are only making things worse.

Our National Microbiology Laboratory is internationally recognized for its scientific excellence. Did the government ensure that no scientist with ties to the Communist regime or the Chinese People's Liberation Army is currently working in our laboratories?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we have a crown jewel in the National Microbiology Laboratory. This is a lab that has provided amazing service to Canadians through this pandemic and, indeed, before. In fact, this lab is well known around the world for its efforts to understand pathologies and support Canadians.

As I have said, it is important as well that Canada collaborate in research and science. In fact, attending the G7 virtually, collaboration has been raised a number of times today as an important principle to not only managing COVID-19, but also to dealing with pandemics in the future. We will continue—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Chicoutimi—Le Fjord.