Charlie Angus

[Have a Heart Day, February 15th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, when I think of the future of our nation and the immense task of reconciliation, I am not only hopeful, I know better days are coming. Why? Because I have seen the future, and it is young people.

On Have a Heart Day, indigenous and non-indigenous youth across this nation are marching and organizing for the rights of indigenous children.

Being with the young people on the Hill today brought me back to that moment in 2008 when 13-year-old Shannen Koostachin, who had never seen a real school, made history when she called out the government and said that children were no longer going to live in third world conditions and hopelessness. Shannen never lived to see the beautiful school that bears her name, but the young people have taken up her fight. Their message to government has the same urgency: children have only one childhood and once it is gone, it can never be restored.

It is up to us as parents, adults, and politicians to make Shannen's dream and the dream of every indigenous child in our country a reality. Let us make it happen.

[Indigenous Peoples and Canada's Justice System, February 14th, 2018]

I was here.

[Indigenous Peoples and Canada's Justice System, February 14th, 2018]

I have a point of order.

[Indigenous Peoples and Canada's Justice System, February 14th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it has been very encouraging to hear the government members talk about justice. I would encourage Canadians to read a fascinating document supplied by the justice department that gives the real view of indigenous justice. That was the factums that were provided to the B.C. Supreme Court to fight the St. Anne's residential school survivors.

However, the government's position is so shocking in attacking reconciliation and attacking the basic rights of indigenous people that it had those factums put under a sealing order. It had the trial put under a sealing order. Even after it won, they are still under a sealing order, because if Canadians knew what the government's legal arguments against indigenous people are, everything this Prime Minister said today would be seen to be a mockery. That's because if they were to look at the most belligerent, militant opposition to indigenous rights in this country, they would see that it is the Justice Department of Canada.

It has been there from day one. The government spent $100,000 fighting a young Cree girl getting orthodontic surgery and $4 million fighting Cindy Blackstock. The government spent over $110 million going after indigenous rights with legal matters in 2013, when it only spent $66 million at CRA. My belief would be if the government spent as much going after international tax cheats as it is willing to spend going after indigenous rights in the courts, we might see a better Canada.

If we are going to look at true reconciliation, will the Liberals start to address the justice department and ensure that the Department of Justice Act starts to defend indigenous rights instead of attacking them time and time again, whether it is treaty rights, individual rights, or the rights of indigenous children? We need to know that the government is serious, and it is going to have to start with taking on the justice department.

[Indigenous Peoples and Canada's Justice System, February 14th, 2018]

Mr. Chair, I want to thank the minister for being here tonight. I am thankful that this institution can be used to tackle an issue that has shocked our nation.

We have heard from people, urban and rural, indigenous and non-indigenous, who feel that our system failed Colten Boushie's family. I thank the minister for her comments. When the system fails an individual, there is recourse through appeals, and there is legal precedence, but we are talking about a system that has failed a people. This is a moment of reckoning.

I want to talk about what I did not hear from the minister. I want to get to specifics. I would love to think that great visionary ideas could change the world, but I have come to think that it is changed on the ground.

One of the issues that came out in the Boushie trial was the treatment of the Boushie family by the RCMP; the way it was investigated; the way that, from the beginning, the seeming criminal was the boy who was dead on the ground; and the way his family was considered criminal and his friends were considered criminal. Every step of the way, in the way the RCMP handled it, set a tone that we see across social media now with some really ugly racist trolls misrepresenting what happened.

What the family has asked for is some form of oversight and investigation of the RCMP's actions in the Boushie killing and also an oversight process in Saskatchewan, where the RCMP are not subject to outside, independent review, as exists in other jurisdictions.

Would the minister talk to the Minister of Public Safety and admit to this House and to indigenous people in Saskatchewan that out of this there will be a process and that an independent review of police actions will be a priority? Whether it is in Thunder Bay or Val-d'Or or anyplace else where these actions happen, we need to have this indigenous lens to make sure that justice is done and done fairly by the police.

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, February 14th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the night that Colten Boushie was killed, the RCMP raided the home of his grieving mother and treated her as if she were an accomplice. They left his body lying in a field in the rain for two days. They handcuffed his friends and took them on a high-speed police chase. This is not how to treat victims of crime, so no one should say that race was not a huge part of this tragedy.

Will the Prime Minister agree to an independent investigation into the RCMP's handling of the Boushie killing, and tell the House that the RCMP in Saskatchewan will finally be brought under an independent review process to deal with police complaints?

[Indigenous Affairs, February 12th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, speaking about specifics, when the justice system fails an individual, there are appeals, there is legal precedent. However, when justice fails a people, it is incumbent upon leaders to take a stand. Let us be clear. The system did not just fail Colten Boushie. The system has failed indigenous people all the way back to Poundmaker, and it has to stop.

Therefore, in this watershed moment, what concrete steps will the Prime Minister take to deal with the huge legal inequities that are faced by indigenous people all across the country?

[Indigenous Affairs, February 12th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, our thoughts today are with the family of Colten Boushie. It is incumbent upon us to say that this Canada will not be a nation where the senseless killing of indigenous youth is considered okay, that Canada will not be a nation defined by racial suspicion, a failed judicial process or 150 years of broken promises. Platitudes are not enough.

My question is for the Prime Minister. What steps will he take to reassure the Boushie family and indigenous youth across the country that justice will be made real for Colten Boushie?

[Business of Supply, February 12th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, we have spent many years in northern Ontario attempting to get the Ring of Fire project off the ground. We have been working in consultation and making sure that it is going to meet all of the environmental standards. We are finally at the point of discussing building a smelter. Building a smelter requires social licence and environmental licence. I note for my colleague that there are serious concerns in Coniston and Sault Ste. Marie about building a smelter within the city limits because of environmental concerns, and they are valid concerns when looking at this project.

A site is set up in the Timmins region that is ready and it has full social support. As well, it would build the infrastructure for the railway. Adding the plant in the Timmins region would provide a much stronger social and environmental net benefit to the region and would not face citizen opposition.

Would my hon. colleague support the New Democrats in our continued work on the Ring of Fire issue?

[Veterans Affairs, February 6th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, really? Is he serious? Okay, so when the Liberals' top fundraiser, Stephen Bronfman, gets named in the paradise papers, the Prime Minister jumps in immediately and says, “Hey, no investigation needed here.” Why? Is it because he raised $250,000 for the party in two hours? Is it because it is a case of who you know in the PMO?

Ordinary Canadians do not get the royal treatment. Just look at how the Prime Minister treated veteran Brock Blaszczyk who lost his leg in Afghanistan and is fighting for a pension. If only the Prime Minister treated veterans with the same level of deference that he does his billionaire crony pals, would it not be a better country?