House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2021, with 49% of the vote.
Supplementary Estimates (A), 2019-20 December 9th, 2019
Madam Chair, for the member opposite, the standards are with the provincial regulations. That is what all communities have to abide by. Our circuit rider program trains people to get to that standard. I would say that if we were in any community, we would see that those water plant operators are so proud of the work they are doing. There is not any lower standard that I am aware of.
Supplementary Estimates (A), 2019-20 December 9th, 2019
Madam Chair, as members know, the expansion of the current health centre has already happened. I think the minister has been in conversation with the community, and that care home will be built.
Supplementary Estimates (A), 2019-20 December 9th, 2019
Madam Chair, I do not quite know what the member is referring to as out of line. Thankfully, in this platform commitment to get all infrastructure needs up to what communities need by 2030, the needs assessment will begin and we will get that done.
Supplementary Estimates (A), 2019-20 December 9th, 2019
Madam Chair, the water system is in the A-base funding. That is not why it is not in the supplementaries today. A real focus on the promise and our commitment to get all the long-term boil water advisories lifted by March 2021 means that in successive budgets, if we have to put in more money to be able to get to that target, we will do that.
Supplementary Estimates (A), 2019-20 December 9th, 2019
Madam Chair, to the member opposite, there is a lag from the design phase to the implementation phase and the feasibility studies. In the past, things did not work because they only had the budget for two years at a time. As soon as we were able to give a five-year budget, then the communities were able to plan properly and we have been able to do the kind of system that they have asked for.
Supplementary Estimates (A), 2019-20 December 9th, 2019
Madam Chair, I will certainly get back to the member on that. I did not see that.
To the member opposite, we are on track to get all long-term boil water advisories lifted by March of 2021. We had a significant investment in the 2016 budget. We have had to top up every year, but that money is getting out the door and these—
Supplementary Estimates (A), 2019-20 December 9th, 2019
Madam Chair, these are the first two pieces of legislation that actually incorporate the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It really is about that asserting of the jurisdiction, and about Canada's responsibility to help protect those languages that are all at risk.
Also, as we heard from the member for Timmins—James Bay, the present system has not worked. It will only be when first nations, Inuit and Métis have control over their child and family services that get them out from under the Indian Act that these—
Supplementary Estimates (A), 2019-20 December 9th, 2019
Madam Chair, as we have gone to communities coast to coast to coast, we have seen way too many elders who had to leave their communities in order to get the kind of care they wanted.
We have begun to build accessible homes and seniors' homes with the idea of assisted living, so that elders can stay in their communities and be those knowledge keepers that young people look up to. It is just heartbreaking to be in some of the northern Ontario communities and realize that, when people see their loved ones in a hospital bed in Thunder Bay, it just breaks their hearts.
Even though that was not a line item that INAC used to pay for, in listening to communities, we have moved forward on this.
Supplementary Estimates (A), 2019-20 December 9th, 2019
Madam Chair, the situation in Winnipeg is very critical as the example of how we go forward. Even in Winnipeg it is going to be important for indigenous children and youth to see themselves in the programming to be able to speak their language and have a secure personal cultural identity. We know that is a key to success.
We also worry about people leaving high school. In some of the schools there are graduation coaches or consultants where, if they start by assuming every child will finish high school, they can actually turn around what had been the expectation previously. We are also hearing from the leaders that on-the-land and immersion programming, which may be in the summer, are ways that we can make first nations, Inuit and Métis students proud. That is the way we go forward as we build the role models and the other examples, so they can see themselves in these people who are now scientists and doctors and lawyers, but also guides on the land and all kinds of things as they walk in both worlds.
Supplementary Estimates (A), 2019-20 December 9th, 2019
Madam Chair, it is so important to all first nations, Inuit and Métis. As Murray Sinclair has said, education got us into this mess and education is going to get us out of this mess.
The people on the Prairies talk about education as their buffalo, that this is the way that they will move forward. Again, as we have increased the funding for post-secondary education, it is going to be increasingly viewed as an indigenous right. We have had processes where the continuing students have had first dibs, and then the high school leavers. However, we all know we have to do more because it is sometimes the young moms who want to go back to school to become social workers or nurses. We know we have to do better at this.
We also know that tuition and housing are not the only issues for indigenous students. There needs to be child care. There needs to be transportation back and forth to their communities. We want to work with first nations, Inuit and Métis and make sure that happens.