Anne Minh-Thu Quach

[Committees of the House, March 22nd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, regarding the motion currently before the House, you will note that the English and French versions in today's Notice Paper are inconsistent. There are in fact several errors in the French version. It is rather difficult to follow. I would ask that you come up with a solution, since there are several errors.

For instance, the English version refers to the Standing Committee on Finance, which is correct, while the French version talks about the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. It goes on like that in the paragraphs that follow. This makes it somewhat hard to follow the debate.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, March 18th, 2019]

With regard to federal funding in the constituency of Salaberry—Suroît, between April 2016 and January 2019: (a) what applications for funding have been received, including for each (i) the name of the organization, (ii) the department, (iii) the program and sub-program through which funding was allocated, (iv) the date of application, (v) the amount requested, (vi) whether funding was approved or not, (vii) the total amount of funding allocated, if applicable, (viii) the amount spent; (b) what funds, grants, loans and loan guarantees has the government issued in the constituency of Salaberry—Suroît through its various departments and agencies that did not require a direct application, including for each (i) the name of the organization, (ii) the department, (iii) the program and sub-program through which funding was allocated, (iv) the total amount of funding allocated, (v) the amount spent, if applicable; and (c) what projects have been funded in the constituency of Salaberry—Suroît by organizations tasked with sub-granting government funds (e.g. Community Foundations of Canada), including for each (i) the name of the organization, (ii) the department, (iii) the program and sub-program through which funding was allocated, (iv) the total amount of funding, if applicable, (v) the amounts spent?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, March 18th, 2019]

With regard to housing investments and housing assets held by the government: (a) how much federal funding has been spent on housing in Salaberry—Suroît over the period of 1995 to 2017, broken down by year and by municipality; (b) how much federal funding is scheduled to be spent on housing in Salaberry—Suroît over the period of 2015 to 2019, broken down by year; (c) how much federal funding was invested in cooperative housing in Salaberry—Suroît over the period of 1995 to 2017, broken down by year and by municipality; (d) how much federal funding is scheduled to be invested in cooperative housing in Salaberry—Suroît over the period of 2015 to 2019, broken down by year; (e) how many housing units were owned by the government in Salaberry—Suroît over the period of 1995 to 2017, broken down by year and by municipality; (f) how many housing units owned by the government are scheduled to be constructed in the constituency of Salaberry—Suroît over the period of 2015 to 2019, broken down by year and by municipality; and (g) what federal buildings and lands have been identified in Salaberry—Suroît as surplus and available for affordable housing developments?

[The Environment, March 18th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, speaking of not having a plan, more than 150,000 students in Quebec went on strike on Friday to call for action on climate change. They are calling on governments to take action to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. They are sounding the alarm because the government is getting further and further away from its greenhouse gas reduction targets every year.

Will the Prime Minister eliminate subsidies for the oil and gas industries?

Will he show some political courage by proposing measures to reduce pollution and investing in renewable energy, or will students have to jeopardize their education to get their message across?

[Corrections and Conditional Release Act, February 26th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, many experts have spoken out against this bill.

As the member said, we are talking about structured intervention units, which is just another way of saying “administrative segregation”. The member said this bill reduces the amount of time in administrative segregation from 22 or 23 hours to 20 hours. Wow, what an improvement.

Has the member ever tried locking herself in a room for 20 hours a day, for several days in a row, to see what it does to her body? As I have been saying all afternoon, it has been proven that permanent effects on mental health begin to emerge after 48 hours. These are permanent effects that continue to linger afterwards. These individuals have very little time to access programming, only four hours, in fact.

As the B.C. Supreme Court and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice have ruled, indefinite administrative segregation is unconstitutional. The provisions set out in the bill allow for an indefinite period of time, which could be 90 days or 150 days. No one knows.

On top of that, there is no independent oversight. The correctional investigator of Canada also criticized the fact that there are no procedural safeguards to prevent misuse. He foresees many possible cases of misuse and predicts that more and more inmates could be segregated in SIUs. The member is so proud of SIUs, but I think they are very cruel.

[Corrections and Conditional Release Act, February 26th, 2019]

Madam Speaker, I am appalled to hear the Liberals say that Bill C-83 will prevent suicides, when we know that many experts oppose administrative segregation. The bill proposes up to 20 hours a day of segregation for an indefinite period of time.

Two courts, one in Ontario and another in B.C., ruled that indefinite administrative segregation is unconstitutional. Furthermore, there is no independent oversight to assess the restrictions on freedom. Administrative segregation restricts freedom.

It has been proven that more than 48 hours in administrative isolation can cause permanent mental health effects and lead to self-harm, depression, suicide, panic attacks and hypersensitivity to external stimuli. The fact that administrative segregation is still an option is disastrous. The Liberals are just replicating what existed before and claiming to improve the situation.

The Liberals say that this could prevent suicides. However, the new measures aggravate mental health problems related to administrative segregation. In my view, it makes no sense to go down this path.

Today, the government is muzzling MPs. We should be moving amendments to improve the bill. The government rejected virtually all of the NDP and Conservative Party amendments aimed at improving the bill. That is not very professional, and it is very hypocritical. It harms inmates whose mental health problems will be aggravated and who will eventually be released and reintegrated into society.

[Corrections and Conditional Release Act, February 26th, 2019]

Madam Speaker, I want to know what my colleague thinks of the fact that many of the inmates who are put in administrative segregation for an indeterminate amount of time, sometimes up to 23 hours a day, suffer from mental health problems.

In my opinion, it would make more sense to give them access to mental health services and programs to address the root causes of these problems instead of exacerbating them by placing the inmates in administrative segregation. In fact, when they are released, they pose a public health threat. It makes no sense to propose such a solution in our prisons.

Should the government not review these measures, which have also been deemed unconstitutional?

[Corrections and Conditional Release Act, February 26th, 2019]

Sure, Madam Speaker.

I was saying that the bill talks about structured intervention units. However, when we read Bill C-83, we see that it covertly replicates administrative segregation.

One of the major differences is that inmates who spend 22 to 23 hours a day in segregation will now spend only 20 hours a day in segregation, but still for an indefinite period of time. A number of courts, including the courts in Ontario and British Columbia, found that to be unconstitutional.

It is unconstitutional because inmates can be kept in segregation for an indefinite period of time and because there is no oversight. Without independent oversight, segregation can aggravate mental health problems and produce permanent negative mental health effects. It has been proven that many indicators of mental illness, such as psychosis and suicide attempts, can be seen as early as 48 hours after segregation. People have committed suicide because they were placed in—

[Corrections and Conditional Release Act, February 26th, 2019]

Madam Speaker, what does my Conservative colleague think about the fact that the bill talks about structured intervention units—

[Indigenous Affairs, February 20th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Nelson White from Akwesasne First Nation has invested a lot of his own money to fund the White Pine Healing lodge to support those in his community who suffer from addiction. The project was created as a response to the state of emergency due to the alarming rate of suicide and substance abuse. He has the support of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne.

The government keeps saying that it is a good project, but without funding in the coming weeks, there will be no healing lodge. Will the government deliver the money or will it let down the people of Akwesasne?