Louise Hardy

[Supply, October 20th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, I bring to the attention of the government that the whole process surrounding APEC has been unfair. There were $57 million funded for APEC and $200,000 for the people's summit. Here we have at least seven state funded lawyers lined up against the students with no lawyers.

I listened to the solicitor general say that this process was meant to be fair, informal and accessible to the general public and that a legal representation would not necessarily be needed. However, in a situation where the students have no legal representation and are faced with seven lawyers, it is no longer accessible, equal or fair. I would like to see the government make it a fair process.

[Employment, June 5th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, since the closure of the Anvil Range mine in Faro, Yukon the unemployment rate has risen to over 17%. There is a Faro mine reclamation trust fund set up and this fund was meant for clean up.

Will the minister replace the tough luck, too bad message that has been sent to the Yukon and use the money to help support jobs for the town of Faro, the First Nations of Ross River and in fact for people of the Yukon territory?

[The Environment, June 5th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, there is a long and sad history of environmental neglect in the north. For 67 years the Dene people of Daline have suffered and died because of radioactive contamination on their traditional lands and they need help now.

The Marwell tar pit in Whitehorse has been leaking toxic wastes into the environment for over 50 years. A man was even trapped and died there.

The federal government collects money for land reclamation and reforestation, yet no money goes back.

It takes 200 to 700 years to grow a tree in the north. The government approved the cut of over 200,000 hectares and only 4,000 have been replanted, and that is because of the efforts of students in the north.

There are abandoned military sites all over the north and if the departments of defence, Indian and northern affairs and the environment value the people and the land of the north this would never have happened. At the very least it would have been cleaned up.

If the Minister of Finance is serious about the environment there is ample opportunity to prove it.

[Petitions, May 27th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, this petition that I am presenting concerns undocumented convention refugees and has over 800 signatures.

The petitioners would like the government to implement the December 1996 recommendation from the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration so that undocumented convention refugees would get their status not later than two years after being accepted as a convention refugee. What has been happening is that they have been left in limbo. Many refugees have been left marginalized without landed status.

[Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, May 27th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, human rights and the family are the topic of the Canadian Council of Refugee's semi-annual conference. Participants from Canada and abroad will attend and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Canadian government is concerned with trade and not human needs or problems. This government must advance policies that represent the values of Canadian citizens rather than reacting to the hysteria of right wing politicians and enforcing detentions and deportations.

A refugee claimant who has passed the medical and background checks should receive landed immigrant status at the most three years after filing a refugee claim. A large number of refugees are in limbo and waiting for basic human rights such as the pursuit of work, education or travel. We must not close our doors to those seeking refuge.

[Supply, May 26th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, I would like my colleague's opinion on the defence of provocation.

I believe our justice system should be evolving and this law came into effect in the 1700s. It was so that two men of equal class could shoot each other in a duel and use an insult as defence for this murder and have the charge reduced to manslaughter.

Now this defence is used most often in spousal murders where a man will murder his wife and use the defence of provocation that he had been provoked by her to murder her.

I would like the member's opinion on whether we should be keeping something like in our justice system.

[Supply, May 26th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, when I have been in the Yukon in the last while there has been a lot of dissatisfaction with the justice system and there is some fear. However, when there is satisfaction, it is very clear where it is coming from.

The First Nations people have the option of circle sentencing. They still go through a trial procedure, but they have the option of going to their community for circle sentencing where they will have to face their victims, their parents, their aunts, their uncles and the community. That also makes the community responsible for that person. There seems to be a bit of envy that the option is there for some people to serve their sentences in their communities with the support of the people who matter most to them.

Can the member see that sort of situation becoming available to all of us? It does put a lot of responsibility on individuals to follow it through. We cannot just stick the criminal in a jail and pay someone to look after them. It means that they come into our homes, our schools, onto our streets and we are all responsible for them. Can the member see that?

[Holidays Act, May 6th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, since 1995 Elijah Smith reforestation funds have been collected and deposited in the consolidated revenue fund but they have not been available for reforestation in Yukon. The federal government has recognized that the process is not transparent or workable. The President of the Treasury Board says that it is necessary to amend the Territorial Lands Act to establish a separate account in the Accounts of Canada for reforestation in Yukon. It is unfortunate that it has taken so long to initiate this process.

At the same time Canada is in the process of devolving provincial like powers to Yukon. Considering that the federal government proposes that the Yukon government assume responsibility for the administration and control of lands, forest, water and mineral resources, I call on the government to modernize the Yukon Act so it is consistent with the powers currently exercised by the Yukon government and the powers to be conferred on the new territory of Nunavut.

The department of Indian affairs currently manages the inventory of Yukon forests. Rather than amending the Territorial Lands Act to open a separate account for reforestation, the federal government will better serve the people of Yukon by modernizing the Yukon Act so it is consistent with the devolution objectives and gives the provincial powers needed for Yukon to manage its own forestry.

[Canada Student Loans, May 5th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support the motion. Education should be the foundation of our country and of our future. Unfortunately that is not what is happening and it is not what we are facing.

What I would like to contrast here is Yukon, which is not a rich jurisdiction by any means. It is very poverty stricken in a lot of instances and has boom and bust cycles. For decades it has provided $5,000 a year for five years to any student who graduates from a Yukon high school. They can use that money to attend any institution as long it is accredited and as long as they are accepted. It is a recognition of how valuable education is and how we need to support it in our young so that they can take their place in society.

I contrast that to the proposed millennium scholarship fund which will not be available for another two years. It will provide $3,000 a year for a very few number of students based on merit. We do not know whom they will be. It will not be administered by the government. We will not have any say in it. I am glad there is some recognition and that some amount of money will be there, but it does not form a foundation of an education system, certainly not one for a country that wants to move into the future with strength.

What we have seen happening is the gutting of our post-secondary funding with a cut of $550 million. I know the only college in Yukon is in Whitehorse and it has had to cut courses. HRDC is no longer buying seats for people to be trained in so there is another cut there, causing even more suffering and downgrading of courses that are available to educated and trained students.

The Canada student loans have been privatized. Students are graduating with huge debts and into unemployment with no hope of paying off the debts they incurred for their education in order to benefit not just themselves but their communities.

Where the government has moved out, the banks have moved in. The difference is that the banks have no concern for the education of our students or the development of our country. They are not accountable to the public. They do not have to report to us. They are not concerned with educating our artists, our musicians, our scientists, our economists, our carpenters, our electricians, our humanitarians or our doctors.

This Liberal agenda erodes and destroys publicly funded and supported post-secondary education in more ways than one. By the year 2000, 45% of new jobs will require a post-secondary education, but at the same time in the past 10 years tuition has gone up by 240%. Most people who do not go to university who could, or do not go to college who could, do not do it because they cannot afford it. They will never be able to afford it on a minimum wage job.

Debt per student has risen from $13,000 in 1993 when the Liberals came into power up to around $25,000. In the maritimes I am told it is even more than that, well over $30,000 worth of debt. With tuition that is $3,000 per year on average per student, what kind of summer jobs will bring in enough money for students to pay their tuition, pay their living, pay their books and work to educate themselves? How do banks treat students who have incurred this debt? One missed payment equals a default.

An elderly first nations man called my office in Yukon because he cannot pay his debt. He has phoned every day. It is not that he is trying to avoid paying his debt or trying to avoid work. He takes any kind of work he can get, any little scrap of work he can get to make a living. He is often forced on to welfare, of which he is very ashamed. He bought one small filing cabinet and was hounded. He got it at a garage sale and was hounded because he bought it. He does not even have a bed. He sleeps on a foamy.

He is afraid to answer his phone. He is driven to distraction, and this is a man who was put through the residential school system by this very same government. He pulled himself through that. He educated himself. He wants to work and he does work when he can, but he is hounded every day.

In 1995 the Liberals gave the banks responsibility for the loans. Where they used to be fully guaranteed by the government they no longer are. The last budget provides a clause giving banks more power to refuse student loans. This clause goes on outside the scrutiny of the House of Commons. Will the banks determine who studies, what is profitable to study, and where students buy their products from?

[Supply, May 5th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, it does not matter what Canada has done. Even though we are a leader it still is not enough.

There has not been much mention about the territories and the the vastness of the space there. There are a lot of people in both Yukon and Northwest Territories who have been affected by hepatitis C. In Yukon there is one hospital and health care cuts have really hurt. People who need to get from Old Crow into Whitehorse have to pay a $1,000 plane fare or try to find an ice road in the winter to get to the hospital. If they need treatment that cannot be done in Yukon; they have to be flown to Vancouver.

One of my constituents who has hepatitis C is not being compensated and is still struggling to work. It cost her $15,000 in lost wages to be able to go to Vancouver, which is a three day drive from Yukon.

Our health minister is saying that if we have a solid health care system in place these people will be taken care of. They will not be taken care of because our health care has been dismantled by the Liberal Party. The individuals who are sick and are struggling to keep working will not get the care they need.