Blake Desjarlais

[Online News Act, June 20th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, as much as I am tempted to ask my hon. colleague what those solutions are now, and I am sure Canadians probably want to know what they are now, I digress, because I am not quite certain. As the member is reluctant to give them today, I hope he may provide them to everyone here in writing.

I want to make a quick differentiation about something that, for a long time, New Democrats have called for; this is the difference between the needs and the wants of Canadians. The member speaks directly to the market. As a matter of fact, we need to ensure that a market is well-balanced to ensure that the things Canadians actually need to obtain to live, such as food, water, homes and, in this case, good information, are actually available to them.

The member did not speak directly to the concern that I think is important in this legislation, which is why I think we can probably agree that there needs to be a process ensuring that our small businesses, particularly news outlets in small rural communities, can actually get the information they are working for produced on to the websites people are seeing the news on. This is important for small communities, because people are doing the work. They are doing the journalism in their communities to talk about the good work happening, whether it is in Edson, Drayton Valley or Fishing Lake, so that when people go to the news, they can actually have access to it. Right now, these companies are saying that they will not, and they are benefiting to the tune of nearly $10 billion.

Could the member speak to how important it is to balance those two?

[Housing, June 20th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, Edmonton now has one of the fastest-growing monthly rent prices in the country, increasing nearly 16% over the last year. Young people cannot keep up, and Liberals are not doing anything. They will not protect young people from corporate landlords, who are handing out eviction notices to jack up the rent. They are not investing properly into building affordable units. They are leaving young people to fend for themselves, while corporate landlords keep getting richer.

Will the Liberals invest in safe, affordable, community-based housing so that young people can actually afford to rent in Edmonton?

[Disaster Assistance, June 14th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the parliamentary secretary for highlighting and giving fact to the reality that this is truly something the federal government has a role to play in, not just the province. I am encouraged by his words citing the disaster recovery assistance program.

Will the parliamentary secretary work with me and the East Prairie Metis Settlement to ensure that the community has the kind of capacity and support required to access that program in a timely manner and to ensure it does not have any families left out in the winter? These are reasonable requests and ones that I am happy to support the government to try to achieve as the government continues its work on a nation-to-nation and government-to-government relationship. It is one that I invite the minister to share with me.

[Disaster Assistance, June 14th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, on June 5, I rose during question period to ask the emergency preparedness minister a question in regards to the devastating forest fires and wildfires raging across northern Alberta. I particularly asked the minister to recognize the complete devastation of one of the communities known as the East Prairie Métis Settlement.

Before I get too far into that, I want to speak directly to how important the work of reconciliation really is here in Canada. The government was clear that the most important relationship was to indigenous people, a nation-to-nation, government-to-government relationship that would hopefully begin the healing journey for many indigenous people who are caught not only by the traps of history and cycles in which we fall into, but also the cycles of natural disaster and jurisdictional loopholes that continue to plague indigenous communities like the East Prairie Métis Settlement.

I spoke about the important need to ensure that there was immediate temporary housing for the many families who have lost so much. I have a quote here from members of the community of the East Prairie Métis Settlement that they provided me, which has given evidence of what is needed right now in the community.

However, I want to reference the fact that when I asked the minister this question, he was not actually even certain as to which nation I was speaking of. He responded with the Métis National Council, and although I am a supporter of the Métis National Council, the Métis Settlement of East Prairie is not a member of the Métis National Council nor is any Métis settlement in Alberta. I also want to mention that Métis settlements, which are land-based communities, are only present in northern Alberta, and the minister failed to recognize this unique quality, despite the fact that the government's most important relationship is the nation-to-nation one.

I want to speak about how important it is, during a time of emergency and crisis, if we truly are in a nation-to-nation relationship, that our partner is truly there. This was not present in the response by the minister, and I want to make clear how important it is to ensure that we support indigenous communities when emergency strikes.

The minister has certainly heard of Jordan's principle. That principle says that when an indigenous person, in this case, Jordan, approaches a government, whether it is the provincial or federal government, it is that government that takes action on behalf of that person, who in this case was a child. Jordan died because of living in a jurisdictional wasteland and being tossed back and forth.

I am asking for a Jordan's principle approach to this natural emergency that is taking place in northern Alberta. We have 14 houses that were destroyed, 14 families who are now homeless in northern Alberta, and the community is asking for $900,000 to ensure that these families can continue to live without having to face the brunt of homelessness any longer. There is also a bridge, at $4.5 million, that was lost in that community. It is the only way in and out of that community. These are critical infrastructure projects that the province has neglected to deal with, because of the population being Métis and the fact that there is a jurisdictional battle currently taking place between the province and the federal government as to who is responsible for this community.

I am asking that the minister take his responsibility and his commitment to indigenous people seriously and work with the East Prairie Métis Settlement to temporarily house these families until something can happen and prepare the community to ensure that they can actually re-enter their home by assisting in the construction of a bridge. These are basic asks of any Canadian when disaster strikes. It is even more important that, as the federal government has the power to act on behalf of Métis people, confirmed by the 2016 Daniels v. Canada Supreme Court decision, it should use its power and responsibility to actually do the right thing. Will the minister do the right thing and help this community?

[Lebanese Heritage Month Act, June 14th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to thank the member for Halifax West for her years of dedication to this, but also for her tremendous will to highlight her community.

At a time in Canada when so much feels lost to so many folks, sometimes all we have is who we are. Lebanese Canadians from coast to coast to coast can find solace in the fact that there are champions, not just in this chamber but right across the country, whether they are persons who work in the local grocery store, local business people or folks who have contributed to our Canadian history in ways that will not be forgotten, especially now with the hopeful passage of Bill S-246, designating November as Lebanese heritage month.

I want to speak a little to two fronts. One is about how the impact of Lebanese Canadians has affected me in my life, but in particular the community of Alberta. It is no secret that in Alberta there is a long-standing tradition between the Lebanese community and indigenous people in particular. Harkening back all the way to the fur trade, we knew that there were folks who were willing to join indigenous people in what would be the frontier of a new era, an era that would bring peace and prosperity but also a tremendous new way of life to the prairies, one which Lebanese Canadians are builders of.

There is a community in central Alberta called Lac la Biche. Lac la Biche is a small northern Alberta community that is home to some of the most vibrant Lebanese family members who I am sure many in the Lebanese community know. The member for Halifax West spoke about this. They have made huge contributions, not only to language diversity in Canada but also to indigenous culture.

I want to speak about a unique story in my community. Many of the Lebanese immigrants actually came to Alberta during the fur trade, and then learned languages, like Cree, Dene, Ojibway and Michif. They learned many indigenous languages and then took that with them to all walks of life. Many community members of Lebanese descent in Edmonton, Alberta, are from a little town called Lala. There was actually a teepee built in Lala. I remember as a young person seeing pictures from fellow Métis people of this community, far away, where we had relatives. It happened to be in the community in Lebanon, the tiny town of Lala.

This relationship is truly remarkable. It is one that I think emphasizes the tremendous contributions of Lebanese persons to the prairies and to places from coast to coast to coast, and in particular in Atlantic Canada.

I want to share a story about how my community in Edmonton was built. It was built by some remarkable Lebanese folks. One remarkable Lebanese person I want to talk about today, and one I hope we could all continue to speak about in many of the heritage months to come, is a woman named Hilwie Jomha, who was from Lala, a small village in the Beqaa Valley, what is now Lebanon, in 1905.

She was the daughter of a leading family in a village whose culture was of mixed Sunni, Shia, as well as Christian and Jewish faith. Hilwie's future husband, Ali Hamdon had come to Canada in the early 1900s, together with relatives and friends from the same valley she was from. He became a fur trader in Fort Chipewyan, in northern Alberta, where many of my family members were also fur traders. There is no doubt they would have known each other.

After he set up home there, he returned to Lala and to Hilwie. She immigrated with him in 1923 to begin her life's work in Canada, a kind of sacrifice that many make still today in the community, one that is not always easy, sometimes tremendously difficult, but one she took courage in and one that she found a home quickly in.

She adapted to life in Alberta. She quickly struck up deep friendships amongst the Jewish communities in Fort Chipewyan. After Hilwie had children, the Hamdons moved to Edmonton where Hilwie truly made her mark, not only as a citizen in Edmonton but as a community leader.

The city's small but fast-growing Muslim community had a big problem in the 1930s. Like everywhere else in Canada at that time, they did not have a mosque. Imagine that, not being able to have a place where one could gather with their friends, extended family and community. Prayers had to be held at individuals' homes, but they were limited in what they could do without a common meeting place.

Hilwie had a natural gift for connecting people. It was almost like a superpower, something that she was able to do not only as the new burgeoning community of Lebanese were there but also amongst all Edmontonians. She brought Muslims together for Ramadan and became a fixture of the local community during the 1930s. It was a decade when Arab businesses in Edmonton were making their mark on the city's business scene.

The Arab community in Edmonton had great strength and it began to have discussions about building a mosque of its very own. Hilwie was at the heart of these conversations. Soon these talks quickly turned into action, and Edmonton's Arab community hatched a plan to build North America's first mosque. Along with a group of Arab businessmen, Hilwie approached the mayor of Edmonton about buying some city land for the mosque, but there was a problem: The mayor wanted $5,000, quite a large sum at the time. However, the community members were not going to be let down, so they organized, but there was not a central body to do it.

To solve this problem, the community came together to found an Arab-Muslim association. Hilwie was at the heart of this community organizing. She marshalled the whole community, including people of various religious groups, to build the mosque. Hilwie went door to door on Jasper Avenue, in the heart of Edmonton Griesbach today, and asked business owners to support the project. These efforts allowed the group to buy the land for the mosque and build its foundations.

However, there were more challenges. The initial funding was not enough to complete the mosque. When money ran out, Hilwie and the community sprang into action and made appeals for funding to Muslim business owners right across western Canada. This final push toward that work resulted in the construction of the Al Rashid Mosque, which finally opened its doors in Edmonton in 1938. Al Rashid not only became Canada's first mosque but also one of the earliest in all of North America. It quickly became a fixture of local communities and still is to this day.

I am pleased to share the story of Hilwie, an incredible human being who helped not only to build the first mosque in Canada's history but also helped build our city, helped build our province and helped build our country. It not only speaks to the strength of Edmonton's Lebanese community; it is also a testament of what Canada is and what Canada can be. Lebanese heritage month would ensure that we have an opportunity to honour and celebrate remarkable Canadians like Hilwie every single year, which is something I am more than proud to stand to recognize.

I want to mention that as this bill proceeds, the New Democratic Party and I are pleased to support it in all stages.

Before I end, I want to mention some other remarkable people of Lebanese origin in my life, like the El Safadi brothers, who opened the doors of the first Lebanese grocery store in Edmonton. It became a mainstay of Arab Edmontonian diets, and I am sure that many of the Lebanese folks watching know very well, if they have ever visited Edmonton, that it is a staple.

Another example is the Canadian Arab Friendship Association, which wins the heritage day every single year, placing first in the festival. This year, as a matter of fact, the festival is being hosted in Edmonton Griesbach, and it has won that award for 17 years.

To conclude, I want to mention someone who is quite special in my life and special to the New Democratic Party, and that is Anthony Salloum.

Some members may know Anthony Salloum as the person in our opposition lobby, but Anthony Salloum is so much more. He is a remarkable human being who has served the New Democratic Party for over 20 years in an official capacity, and I am sure much longer than that unofficially. He is not only the person who sparks up a smile when someone walks by in the lobby or consoles them when they are having a bad day; he is also somebody who is going to reach across many party lines, because for him it is not about party but about people, just like many in the Lebanese community right across our country. He is someone who demonstrates the spirit and heart of the Lebanese community, like those in my community and right across Canada. The goodwill, the nature of community and the ability to support others is a staple that is huge in my life. I know I have been able to stand in this place with greater courage, with greater power and with a greater voice because of him.

To Anthony and to the many Lebanese right across our country, I want to thank you for your contribution and thank you for building your home here. This is truly home to us all.

[Wildfires in Canada, June 5th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for that question, because it is something that we often do not have the opportunity to speak about in this place. Indigenous people have long stewarded Turtle Island, North America, when catastrophes happen, from floods to natural disasters, such as forest fires, as well as huge, immense, prolonged winters.

We have a history, stories and knowledge. The history that is present here and that we often talk about is short. It is a small piece of what Canada is. Canada is an immensely ancient place, a place with tradition and knowledge. Indigenous people have been installed in a position to care for and administer this.

We know about prescribed burns. When we take care of forest fires at a low-risk level by destroying the fuel in the forest early, rather than stacking it up by banning prescribed burns, then we deal with what would become a much worse fire, which is what we are seeing in Alberta today. If we had invested and allowed indigenous people the jurisdiction and the resources to do what traditional wildland firefighting looks like, we would not have had this issue; we would stand a chance.

[Wildfires in Canada, June 5th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for the question, because it is one I was hoping to be asked. I hope to provide a good response to it on behalf of the many indigenous people who have provided me with the lessons, history and knowledge that go hand in hand with the prevention of these terrible disasters.

In the boreal forest of Treaty 8, Treaty 10 and Treaty 11 territories, there is a tradition of prescribed burns, where indigenous people burn x amount of land in order to prevent an even greater fire from being produced. Without prescribed burns, this fuel gathers, builds and becomes dangerous. That is exactly what happened when we banned the ability of first nations and Métis communities to have prescribed burns; unfortunately, this is still a reality in Canada. If we want to ensure that indigenous people get to the point of restoring the lands, which they have done for thousands of years, we have to make sure that we listen and get laws out of the way that are currently prohibiting indigenous people from practising the traditional ecological work they are supposed to do.

[Wildfires in Canada, June 5th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, there is no question in my mind of the service put forward by firefighters and first responders in the service they conduct, at the height of the worst conditions and realities imaginable for everyday people. They put their lives at risk. They hold on to that fear, and they manifest courage. What is most important for us to know is that, when they put that courage on, they are also putting on equipment that is risking their lives and that has been found to contribute to cancer.

I am so thankful for the bill put forward by the member opposite, because this is something we are truly united around. We have all had firefighters come join us, and we have all promised them we would do something about what they are experiencing. That is exactly what we are going to do.

[Wildfires in Canada, June 5th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, through you to many of my fellow Albertans, what has been happening in the month of May and what continues to happen across our province is truly devastating. The wildfires, the smoke, the devastation and the loss will be with those families for a long time. I know we will never be able to truly rebuild to the point at which they remember where they have those cultural heirlooms, where they have the things that they raised their children with, where they have the mementos from each of those monuments in their life that they can cherish and keep with them, which are now reduced to ash.

We are with those families. We will do everything in our power to make sure they can rebuild. That is why New Democrats and I are steadfast in our support of indigenous communities that have been hit the hardest by these fires.

I want to extend my personal thanks as well to the many men, women, non-binary and diverse folks who serve in our firefighting teams right across the country, but particularly in Alberta right now, who are risking their lives so that community members can save what they can. They are risking their lives to make sure that children may have a place to go back to. They are risking their lives to make sure that communities stay intact. They are certainly unsung heroes, heroes who go home day after day, covered in ash, who may not hear the thanks and gratitude from families like my own and families I visit.

In 2003, my family endured a wildfire in the northeast part of the province of Alberta. At that time I was just a child, living with my family. In just a short time, a 30-minute wind was able to bring in a fire so large that no crew could even get to it. It brought down forests; it brought down power lines; it stopped roads, and it stopped services. We were stranded. I was alone and I was scared. Me, my mum, my dad and my sister were alone, cut off from all roads, with fallen trees on either side of us. We thought surely this would be it. My dad and my mum prayed.

My dad did what he could. His father had built a barn, and he looked after that barn. Inside that barn were saddles, handmade and passed on from generation to generation, from horse whisperers in my family to some of the best rodeo clowns our province had to offer. That history was reduced, burned to ash while my father was reduced to tears.

I remember being evacuated in the arms of a firefighter. He took me in his hands, and without question I could feel his compassion and his need to save us. He put me in a car, put an oxygen mask on my mouth and told me to close my eyes. He told me to sing a song. “Three times,” he said, “and you'll be okay.”

Two songs in, I realized finally we were escaping the smoke. Although I had left my family behind, I knew that my mother and my father were going to be okay because people like him were with them, like the firefighters who are with our communities right now. For them, I want to thank the firefighters.

The reality is that it is ongoing and it is still happening today. Whether it is wildfires on the east coast or right across the Prairies, we are seeing the devastation of families like my own who have to go through this. I know that pain of not being able to get back what we once had, but I also know the joy of being able to return home with all of our lives, with the things we cherished most of all, which was each other.

When I went and journeyed just weeks ago to the East Prairie Métis Settlement, a community of which over 80% was reduced to ash, people greeted me with smiles. They greeted me with the kind of generosity and the kind of love that only a community that has withstood the worst could have. East Prairie Métis Settlement is a community of resilient, hard-working, remarkable individuals. When they received that call to evacuate early one morning in early May, they sprang into action. Just four hours is what it took for the entire community to evacuate, in a community that had only one entrance and one exit. That was because of the coordination of the community, not because of any extra help they got. It was because the community knew that this was not a matter of if; it was a matter of when.

The forests in northern Alberta have been sick. On top of that, people have had to suffer gruelling and dangerous temperatures. We used to have a saying, and I am sure many members are familiar with it: April showers bring May flowers. However, there have been no showers; this has resulted in one of the most devastating fires in the history of our province.

When I met with the council of the East Prairie Métis Settlement, its members pleaded with me. They said that in the heat of an Alberta election, they did not receive any support. They looked to the federal government, and they were stonewalled with jurisdiction. They sought support from local municipalities, but they had no resources left to offer.

This community had nothing left, but its members gave it their all. Although they lost over 14 homes, and 80% of the community burned, they saved 20%. That is an immense feat for a group of volunteers, a group of experts who hold within them the traditional knowledge necessary to continue to keep our communities safe.

They are called “wildland firefighters”, and it took only 14 of them to save the remainder of the community. This is the same group of firefighters we sent to Quebec, Ontario and right across the globe. Their skills, their understanding of forests and the traditional knowledge they carry are needed now more than ever.

I spoke to East Prairie survivors. I was there the day the evacuation order was lifted, and they took me into their community. What I witnessed was truly devastating.

I went with families, and it was an amazing moment for some of them. They saw their houses standing. They even saw their dogs, covered in ash but still protecting their land. They were holding their ground as if it were their last stand. They did it as they waited for their humans to come home. That is the kind of love that animals have a power to demonstrate and one that humans often hold back on. It is one I hope we never relent.

I spoke to some of those who lost their homes. A survivor, the oldest elder in the community, came up to me and said that once she got on that bus to go home, it felt like she was going back home as she did the day she left the residential school. She said the fear she had in her heart, and of not knowing what she was going back to, triggered her, and she wept. She found that although there was nothing left of her home, there was so much left of her community. She provided her strength, leadership and kindness to the children, mothers and those who were truly in pain. She offered them smiles, condolences and love, even though she had lost so much. I am truly inspired by that.

That is a story I wanted to share with all my colleagues, because people like this exist in their communities, too. They are worth protecting and investing in; we need to ensure that this climate catastrophe does not continue to wreck their lives.

I know they exist. They had only one ask. They said that as many families as returned home, there was the same number that could not return, because they did not have anywhere to go. They said that $900,000 is all it is going to take to ensure that all of those who lost their homes have temporary housing until they can rebuild.

We need courage, and we must demonstrate the kind of love we have for Canadians in our hearts. This must materialize as the programs and supports that people who are in need right now need the most. I beg this chamber and my colleagues to truly use the compassion they often speak so much about and turn it into action. The people of East Prairie, Paddle Prairie and Peavine deserve that. The people right across this country who are affected by the wildfires deserve that.

Those wildfires continue to rage every single day, and they are doing it right now, as we speak. I know it is late in the day for us, but those firefighters are going to be working even harder than we are tonight. They are going to be going all night, and they are going to be doing it with the risk of not returning home. I ask that we all keep them in our hearts and in our prayers tonight as they continue to battle raging wildfires across our country, in hopes that help truly comes from this place.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, June 5th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I know my hon. colleague does a lot of good work on the indigenous and northern affairs committee, which is something that connects both of us, him as a representative for Saskatchewan and me as a representative for Alberta who formerly represented many indigenous people.

This budget speaks directly to some of the aspects that are needed for our first nations communities to continue to get out of the crises they are in.. For example, the red dress alert is something that is most critical to constituents in my community, who are faced with some of the most tragic results of the inquiry into the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and two-spirit people.

Why would the member oppose such an important endeavour, which is called for by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and what does he have to say to the thousands of women who need the support?