Jean Crowder

[Bullying, March 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, bullying is taking a toll on children across the country, and too often we hear the sad stories of kids who choose suicide over dealing with the taunts and jeers and broken friendships, so I want to share a story of a little girl who is not willing to let bullying define her or stop her from growing to be the young woman she dreams of becoming.

Alvena Little-Wolf Ear lives in Nanaimo. She is only nine years old. The bullying started in grade 3 with taunts about her weight and her first nation background. It was so bad at one point that Alvena said, “Mom, I bet if I was dead, kids at school would be happier.”

Her mother, Annette, did the right thing and convinced Alvena to speak to a therapist and share what was happening. By breaking her silence with two trusted adults, Alvena found the strength to start sharing her story with thousands of people.

She asked her mom to post her story and a picture of herself on the Facebook page “Healthy Active Natives” so that people would know that she was being bullied but that she was determined to end the bullying by using exercise to change her life for the better.

Racism and sexism are ugly words, but the raw truth is that children as young as Alvena have to deal with them. We all need to do more about raising awareness of bullying and how it affects children. Alvena Little-Wolf Ear will not let it stop her, and we should not either.

[Aboriginal Affairs, March 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, justice will not be achieved if these funding cuts to vital research go through. Only 15% of the claims that the minister referred to have actually resulted in settlements. The vast majority have been rejected or closed by the government. Groups like the AFN and UBCIC, and even the specific claims tribunal, are criticizing the Conservative government's take it or leave it approach.

Settling historical claims with first nations should be a priority. Would the minister now recognize that specific claims are lawful obligations and reverse his decision to this crucial funding?

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Delilah Saunders-Terriak vowed to continue her sister's fight for stolen sisters. It is long past time that we addressed the reasons for why indigenous women are five times more likely to be killed than other women.

Members of this House and the government have a role to play. Will the government continue the work of Loretta Saunders? Will it institute a national action plan and call an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women?

[Petitions, February 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition calls on the House to amend the Food and Drugs Act to establish mandatory labelling for genetically modified foods.

[Petitions, February 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls upon Parliament to impose a moratorium on the release of genetically modified alfalfa in order to allow a proper review of the impact on farmers in Canada.

[Petitions, February 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to present. The first petition asks the Government of Canada to reverse the cuts to services announced by Canada Post and to look instead for ways to innovate in areas such as postal banking.

[Fisheries and Oceans, February 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Nuu-chah-nulth first nations had to resort to the courts to stop the minister from reopening the commercial herring fishery off the west coast of Vancouver Island. She ignored scientific evidence and the advice of her own department to wait until the recovery of the stock was guaranteed.

Now that the Federal Court has overruled her decision, will the minister finally listen to first nations and her department's own scientists and stop putting the herring fishery at risk?

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, today Feathers of Hope released its results after bringing together young people from all over northern Ontario to determine what first nations youth need to flourish, no matter where they live.

First nations youth want to move to a brighter future and away from a legacy of residential schools and generations left behind. Feathers of Hope laid out a road map for all levels of government to work with young people on solutions and new ideas.

Will the minister commit to the recommendations Feathers of Hope outlined in its report and take immediate action?

[Northwest Territories Devolution Act, February 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I talked in my speech about the spirit and intent of land claims agreements, self-government agreements, and treaties. This proposal to move forward without appropriate consultation undermines the spirit and intent of treaties.

I want to turn for a minute to the K'atl'odeeche First Nation, which made a general statement outing two concerns with respect to changes to the MVRMA that I want to touch on. One of those concerns is about the dismantling of the regional land and water boards and the other is about increased ministerial authority.

The spirit and intent of comprehensive land claims and self-government agreements rests the authority for decision making with the nation with whom that land claim or comprehensive self-government agreement was negotiated. This legislation proposes increased ministerial authority, which would seem to undermine the whole process of devolving authority to the rightly appointed people.

[Northwest Territories Devolution Act, February 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the minister for his kind remarks with regard to our working relationship.

Sadly, I was not in Yellowknife because I was fogged in on Vancouver Island. However, I have reviewed the testimony and the briefing notes from those days.

The problem with this piece of legislation is that two pieces of legislation have been combined into one. They should never have been brought together. Some minor changes may be required to the Northwest Territories devolution, but it is broadly supported. Then we have a wholesale change being proposed to the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, which is not broadly supported. This change has not had the kind of consultative process that should have been put in place for a process that would impact self-government and land claims agreements. If regulatory changes are required, they should have been done through a broad consultative process.

Our leader is absolutely correct when he talked about the fact that Northwest Territories devolution is being held hostage to regulatory management. Our understanding is that people were told that if they wanted devolution to happen now, they would have to accept these regulatory changes. That does not seem like a fair and honourable way to bring forward significant changes to the territory.