Dan Vandal

[Taxation, October 18th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I was in Inuvik as well, about six weeks ago, and there I announced $163 million of new money for the nutrition north program. The program moves beyond a simple subsidy for nutrition north. It offers a new community food programs fund directly to support community-led food initiatives. We are providing more funds directly to indigenous partners through the harvesters support grant, increasing traditional country foods for our partners.

[Health, October 4th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, the member is absolutely right that losing one person to suicide is one too many. Our government is committed, through the actions we are taking, to do all things necessary to eradicate the horrible problem. We are working co-operatively with Inuit rights holders, with the Government of Nunavut, with territorial governments and all provinces to eradicate the suicide crisis that is prevalent in the north.

[Indigenous Affairs, September 27th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, in Inuvik, approximately a month ago, we announced an expanded nutrition north program, with $164 million in new funding, in partnership with indigenous partners. The newly expanded program moves beyond simply a subsidy with a new community food program fund to directly support community-led food security activities.

We are providing more funds directly to indigenous partners, through the harvesters support grant, increasing access to traditional country foods, through hunting, harvesting and food sharing.

[Indigenous Affairs, September 21st, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, that is a very important question. In all my travels in the north and the Arctic, both virtual and real, housing is the issue that comes up the most often. However, our government has been making historic investments in distinctions-based housing. Budget 2022, as an example, invested $4 billion in indigenous housing, including $845 million alone in Inuit Nunangat.

We realize there is a lot of work to do, and we are committed to getting that work done, but we are going in the right direction.

[Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, September 15th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I want to begin by paying my respects to the victims of the recent horrible tragedy in Saskatchewan and to their families.

I would also like to acknowledge that Canada's Parliament is located on the unceded traditional territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin people.

We are here today to pay our respects to and commemorate the life of Queen Elizabeth II. In a world that changes and evolves at such a rapid pace, the Queen represented stability, service and a quiet grace. She embodied duty and commitment to one's country.

I would like to offer my condolences to the royal family and King Charles III. They have lost not only a Queen but a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. We know they are grieving that loss, and our hearts go out to all of them.

Canadians have been expressing their sorrow and sharing their admiration for the Queen since they learned of her death. Many people recall the time she visited their community or the time they shook her hand. Not all Canadians have had the same experience with the Crown, however. Some, in particular indigenous peoples, have much more mixed feelings.

Many felt a personal connection to the Queen, as she was a kind, thoughtful and compassionate individual. However, the idea of a sovereign of Canada is a complex one for indigenous peoples, who had lived on this land long before Europeans arrived.

The relationship between the Crown, Inuit, first nations and Métis is complex, continually evolving and personal, so I want to take a moment to acknowledge that some people’s reactions will be different, and that is entirely okay. That is what Canada is all about: being able to have different opinions, speaking about them in a respectful way and speaking about them in a thoughtful way.

For many indigenous peoples, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had a special and personal role in Crown and indigenous relationships. Today we are here to recognize her extraordinary lifetime of service, and I will speak about Her Majesty’s affinity for northern Canada and, of course, her visits to Winnipeg and other areas of Manitoba.

The Queen has long shown love and respect for Canada. Queen Elizabeth II travelled on 23 royal tours of Canada and made a huge impact wherever she went, drawing crowds and touching hearts.

Over the years, she made four trips to the beautiful northern and Arctic parts of our country, the first being to Yukon in 1959. That was quite a trip, indeed. It was 2,600 kilometres of travel over 45 days. During that time, she visited 90 towns and hamlets.

During that first trip, a famous Inuit carver, Osuitok Ipeelee, carved a beautiful stone image of the Queen. He had based the carving on a photograph from her coronation in 1952. However, in the photograph, her shoes were covered by her gown, so Mr. Ipeelee carved the Queen in her bare feet and presented it to Prince Philip.

The Queen once again visited the Arctic in 1970, which included a stop all the way in Resolute in the High Arctic, as well as visits to Yellowknife and Iqaluit. For the duration of the trip, she had the future king, King Charles, alongside her.

She visited Yellowknife again in 1994, where she dedicated the new Northwest Territories legislative assembly building. She then made her way to Nunavut, drawing crowds in Rankin Inlet, and attended celebrations to mark the upcoming creation of the territory, where she watched performances by Inuit and Dene artists.

During her visit to Iqaluit in 2002, she was given a bouquet of Arctic flowers with Arctic cotton. It being her third time in Nunavut, she made the effort to thank people in Inuktitut and tried her best to give the right pronunciation, which many people appreciated.

Much like the people in the north, Manitobans have good memories of Queen Elizabeth II and her visits to our wonderful province and to my hometown of Winnipeg. The Queen visited Manitoba six times. In 1970 she, along with Prince Philip and their two children, the future King Charles III and Princess Anne, visited 16 towns in Manitoba in celebration of our province's 100th anniversary.

We will never forget that the Queen travelled to Saint‑Pierre‑Jolys in 1970 to speak to Franco-Manitobans. The Queen and Prince Philip returned to Manitoba in 2002 to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee and to unveil the Golden Boy statue at the Manitoba legislature.

During the Queen's final visit to Manitoba, in 2010, she unveiled a cornerstone at the site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights following her arrival with Prince Philip as the first official passengers at Winnipeg's new James Armstrong Richardson International Airport. That stone had been brought from the fields near Windsor Castle where the Magna Carta was signed. During that visit, she also crossed the magnificent Esplanade Riel to get to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

The Queen passed on her virtues of service and responsibility to other members of her family and passed on her affinity for northern Canada, which is obvious, to King Charles. Our new King has been a strong advocate and an early voice in the effort to educate the public about the dangers and effects of climate change. His work on climate change has a special resonance in the north, as the region is disproportionately affected by changes to its climate.

During his visits to Canada, King Charles III has often spoken about climate change. In 2009, he spoke in Newfoundland saying that climate change was a “threat...to all humanity”.

In 2017, in Nunavut, he pointed out that global warming was causing rapid and harmful changes to the Arctic way of life that has sustained the Inuit for so long.

The King has also shown an interest in Inuktitut and Inuit culture. In 2016, he invited a group of Inuit to Wales to study ways to standardize the writing of Inuktitut.

I like to think that the King's special interest in the north and his commitment to causes such as climate change are, at least in part, the product of his travels with the Queen during his youth.

We can all learn from the Queen's example, from her commitment to the common good, her devotion and her sense of responsibility.

Through political and social changes, through evolution in communications and technologies and through peace and conflict, Her Majesty the Queen served as a symbol of tradition and stability. She had a special love for Canada and she was loved in return. Each time she visited, she drew enormous crowds from coast to coast to coast.

In a rapidly changing world, one thing is for certain: There will never be another quite like Queen Elizabeth II.

[Regional Economic Development, June 20th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, all Canadians, regardless of where they live, should have access to affordable and nutritious food. That is why, in budget 2021, we expanded nutrition north with $170 million in funding, in collaboration with indigenous partners to address food insecurity in the north. To offset the financial burden caused by COVID, we also announced $25 million in support for nutrition north.

We realize there is a lot of work that we have to do, but we feel we are going in the right direction.

[Indigenous Affairs, June 17th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, our government has been very clear: Climate change is real. The north is seeing the effects of climate change at the rate of three times the rest of Canada.

We are working with northerners, with industry, with indigenous partners and with territorial and provincial partners to support the development of knowledge and tools to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to reduce reliance on diesel in the north by shifting to renewable sources of energy.

[Indigenous Affairs, June 17th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I absolutely agree with the member. There is nothing more important than food security in Canada and around the world.

All Canadians, regardless of where they live, deserve access to safe and affordable food. Through budget 2021, we have added another $170 million to the nutrition north program. We have added the harvester support grant so indigenous groups can have help harvesting traditional country food. There is more to do, but we are in the right direction.

[Global Food Insecurity, June 16th, 2022]

Mr. Chair, the $25 million that I spoke about was an investment from the middle of the pandemic. In budget 2021, we increased the budget by $163 million for a series of initiatives to address food security in the north, which is very important.

We know that everything is more expensive for remote communities. There are no access roads or transportation. That is why we are also investing in building better infrastructure, roads and different ways to encourage transportation so that these communities can better look after their food needs.

It is going to take more than just one department to make this change happen. It will require initiative from the entire government and all levels of government, including indigenous governments. That is our initiative, and we will continue to find partners to address this serious issue.

[Global Food Insecurity, June 16th, 2022]

Mr. Chair, I want to say first of all that it is incredibly important that we are having this debate today.

I can speak for the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. Her department is actively engaged not only with provinces across the west, but with the farmers and industry partners to ensure that farmers have access to fertilizer for Canada to do its part during this very difficult period of global food and security.

With respect to the BHP Jansen mine announcement in Saskatchewan this week, this will be the largest potash mine in the world. We make absolutely no apologies for doing our part in working with industry. This will ensure potash not only for the medium term but for the long term, and will ensure that Canada will be an actual leading producer for generations to come, creating absolutely hundreds of jobs in the process.