Gary Anandasangaree

[Black History Month, February 18th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, 25 years ago, the Hon. Jean Augustine established February as Black History Month across Canada. This month, while we celebrate the incredible achievements of Black Canadians, we need to reflect on the systems that limit them from achieving their true potential.

There is an urgent need to reform criminal justice, to reimagine policing and to ensure equal access to jobs, housing, capital, health care and education. Today, the Minister of Justice introduced important changes to sentencing to turn the tide on the disproportionate impact the current system has on young Black Canadians.

Despite the impact of anti-Black racism, Black communities in Canada are resilient. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many members of this community have been on the front lines to keep us all safe. I would like to thank the Black front-line workers who have been at TAIBU Community Health Centre, the Jamaican Canadian Association of Nurses, the Black Health Alliance and those across the country who continue to keep us healthy and safe and make Canada great every day.

[United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, February 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my friend's intervention today, but I fundamentally disagree with his approach, because a lot of what he said is what we heard during debate on Bill C-262. Members will recall that Bill C-262 was stalled at the Senate by Conservative senators. As a result, the hard work of former member of Parliament Romeo Saganash, in essence his life's work, did not pass in the last Parliament.

The consultation that he and many others did during that process was unprecedented. Essentially, with the member for Winnipeg Centre in many cases, he went community to community to do the consultations. Bill C-15 is built on the work of Bill C-262. The consultation has been extensive. It is never perfect, but it has been extensive.

On the discussion with respect to the premiers, and with the greatest respect to our provincial and territorial counterparts, it is worth noting that there has been 13 years to implement that essential human rights legislation. Sadly, many jurisdictions have not taken that step forward. One notable exception is British Columbia, which has implemented it in a fairly successful way—

[United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, February 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for his leadership in this. This is a very important bill, as he has indicated, and I want to thank him for his work, as well as his entire team and those at Crown–Indigenous Relations.

The issue of reconciliation is imperative for Canada. It is really not a choice. It is something that we need to move forward on. Many of the TRC calls to action have been fulfilled, but this is one of those critical pieces that is still outstanding. In the minister's view, how important is UNDRIP, and implementing UNDRIP in Canada, toward the path of reconciliation?

[Points of Order, February 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I brought up this point of order right after the S. O. 31 made by the member for Brampton Centre. At that point you indicated it was not the appropriate time. Therefore, I would like to raise that point of order again and ask that the S. O. 31 statement be stricken from the records, because it impinged on the reputation of many of our members and it was rather inflammatory.

I know this is a place of debate, but the statement surpassed any acceptable decorum in a House like this. It directly affected the morale of many members and, frankly, it is language that should never be accepted in the House.

You may not need to rule on it now, Mr. Speaker, but I would like to ask that you take it under consideration and come back to the House. I ask that you do strike from the record the S. O. 31 that was delivered by the member for Brampton Centre.

[Points of Order, February 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The last S. O. 31 was out of line with respect to the decorum that is expected in this House. A number of comments were made by the previous speaker that clearly impugned the reputation of many of our members, and I take particular offence to them.

I would ask, for the record, that the S. O. 31 be struck from the record of this House.

[Sri Lanka, February 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, as Sri Lanka marks its 73rd independence day, I rise to express my solidarity with those walking for justice from Pottuvil to Polikandi. Survivors and family members of the disappeared have been joined by civil society organizers and political leaders. Their purpose is to seek accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan state.

Impunity has prevailed on the island since its independence, and the rule of law has broken down. In the last few months alone, Sri Lanka has desecrated the Mullivaikkal genocide memorial at Jaffna University, pardoned war criminals, forced discrimination on Muslim minorities, and the military has taken over many civilian-run bodies.

Last week, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights concluded that Sri Lanka would be referred to the International Criminal Court and cautioned that recurrence of past atrocities is likely if Sri Lanka goes unchecked. The world must, therefore, act with urgency to ensure that Tamils can live on the island with peace, justice and self-determination.

[Indigenous Affairs, February 2nd, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I want to assure the member that we look forward to working with him on this and will be in a better position to give him more detailed observations in person due to the limitations of time.

In the fall economic statement, our government has demonstrated the ongoing commitment to responding with concrete action to the issues identified in the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls calls to justice. As part of our work to develop a distinctions-based national action plan, the fall economic statement will invest an additional $781.5 million over five years and $106.3 million ongoing to combat systemic discrimination against indigenous peoples and expand efforts to combat violence against indigenous women and girls, two-spirit and LGBTQ people.

Our government is working with all partners to ensure we get this right for survivors and families. We will not let survivors and families down. We look forward to working with him on this issue.

[Indigenous Affairs, February 2nd, 2021]

Madam Speaker, let me begin by acknowledging that I am speaking to you from the unceded territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit.

I always enjoy the interventions of my hon. colleague and friend from Kenora at the INAN committee and I look forward to working with him on this issue.

We share the sense of urgency of the hon. member and many Canadians. Our hearts are with the survivors and the families of the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, two-spirit and gender diverse people.

In response to the first-ever national public inquiry regarding this ongoing national tragedy, our government is working with all provincial and territorial governments as well as indigenous leaders, survivors and families to develop a national action plan that sets a clear road map to ensure that indigenous women and girls, two-spirit and gender diverse people are safe.

As the Speech from the Throne and the minister's mandate letter highlighted, the co-development of the national action plan is a priority of our government and work is under way through a series of working groups led by indigenous women, with families and survivors at the centre of this work. The national action plan is being guided by families, survivors and grassroots community groups, and we will respond to this national tragedy in a progressive, accountable and enduring manner with an investment of $30 million over five years to support this indigenous-led engagement.

With our partners, including over 100 indigenous women, we will ensure that the proper indicators and measurements will allow the plan to be accountable for results and can evolve over time. The groups are also comprised of indigenous governments and organizations, federal, provincial and territorial governments, two-spirit and LGBTQ organization leaders, family members and survivors.

As the member knows, our government also did not wait to act to ensure indigenous women and girls, two-spirit and LGBTQ+ people would be safe wherever they lived. We have been working since 2015 to address the systemic issues that contribute to this tragedy and our collective work continues.

We have passed legislation to address the child and family services system, to preserve and protect indigenous language and culture, to toughen criminal law in cases of domestic assault and to eliminate gender discrimination under the Indian Act, while also making historic investments in education, housing, policing and shelters.

We are ensuring that we get this right for survivors and families, to honour those lost and to protect future generations. The resulting national action plan will be distinctions-based, regionally relevant, durable and accountable, ensuring we make progress on ending violence against indigenous women and girls, two-spirit and LGBTQ people. We will continue to focus on prevention, healing and putting in place concrete measures to end this national tragedy.

[Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020, January 25th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I think that there are additional measures that can be taken without imposing the Emergencies Act. I believe that the province can do more, and as a federal government we are ready to do more. We have the military on standby and we have the Red Cross already deployed in many of the homes.

We have expended a great deal of funds to the provinces themselves. It is essential that we do everything we can to support those in long-term care homes. However, I do not necessarily think that imposing the Emergencies Act will solve that. I think there are deeper-rooted issues that may not be resolved overnight. What we need to do is mitigate the losses we have had.

It is not too late. There are still outbreaks taking place that we can intervene in, and that is why I am asking Premier Ford to call in the military.

[Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020, January 25th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, the issue with long-term care homes is one that I think all governments are equally responsible for. We cannot ignore what has happened over the past decades. We have had a very broken system in Ontario and in other places.

As a response to the pandemic, we made sure that all Canadians were protected, but we did not necessarily earmark funds specifically for long-term care. Our initial support was basically a blanket amount of money for the provinces so that they could spend it on their priorities. Obviously, as the pandemic developed, we did target long-term care homes with some of the programs that I mentioned in my speech.