Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Winnipeg North for his leadership. This morning I read a CBC article about which MPs are less active in the House. I actually found it interesting to see the opposite, or in other words, which MPs are the most active in the House and which ones contribute most to the debate. The article showed that my colleague contributes a lot in terms of quantity, but this evening he has also been contributing in terms of quality. Raising the bar for our police forces and those who ensure that we live together in harmony in our society is a critical solution.
I would like to share some thoughts with the House. At the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, we heard from the Correctional Investigator of Canada. He conducted an investigation that generated statistics that prove that indigenous persons are overrepresented in the prison system. That means that we need to also take a look at our justice system. Why do judges paint the things that happen in indigenous communities with the same brush? The “by one's peers” aspect is being completely overlooked. When we look back in history a little, it is interesting to see that reports have been made every year, practically every decade, and they get shelved when they talk about indigenous issues.
A great friend of the family, Justice Jean-Charles Coutu, who was recently made an Officer of the Order of Canada, it should be noted, published the Coutu report in the 1980s and the Coutu proposal. I will name a few elements. The creation of a new indigenous justice would help revitalize Inuit practices, including the circle. We know that, in indigenous communities, being rejected by one's peers is often much more serious than justice itself. Being isolated in prison often leads to problems that make it very hard for people to become functional in the community again. Peers have a very significant impact. We need to reflect on that further. The diversion of certain elements would help communities reappropriate, little by little, some judicial powers, while distributing them among several representatives to achieve balance in the different communities. These elements—