Romeo Saganash

[Aboriginal Affairs, March 26th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the walkers from Eeyou Istchee showed how determined and courageous aboriginal youth are. Although the minister had some nice things to say, there was nothing in the Conservative budget for them. Funding for education is 30% lower on reserve than off reserve. Nothing has been proposed for access to drinking water or housing. We are not going to build respectful and lasting relationships by asking for a hasty meeting with these youth.

I have an easy question for the Minister. When will he put words into action?

[Aboriginal Affairs, March 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, adopting paternalistic measures is no way to make progress with the first nations.

If the Conservatives had done enough for aboriginal youth, then they would not have needed to snowshoe and walk 1,600 km.

[Member spoke in Cree.]

I just thanked them for their courage and determination. The Conservatives do not seem to get the point. The time of broken promises and paternalism is over.

When will the Conservatives take the issues raised by these young people, including the environmental issues, seriously?

[Aboriginal Affairs, March 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, standing outside the House today, while we try to get answers inside, are young people who have walked over 1,600 kilometres through the harshest months of winter to be here today. Over the course of their journey from Whapmagoostui, they have been joined by hundreds and inspired thousands of others with their call for unity, their call for respect and their call for change.

Will the minister heed their call and start showing Canada's aboriginal peoples the respect they deserve?

[Journey of Nishiyuu, March 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, today it is with great pride that I rise to welcome the walkers of the journey of nishiyuu to Parliament Hill.

The journey began in Whapmagoostui, in the depths of the winter, with seven youths and their guide. Today, they arrive here on Parliament Hill, after walking 1,600 kilometres and growing to more than 400 youths, as others joined along the way.

With the message of unity, the journey of nishiyuu has captured the imagination of people from all across Canada, from all walks of life, and has inspired aboriginal youth from across the country to think big and take pride in who they are.

I especially want to acknowledge the original seven walkers who started it all: Stanley George Jr., Johnny Abraham, David Kawapit, Raymond Kawapit, Jordan Masty, Gordie Rupert, Travis George and guide Isaac Kawapit. It was their vision and their dedication that made this journey a success.

On behalf of the people of my riding, and on behalf of all Canadians for that matter, we thank them for their inspiration, for inspiring young and old, for an extended hand of reconciliation.

[The Budget, March 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question.

Aboriginal issues are receiving unprecedented attention in Canada. Today, 400 young people will be gathering on Parliament Hill to share a message of hope and tell this government that its approach to date has not worked, and that things must change. These issues are receiving unprecedented attention, and the government must respond to these appeals. Unfortunately, that is not happening.

We can study this budget as much as we want and from all possible angles, but we will find absolutely nothing to provide any hope to the aboriginal young people who will be demonstrating on Parliament Hill today. Seven of these young people have walked and snowshoed 1,600 km over the past two and a half months. They started out in Hudson Bay, crossed James Bay and Abitibi and arrived on Parliament Hill today. They are asking for a little hope. Unfortunately, they will not find it in this budget.

[The Budget, March 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and neighbour for his excellent question.

First nations had high expectations for the budget. The Prime Minister's remarks led us to believe that the budget would finally contain something good for first nations. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and the example I gave is just one of many.

I was raised to try to look for the good in what is proposed, even by my political opponents. I looked at the budget from a Canadian federal perspective, from a Quebec perspective and from a regional perspective. Forget that, because they abandoned the regions. I could not find anything. What is proposed, this workfare, is just an attempt to try something again that did not work in other jurisdictions. This work model was proposed in Quebec in 1989 or 1990. It was also proposed in New Brunswick and in the majority of American states. The only place it worked well was in Massachusetts, and that was because in that case, it was voluntary. People were not required to do what is proposed in this budget.

Unfortunately, it is a bad approach, as I said in my speech. That is why I will not support the budget.

[The Budget, March 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I apologize for that. In the 1990s the Minister of Finance brought this deeply disturbing and disrespectful proposal to Ontario. It does nothing to deal with the underlying problems in first nations education that I mentioned on Friday. It is the kind of blame the victim approach we have seen in the past from the Conservatives. It saddens me to see it again today.

In a twist that seemingly only the Conservatives could make happen, only $109 million of the $241 million budgeted for this vile workfare program will actually be used to fund the training. The remaining $132 million will go toward administrating the workfare scheme. Only the Conservatives would consider spending $132 million to administer a $109 million fund.

Quality education and training opportunities are vital for aboriginal youth to have a better future. However, it is simply wrong to force any group of people to do any activity to receive the simple benefits that everyone else receives for nothing. This approach smells of discrimination. It was not lost on me that the Conservatives decided to introduce this policy on the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The government should be ashamed of that, but I doubt it is.

This proposal in the budget will not help move aboriginal youth forward and, in my opinion, it is a slap in the face to those who have hoped for some positive educational and training ideas from the government. It is mean-spirited and divisive policies like these that make it impossible to support the budget.

The Conservatives were given another chance with this budget to show that they were truly committed to making our country work and prove that they were truly improving the lives of all Canadians. However, they have again decided to ignore that chance and opted for the same failed approaches they have given us since 2006.

We will see what the Conservatives will do this week. However, I will do the right thing and vote against this budget because it is a continuation of the wrong approach toward first nations.

[The Budget, March 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, last Friday, we were discussing statistics on education in first nations communities, and I would like to repeat that they are quite appalling. I wanted to show why we need to invest more in education. It will help not just aboriginal youth across the country, but also Canada's economy.

Between 2004 and 2009, the rate of first nations graduation was approximately 36% compared to the rate of 72% for the general population. None of those statistics should surprise the government, because those are the kind of results we get when we underfund first nations schools by 30% compared to what provincial schools receive. That underfunding was not an accident, nor was it an oversight. That has been deliberate policy from both the Conservative and Liberal governments.

During the Prime Minister's meeting with first nations leaders in January, he did promise again to renew his government's approach to issues like these, but in this budget there is no new money for first nations schools. They will still face a 30% shortfall for another year. Young children, fighting for an education in communities like Eabametoong, Elsipogtog, Lac Simon, Lac La Ronge, will receive considerably less than other students in provincial schools.

The members in the government benches need to ask themselves this question. How reasonable is it to expect children and youth to achieve in their educational pursuits when they are put at such a disadvantage every day?

Unfortunately for first nations youth, Minister of Finance was not done with his handy work. He decided to go a few steps further, reach back into his dark days as finance minister of Ontario and reintroduce one of the biggest policy failures that the Harris Conservatives brought to our country.

In this budget, the Conservatives decided to introduce training funds for aboriginal youth, but with one major caveat. To qualify, first nations communities would have to agree that recipients of the income assistance program would undergo specific job training. This means that in order to get access to these funds, communities must agree that youth between the ages of 18 and 24 cannot collect welfare without taking job training. This is a workfare scheme, similar to the one that Mr. Flaherty brought-—

[The Budget, March 22nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Acadie—Bathurst is always a hard act to follow no matter the topic. I thank him for his passion and inspiration. I would also like to thank the other members of all parties who have taken part in this debate so far.

The Prime Minister likes to refer to his Minister of Finance as the best finance minister in the world, but in fairness, he also likes to call Peter Penashue the best MP that Labrador has ever had. Maybe he has a different definition of the word “best” than the rest of us because the facts do not seem to support his claim about his finance minister. Members should remember that he missed his economic growth target for 2012 by 35%. A lot of people have mentioned that and I think it is important to repeat it.

This budget contains some good measures, such as those to combat tax evasion, but it also contains problems too numerous to ignore.

Of the initiatives that the Minister of Finance has brought forward, there is one in particular that jumped out at me. It is stunning in its insensitivity. In the budget, the Conservatives introduced a new measure aimed at first nation youth.

All members in the House know about the substandard education that exists among first nation communities. Statistics show special needs identification and placement rates in first nation elementary and secondary schools. Approximately 47% of first nations currently need a new school. Approximately 74% of first nation schools currently require major repairs. Only 46% of first nation schools have a fully equipped gym and so on. On top of that, 32% of schools have an issue with access to clean drinking water. With all that, between 2004 and 2009, the graduation rate on first nations was approximately 36%, compared to the rate of 72% in the general population.

During the Prime Minister's meeting with first nation leaders in January, he promised again to renew the government's approach to issues such as these. However, in this budget, there is no new money for first nation schools. They still face a 30% shortfall for another year. Children fighting for an education in communities such as Lac-Simon or Lac de l'Orange will receive considerably less than other students in provincial schools.

On the other hand, the government decided to introduce training funds for aboriginal youth, but with one major caveat. To qualify, first nation communities have to agree that recipients of income assistance programs undergo specific job training.

The budget states:

—to effectively support and ensure compliance among on-reserve Income Assistance recipients. Funding will be accessible only to those reserve communities that choose to implement mandatory participation in training for young Income Assistance recipients.

This means that in order to get access to these funds, communities must agree that youth between the ages of 18 to 24 cannot collect welfare without taking job training. That is unfair.

I know my time is up, but I hope I can come back to these issues next time.

[Aboriginal Affairs, March 22nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, $132 million to manage a $109 million program. Only the Conservatives can come up with that.

What we do see in this budget is the frequent use of the word “aboriginal”, but no real investments.

Aboriginal peoples reached out to the government and were hoping for real change.

Instead, they are offered insulting, paternalistic measures with not enough funding to attack the problems they are facing.

When will the Prime Minister establish a respectful relationship? I can tell the House that we are not waiting.