Jenica Atwin

[Relations with Indigenous Peoples, February 18th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I agree, I want the blockades to end. I feel action is delayed and unnecessarily so. I feel there is a lot that goes into this very nuanced conversation.

I hear the member about the farmers. I am just curious as to what the member thinks about the National Farmers Union issuing a press release that is in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people. It is the first thing on their website.

[Petitions, February 5th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition about the climate crisis.

The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to support Motion No. 1, a made-in-Canada green new deal, the first initiative before the House of Commons, which calls on Canada to take bold and rapid action to adopt socially equitable climate action to tackle the climate emergency and address worsening socio-economic and racial inequalities while at the same time ending fossil fuel subsidies, closing offshore tax havens, supporting workers impacted by the transition and creating well-paying unionized jobs in the shift to a clean and renewable energy economy.

[The Environment, February 4th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome comments from the environment minister that his government expects provinces to take responsibility for their emissions.

Last week, during oral question period, the Prime Minister stated that the government's decisions are based on facts and science.

Knowing that science is conclusive to the effect that we need to drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions without further delay, can the minister confirm to the House that Canada supports an international emissions credit regime based on real, verifiable emissions reductions, and that hypothetical proposals, such as those proposed by New Brunswick regarding Maritime Iron, would never be allowed?

[Petitions, February 3rd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, this petition is around reproductive justice and ensuring that the Government of New Brunswick repeal paragraph (a.1) in schedule 2 of Regulation 84-20 under the Medical Services Payment Act, creating a billing code that adequately reflects the provision of services by the provider and facility, thereby meeting the Canada Health Act's requirements of accessibility for residents of New Brunswick to publicly funded abortion services in medically and regionally appropriate settings.

[Regional Economic Development, January 31st, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I welcome comments from the Minister of Economic Development on ensuring the delivery of strategic regional investments and a focus on rural economic development. I agree with the government on the importance of cybersecurity in Canada. I also agree with the official opposition that funding a multinational, billion-dollar corporation like Mastercard should not have happened.

Can I expect the government to also invest in local Canadian projects in the Maritime region like CyberNB, designed specifically to be the hub for Canadian cybersecurity, already in the construction phase and at a cheaper price for Canadian taxpayers?

[Petitions, January 29th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, this petition is about ending animal cruelty in Canada. The petitioners are acknowledging that animals are sentient beings capable of feeling pain, that they are not property. They are requesting additional protections for wild and stray animals. They state that it is imperative that those who abuse animals face conviction and significant penalty, and that loopholes in existing legislation too often allow those who have abused animals to escape penalty.

[Resumption of debate on Address in Reply, January 27th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, that turbine remains at the bottom of the ocean on our coastline. We were prepared with the technology to harness that amazing power we would have with tidal. I would like to see our technology catch up.

There are also great opportunities for offshore wind, but we need our provinces and some regulations to change as well. We need a willingness on the part of government to support some of these changes. There are so many exciting things that are so possible and are ready to be deployed. However, we continue to invest in old, outdated infrastructure that holds us back as Canadians.

[Resumption of debate on Address in Reply, January 27th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I thought that this is the Canada of which I want to be a part. This is the government I would like to support. However, holding the government accountable for its actions over the last four years is certainly a part of this process. I cannot just take the Liberals' words for it anymore.

My colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands read some pieces from the 2015 Speech from the Throne. We cannot be kind of duped into believing that this is the time to believe.

As much as I want to be supportive, as much as I think the speech was great and well-intentioned and believe that even steps forward on reconciliation and on climate change are well-intentioned, the government is still missing the mark. I need the government to start hitting that mark because time is of the essence. I have two little children who need a future they can live in, breathe clean air and have clean water.

[Resumption of debate on Address in Reply, January 27th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, we have been criticized by some, saying that we cannot turn the taps off now as there has to be that transition. We understand that. We are not turning the taps off. We know that we need to get some of what we have in the ground to market. I do not think that building the pipeline is the way to do that. We have existing infrastructure that can continue to fuel our current energy demands. As we ramp up renewables, we can decrease that dependency. I do not see the need for that pipeline.

I also do not agree that connecting those resources would necessarily mean that we are off our foreign oil resources. That will continue. It is more that I want to see the concrete steps toward this future plan we hear about. I need to see the actual steps forward.

I continue to support the member's province and what is happening there, but not by building new pipeline infrastructure.

[Resumption of debate on Address in Reply, January 27th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to stand today in the House to address not only my fellow members but the many Canadians across this country who are tuning in to hear what their representatives on this floor have to say on their behalf.

I want to recognize that today is the international day of remembrance for the Holocaust. We are also on the cusp of Black History Month, which begins this weekend. In 2020 it is crucial to recognize the lessons history have taught us, the progress we have made on human rights and all the work that remains to be done. I also want to recognize the victims and the families of flight PS752.

Many of us have had the privilege of spending almost two months in our home communities connecting with constituents.

Over the past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of meeting hundreds of people during public events and my first round of community gatherings.

The people of Fredericton, Oromocto, Marysville, Maugerville and surrounding communities are engaged, and I am so proud to represent such a dynamic riding.

Fredericton is the capital of Canada's only officially bilingual province.

Indigenous leadership in the arts is putting New Brunswick on the map. We are also a riding where consistent, devastating floods are making climate change real to people, and where parents are standing up to demand more support for their children struggling with mental illness. I am proud to stand with and beside them as their MP.

I want to address the Speech from the Throne. I was, in all honesty, very pleased to see where our priorities have landed: addressing climate change, healing regional divides and acknowledging the need to further advance forward relationships with indigenous peoples. I was ready to support the speech. I thought if there was ever a Speech from the Throne to support, this would be it.

However, then I was reminded of the last four years. I was reminded of the reason I decided to run in the past election and the promises I made to my constituents to hold the government accountable and challenge pretty words and superficial statements. As a wife and a mother to two indigenous sons, I must stand in the House to protect their future, to protect their inherent collective rights and be firm in my affirmation that their rights are non-negotiable.

I want to speak for a moment on the proposed legislative and policy framework, the Prime Minister's two-track approach to a pan-indigenous policy. It is being called the “two-track termination plan” by many indigenous scholars and traditional leaders. It is reminiscent of the white paper on Indian policy from 1969. People have real, valid issues with what is being proposed, indigenous people, those directly impacted by this legislation. We owe it to them to listen.

The Government of Canada has been consistent in its top-down approach. The patriarchal relationship remains: Canada like a father to its children. Indigenous communities are not Canada's children. Their roots run the deepest on this land and they have the right to self-determination. We have convoluted, confused and complicated our end of the bargain, and that has gotten us where we are today: a deadlock over the land, the land we agreed to share. Canada's definition of sharing is not something I would feel comfortable teaching my children.

Reconciliation means giving back where we took too much. It is achieving an equilibrium. I have heard critics say that we are all Canadian, that we should all be treated equally and that there should be no special treatment. That only works if we are in fact equal.

I am not going to rattle off statistics to describe the disparity that exists. We know what they are. What they mean is that we have to do better. We need real action, real negotiations that find parity in the voices represented.

In Canada, the right to consultation is closely tied to free, prior and informed consent. That means issues must be considered at the individual level and that consultations must involve participants who truly reflect the views of indigenous peoples. The idea is certainly not that powerful and influential organizations and corporations at the top should have a greater say.

When Canada continues to ignore the voices of grassroots community members, traditional and hereditary chiefs, we have outrage and activism in the streets.

The delays on certain energy projects like Coastal GasLink or fracking in New Brunswick are not to be blamed on the demonstrators. It was the wilful ignorance of the players involved from the beginning who made indigenous voices an afterthought. To see that indigenous considerations have been prioritized is very encouraging, but forgive me if I remain suspicious.

I was pleased to hear the mandate for UNDRIP in the throne speech.

I hoped those words signalled that real change was coming soon.

However, in the past few weeks we see the way the government has behaved in the unceded territory of the Wet'suwet'en peoples. It bears a striking resemblance to the behaviour of a previous government in my backyard in 2014, when traditional elders of the Mi'kmaq nation and Elsipogtog built a camp to protect the land and water from the encroachment of a fracking company. At that time, it was only the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, on behalf of the Green Party of Canada, and David Coon, on behalf of the Green Party of New Brunswick, who stood with the Mi'kmaq hereditary and traditional chiefs.

The RCMP's deplorable colonial practices in dismantling a peaceful demonstration made headlines across the country.

I have a personal connection to this history, as I had to see a family member, a traditional chief, handcuffed with zip ties and arrested as he was conducting a pipe ceremony.

A lot has changed since 2014. We have come through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report of findings. Canada has reversed its opposition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Persons and has been working on legislation to see it enshrined in Canadian law.

The inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls has published its final report, including the testimony of 2,380 survivors and family members of those lost.

I am proud to be a member of a party that understands what this really means and does not shirk its responsibility for the need to work tirelessly on reconciliation across Canada.

Unfortunately, Canada seems queued up to repeat the same mistakes it has been making for generations, the same mistakes it made in 2014.

Despite my support for some of the words in the Speech from the Throne, I have little confidence in the Liberal government to understand its responsibilities or to implement the changes we need.

I strongly believe that when we establish a real nation-to-nation relationship with the Indigenous peoples, our relationship with mother earth will be much better.

Our relationship with indigenous peoples is a step forward for climate action.

Earlier today my fellow Green Party members both spoke about the urgency of climate change. Ridings across New Brunswick have been hit in each of the last two years by historic flooding. The river systems at home are jammed. The snow is piling up in our forests. Our wetlands and buffer zones are compromised. We are seeing an increase in precipitation. All signs point to another bad flood season this spring.

Action is required. The Prime Minister and his government know that. I want them to know I am committed to working with them to make progress on adapting to climate change and that I am committed to helping facilitate the rapid transition that our economy must also undertake.

I want to talk for a minute about that.

I am so excited by the opportunities that lay before us in the new economy. We know we have to end our dependency on fossil fuels and I am convinced we can do it, while looking out for workers who will need new careers. We have always been and will continue to be a resource-driven economy. |Just look at the bounty of the resources we have to offer toward renewable energy: our long sunny summer days; powerful river systems across the country; beautiful forests; and right at home in New Brunswick, the highest tides in the world.

This new economy brings with it the promise of new jobs for electricians, mechanics, manufacturers, truck operators and the list goes on.

In New Brunswick, renewable energy companies are already accomplishing amazing things, showing leadership, sharing expertise and building capacity. One solar company in Fredericton has already trained 200 people in solar panel installation work, half of which has come from the Alberta oil sands.

This is an opportunity that will help reunite New Brunswick families. At the same time, this will allow workers to participate in the economy of the future.

The people of my riding are ready and willing to be part of the new economy and they are eager to reduce their own carbon pollution. It is up to the government to give them the way forward.

What is the plan to expand public transit and increase electric vehicle uptake? Where is the plan to help everyday Canadians make their homes most efficient to—