moved:
That this House do now adjourn.
Uqaqtittiji, I will be sharing my time with the member for Timmins—James Bay.
I sincerely thank the Speaker for seeing the urgency of this matter and agreeing that it required an emergency debate this evening. I especially thank my colleagues in the NDP for helping make sure that we raise the profile and importance of justice for indigenous peoples.
Since even before Canada became a country, colonialism and genocidal policies have been very prominent, and they are not a part of history because they are still happening now. Those genocidal policies and the colonial attitudes we see are systemic. We see them throughout Canada. We see them in the education system, the health system and of course the criminal system. They resulted in the call for this emergency debate.
I am very saddened to hear of the loss of six first nations people across Canada, and I would very much like to honour their families, who at this time are grieving and I am sure are very confused about what has happened recently. They are probably asking why their loved ones have been killed at the hands of law enforcement.
It is not just the RCMP. Provincial law enforcement is part of the system helping to continue to oppress indigenous peoples in Canada. Consecutive Conservative and Liberal governments have made promises for decades, but those promises are not leading to action.
As I mentioned in my motion seeking this emergency debate, there has been report after report and recommendation after recommendation. Despite all this great work to see law reform and enforcement reform, we are still not seeing an accountable system that ensures indigenous peoples are protected, that indigenous peoples live in safety and that indigenous peoples get to live in comfort.
We are still discriminated against, and we need to do our part as parliamentarians. I very much hope that during this debate, we will not take a partisan approach to representing indigenous peoples in this House. Because Canada was founded and created on indigenous peoples' lands, I know that every one of us MPs in this House has constituents who are first nations, Métis or Inuit, all of whom have been impacted negatively by law enforcement.
I want to mention briefly that what sparked this emergency debate was the killing of six first nations people from August 29 to September 8. In just 11 days, Canadian law enforcement killed six people. They were not just regular Canadian people; they were first nations, and that is why this matter is so important. We need to honour the families because of the way these individuals were killed.
I should mention that there is going to be some graphic detail. I want to make sure that people are prepared to hear the difficult stories from those living in the communities, from loved ones who are left behind. Not only are they forced to grieve the loss of their loved ones, but for the rest of their lives, they will question whether they can feel safe with law enforcement.
We need to do our job to make sure that first nations, Métis and Inuit children, women and other individuals know they will be protected, that they will feel safe when they ask for law enforcement. What we have heard from August 29 to September 8 will only cause more harm and more fear. It is a challenge to want to be Canadian, to want to be part of society. I know as an Inuk and I know from families what that fear can do. It can be paralyzing. It can be confusing. Without proper mental health supports and proper coping skills, isolation can lead to more social issues that will require the need for protection. For people to have to think about being paralyzed because there are gunshots next door or about whether they will be protected is a real fear.
We need to do a better job of calling for accountability. As Canadians, we want to be protected. As Canadians, we want a sense of security and a sense of safety, but how can we have that when six individuals over 11 days were killed by law enforcement?
We need to address the calls to action and the calls for justice. The TRC reports came out years ago, and we have not seen enough implementation of the recommendations shared by the voices of national organizations. They tell us what things need to happen to keep police accountable and to protect indigenous communities, and there is not enough going on to make sure that indigenous peoples are being protected.
I mentioned the TRC. I mentioned MMIWG. I want to thank Senator Kim Pate, who reminded me today that there is also a great report out called “Injustices and Miscarriages of Justice Experienced by 12 Indigenous Women”. This is not just about first nations, Métis and Inuit people. It is specifically about indigenous women, and we need to make sure we are doing a better job of protecting them.
I hope that through this debate, we will see some policy changes so that we can make steps toward addressing systemic racism and can see indigenous peoples celebrating their life while thriving and contributing to this great country that we call Canada.