House of Commons Hansard #385 of the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was indigenous.
This summary is computer-generated. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.
Access to Parliamentary Precinct Members debate a question of privilege regarding a protest at a parliamentary building. Conservatives allege NDP MPs were involved in obstructing access. NDP members deny organizing the protest, describing it as a peaceful sit-in by Jewish Canadians protesting genocide in Gaza, and criticize the Conservative characterization as offensive and misleading, calling the privilege question frivolous. 3100 words, 25 minutes in 2 segments: 1 2.
Reference to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs Members debate a Conservative motion on the government's failure to provide documents about Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC). Conservatives allege cronyism and corruption in SDTC funding. Liberals defend their record and criticize Conservative policies. The NDP criticizes both parties for the impasse, stating it prevents debate on issues like the cost of living. 6900 words, 45 minutes.
Opposition Motion—Federal Sales Tax on New Homes Members debate the housing crisis and a Conservative motion to eliminate the federal sales tax (GST) on new homes sold under $1 million. Conservatives argue this increases affordability; Liberals defend programs like the housing accelerator fund, criticizing the Conservative plan. Bloc members raise provincial jurisdiction concerns, while NDP members advocate for non-market housing and structural change. 14100 words, 2 hours in 2 segments: 1 2.
Oral Questions Members debate points of order concerning House decorum, disruptive behaviour, and the Speaker's rulings on the relevance of Question Period questions, with multiple parties raising concerns. 1300 words, 10 minutes.
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Members debate housing affordability, focusing on the third report of the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Indigenous housing. Conservatives criticize Liberal policies as failing, proposing to build the homes by eliminating federal sales tax on new homes under $1 million and tying municipal funding to housing targets. Liberals defend their investments, including the Housing Accelerator Fund, and criticize the Conservative record. NDP members highlight the crisis's impact on Indigenous peoples, linking it to gender-based violence and the Indian Act, advocating for Indigenous-led solutions. Bloc Québécois supports initiatives like Yänonhchia' and calls for federal funding transfer to provinces. 21500 words, 3 hours.
Adjournment Debate - Housing Mike Morrice argues for an HST exemption for non-profit home builders like Habitat for Humanity. Peter Fragiskatos cites low-interest loans and grants as alternative supports, and defends removing GST on apartment construction to increase housing supply. Morrice questions why the government "forgot" about non-profits when it removed GST from for-profit builders. 1400 words, 10 minutes.
Indigenous and Northern AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes
The hon. parliamentary secretary has run out of time.
Resuming debate, the hon. member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue.
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Madam Speaker, it is an honour, once again, to rise in the House to speak about access to housing, which is a fundamental issue, particularly for first nations. I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Longueuil—Saint-Hubert.
I would like to start by mentioning that question period in the House is always a bit ironic. For months now, the government has been responding to questions from the leader of the official opposition by sardonically pointing out that when he was the minister responsible for infrastructure and housing, he built only six housing units. They keep pointing at him and repeating the word “six”. What is the reality for indigenous communities, however? What is the actual budget that the government gives to each community to build housing?
It is important to remember that Canada's fastest growing populations are first nations, Métis and Inuit. What is the current government doing? It is not doing anything more. It is allowing the construction of two, not six, but two housing units per indigenous community, even though the need is much greater. What does that mean? It means that the further north we go, the more we see three or four families living in the same home. We hear of situations where people have to take turns watching television and sitting on the couch in the evenings. The reality is that they do not have access to beds because three or even four families are sharing the same home. In the community of Long Point in the village of Winneway in my riding, there are 21 people living in one house. Is that normal? The answer is obviously no.
Why does that situation exist? It is because this government is stingy with first nations. It is stingy when it comes time to give communities the means to take control of their own destiny, particularly when it comes to economic reconciliation, which includes the ability to build housing.
Obviously the motion being debated in the House today is important. One of the most tangible solutions that has to be adopted comes from the first nations themselves. I think that is the right path to take in a context of economic reconciliation. I am, of course, talking about the Yänonhchia' initiative, which comes to us from leaders, including the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, or AFNQL.
I want to acknowledge the remarkable work of Lance Haymond, the chief of Kebaowek First Nation, which is in my riding. His lifelong mission has been to give the members of his community and first nations in general access to housing and property. He has also worked to ensure that the indigenous middle class could have access to prosperity. I think that is our common objective. This must be shared and accessible to all first nations members.
There is something else I would like to talk about. Today, I had to leave the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, which had invited the Minister of Indigenous Services and the Minister of Public Services and Procurement to testify. We wanted to ask them about the fundamental issue of “pretendians” who receive government contracts even though they do not qualify as indigenous. This is a real problem. I wanted to raise the issue of government funding with the minister to see whether it is going to the right places.
I have to say I have some concerns at the moment. Last week, the Assembly of First Nations was here in Ottawa. We learned that the Liberal government organized a cocktail party with members of the first nations. If they wished to have access to the Prime Minister or the minister in order to ask them questions, particularly about housing, they were asked what was the maximum contribution that each individual could give. Is that the norm? I have been thinking about that a lot.
We hear through the grapevine that the Minister of Indigenous Services has yet to make a formal request to the Minister of Finance to ensure that initiatives such as Yänonhchia' are funded by the government. Many representations have been made. About half an hour ago, I asked the minister directly whether she had sent an official letter to the Minister of Finance to ask her to fund the Yänonhchia' initiative, which she seemed to strongly support. She has had several meetings with the NACCA proponents and Lance Haymond. The answer I received is that no, the letter has not been sent. Does this government know how to make any effort? I seriously wonder.
As of today's date, December 9, those letters should have been sent.
In fact, we know that if a budget has to be tabled in March, this has to be done. The Minister of Finance has to be asked. No formal request has been made, and that raises a number of questions in my mind.
We are talking about letters. Sending a letter is complicated. For one thing, the request has to be made formally and received by the federal bureaucracy. I sent a letter on March 12 to the Minister of Finance. She cannot deny that this request came from the House or that it was formally made with the support of the first nations.
At the time, I was already making an urgent appeal to the minister for federal support for the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association, or NACCA. I still appreciate that organization for its leadership to this day. I asked for increased funding for NACCA because the solution will come from first nations being financially self-sufficient. I asked for that increase because solutions will come from first nations members themselves and because these funds will be managed by and for first nations communities. A specific request was made as early as March last year. I would like to point out that the request was successful, because NACCA did receive additional funding.
The same thing needs to be done for housing, which is what I did on November 21 when I wrote another letter to the Minister of Finance. I am going to read from that letter, because I think it is in the public interest, especially right now.
Dear Minister,
I am writing to express my support for extending the Yänonhchia' housing finance network, an initiative that has already proven successful in indigenous communities in Quebec and that could be a key solution for addressing the housing crisis in first nations communities across the country. As the member for Abitibi-Témiscamingue, I have seen first-hand the difficulties encountered by indigenous families in accessing safe, adequate and affordable housing. However, in addition to taking immediate action to address this urgent situation, we also need to think about sustainable solutions that will enable indigenous communities to develop their own real estate market and become homeowners.
Need for urgent action to address indigenous housing crisis
The housing crisis in first nations communities is an urgent reality. Many families are living in precarious housing conditions, often in substandard, overcrowded homes. These conditions are harmful to their health and well-being and undermine future opportunities. In that regard, I fully support initiatives like Yänonhchia', which facilitates access to affordable financing for housing construction in indigenous communities. An immediate investment of $150 million to extend this model to other regions is an essential first step in dealing with this crisis.
However, it is also important to point out that indigenous communities have a middle class, people who are not living in an extremely precarious situation or are unable to access affordable housing. These families want to be able to own their own homes, a fundamental right that would help them strengthen their economic autonomy and social stability. Housing affordability for these groups must be supported by responsive funding policies that would enable these middle class families to become homeowners, while ensuring that social housing continues to be reserved for those who need it most.
A long-term vision for autonomy and prosperity
In addition to meeting immediate housing needs, it is crucial to develop an independent indigenous real estate market that will enable communities to take charge of their own real estate development projects and buy homes. This market must respond to the needs of extremely vulnerable people, who need adapted social housing, and those of the indigenous middle class, who must have the opportunity to invest in sustainable and accessible housing.
By supporting real estate development projects that enable indigenous communities to manage their own land resources, we are also promoting self-sufficiency and creating sustainable economic opportunities. That requires financial mechanisms suited to these communities, such as low-interest loans, targeted subsidies and training programs to help families navigate the process of purchasing property and managing real estate.
In the next part of my letter, I spoke about a targeted response for the most vulnerable and support for the indigenous middle class. I can come back to that, but there is a tremendous opportunity there that the government cannot afford to miss.
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
Madam Speaker, I really enjoyed my colleague's speech. The whole issue of financial independence is closely related to the work that I was doing before I became an MP. I am far from an expert on the problem that first nations are experiencing, but I heard my colleague talk about Yänonhchia', and I would like to know more about how it works.
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Madam Speaker, it is to her credit that she wants to know more.
Yänonhchia' is an initiative by and for indigenous people. That is the first thing we need to remember. Yänonhchia' also has links to major organizations such as NACCA, the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association, and the AFNQL, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, which is very active when it comes to addressing the needs of first nations. There are also concrete proposals for an inclusive future, including providing $150 million in immediate funding for housing projects, creating dedicated financial mechanisms for the indigenous middle class, prioritizing social housing for people in very vulnerable situations, simplifying land processes, which is a major issue for communities, and training programs to support home ownership. Yänonhchia' supports these values, and this government must also allow first nations to embrace them.
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his very interesting speech. Over the past few years, the NDP has managed to wrestle nearly $8 billion from the minority government for indigenous housing, but that is not nearly enough. A lot more than that is needed. We consider it extremely important that this housing be for and by first nations.
I would like my colleague to tell me a little about the needs of his community and why the federal strategy has failed to produce results since 2017, despite all the money spent on it.
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his interest in this important issue.
The study made several recommendations aimed at strengthening first nations' capacity and autonomy to invest in housing. I could talk about recommendations 8, 15, 16 and many others, but I want to focus on recommendation 9, which concerns one of the important needs that complements what I have mentioned. I am referring to the whole matter of recruiting, retaining and training indigenous staff who work on housing. Two housing units are made available by the government every year, if that. At the same time, these units have to be built in a ridiculously short amount of time. Quite often, money intended for indigenous peoples is returned to the federal treasury because of the many bureaucratic requirements and standards that indigenous communities are unable to meet.
An initiative like Yänonhchia' also provides indigenous leadership in the fields of architecture, engineering and advising communities on plans, specifications and urban development. It is about making it easier for indigenous people to settle on their own land. I would add that this government must be more generous towards indigenous communities through autonomous funding, but it must also give much more realistic deadlines so that indigenous people can keep the expertise they have, particularly in housing, within their communities.
Indigenous and Northern AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings
December 9th, 2024 / 5:20 p.m.
Bloc
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
Madam Speaker, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women has just completed a study on the rise in femicides. Sadly, women are being murdered because they cannot escape the cycle of violence. We studied the issue of inadequate housing for indigenous women and girls which, unfortunately, means that they make up a disproportionate number of homicide and human trafficking cases.
We just marked the end of the days of activism against gender-based violence. I would like to hear my colleague talk about the link between the importance of housing and these missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her dedication to this cause, year after year. I want to talk to her about recommendation 3, which states the following:
That the Government of Canada continue to address the 231 Calls for Justice in the National Inquiry's Final Report, Reclaiming Power and Place, and that particular attention be paid to...improving access to housing for Indigenous women and that housing has impacts on Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people....
People are sensitive to this issue. Obviously, when many families are living under the same roof, it creates major social problems. How can we promote access to education and health care when one of the foundations of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, access to housing, is compromised? This is the foundation of society.
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise to speak to this issue, even though it all feels a bit rushed.
I do not quite understand. The Conservatives have an opposition day, and on that opposition day, they bring forward another motion to discuss a related topic. I would like to point out that this is an important matter, unlike what we have been doing in the House for the past month and a half. Finally, we are discussing a fundamental issue. I think the housing crisis—
Indigenous and Northern AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes
I must interrupt the member.
We can hear a telephone ringing. I believe it is Santa Claus calling to see who has been naughty and who has been nice. I think Santa is going to save time this year.
The hon. member for Longueuil—Saint-Hubert.
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Madam Speaker, housing and the housing crisis are fundamental issues. I talk about them often here in the House. In my opinion, the housing crisis, the language crisis and the climate crisis are the most fundamental challenges that Quebec and Canada are facing. This evening, we are talking about indigenous housing.
I will not repeat everything my colleague said. He did a fine job talking about Yänonhchia', an indigenous-led initiative to provide access to home ownership on reserves. It is a very important project, and I hope that, a week from now, the Minister of Finance will announce in her economic statement that she is providing funding to the initiative. That $150 million in funding would allow the communities to be more self-sufficient. The communities would benefit from that money. Indigenous people could create their own fund to promote home ownership, which is not common. That would be truly important.
As we talk about housing, I feel compelled to mention something that is very important right now. It is cold outside. There is snow on the ground, and winter is right around the corner. I spoke about homelessness two weeks ago when I addressed the House. I mentioned the $250‑million fund, which is related to what we are talking about. When it comes to homelessness and indigenous homelessness in Montreal, half of the people living on the street on the Island of Montreal, as far as we know, are indigenous. Homelessness is a fundamental problem.
In its budget last March, the federal government announced a $250‑million fund to tackle encampments. We were pleased. Everyone was happy that the government was finally allocating this $250 million. It seemed to understand there was a problem. Anyone who walks out of this building will see an encampment within five minutes. There are tent encampments and homeless people in every riding in Quebec and Canada. It is endemic. I have no idea how anyone can allow such a thing to happen.
The government announced a $250‑million fund in March. The discussions with Quebec dragged on, and things started to get complicated. The federal government was imposing bureaucratic hurdles. It was willing to provide funding, but first it wanted to know how big the space and the beds would be, how many pillowcases would be needed, how many pencils would be used to count the number of homeless people using the shelter and what colour the walls would be painted. There were all sorts of bureaucratic hurdles, which meant that the agreement did not get signed and the money was not allocated.
Quebec was prepared to match Ottawa's offer, which was close to $60 million. Quebec was prepared to put in the same amount. There were negotiations. Finally, the agreement was signed two weeks ago, but the devil is in the details. Not only is it winter now, but the deadline for projects submissions for this funding is January 7. I am not making this up. The fund was announced in March. The deadline for submissions is January 7. These projects will not see the light of day until the end of this winter. They will not help this winter. I have to pinch myself. When we talk about delays related to the housing crisis, this is what we are talking about.
I wrote a report that is related to the report on indigenous housing. I toured Quebec. I set out on a pilgrimage. One time, I had a meeting with a group in Saint‑Hyacinthe, I think. I thought I was being so smart. I got the numbers from CMHC and I presented them to the representatives of the community groups sitting across from me. They did not know what I was talking about. They said that the situation was much worse than my numbers suggested. On the ground, the situation was serious. They needed far more housing than what I was saying, and the vacancy rates were much lower than what I was saying. The numbers did not reflect the reality on the ground.
I travelled all across Quebec last year. Over the course of a few months, I travelled everywhere, including Lac‑Saint‑Jean, Abitibi, the Gaspé, Sherbrooke, Montreal, Quebec City, Gatineau and Granby. I went to every region. I met with people from more than 600 organizations that work every day to build social and community housing, to help the most vulnerable people in our country, in Quebec and Canada, find a place to live. These organizations help women who are victims of domestic violence, seniors, people with substance abuse problems and the many vulnerable populations that we need to take care of, that we have a responsibility to care for. I toured Quebec and then produced a 150-page report. The summary is about 20 pages long, and I have it here—
Indigenous and Northern AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes
I just want to remind the hon. member that he can reference his document, but he cannot hold it up.
The hon. member for Longueuil—Saint‑Hubert.
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Madam Speaker, I am talking about the report that I have in my hands right now. My colleagues cannot see it, but they can sense that there is something important in it, and I am going to tell them about it.
It is a bit funny, I have 12 recommendations. Just before the first one, I wrote that the federal government should get out of housing. I will explain why.
Every time the federal government has made a new funding announcement in the past few years, Quebec has said that the federal government is not going to spend a penny in Quebec without the Quebec government having a say in the matter. Then the negotiations begin. The federal government launched its grand national housing strategy in 2017. It allocated $82 billion across Canada. The government spent money just about everywhere. We are still wondering where exactly. It spent money in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and St. John's, Newfoundland. There was not one penny for Quebec because Quebec declined, as is its prerogative. We wanted money, not programs. We wanted money, not criteria. We wanted money, not conditions. That led to three years of waiting. Earlier I was talking about the $250‑million homelessness program. It took a year before a decision was made.
Too many players are involved in housing. At the end of the day, housing is built in cities. Cities make bylaws, manage urban planning and organize construction. In fact, cities need money. The infrastructure fund is another fund that has a critical role to play in relation to the housing crisis. This $6‑billion fund is currently being negotiated with Quebec. Just building housing is not enough. Sewers need to be built too. Homes need to be connected to the sewer system. Roads need to be built. All these things are important for housing. Two or three weeks ago, the Association de la construction du Québec came to Ottawa to say that infrastructure is fundamental and that this funding is needed.
Cities organize housing construction. Quebec also has a housing department and various programs. Then, on top of all that, the federal government comes in and adds its own conditions. Take Rimouski, for example. There are problems there. The city should and would like to house women fleeing domestic violence. That is true everywhere in Quebec, but I want to focus on Rimouski. There are needs in this area. Every day, a woman knocks on the door of a shelter for women fleeing domestic violence and then goes home. We know what going home means. It happens every day. There is a desperate need for resources. In Rimouski, creating a shelter like that would mean building a 32-unit building for women who are victims of domestic violence. As it happens, Quebec has a program for that. It might be through the Fédération des associations et corporations en construction du Québec. It used to be AccèsLogis Québec. An organization would apply and wait one to two years. Finally, it would get the go-ahead. Great, it was getting funding.
If there is not enough money, it can apply to Ottawa, which has another program that grants funding. The criteria are different, however, especially when it comes to affordability. The affordability criteria make absolutely no sense. They are a disaster. Another two years is spent waiting on Ottawa. Often, in the meantime, the four-year-old offer to purchase the property falls through. In short, the whole thing is infuriating. The process takes years.
While I was touring Abitibi, I met Stéphane Grenier, a really amazing guy. He is a university professor who cares for homeless people, including homeless indigenous people. I attended the opening of a magnificent shelter, a brand-new building with 41 spaces. It opened a year ago, but people had been working on the project for eight years. That means eight winters, eight years of people looking for an emergency shelter, only to give up because one did not exist. It is infuriating.
Here is my first recommendation. Fiscal tools are available here in Ottawa. If Ottawa agreed that this is a provincial jurisdiction and if it gave the money to Quebec, just as it does for health care, there would be fewer players involved. This would achieve two things: it would shorten project approval times and lower costs. Everyone would win.
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
Mr. Speaker, I really enjoyed my Bloc Québécois colleague's speech. He is so energetic.
I would like his opinion on the partnership approach. In Châteauguay, we are very proud of a project that was built in 2022 as part of the federal government's rapid housing initiative. It included contributions from the Quebec government and the City of Châteauguay, in partnership with the Mohawk community of Kahnawake. We are very proud of this project.
Does my hon. colleague think we should continue along this path? Will he support us in that endeavour?
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Mr. Speaker, my colleague asked a very good question.
The rapid housing initiative is a very good program; everyone applauds it. There have been three phases. The first phase was $1 billion, and the other two were $1.5 billion, unless I am mistaken. These are 100% subsidized social housing units. Everyone in Quebec loves this program.
Except now we have learned some things from talking to people from the Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain, or FRAPRU. Two weeks ago, at the summit on homelessness, we learned that there is apparently a fourth phase, but the criteria have been changed. They have added an affordability factor that is really scaring organizations in Quebec. In other words, it appears that the nature of the rapid housing initiative, which is a very good program, is going to change. No one knows how much money is still in the fund, but the criteria have already changed. This is very scary for people.
I have a message for my Conservative friends: The Government of Canada's rapid housing initiative is a very good program. They should renew it if they come to power.
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Mr. Speaker, recently, I met with a chief from a nation south of Montreal. Decades ago, he started a program of developing mortgages and home ownership on the nation. It has continued to grow and is extensive, but to be replicated, it needs to have a connection with the government. He has been a year trying to get a meeting with the minister to explain how successful it is to have home ownership, a mortgage and a credit rating.
What does the member believe the response should be from the government when a first nation has been able to do that, yet cannot get a meeting with the minister for more than a year to explain it?
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Mr. Speaker, it is not very surprising. It is hard to think about that despite the major headlines in the papers every day. There is talk of evictions. Earlier we were talking about homelessness. In the past five years, deaths in the streets of Quebec have tripled. In the past five years, the number of homeless in Quebec has doubled. The numbers are just as staggering across Canada.
After everything I said in my speech, it is hard to imagine that the federal government across the way understands the gravity of the crisis. At one point, we heard that 5.8 million housing units needed to be built by 2032 to achieve market equilibrium. It is fascinating. These numbers are astronomical. Watching the Liberals across the way in action makes us think that there is something that they fail to understand.
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to ask a question that may be a little off topic. On the subject of housing, I think that my colleague and I share a passion for social housing and co-operatives.
We in the NDP used our opposition day to ask that the GST holiday be extended to essentials such as diapers, children's clothing and food prepared at the grocery store. We also wanted it to extend permanently to heating and cellphone plans to give people, workers and their families a break. The Bloc Québécois voted against it. I was surprised.
The GST is a regressive tax that hurts the middle class and working people the most, in terms of the proportion of the impact it has on people's wallets.
I would like my colleague to take a moment to explain why the Bloc Québécois opposed this measure put forward by the NDP.
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Mr. Speaker, my colleague asked an indirect question, so I will give him an indirect answer.
Five years ago, when I became an MP, I did not know the difference between social housing and affordable housing. Now I do. I have also developed a passion for this issue. I cannot believe that we are seeing this sort of thing in a G7 country.
I believe in an interventionist government. I think that the government has an important role to play in housing people. We were talking earlier about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and I mentioned the rapid housing initiative, which is a very good program. In general, the government is investing a lot of money in a not very efficient way, so it does not really help people.
I am in favour, and I hope that a future NDP government will implement a massive social housing construction project in its first term. That is what I hope, and I will be there to support it, if it ever happens.
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased to rise today to provide a response from the NDP on the report of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, entitled “The Effects of the Housing Shortage on Indigenous Peoples in Canada”. There are 20 recommendations set out in this report. I want to speak to a couple of them.
Before I speak about that, I want to talk about the level of injustice and the fact that, in the place that is now known as Canada, there are so many indigenous folks who are without housing.
I am going to talk about my community of Winnipeg Centre. Of those who are precariously housed, 75% are indigenous. Many come from the local Treaty 1 nations and are on their very own Treaty 1 lands. Many of those who are currently houseless live in my riding. I have talked to different elected officials about how tragic it is that, on the very lands that we occupy, the folks who are the stewards, the people from those lands and territories, are not even housed on their own territory, the very lands, territories and resources that have allowed this country to be rich.
Indigenous people throughout the country are homeless on our very own lands, some of whom are my family members. Many folks and family members who are currently houseless reside in Saskatchewan. I come from a very small community, Wood Mountain Lakota First Nation, which was nine by nine and is now three by three.
The federal government issued an apology to our nation a few months back for calling us squatters on our very own lands. There is incremental justice in dealing with this. What is so disturbing about that goes back to what I said about all the riches in Canada and all the wealth that has occurred. Sometimes, when I am talking about issues of social justice and human rights, I wish I could dress up like a pipeline because that is the Conservatives' main focus, the very riches, the tar sands. They are reaping the benefits of indigenous lands, yet so many of our people live unsheltered in urban centres. These are our lands, territories and resources.
When we talk about housing, there always seems to be a lack of money. The NDP fought for and got a for indigenous, by indigenous housing strategy with $4 billion issued to this particular housing fund. Where is the money? How much money have the provincial governments made off of our resources? The extraction industry is based in our communities and wreaks havoc on our lands in places like Beaver Lake Cree Nation, which is putting forward a precedent-setting case to talk about the long-term impacts of the tar sands on the treaty right to hunt and fish. That $4 billion is not even enough to begin to address the housing crisis on reserve. Where is the money?
I hear the member from Winnipeg North talking about Sioux Valley and investments in housing. I want to talk to the chief of Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, and I hope maybe we will post this part of the clip. I want to talk to the chief to find out whether his housing crisis has been solved by the Liberal government, because I know he is going to tell me that no, it has not. It does not matter whether it has been consecutive Conservative or Liberal governments; nobody has even begun to deal with the housing crisis in first nations communities.
Let us not forget Nunavut, where there is the most dire housing crisis in the country. We could fix it, but for whatever reason, the genocide and the normalization of institutional poverty, of legislated poverty of indigenous peoples, is perpetuated today. This is so much the case that I have to listen even today, and I have been going off for the last week so maybe it is time for a break, to what a supposedly great job the Liberal government is doing dealing with the housing crisis, when every year indigenous people die, frozen on the streets, some of them on their very own lands. Can members imagine that?
This was indigenous land. It still is indigenous land, even the House of Commons. There are so many people around the House of Commons, this multi-billion dollar building, who are unhoused, on unceded Algonquin territory, our land. Indigenous brothers and sisters are living on the streets, and we walk by them every day.
In my community of Winnipeg Centre, people walk by and drive by indigenous folks every day, not even noticing the grotesque and violent human rights violation because it is normalized. This is why the government and Conservative governments have felt it okay to say, “Hey, listen, we are giving $50 million this year for housing”, and everybody is supposed to stand up and cheer. They say, “We are going to promise $4 billion in housing”, and then they pretend they never even promised it. In fact, they say they are going to put it in the budget, but then they never get the money out the door. Meanwhile, people die.
I want to focus on a couple of recommendations. One I am going to focus on because it has been a lot of the work I have done is recommendation 3, which says:
That the Government of Canada continue to address the 231 Calls for Justice in the National Inquiry’s Final Report, Reclaiming Power and Place, and that particular attention be paid to the 10 calls for improving access to housing for Indigenous women and that housing has impacts on Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people, and incorporate the wrap-around care that is required.
Do members want to know why? There is a direct correlation between gender-based violence and poverty. In fact if we look at the final report on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, one of the comments it makes is that it was not uncommon for women to know the person who perpetrated violence. This is because poverty forces women and gender-diverse folks to stay in unsafe situations because they have nowhere else to go, and to be exploited and to experience violence.
Our shelter system was originally set up for men who were dealing with alcoholism. It was never designed for women or gender-diverse folks, and many of the shelters are not safe for women and gender-diverse folks to stay in. There are reports of sexual assaults, violence and exploitation. That is one of the reasons I, along with advocates from my community, fought so hard for Velma's House, a 24-7 safe place for indigenous girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.
It is not enough. We hear in the news about the latest serial killer in Manitoba. I shall not name him. He is undeserving of being named.
Let us not forget about Tanya Nepinak in 2011, who was with an unsafe guy, a youth, with another youth in the house, one I know very well, a lovely person, and thank goodness she survived. What a wonderful mother, mentor, courageous and brilliant young woman. I am glad she survived. What about Tanya Nepinak? What would have happened if Tanya Nepinak had had safe housing or safe shelter? There is a level of disconnect in this place when we are dealing with life-and-death situations.
I am going to tell a story. I am one of those folks who has a history of family and intergenerational impacts. My grandmother, before my mom went into care and it was one of the reasons my mom had to go into the child welfare system, lived on the streets. She had to live in different places throughout her life. I had the privilege of meeting her two times in my life: one time when I was 13, and a second time just before she died. She was 85. I do not know how my grandmother lived that long. She had this rough, tough, hard life.
My mom took her into our house. I asked my mom, “Why are you taking her into the house? She abandoned you, Mom.” She said to me, “Leah, she did the very best she could with what she had. In spite of being a brutal alcoholic, she gave me a healthy body, a healthy mind. She gave me all the tools I needed to be successful in life. She chose through her whole pregnancy not to drink and for that, I will always love her.” When they removed her lung, which was the last surgery that finally ended her life, they said, “Miss Warren,” because she married one of the fellows along the way, “we found an ashtray with a cigarette butt in it.” She had a hard life.
I share that story because sometimes in this place, I feel like we forget that everybody has a story. Sometimes in this place, we are so busy judging, pathologizing and talking about how somebody lived in a tent or about somebody being an addict that we do not even bother hearing their story. We blame people for their circumstance. Then we have this callous response: “Why do you not pick yourself up by your bootstraps? Get a job.”
Some stories are really tragic for indigenous people in this country. If members spent the time to talk to some of the folks, my neighbours, and I am very proud to have them as my neighbours, they would tell a story or two.
The fact that many of the folks who are without housing are still surviving, like my grandmother, speaks to their strength and resilience. It speaks to their strength and resilience because, in addition to that, in my riding, where 75% of the people who are unhoused or precariously housed are indigenous, they are still fighting to survive. Even though everything has been put in our way through colonization to strip us of our human rights, we are power.
I know a guy who was in the sixties scoop and is a military veteran. He is unhoused right now, but he is smart and strong. It is not any fault of his; it is a disrespect of society. He is a veteran. He is a guy who was kidnapped from his family and shipped off for no other reason than because he was indigenous. That is not a fault of his lack of hard work and labour. He is the result of a colonial project that has done exactly what it was designed to do, except some of us are surviving. Is that not amazing?
Some of us, for whatever reason, are like me. My mom figured it out and I am thriving. What my mom always told me was, “Never think you are too good because we are all one paycheque away from the welfare line, all of us. We never know what can happen in our lives.”
Sometimes I think we forget about that humanity in here. It is like we are somehow above the fray. However, none of us is above that fray, ever. I share these stories because maybe we should listen to people when we are passing budgets and making policies and doing legislation that really could deal with this human rights crisis.
Right now, I can say that all levels of government, the current government, the former Conservative government, provincial governments and municipal governments, are failing to ensure that every person residing in what people now call Canada is afforded the basic human right to housing.
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Mr. Speaker, the telling of stories is an important part of listening and understanding what people are living with. I appreciated that my colleague brought that personal side to it because it is important to tell those stories.
In my constituency, Siksika Nation embarked on a very interesting building project. It was 3-D house building, where they were building houses with a firm from Ontario for under $200 per square foot in 30 days. I saw the process. I saw how they were built and the leadership Siksika Nation took to build housing for needy people in their nation. However, Indigenous Services administration bureaucrats have no interest in this. I find this very disheartening to see, when indigenous nations take leadership, but the bureaucrats do not want to pay attention to the leadership that indigenous people are bringing to this particular issue.
With regard to the challenges we face, the barriers that are there, the member might identify, as I do, a bureaucracy that does not want to change. I think that is a difficult part of the process we deal with.
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, it is normalized racism in this country. It is a normalization of the exploitation of indigenous peoples, lands, territories and resources, where everybody benefits and very often not the nations. That is one of the issues.
However, we have to just stop talking about bureaucracy. That is one of the problems, but government after government has underfunded the housing crisis. It started with Paul Martin and the 2% cap, and now we are in a crisis. That happened in the 1990s. Governments have never lifted the 2% cap, and now we are in a crisis.
Therefore, I do not want to hear about how great the Liberals are doing. I certainly do not want to hear how great the Conservatives are doing. We have to stop patting ourselves on the back, and we just have to develop policies and legislation that work.
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
Mr. Speaker, my colleague and I are fortunate enough to work together on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. I would like to point her toward solutions to this issue. Last week, the House debated a report from the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. It discussed Canada's feminist policy.
A Liberal member asked me what we were proposing. I mentioned a few ideas, but I could have told him to read the report. It contains dozens of recommendations. The government needs to stop shelving these reports. If it worked a little harder on implementing the ideas in the committees' reports, maybe it could get down to work on solutions.
Getting back to the report under discussion today, I would like my colleague to talk about recommendation 3. My colleague, the member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue, addressed it a little earlier. It states the following:
That the Government of Canada continue to address the 231 Calls for Justice in the National Inquiry's Final Report, Reclaiming Power and Place, and that particular attention be paid to the 10 calls for improving access to housing for Indigenous women and that housing has impacts on Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people, and incorporate the wrap-around care that is required.
That is quite a recommendation. There is indeed a connection, because freeing indigenous women and girls from violence is only possible if they are given housing.
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the comment. However, we are many years out from the national inquiry, and the Liberal government has implemented two calls for justice. Housing is a critical piece of this. If we want to deal with gender-based violence, whether it relates to indigenous women, gender-diverse people or any person, we have to deal with housing. In that way, people are not put in a position in which they are forced to stay in places that are unsafe, on the streets or in violence.
I just asked a question today from Women's Shelters Canada. It was about how shelters are overwrought because of demand; the government has not built enough affordable housing with rent geared to income. We need to listen to indigenous people, for indigenous, by indigenous, and that is certainly what our party fought for. It is time for the Liberals to deliver on that.
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, there is not a single time that the hon. member for Winnipeg Centre rises in the House and does not impart to us what she has learned, with lessons, teachings and things we should be taking away. In her remarks, she talked about the genocidal settler colonial project that is really about the displacement of first nations, Métis, indigenous and Inuit peoples from their lands.
When no levels of government provide adequate funding, the result is that people have to leave their home territories to go to cities to seek services, health care and education. They not only lose their connection to their original homelands, but they also end up living in precarity and in what I will call the social murder of homelessness.
Can the member comment on how the settler colonial project and genocidal logics are not an event that happens but a process of land displacement? Can she reflect on purposeful government underfunding of nations in a nation-to-nation relationship that results in people leaving their home territories?