Jean Crowder

[Aboriginal Affairs, November 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the world is paying attention to how poorly the government is treating first nations. This week, Iran, notorious for its human rights abuses, called Canada to task for its treatment of aboriginal peoples.

It is shameful that the government has decided to abandon 20 years of work and vote against the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.

Will the government commit to supporting the declaration and resolving the situation in Caledonia so that Canada can hold its head up at the United Nations instead of lowering it with shame?

[Aboriginal Affairs, November 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, aboriginal leaders across the country were shocked to hear that the Minister of Indian Affairs did not think Canada was responsible for resolving the land dispute at Caledonia because it predated Confederation.

Many of the treaties in this country were signed pre-Confederation. The Conservative government is trying to duck its responsibility to settle land claims.

When will the minister take responsibility, stop bickering with the province and solve the crisis?

[Aboriginal Affairs, November 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, on October 28, 40 first nations gathered at the Snuneymuxw longhouse to sign a protocol agreement. The protocol's purpose is to engage B.C. and Canada in a unified way to remove barriers and allow for the speedy conclusion of fair and viable treaties.

The protocol focuses on six issues: achieving certainty for all parties without requiring extinguishment of aboriginal rights, title and identity; finding options to meet legitimate government interests without forcing first nations to give up reserve status and constitutional land protections; including first nation vision and interests on governance in treaties; proposing options for first nations to maintain a decision making role in the co-management of lands and resources in their territories; opening up fiscal and taxation plans to create healthy and prosperous first nation communities; and developing tools for first nations to manage fish stocks, enhance habitat and support their economies from the sale of fish as they have always done.

After 14 years the time has come to objectively identify the fundamental barriers to progress on treaties and to address them collectively.

[Criminal Code, November 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am speaking to the amended bill. There are a number of issues that I raised in the past which I need to raise again. Despite many efforts to talk about these issues, I still do not see the kind of movement that is required. I am speaking about the adverse impact that our current criminal justice system has on aboriginal peoples, first nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, as well as on other minority groups, but I am going to be speaking specifically about aboriginal peoples.

In a recent publication, the Assembly of First Nations talked about the over-representation of aboriginal peoples in the prison system. The assembly said that 2.7% of the population in Canada as of March 31 are first nations, but they represent 18.5% of all federally incarcerated prisoners in Canada. In 2000, approximately 1,792, or 41.3%, of all federally incarcerated aboriginal offenders were 25 years or younger. That is a shocking number. That is a lost generation when that many young people of aboriginal descent are in prison. In addition, women are also over-represented. The assembly found that there is an increasing trend of aboriginal women being incarcerated. This has meant an increase of approximately 74%--

[Criminal Code, November 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would seek the unanimous consent of the House to split my time with the member for Winnipeg Centre.

[Business of Supply, November 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Winnipeg North for her intervention. She is our very able financial critic, and if anybody can speak to the dollars and cents on this, it is certainly this member.

Again, there are mechanisms that other organizations have in place. If we have a commitment to our veterans, we need to demonstrate that commitment, not only by speaking the words and remembering them annually, but by putting the financial dollars and cents behind it as well. These people commit their lives and their families and we must be willing to honour that sacrifice they make.

[Business of Supply, November 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the current government has a surplus. There are numbers of mechanisms by which we could look at this. I think what we really need to do is talk about our commitment to veterans and their families. There is a saying about how if there is a will there is a way, and I would argue that if we are asking Canadian men and women to lay their lives on the line, then we have to be willing to make sure they are well looked after when they return to this country.

If we are just going to knock everything down to dollars and cents when we are asking people to do the kind of work that many of us probably are not prepared to do, I think we actually have to make sure that we support them when they come home.

[Business of Supply, November 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the motion. I want to thank the member for Sault Ste. Marie for sharing his time with me and for very ably outlining some of the issues facing veterans. I must thank the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore for his tireless work on behalf of veterans and their families.

The member for Sackville—Eastern Shore has rightly pointed out the fact that this motion was not some light bulb going on in the middle of the night. The motion was the result of his working very closely with veterans and their families and with veterans organizations, talking about some of the critically important issues facing them. The motion is the result of input from people in his riding and from other parts of Canada. It is incumbent upon us, as members of the House, to hear what veterans and their families are saying is important to them. I encourage each and every member in the House to support the motion and the work that has been done by the member for Sackville--Eastern Shore.

As the member for Sault Ste. Marie pointed out, one of the things we do as parliamentarians is work with people who come into our constituency offices. Oftentimes it is heartbreaking to hear the stories from veterans and their families. These are men and women who have served our country ably. They have often given up time with their children as they were growing up. These men and women came back to Canada as changed people. They lost not only years, but they often lost some innocence. After having served this time for their country, it is important that we recognize their efforts not only annually, but also recognize that they deserve a quality of life.

A couple of things I heard from veterans surprised me and disappointed me. The men and women who work in veterans affairs are able and caring, but oftentimes our veterans are very frustrated by bureaucratic tangles, which are difficult for them to sort through. They will fill in one piece of paper and then they are told they need another piece of paper. If they do not have somebody to advocate on their behalf, they get lost in the tangled bureaucracy.

A couple of medical issues have come before us and one of them is around hearing loss. Many of these veterans are now at the stage where they are suffering fairly serious hearing loss. They are often told by the bureaucracy that the hearing loss is just a part of natural aging and those kinds of things. If they need support for hearing loss, we should be able to step up and help them. Many of our veterans are living on inadequate amounts of money and they just do not have the wherewithal to buy the kinds of hearing equipment they need.

The other thing we have heard from veterans has to do with the challenges they face with respect to their pensions. Whether they need some assistance in completing paperwork or extra documentation, we need to bend over backwards to ensure they get all the assistance they need. We should make it as easy as possible for them to access the benefits to which they are entitled.

Some veterans who served have been deemed to not have enough time in active duty. The rules say that the individual must have served on full time active service for a minimum of 365 days during either of the following periods: August 4, 1914 to August 31, 1921 or September 1, 1939 to August 15, 1945.

I have heard stories from veterans who have come to my office that they had 323 days, or 315 days or 340 days. Surely there must be something we can do for these veterans. There must be some latitude. Some of them did serve a period of time at the end of the war, but just do not have that magic 365 days. I know people will say that there must be a cutoff, but we also must recognize the dislocation in the lives of these people. I would urge us to take a look at this problem, which is admittedly facing a small number but it is impacting on their quality of life.

There are so many issues facing veterans. I must mention a man by the name of Frank White from my riding, who has been a tireless worker on the Korean war service medal. He has been working hard over a number of years to keep this issue front and centre. He has written letters to the current Prime Minister, the past prime minister, the ministers and members of Parliament. Korean war veterans are asking for some appropriate recognition for the Korean war service medal. I would encourage this House to support the Korean veterans on this issue.

There are numerous issues and I want to touch on one other, but before I do, I want to specifically mention that this is the 60th anniversary of the war brides. We know that many women married Canadian Forces personnel and came to Canada to start a new life. I was happy to be able to attend a tea on the weekend at which the women there informed me of the statistics that say the war brides and their partners are responsible for 25% of the new generation that came about, so I think we owe a word of gratitude to those war brides.

The final thing I really do need to touch on is aboriginal peoples. Cliff Chadderton, the chair of the National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada, has been working again to have full and equal recognition of aboriginal peoples. In his Cliff's Corner article, he outlines a whole series of events touching on aboriginal people.

A newspaper article in the Edmonton Journal of June 22, 2006, talks about the following facts:

More than 3,000 aboriginal troops served in the Second World War, and several hundred more in Korea. Many were denied the same compensation, retraining and housing services provided to others who returned from duty. They were denied because they lacked education, lived off-reserve or were outright targets of racism.

Although there has been some remedy, it did not go far enough. Just to let members know, on June 21, 2002, the then minister of veterans affairs offered the sum of $39 million as compensation for approximately 1,800 treaty Indians who had returned to the reservation lands following their war service. However, the problem with this is that it did not recognize a whole class of people, including Métis and aboriginal peoples who lived off reserve.

Mr. Chadderton and others have been working over a number of years and asking that this wrong be righted. He has indicated that this agreement to pay out the 1,800 people on reserve, or their families, is actually an admission of failure on the part of the government to make provisions for a certain class of Indians on the same basis as that offered to other veterans under the Veterans' Land Act. He went on to talk about the fact that for all aboriginal veterans or their widows, it was based on demonstrated discrimination, in that they were deprived of post-war rehabilitation benefits available to non-native war veterans.

In this day and age, the number of aboriginal veterans is declining. We should move expeditiously to right this wrong. We have already acknowledged the 1,800 people on reserve. We need to acknowledge the Métis people and the off reserve people to make sure there is adequate recognition of the sacrifices they made for this country.

In closing, we need to acknowledge our veterans. We need to acknowledge their families. I would encourage all members of this House to support the motion of the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore.

[Criminal Code, November 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I think that is one of the big challenges with the bill. It does not look at the systemic and discriminatory barriers that are already in place in the criminal justice system. It does nothing to address the poverty issues in first nations, Métis and Inuit communities that contribute to the kinds of challenges we have.

If as a society we want to say that we respect human rights, I think we really do need to look at a justice system that is also culturally appropriate. Bill C-9 fails to do that.

[Criminal Code, November 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I only have to point to the statistics in the United States, where there are 700-plus people incarcerated per 100,000 of population and where supposedly there is this tough on crime approach. It clearly is not working.

Again, I think all members of the House would agree that for those very serious offences we should have a system that takes a look at appropriate incarceration, but I also think we need to ensure that our judiciary has a toolbox and a range of approaches that will allow them to make the most appropriate determination.

Certainly where there have been mistakes in the past, I think we have mechanisms to deal with those issues. I think we do need to also look at a comprehensive package, again, one that looks at incarceration and enforcement as one aspect of it, but we also need to look at the rehabilitation and the prevention. We have to make sure that our communities are addressing some of the poverty issues, for example, which we know drive people to some of those crimes.

We really do need to look at a broader picture so that we have a comprehensive package that makes sure Canadians are safe in their homes.