Jody Wilson-Raybould

[Indigenous Affairs, March 9th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as I stated, this matter is before the courts. What I instructed my officials to do was to seek an adjournment. Per my mandate letter from the Prime Minister, we are looking at our litigation strategy and doing a comprehensive review.

In terms of specific cases, that will potentially change our approach. But with respect to particular mandates, I will be working and supporting my colleague, the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs in this regard.

[Indigenous Affairs, March 9th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as the member across knows, this is a matter that is before the courts, and so I will not speak to the particular circumstances with respect to that.

However, I will say that with the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, we will work collaboratively in terms of the mandates and approaches that are being put forward in negotiating and settling the land question in British Columbia. The member can rest assured that this settlement will be based on a nation-to-nation relationship that is based on recognition.

[Indigenous Affairs, March 8th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the question.

Our government is committed to developing a substantive nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples in this country, sitting down and working jointly, based on recognition and moving forward in order to ensure that indigenous communities can have an improved quality of life, can settle, ultimately, the land question, and do it based on respect and based on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

[Justice, February 22nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, our government has committed to legalize, regulate, and restrict access to marijuana. We will be proceeding on that matter in an orderly fashion and will take the time necessary in order to do it right.

Until Parliament has enacted new legislation to ensure that marijuana is carefully regulated, current laws remain in force and should be obeyed.

I will be working with my parliamentary secretary, the Minister of Health, and the Minister of Public Safety to ensure that we put in place a process that keeps marijuana out of the hands of children and the proceeds out of the hands of criminals.

[Ethics, February 22nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a member of Parliament, and I am also proud to be the Minister of Justice. I have been an advocate for good governance my entire life. I take my ethical responsibilities incredibly seriously, and I am doing everything to ensure that I am not found in a conflict. That is why my husband and I have met with the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner and are following and abiding by the measures that are required to ensure that we are in compliance. We will be in compliance with respect to what the conflict commissioner has said.

[Justice, February 4th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member across the way for the question and certainly the passion he expresses with respect to indigenous people.

Without question, I share that same passion, as does our government, to ensure that we implement the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement in a timely and fair way. As the Minister of Justice, I take very seriously my commitment to follow through with our commitments in the election to ensure that we are compliant with the charter and to ensure that there is fairness.

I have instructed my hard-working and dedicated officials to come up with options to remedy this situation, working with the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs—

[Aboriginal Affairs, January 26th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, the judgment is 180 pages. We are undertaking to do our due diligence and review that decision, but I cannot anticipate anything within that decision that would cause me to file for judicial review. This is about equality. Our government is committed to equality and to taking, assisting, and working with first nations to ensure that every child has the opportunity to succeed.

[Indigenous Affairs, January 26th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, we want to acknowledge the decision of the tribunal today, and acknowledge the leadership and advocacy of Cindy Blackstock, the Assembly of First Nations, and indigenous peoples.

It is a 180-page document. Certainly, we will take careful reading of it, but understand and recognize, there will likely not be any reason why we would seek judicial review of this decision.

We can and must do better. We will renovate the child welfare system in this country.

[Justice, December 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to reviewing the criminal justice system and looking at sentencing, including mandatory minimums. We are taking an approach to the criminal justice system that focuses not only on punishing offenders, but on restorative justice and being smart on crime.

[Justice, December 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to undertaking a review of the criminal justice system, including sentencing. We will do that in a comprehensive way, engaging with our colleagues in the provinces and territories.

With respect to mandatory minimums, we will also be reviewing those. Certainly, with respect to mandatory minimums for the most serious of crimes, we support them, but only with respect to adherence to the charter.

We will continue to update the House on our progress.