Greg Rickford

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, December 6th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, if Questions Nos. 185, 188 and 189 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled immediately.

[Aboriginal Affairs, December 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, whether we are talking about the joint action plan that we embraced and embarked on with the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations; a federal economic development framework for first nations; the water and waste water infrastructure program, which is focusing on capacity; or the reporting, monitoring and maintenance of critical infrastructure, we are prioritizing and objectivizing the critical infrastructure needs in this regard.

Legislation, as the Auditor General pointed out, was necessary to support these kinds of initiatives.

We are getting the job done--

[Aboriginal Affairs, December 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I can tell the House that we are doing a lot more than the Kelowna accord could ever have hoped to achieved.

I know, because I was living in those first nations communities throughout the nineties. The members opposite do not have a record on this matter.

Our government works with first nations to deliver real results for their priorities. We have invested heavily in first nations schools, water and waste water infrastructure, health and housing. We did this all in partnership with the Assembly of First Nations and other first nations communities and their leadership.

We have a plan and we will continue to invest in practical solutions with real results.

[Aboriginal Affairs, December 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, our first priority is to get residents into warm, dry and safe shelter. Each time we received a request from the community, we took immediate action. Our officials have been working with the community to address substantial renovation for immediate housing needs, and we continue to support implementing their emergency management plan.

At the same time, we will be working with the third party manager to ensure that federal funding directly benefits community members and that the community's long-term needs will be met.

[Aboriginal Affairs, December 2nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the government works with first nations to deliver real results for their priorities. We have invested heavily in first nation schools, including in Attawapiskat, and in water and waste water infrastructure, health and housing, and we have done this all in full partnership with first nations.

We have a plan. We will continue to invest in practical solutions and real results.

[Aboriginal Affairs, November 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, clearly our government understands the importance of education and remains committed to ensuring that first nation students enjoy the same educational opportunities as other Canadians. First nation students are entitled to an education that not only encourages them to stay in school, but will also see them graduate with the skills they need to enter the labour market successfully and share fully in Canada's economic opportunities.

Budget 2011 reiterated this government's commitment to work in collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations on reform of first nations elementary and secondary education. We invest more than $1.4 billion annually for elementary and secondary education. This includes investments of $268 million over five years, and ongoing funding of $75 million in each subsequent year for the education partnerships program and the first nation students success program.

In addition, budget 2010 provided a further investment of $30 million in comparable education for first nations, starting in British Columbia where there is an advanced state of partnership between first nations and the province.

[Aboriginal Affairs, November 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in this debate, clearly, on behalf of the constituents of the great Kenora riding and more than 42 first nations communities in my riding where we have been making major inroads to education infrastructure, and we want to stay on that trajectory.

I am pleased, obviously, to rise to speak to the question put by the member for Edmonton—Strathcona about the education provided in band operated schools for first nations children living on reserve.

This government remains fully committed that first nations children achieve the same educational outcomes as other Canadians. This was a goal envisioned by Shannen Koostachin.

As part of our commitment to Shannen's dream, we are working to provide first nations children and youth with a safe and welcoming learning environment, so that they can reach their full potential and acquire the skills they need to enter the labour market and fully share in Canada's economic opportunities.

I am happy, also, to assure the hon. member that we have been extremely active in this regard. In March 2011 the Government of Canada, in collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations, confirmed the appointment of a national panel on first nations elementary and secondary schools. This engagement process would result in recommendations on how to enhance the elementary and secondary education systems and, importantly, the outcomes for first nations children living on reserve.

The panel has completed regional meetings throughout the country. Recently, the panel wrapped up its extensive hearings with its eighth and final round table on first nations education held here in Ottawa.

The panel will then present a report and recommendations to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and to the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations on possible avenues for improving education for First Nations students. We are anxious to get the report and the recommendations from the panel, and we should have them by January.

The Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development invests about $1.7 billion a year in education for First Nations, including $1.4 billion for elementary and secondary education and over $300 million for post-secondary education.

Through targeted programs like the education partnerships program and the First Nation student success program, we are investing an additional $268 million over five years and $75 million in the following years to lay the foundation for long-term improvements to First Nations education.

I am pleased to report real progress on tripartite partnerships. Since 2008 we have signed five tripartite education agreements with the provinces of New Brunswick, Manitoba, Alberta, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and the Saskatoon Tribal Council. These join pre-existing tripartite partnership arrangements in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, with 40% of first nation children on reserve attending provincial schools. These partnerships are designed to help first nation students transfer between both school systems without academic penalty.

We also have a responsibility to treat taxpayers' money prudently, which is why Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada's approved annual growth rate for a bundle of basic services remains at 2%. However, the annual overall growth is larger, due to significant new investments made in priority areas through successive budgets since 2006.

Finally, this government continues to make long-term investments in priority areas to improve the quality of life and education for first nations.

[Business of Supply, November 17th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's speech today and the opportunity to work with her in committee on some important things.

The member is co-author of a book entitled, A Legal Guide to Aboriginal Drinking Water, which I have had a chance to review and concur with on many fronts. In this book, the member and her co-author assert that legally binding standards for safe drinking water for first nations communities are long overdue. She alludes to a piece of legislation that died on the order paper.

I wonder if the member is prepared to work with the government and first nations to fill the legal gap that she outlined in her book and whether she believes that those legally binding standards are a matter of the highest importance in this process.

[Business of Supply, November 17th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Churchill and I share a vast border together and communities in her riding and mine are long-standing families. She and her father have done some work on this file and others for her communities. I have had an opportunity to be the nurse in charge at St. Theresa Point and nurse in Cross Lake and Norway House, a beautiful part of the country. There are certainly some challenges there.

With respect to Island Lake, this government has taken immediate measures that resulted from meetings with department officials last year. Septic trucks, water trucks and other equipment were brought in over the winter roads and a plan was put in place to conduct an assessment on a house-to-house basis of community water and waste water needs.

In terms of her comments with respect to a piecemeal approach, that was an urgent intervention. Would she not agree that the three critical components to a good comprehensive plan would be capacity development, certifications to report, monitor and maintain those facilities, infrastructure needs, and legislation, and that this triumvirate forms the basis for a good strategy moving forward?

[Business of Supply, November 17th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, just to move this discussion a bit further, whether we are talking about first nations or non-first nations communities, we have understood the importance of working on water treatment and waste water treatments. Obviously, the most important goal is residential, but there is also the commercial and industrial capacity. I know this member has been working hard on the committee around economic development.

I am wondering if he sees the economic development that we are looking at, specifically around land use modernization, or whether he sees that in part as a capacity exercise to ensure that first nations have the kind of infrastructure they will need to support a variety of activities, not just safe drinking water and waste water treatment.