Paul Manly

[Petitions, November 2nd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to table e-petition 2783, which was brought forward by constituents in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith.

The overdose crisis has been declared a public health emergency in British Columbia. This year, more people in B.C. have died of opioid drug poisoning than from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The petitioners are calling upon the Government of Canada to declare a public health emergency because of overdose deaths in Canada; reframe the overdose crisis in Canada as a health issue rather than a criminal issue; take a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach to the overdose crisis by addressing issues of addiction, poverty, housing, health care, racial discrimination, and economic inequality and instability; listen to and act on recommendations made by social workers, front-line workers, nurses, doctors, drug users and individuals directly involved in the drug-using community; end the wasteful and ineffective war on drugs; and decriminalize personal possession of all drugs in Canada and guarantee a safe supply of drugs in Canada.

[Bills of Exchange Act, November 2nd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply and I will be voting yes.

[Bills of Exchange Act, October 30th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I too would like to ask the hon. member about the Haldimand tract and treaty, and the Haudenosaunee people.

My sister is indigenous. She spent six years in Caledonia as a front-line officer with the OPP. She now has a degree in indigenous law. There is a treaty in this place, the Haldimand Treaty. The Haudenosaunee people want that treaty respected.

I would like to ask the hon. member what he thinks the role of the federal government is in fixing this situation and meeting those demands.

[Bills of Exchange Act, October 30th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for bringing up Joyce Echaquan and the issues around health care within first nations.

Before I became a parliamentarian, I had the honour and privilege as a filmmaker to work on a film for the Hul'qumi'num Health Hub. I worked with elders to create a video that is now used to train people who go into the health care system. It is part of their orientation to understand the culture, the Snuw'uy'uh, the way of life and the traditional healing techniques that the Hul'qumi'num people use. It is also to teach the health care professionals about the history of colonialism, the residential school system and the Indian hospitals. We had an Indian hospital in Nanaimo, which was an abhorrent place. Lots of horror stories came out of it.

I would like to ask the hon. member about the need for education for people working in all fields, but particularly in health care, because of the systemic racism that indigenous people face in the health care system. How would he see that improving the situation in his riding?

[Bills of Exchange Act, October 30th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, this is a very important piece of legislation and an important part of the calls to action to implement. It is number 80. I would like to ask about call to action number 1, which is about child welfare. The number one reason first nation children are apprehended in the child welfare system is poverty. There are more of them in the child welfare system now than at the height of the residential school system.

I hear from urban indigenous organizations that there is not adequate housing and there is too much poverty in these communities. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry said that we should have a guaranteed livable income, and we need urban housing, reserve housing and a rapid housing program to ensure that children are not apprehended because there would be adequate housing and eliminated poverty.

Would the hon. member let me know when the government is going to move on these things because I think these are very important calls to action?

[Petitions, October 30th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, it is an honour to table e-petition 2797 with signatures from across Canada.

The petitioners note that Correctional Service of Canada is establishing for-profit prison farms involving beef, dairy and intensive animal agriculture and selling products to the private sector and possible export markets. They note that prisoners will be paid under $1 an hour and that associating underpaid prison labour with the private sector is a human rights violation under the International Labour Organization's standards.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to cancel this prison agribusiness, prevent for-profit use of prison labour for the private sector and transition federally funded prison farms to a plant-based non-profit model, feeding food banks and food insecure communities, as proposed by Evolve Our Prison Farms.

[Marine Transportation, October 30th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, this spring, a freighter dragged its anchor and collided with another ship in Plumper Sound. Two weeks ago another freighter dragged its anchor and almost ended up on a beach in Ladysmith.

Communities are fed up with the excessive noise, lights and exhaust from these freighters, and are concerned about the environmental damage they are causing.

Will the government mandate improvements at the port of Vancouver, ban the export of U.S. thermal coal and the use of a 200-mile limit to control freighter traffic and end the use of Southern Gulf Islands as a parking lot for freighters?

[Bills of Exchange Act, October 30th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I was deeply moved by the member for Winnipeg Centre. I am always interested and moved by the personal stories she shares, which are important perspectives to hear in this place.

I hear from indigenous people in my riding that reconciliation is dead or it is just a word. What would the member see as the priorities to move on next from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations? It is important to have this day, to recognize it and commemorate it, but what would she like to see us move on next as a Parliament?

[Business of Supply, October 29th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I do not agree with everything the hon. member said, but I do agree we made mistakes in the past based on the information we had at the time, such as the Japanese internment, the internment of Ukrainian Canadians. These situations were based on the information given to our leaders. It was the same situation in Quebec.

The Quebec government and the mayor asked for help, but there was overreach in this situation. An apology is in order for those who were victimized by that overreach, the people who were collateral damage in this situation.

There is a lot of dissension on this. Would the Bloc accept amendments to the motion to make it more acceptable to other members of the House?

[Business of Supply, October 29th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, we are in a crisis now, but this motion is discussing a crisis in the 1970s. I think it is a relevant debate to have today on its 50th anniversary.

My uncle was a Japanese Canadian. He was born in Canada. In 1942, as a child, he went to an internment camp. There was a war at the time. There was a real threat that Japanese Canadians could be working with the imperial military and that would have serious implications, so people were put into internment camps. It was a horrible thing for my uncle Kaz Iwaasa to go through. The purpose of the apology for that time was to apologize to people like Kaz.

I have talked to some friends and colleagues in Quebec who were children during the October crisis and lived in real fear of their parents being taken away at night because of their political involvement. I would like to ask the hon. member this: Does he think those people deserve an apology for the actions that were taken by our government at that time?