House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2015, with 28% of the vote.
Aboriginal Affairs December 5th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has just responded, we have responded to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We have turned over almost a million documents. We will fully comply by summer of next year, in terms of the documents that we are planning to turn over from 23 federal departments. We are being taken to court. We have a disagreement as to which documents are appropriate, but we are prepared to listen to the court's advice.
Aboriginal Affairs December 4th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the federal departments are all co-operating now. That is the point of this whole exercise. We are doing this in good faith, and we doing it in the spirit of reconciliation.
Aboriginal Affairs December 4th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I responded to those questions by this very same member yesterday in committee.
We are displaying good faith. We are following the terms and conditions of the Indian residential schools settlement agreement. It is a court supervised agreement. We have turned over a million documents. We are working with 23 other federal departments.
We plan to have all of the federal documents in the hands of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by next summer.
Aboriginal Affairs December 3rd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, as I said, we have already turned over a million documents. We are working with 22 other departments.
This is a court-supervised process. It involves the churches. It involves all of the other stakeholders, and it involves 22 departments. We are working with all of them, and we are doing our very best to make sure this process is completed in 2013.
Aboriginal Affairs December 3rd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, my department is working with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and 22 other departments to ensure that all relevant documents are made available. To date, almost one million have been disclosed, and it is our aim to have the remaining disclosed in 2013.
Our government remains committed to bringing closure to the legacy of residential schools, and we will continue to honour the agreement.
Aboriginal Affairs December 3rd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, every year we invest in education for over 117,000 students on reserve. Recently I announced additional measures, such as early literacy programming to further education outcomes. I also made announcements in regard to new school infrastructure.
We have already completed 263 school projects, including 33 new schools. We are continuing to take concrete steps to improve educational outcomes for first nation students.
Aboriginal Affairs November 28th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, we have made some changes in our budgetary process. We made those changes because we are prudent managers. We made those changes in a way that protected community-level delivery of services. I think that was a very sophisticated and appropriate way to do this. We have otherwise made very important investments that are community oriented and that provide for the health and safety of first nations.
Aboriginal Affairs November 26th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to achieving a fair and lasting resolution to the legacy of Indian residential schools. The Indian Residential School Settlement agreement is court directed and agreed to by multiple parties, including legal counsel for former students and the Assembly of First Nations. Our government will continue to honour its obligations under the Indian residential schools agreement.
Northern Jobs and Growth Act November 26th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, there are many statistics out there.
Recently, I met with members from the Mining Association of Canada and there were representatives there from the north. It is very clear that the economic indicators are of concern for NWT and that is why they are embracing the legislation, which is one of the reasons we are starting to see renewed confidence.
I think this is all good. I am certainly a booster of NWT, the NWT government and the aboriginal organizations, which are working with a spirit of co-operation that I would say is enlightened and progressive.
Northern Jobs and Growth Act November 26th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, work on the Nunavut planning and project assessment act began in 2002, so there has been over a decade of diligent negotiations. In my speech I spoke to the Nunavut legislative working group. Obviously, it was the major workhorse in getting this bill together in draft form in the summer of 2006.
There have been several iterations of the bill since 2006. Therefore, many people have had an opportunity to share in this legislation. There have been public meetings since that time. The industry sector also had a good chance to kick this around. I detect wholesale agreement that we have the best possible legislative package, in this case.