Gary Vidal

[Fred Sasakamoose, November 25th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege today to rise and honour the life of Fred Sasakamoose, who passed away yesterday.

Fred was a trailblazer, becoming the first first nations person to play in the NHL. After his last game of junior hockey, a telegram was read in the dressing room. It said, “Please report immediately to the Chicago Black Hawks to play in the NHL in Toronto on Hockey Night in Canada.” Fred's words described the story best when he said, “I was warming up on the ice. And somebody skated up to me and said, 'Somebody wants to talk to you over there.' I'd never seen Foster Hewitt in my life. He was just on the radio. He said, 'How do you pronounce your name? Is it Saskatchewanmoose or Saskatoonmoose?'”

Fred went on to be a champion for his people, and his family can always be proud of his many accomplishments. I ask all members to join me today in recognizing the life and the legacy of Fred Sasakamoose.

[Citizenship Act, November 23rd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I have to admit, I have never had the privilege of attending a citizenship ceremony during my short time as an MP. This is probably because of all the COVID restrictions and things going on. I am looking forward to having that opportunity some day.

I fully agree that it is important for us to build positive relationships with indigenous people across the country. This is a good step toward doing that. Along with doing these types of things, we have to come back to very practical things like the water issue on first nations and some of the serious issues in Neskantaga or in my riding in Fond du Lac this week.

Could the member comment on how important it is for us to get to those solutions beyond these more symbolic ones?

[Petitions, November 23rd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I too, like my colleagues today, am honoured to present this petition on the Uighurs in China. It has been well explained by a number of my colleagues already.

I present petition no. 10874647 on behalf of the Uighur people, formally recognizing that they have been subject to genocide in China and that we promote the use of the Magnitsky act to sanction those responsible for these heinous crimes being committed against these people in China.

[Indigenous Affairs, November 23rd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, pointing a finger at the provinces is not going to solve the problem. Let us try something different.

On December 20 of last year, Maxwell Johnson and his granddaughter were handcuffed and put in the back of a police cruiser simply for attempting to open a bank account using a status card as identification. Today we learned that it was ISC, the minister's own department, that encouraged the bank to call 911.

Does the minister actually think this was a appropriate response by his department?

[Indigenous Affairs, November 23rd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, my question was about data. With the alarming rise of cases in indigenous communities, the Minister of Indigenous Services this weekend spoke about the lack of accurate data.

On April 28 at the INAN committee, I asked the minister directly what actions his department was taking to ensure informed decisions. Seven months later, a second wave is overwhelming indigenous people and their communities, yet we have more news stories about how a lack of data is still a problem.

Does the minister have a solution, or is it simply too late?

[Indigenous Affairs, November 23rd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, Canada's chief medical officer released an update on COVID-19 modelling in Canada. While the numbers were sobering and a stark reminder of the serious situation we are in, one thing really stuck out to me. There was no real mention of indigenous people or their communities in this report.

How can the government properly support indigenous people at this time when they are not even included in these significant reports?

[Indigenous Affairs, November 20th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, this week at the INAN committee, we heard from the CCAB and NACCA of repeated delays, similar to the first wave, in access to supports for indigenous businesses.

They also reported that out of several hundred applications from indigenous businesses to supply PPE, only seven were awarded contracts, representing 0.04% of the total federal spend.

For a government that likes to talk a lot about reconciliation, why are these indigenous businesses being left behind again?

[Labour, November 20th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, extremely concerning reports of bullying, harassment and conflicts of interest have been reported within ISC's offices in Atlantic Canada. Last year, out of desperation, a staff person raised this issue with the former ISC minister and the Prime Minister, but they have yet to receive a response. Several other allegations, including some of a sexual nature, have gone without action by the current government.

What is it about healthy workplaces that the government cannot seem to get right?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, November 16th, 2020]

With regard to infrastructure projects approved for funding by Infrastructure Canada since November 4, 2015, in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River: what are the details of all such projects, including the (i) location, (ii) project title and description, (iii) amount of federal funding commitment, (iv) amount of federal funding delivered to date, (v) amount of provincial funding commitment, (vi) amount of local funding commitment, including the name of the municipality or of the local government, (vii) status of the project, (viii) start sate, (ix) completion date or expected completion date, broken down by fiscal year?

[Income Tax Act, November 5th, 2020]

Madam Chair, in a report released earlier this week, Mr. Giroux and his team noted that the finance department had been providing a thorough public accounting every other week until August, but that practice ended when the Prime Minister prorogued Parliament.

In referring to many of the recent commitments, he said, “While the sum of these measures is significant, the amount of information that is publicly available to track this spending is lacking, thus making it more challenging for parliamentarians to perform their critical role in overseeing government spending and holding it to account”.

This lack of transparency is a matter of grave concern to the Canadian public. Will the Minister of Finance commit to restarting the biweekly updates?