Debates of May 2nd, 2023

Red Dress Day

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Madam Chair, I am honoured to respond to the hon. member for Winnipeg Centre. I can add nothing to her words. I hope that I can be worthy of her thinking of me as a good ally, and I agree.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Madam Chair, it is with a great deal of emotion that I rise this evening on behalf of the Bloc Québécois to close this debate after my incredible colleague from Manicouagan, who spoke earlier this evening.

From the outset, I would like to remind the House that our political party has repeatedly reiterated its commitment to being an ally to the first nations. We believe that it is critical that we collectively remember all missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA persons to honour their memory.

I will go over some of our proposals, and then I will talk about Red Dress Day. I will close my speech by reminding the House of the origin of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

First, we called for the creation of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and we supported its findings. We continue to support initiatives aimed at ending the impact of Canadian colonialism on indigenous peoples.

The government has been slow to implement some calls to justice. Although it publicly underlines the importance of reconciliation, the chronic underfunding of indigenous people in Canada continues. The federal government's inability to make sufficient investments in social and affordable housing, health services and infrastructure, water in particular, in indigenous communities has devastating consequences for indigenous people, their families and communities, in particular indigenous women and girls.

Massive efforts and investments must be made to honour the federal government's commitments and put an end to the crisis being experienced by indigenous women. The investments being made are insufficient to erase the harmful effects of colonialism. The resulting trauma is still deeply felt today and keeps women in particular trapped in a cycle of violence and vulnerability.

The Bloc Québécois is calling for true reconciliation. It must be social, cultural and economic. It must enable indigenous people to free themselves from the harms they were subjected to, and it must be done with the communities, not by imposing a Canadian vision of what reconciliation is.

The Bloc Québécois has always been a strong advocate of nation-to-nation discourse, and we reiterate that position once again. May 5 is Red Dress Day, the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. It is a time to honour missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people. We believe that one way to do this is by accelerating the implementation of the calls to action of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Second, Red Dress Day is about honouring the victims, raising awareness of this crisis and encouraging governments to take action to address racist and gender-based violence against indigenous people in Canada.

I saw the REDress Project, which is now a permanent exhibit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, when I visited Winnipeg for a symposium on human trafficking and the resulting sexual exploitation that disproportionately affects indigenous women and girls, who often wind up missing or murdered.

Third, I would like to talk about how the national inquiry came about. In 2014, the issue finally broke into the headlines as a potential systemic problem after the RCMP unveiled its figures on the number of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. The numbers speak for themselves. A total of 1,007 indigenous women and girls went missing or were murdered between 1980 and 2012. There are still 105 women unaccounted for, who disappeared under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. Between 2004 and 2014, as the murder rate fell across Canada, six times more indigenous women and girls were murdered than non-indigenous. Taking advantage of the momentum generated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's work, many groups held demonstrations on October 4, 2014, demanding a national inquiry into the causes of the disappearance and murder of indigenous women and a national action plan.

It is also important to note that there is still a disproportionate number of indigenous women in Canadian prisons, many of whom were victims of violence themselves. That being said, pressure was mounting on the federal government, which until that point had ignored all calls for action.

Less than a year later, in 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada called for a national inquiry into the disproportionate victimization of indigenous women and girls.

On June 3, 2019, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released its final report, “Reclaiming Power and Place”, after more than two years of gathering testimony from indigenous knowledge keepers, experts, and 1,484 survivors and family members of missing and murdered women and girls.

The report contains 231 separate calls for justice. These are legal imperatives, not mere recommendations. They call for immediate action and are directed at indigenous and non-indigenous governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and Canadians from all walks of life.

In Canada, according to 2018 figures, 25.1% of non-indigenous women reported having been physically or sexually abused by an intimate partner, while this percentage rises to 43.7% among indigenous women. Furthermore, 38.2% of non-indigenous women have been physically or sexually abused by someone other than an intimate partner, but this percentage rises to 54.9% among indigenous women.

Internationally, Canada finally signed on to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on June 21, 2021, when the related act received royal assent. This is one of the most important human rights issues facing Canada. The purpose of the act is to affirm the UN declaration as an international human rights instrument that can help interpret and apply Canadian law. This act requires the Government of Canada, in consultation and co-operation with indigenous peoples, to take all measures necessary to ensure that the laws of Canada are consistent with the declaration, to prepare and implement an action plan to achieve the objectives of the declaration, and to table an annual report on the progress made in aligning federal laws with the action plan.

The act requires that the action plan include measures to address injustices, combat prejudice and eliminate all forms of violence, racism and discrimination against indigenous peoples, including elders, youth, children, persons with disabilities, women, men and two-spirit and gender-diverse persons. It aims to to promote mutual respect and understanding, as well as good relations, including through human rights education. The plan must include measures related to the monitoring, oversight, follow-up, recourse or remedy or other accountability with respect to the implementation of the declaration. This action plan must also include measures for monitoring the implementation of the plan itself and for reviewing and amending the plan.

In their descriptions of encounters, families and survivors who spoke at the national inquiry consistently linked their experiences to colonialism, both historic and modern forms, in one of the following four ways: historical, multi-generational and inter-generational trauma; social and economic marginalization; maintaining the status quo; institutional lack of will; and refusal to recognize the expertise of indigenous women and girls and their capacity to act. The Canadian government and the clergy planned the collective trauma with the ultimate goal of driving all indigenous communities to extinction. Those communities have since been left to deal with the consequences alone.

We might say that indigenous communities need to fight. Quebeckers and Canadians alike need to be aware of the collective trauma experienced in these communities, understand it and make sure these atrocities never happen again. In listening to the testimony of indigenous women, Quebec Native Women counted four types of violence: structural violence, institutional violence, family violence and personal violence. That last type of violence covers actions such as physical violence, psychological manipulation and financial control, and it involves individuals.

In conclusion, the government must act on the report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls on the occasion of Red Dress Day, which seeks to raise awareness of this problem. We are calling on the government to take concrete measures to protect indigenous populations, to recognize the disproportionate level of violence faced by indigenous women and to stand in solidarity with them. We must commit to putting an end to racism and systemic violence against indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. As elected officials, we must take action and not settle for a simple speech about this situation.

I would like to point out one last thing because the numbers speak for themselves. In a report released in May 2014, the RCMP documented 1,181 cases involving indigenous women, including 1,017 who were murdered and 164 who went missing, between 1980 and 2012 when this all happened. Some estimate that more than 4,000 indigenous women are missing. According to the national inquiry, it is impossible to determine the exact number of murdered and missing women.

The fake feminism must stop, and there must be action.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Madam Chair, I thank the member for her speech and all the work she is doing to end gender-based violence. We need the government to provide immediate investments for a red dress alert system to notify the public when an indigenous woman, girl or two-spirit person is reported missing.

Budget 2023 recognized the need for an alert system. However, the Liberals refuse to fund and set a deadline for its implementation. The member for Winnipeg Centre, the member for Nunavut and the member for Edmonton Griesbach have been fighting hard for far too long. The families and victims have been bearing the burden of change for far too long.

Can the member tell us how urgent it is for the government to take action right away?

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Madam Chair, one thing is certain. It is well worth looking into this issue of the alert.

In my speech, I talked about the government and about us as elected officials. I talked about the wrongs that have been done over the years. Since we are talking about action, I think that we are at the point now where we need to raise public awareness of this issue and recognize that missing and murdered indigenous women and girls do not receive the same treatment as others do.

Finally, this type of alert could perhaps make people aware of the fact that indigenous women do not get the same treatment when they go missing and that people are not as concerned about them. That is probably what the red dress alert system could be used for. I know that my colleague from the Standing Committee on the Status of Women firmly believes in it, and I think it is worth looking into. After that, if it is worthwhile, then the government will have to provide funding and walk the talk.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Chair, I have the pleasure of serving with my hon. colleague on the status of women committee. I am really proud of our status of women committee. We come from different parties, but tonight we showed up in full force, fighting to end gender-based violence in all forms.

I am very moved by my colleague from the Bloc on a regular basis, by her allyship with indigenous women and her genuine desire to understand the issue and find solutions. One of the things that we have called for, or that has been talked about regularly, in the status of women committee is to implement a guaranteed livable basic income. Gender-based or women's organizations, the organizations that are trying to end violence against women, girls and gender-diverse folks, support, almost unanimously, the critical need for a guaranteed livable basic income if we are going to tackle gender-based violence.

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls call for justice 4.5 calls for exactly that. I am wondering if my hon. colleague supports that.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Madam Chair, there is a clear link between women who are victims of violence, both indigenous and non-indigenous, and precarious financial situations.

We must work on making these indigenous women and girls financially self-sufficient again. There are many ways to give them the financial means they need to escape the cycle of violence. I mentioned it in my speech.

My colleague spoke about the committee. I am certainly frustrated to note that every time we talk about a study, we find that indigenous women are disproportionately affected. Why? It is because they are trapped in a cycle of poverty and insecurity.

We recently studied the situation of women in the resource development industry in western Canada to determine how and why, in those cases, women are victims of sexual violence. Why are they? It is because they, too, are kept in a cycle of poverty. It is because the government does not invest enough in infrastructure.

There are so many ways to improve all that and to financially empower indigenous women and girls so they can finally escape the cycle of violence.

I completely agree with my colleague. We have to think about giving them back their self-sufficiency and empower them to move away from their attackers and oppressors and escape the cycle of violence.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for her commitment to the cause of indigenous women and girls. I have a question for her.

She mentioned something that I said myself earlier. Last year, we were here talking about the same subject. Despite the fact that we likely think about this every day, I still feel we are not making any progress.

Where would my colleague like us to be at this time next year? Why does she think that so little progress has been made to date?

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Madam Chair, I thank my colleague from Manicouagan for her question. Unfortunately, I do not know why we are here once again.

I so wish I did not have to be here tonight talking about this issue. I wish that when we talk about feminism, we could put words into action.

It is not right that, in 2023, we still have to point out that indigenous women and girls are being killed simply because they are indigenous women and girls, because they are victims of discrimination. Why are so many women still victims of violence in our society?

Why is it that when women and girls are assaulted, even in the world of sports or in the military, it is only when there is a sensationalized case in the media that the government finally thinks about doing something?

We know the solutions. There have been plenty of reports on various issues that affect women. I could even talk about EI. We know the solutions. Why are the reports shelved? Why are they not implemented? There is the financial aspect, but I have the impression that political will is also a major factor.

As I said at the end of my speech, the fake feminism must stop. Tears are all well and good, but it is time for action.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Madam Chair, I thank our esteemed colleague from Shefford for her passion and her commitment to taking action. I have a brief question for her.

As feminists here in Parliament, are we clear on the fact that we must immediately bring in a red dress alert, as we have been discussing this evening?

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Madam Chair, one thing is certain: An alert system could engage the public. I answered that question earlier.

Beyond what we as elected officials can do and what the government can do, there is also a need to raise public awareness of this issue. I hope that we can open up a broader debate and make people aware of the fact that, in 2023, indigenous communities are disproportionately victimized. We need to realize that they are victims of a precarious situation because we put them there and that we do not care enough about them. There is a pressing need to talk to each other nation to nation, to make people aware of the different challenges that affect indigenous communities. Beyond the fact that it could make us think about saving lives, could this alert allow us to open up a debate with the public?

That is also what an alert is for. That discussion needs to take place. It is one way to get the issue out of the House of Commons and into the world and to make as many people as possible aware that we need to talk to each other.

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

It being 10:52 p.m., pursuant to Standing Order 53.1, the committee will rise.

(Government Business No. 24 reported)

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 2 p.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 10:52 p.m.)