Jonathan Genest-Jourdain

[Aboriginal Affairs, June 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are making yet another mistake.

Rather than implementing real programs to help aboriginal people enter the labour force and allow them to meet their housing and transportation needs, the Conservative government prefers to threaten that it is going to steal food from aboriginal people's mouths and take away their welfare benefits if they do not take training. This is yet another initiative that proves that the Conservatives are out of touch with reality.

Did the Conservatives not learn their lesson from Attawapiskat? Why are they insisting on making life even more difficult for aboriginal people?

[Aboriginal Affairs, May 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as usual, the Conservatives are treating first nations rights as an annoying obstacle.

Last evening in committee, the chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo, criticized the Conservatives for not consulting the first nations before proposing changes to environmental legislation. He predicted that trampling on the rights of aboriginals would lead to more legal battles, more delays in development projects and more economic uncertainty for everyone.

When will the Conservatives start listening to the first nations?

[Aboriginal Affairs, May 17th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the UN special rapporteur said that all costs, including transportation costs, should be taken into account in the selection of foods to subsidize for remote northern communities. The Conservatives are abdicating their responsibility toward aboriginal communities with respect to food security and infrastructure. That is why the Assembly of First Nations applauded the rapporteur's conclusions.

Instead of shooting the messenger, will they finally start working with communities to make nutritious food available at a reasonable cost?

[Aboriginal Affairs, May 16th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, they are also having difficulty getting clean drinking water.

Is the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development going to keep his head buried in the sand, or will he finally take the UN rapporteur's work seriously and act on his recommendations?

[Aboriginal Affairs, May 16th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is not a question of access to departmental officials. It is a question of political will.

According to the rapporteur, first nations Canadians are not only facing a food shortage, but they are also having difficulty—

[May 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for the hand he extended to me. Nevertheless, I would like to point out that when this recovery plan was drafted, the panel had still not submitted its report. I trust that this will not happen again in future, because I will always remain on the alert, at least in my riding. I am going to stay close to the communities. I can assure you that I will work together with my colleagues from all the other parties, because this is a problematic situation, one that has little to do with pure partisanship and making political capital. I believe that the important thing is the welfare and education of young people. I am prepared to work with all the authorities.

As I mentioned, I could not support such a measure. I hope that the chief was making assumptions when he told me that it had been developed in co-operation with the community. I will simply have to take his word for it. I did not do any further checking. In my view, the government is in a position to deal with this situation in a more enlightened fashion.

[May 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to take advantage of this adjournment debate to say something a little more concrete than the rhetorical games that have been taking up our time in this chamber.

My earlier question concerned the government's duty to provide a constant level of funding for first nations education.

Those who follow my speeches in the House religiously know that my trademark is sticking to the empirical and concrete. I shall continue to do so today.

The media in my riding told us barely a month ago about the dismissal of four teachers and the subsequent sudden resignation of two principals, of the primary and secondary school in a community within my riding. I will refrain from mentioning the name of the community because it is all rather defamatory. I also do not want to do anything to further stigmatize the residents of the community. However, if you search the Internet, it is easy to find the information.

From my subsequent discussions with the band chief in question, I learned that the dismissals of the teachers were the result of the band's budget adjustment plan that was drafted jointly with—and with the approval of—the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 2011.

This information was brought to my attention on Facebook. I make effective use of this social networking site. People in my community and neighbouring communities know that they can reach me through Facebook.

The parents of these elementary and high school students were quite concerned and naturally contacted me to tell me that the situation was problematic and that their children's school year was in peril. I therefore made the necessary effort to find the cell phone number of the band chief in question. I contacted him when he was in Montreal and we had a good discussion. During the course of that conversation, the chief indicated to me that these teachers were laid off or dismissed—whichever term applies here—as a result of financial recovery measures. I took the chief at his word. He told me that Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada was involved and that these recovery measures had been approved and were meant to target a deficit that, today, is approaching $20 million. Ultimately, he almost avoided being under federal government supervision. I was rather shocked by what he said.

I believe it is worthwhile to present this matter to the people of Canada and that is what I am doing today.

This situation is now rectified. I would like to point out that these measures were simply abolished and the teachers kept their jobs. The students can therefore still go to school today. However, this situation is worrisome, to say the least, if we consider the draconian nature of the measures being considered and the negative impact they would have on the education of young people living on reserve. Some confrontations resulted from this situation and the police had to intervene. One young person was possibly even injured. It can all be seen on YouTube.

In the member's opinion, is this kind of measure that compromises the academic advancement of young aboriginals consistent with the principles that came from the national panel on first nation elementary and secondary education?

[March 28th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, we can see what the real problem is here. I attend many meetings of various aboriginal groups in the country and have been to many committee meetings. The real problem is that the Conservatives believe that all problems can be solved with massive injections of money. In the Innu language we say, mishta shuniau, which means that money cannot solve all the problems of these groups and cannot meet all the needs that the nations have identified.

I know that the Conservatives want to ensure that the monies invested will be used for the intended purposes. However, the transparency act, or rather, the measures for transparency of communities and band councils, will focus primarily on the chief's salary.

What we need is concerted action on the ground, culturally integrated action that will truly help the nation and focus on where the monies are invested because mishta shuniau is not the only answer to the problems of aboriginal communities in Canada. I submit this to my colleague.

[March 28th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I would like to take advantage of this evening's late show to explore certain issues that I brought up in my initial speech about the living conditions of Attawapiskat residents. I would like to express some criticism regarding the government's wilful blindness to findings that have an undeniable impact on efforts to revitalize the social fabric of aboriginal communities in Canada.

The Conservative system, which is highly regulated but dehumanized, was unable to adequately deal with the media frenzy surrounding the living conditions of the Cree people in Attawapiskat. One of the government's major mistakes was its lack of on-site intervention and its unwillingness to implement culturally appropriate socio-economic rehabilitation measures. Third-party management is a prime example of an uninspired solution and demonstrates the failure of the government's blind delegation policies and of the fiduciary relationship between the Crown and Canada's aboriginal groups.

For two years, I worked for my own band council in Uashat, and I know that the federal government makes sure that it has specially selected representatives on the band councils and within the communities. The power of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development is now at the point where the federal government already has its pawns in place. Given that such is the case, the only alternative is to stand up to the federal government by invoking this principle of law that applies to all Canadians: No one can plead his own turpitude.

Through its wilful blindness, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development has allowed a number of harmful situations to continue in aboriginal communities throughout the country. Believe me, the embezzlement, white collar crime, influence peddling and insider trading that interfere with the decision-making processes of tribal management entities—the band councils—have been reported by Canadian intelligence agencies. By way of information, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development sent workers into the community of Attawapiskat 10 times in the past year. The department was thus well aware of the deterioration of the social fabric and the problems related to housing and education, among other things.

This situation leads me to think that many aspects of socio-cultural dysfunction that can be seen on reserves in this country are in fact exacerbated by the importance placed on the extraction and wholesale use of the natural resources that are plentiful on our traditional lands, at the expense of any real implementation of culturally integrated intervention measures in communities that are struggling socially.

Indeed, when aboriginal people live in problematic situations and must focus all of their efforts on trying to find solutions to daily problems related to housing, for instance, their attention is turned away from their traditional lands, where mining exploration and huge forestry projects are under way at this time.

All of this distress and turmoil in communities allow the industry to focus its efforts on extracting resources from the land.

That is my submission.

[Uranium Exploration, March 14th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to draw the attention of the House to the efforts of the people of Manicouagan, who have created “Minganie sans uranium”, an organization trying to stop uranium exploration north of Baie-Johan-Beetz and Aguanish.

To that end, the organization planned two grassroots events on the ground during the month of February. The theme was “radioactive performance”, and I attended both events. Artists Florent Vollant and Claude McKenzie, from the duo Kashtin, gave a wonderful performance and reiterated their support for this kind of community mobilization. Several other artists from the region were also in attendance.

Lastly, the group opposed to the uranium mining project received some unparalleled exposure when the spokesperson for the coalition Pour que le Québec ait meilleure MINE, Ugo Lapointe, went to the Uracan head office in Vancouver to deliver a letter expressing the group's opposition to the project. I am pleased to reiterate my support for this grassroots opposition movement.