Charlie Angus

[Offshore Health and Safety Act, March 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my hon. colleague bringing us back to the terrible tragedy of Westray. Coming from a mining community, our families were certainly very struck by that. I remember being in Stobie Mine one time, and there was a safety sign on the wall. A miner said to me, “They only ever put that after someone loses an arm or after someone dies”. All the safety recommendations come after tragedies, which is why I would like to ask my hon. colleague about the importance of maintaining a full complement for search and rescue offshore, because we cannot afford to think maybe it will not happen. These things do happen, and we need to have the full force of the law and the search and rescue capacity.

Justice Wells talked about the need to have an independent board set up, yet the current government seems to show no interest in that.

The Minister of Natural Resources of Newfoundland and Labrador said that, while discussions have been ongoing with the federal government on the implementation of recommendation 29, the federal government has not indicated any interest in establishing a separate safety agency.

[Offshore Health and Safety Act, March 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my hon. colleague's analysis of this legislation. The one thing I am concerned about is that in phase one of the inquiry report of Justice Wells, he said that he believed recommendation 29 would be the most important one in this entire report. That, of course, called for a new independent and stand-alone safety regulator being established to regulate safety in the offshore, and that was not done.

Since Justice Wells said that this was the most important recommendation, I would like to ask my hon. colleague why the Conservatives did not follow through on that recommendation.

[Aboriginal Affairs, March 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the breaches at CRA are only part of a larger troubling pattern of indifference on the part of the government.

There are now reports that medical records and case summaries of survivors abused in the residential school system were stolen and that the person who stole this information has threatened to go public with it. If Indian Affairs knew of this threat, why was the Privacy Commissioner kept in the dark? Have these people not suffered enough?

I would like to ask the minister this question: when was the Privacy Commissioner informed of this breach? What steps have been taken to inform each and every one of those survivors that their personal histories have been stolen under the government's watch?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, March 24th, 2014]

With regard to the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement and the associated Independent Assessment Process: (a) how much money did the government spend in total, to date, on the recent Ontario Superior Court case regarding the government's refusal to disclose police and court evidence of abuse at St. Anne's Residential School to the Independent Assessment Process, (i) how much money is the government projecting to spend, including court penalties, on this court case in the future, (ii) with regard to money spent on this court case, including court penalties, from what budget and what department is this money coming; and (b) for the Independent Assessment Process, for each year from 2006 to 2013, (i) what is the number of applicants, (ii) what is the number of settled cases, (iii) what is the average number of days taken to settle each case, (iv) what is the number of personnel adjudicating cases, (v) what is the average caseload per adjudicator?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, March 24th, 2014]

With regard to data, information, or privacy breaches involving government departments, institutions and agencies, for 2013: (a) how many breaches have occurred in total, broken down by (i) department, institution or agency, (ii) the number of individuals affected by the breach; (b) of those breaches identified in (a), how many have been reported to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, broken down by (i) department, institution or agency, (ii) the number of individuals affected by the breach; and (c) how many breaches are known to have led to criminal activity such as fraud or identity theft, broken down by department, institution or agency?

[Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Act, March 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is certainly important for us as Canadians to move forward on these settlement agreements so that we can bring assurance to the territories of our country but also to ensure justice for first nations people who have been denied it for so long.

I would like to ask my colleague a question. The issue of landless communities across this country is serious. We are dealing with communities that have been fighting for their basic right to be recognized, in some instances, for well over a century. In the Quebec region, there are the Algonquin of Wolf Lake. Between Ontario and Quebec, there are the Algonquin in the Mattawa region. That is just in one small area, but right across the country there are unresolved cases dealing with the rights and recognition of people who do not have status or a land base recognized by the federal government.

Could my hon. colleague tell us whether he thinks this agreement could be a model and whether we could start to move forward on solving some of these outstanding problems that have plagued our country for much too long?

[Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Act, March 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the other question I have is in terms of the timeline.

These band lists, especially if there are 100,000 people or so making a claim, have enormous implications for the validity of their elections process. We have to understand who is eligible to vote for leadership and who is not.

Has there been a decision in terms of whether the electorate will be within the community or within a larger territory or will include certain members? How is it going to affect the upcoming elections the community will be facing?

[Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Act, March 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the issue of deciding band lists is very complicated. It certainly has to be done in a manner that is fair to the people who have a right to participate as band members and it needs to ensure that the people who have a marginal claim do not get put on the band list, because there are enormous consequences for the administration in any first nation if it has to deal with people who have very marginal claims who are expecting resources, education, and other resources to be moved through the band.

Given the enormous number of people who have come forward over this period to claim a right to participate as band members, what is the balance between the federal level and the community in ensuring that decisions about the band lists are reached in an accurate and fair manner?

[Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Act, March 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the issue of status with bands has enormous significance, right across the country. Many people are looking for status. Many people should have status, but do not, and many people who have very marginal claims for status would push for it.

In this case, we understand that there have been many people coming forward claiming the right of status. The question is, how will those claims be adjudicated? What steps will be taken to ensure the validity of the claims? Is there going to be a process in place for appeal? What is the timeline in which this will happen? Justice delayed is justice denied.

We want to make sure this is done properly and that the people who are actually eligible are able to benefit. Could my hon. colleague tell me what the plan is, and what the timeline is for the implementation?

[Petitions, March 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present this petition signed by people from Ontario and Quebec. They are calling on the government to provide legal protection to ensure the integrity and the future of Gatineau Park. It is necessary to continue protecting the environment for future generations.