Sheila Malcolmson

[International Women's Day, March 8th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, after decades of marching, resisting, and persisting for equal rights, on International Women's Day we see first-hand the women's movement is stronger than ever.

Today, young women filled this House, a powerful show of new leadership. I honour especially delegate Arezoo Najibzadeh. She chose to leave her seat empty to represent the countless women who have been denied their political voice.

We need all women's voices. We need all hands on deck for the challenges that Canada faces. Yet successive Liberal and Conservative governments have failed to act. It is far past time for the Liberals to live up to their feminist claims and get to work.

We need action for women and for future generations. New Democrats will never stop fighting for women's equality and human rights.

[Status of Women, March 7th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, on the eve of International Women's Day, the government's failure to walk the talk on feminism is in the spotlight. A new report card from Oxfam finds little progress on nearly every front and condemns the government for its complete failure to take action on pay equity. Canadian women still earn just 74¢ for every dollar that a man makes, and we have fallen dramatically in international rankings.

Does the minister really believe that women should wait even longer to get equal pay for work of equal value?

[Status of Women, February 23rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I will point out that it was the Liberal government that issued the fisheries permits in July last year which allowed the project to go forward. This is entirely in the Liberal government's lap, as has been pointed out by National Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Assembly of First Nations, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, and many other leaders in the strongest words.

Recently, we heard from Margot Young at the status of women committee. In talking about the disproportionate impacts on women, she said:

It really points again to the need to think about the gendered consequences and to have a lens that allows you access to the gender inequality consequences across a range of policy options. Really, what a national gender equality strategy would allow is the kind of systematic thinking about this issue that really would make the change to women's status in Canada.

Therefore, I ask again if the government will evaluate infrastructure projects with a gender lens.

[Status of Women, February 23rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the last time I took up the issue of the government's commitments to indigenous women and the environment was in November when Amnesty International had just released a report on resource development in northeastern B.C. The headlines the following days read, ”In approving dam permits, Ottawa forgets its reconciliation promises”. We said at the time that the federal government had been green lighting development projects without any consideration for inequalities and risks to women that were too often a result of megaproject development.

The Amnesty International report also identified that there were no federally funded on reserve shelters in northeastern British Columbia.

I would like to know what the government has done since this very troubling study was released in November, when we last talked about it in question period.

I had the privilege of travelling to the Peace River Valley in July last year to meet with the landowners, the indigenous chiefs, the traditional territory of Treaty 8 nations. I met Yvonne Tupper, who is an inspiring, strong, Cree activist woman. She has made her home in the Peace River Valley. She wrote to me last night to say:

Site C will destroy migration paths for Predators and they will stay on either side of river. Wolves, grizzly bears, bears, wolverines. And Eagles nests destroyed. We are connected to land....Women and young girls should feel valued, appreciated, and respect like any and all women and young girls should in BC, Canada and world. We deserve it considering our lands, are being stolen in vast paces.

I also heard from Craig Benjamin who was one of the authors of the Amnesty report. He wrote to me this week to say:

The thing that has really stuck with me from conversations with Indigenous women in Treaty 8 territory, is hearing again and again that places like the lands threatened by Site C are vital healing places and that a government committed to stopping violence against women, has to be committed to standing with Indigenous women and their communities when they seek to protect those healing places.

The other point that we stressed in our...report is that we have more than two decades of studies in northeast BC repeatedly linking large-scale resource development to known threats to women's safety and wellbeing, from rising costs of living to shortages of housing and child care to rising substance abuse and violence--all of which was quite simply ignored in the assessment of the largest resource development in the region in recent history.

We heard testimony this week at the Status of Women committee from Kathleen Lahey, saying, “Canada has for a long time looked at infrastructure spending as its number one solution to economic growth problems”. She went on to describe the need to do a gender lens assessment of such spending to ensure it would have equal benefits for men and women, but also, and most important, not disproportionate negative impacts on women.

What has the government done since the tabling of this Amnesty International report on the Site C dam approvals to ensure there will not be further federal approvals that do not go through a gender test to ensure our most vulnerable people and environments are protected?

[Preclearance Act, 2016, February 21st, 2017]

Madam Speaker, I would like to hear my colleague's comments on whether he is getting the same kind of mail that I am, hearing from constituents who are concerned that U.S. border guards are not likely to carry out responsibilities at our border in the way we would expect on Canadian soil. Here is an excerpt from a letter from Katherine in Nanaimo. She is a U.S. citizen and a Canadian permanent resident. She said:

My second objection to Bill C-23 has to do with the new powers that it would give to American border guards in pre-clearance areas. I do not think that American border agents on Canadian soil should have the power to carry firearms, detain Canadian citizens or residents, or conduct strip searches....

I am sure that there are practical and economic benefits to Bill C-23. I myself enjoy the convenience of pre-screening when I visit the U.S. through Vancouver International Airport. These benefits, however, cannot be valued higher than the human rights of Canadian citizens and residents.

I'd like to know whether my colleague has heard anything through this debate that gives him confidence that the violations my constituent describes are justified by the accelerated movement of travel through the border.

[Preclearance Act, 2016, February 21st, 2017]

Madam Speaker, to my colleague, I imagine that you are getting the same kind of mail that I am—

[Business of Supply, February 16th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's reminder of the larger context here. We have recently witnessed a very high-profile American election where a sexist, racist president was chosen with fewer votes than his opponent. Nevertheless, in a broken electoral system in the U.S., that is who will now be setting the tone in the media for the next four years.

We are seeing some of the same echoes in the Conservative leadership campaign, so I absolutely share my fellow member's concern that the tone at the top is very important and that we need to speak out and condemn racism and sexism where we see it.

I certainly hope Conservatives on this side of the House will choose a leader who reflects an approach to a tolerant and diverse country and will not be swept up in some of the fanning of the flames we have seen recently, to great harm.

[Business of Supply, February 16th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, if I have the math right, that side of the House will vote in support of Motion No. 103. Probably most New Democrats will also, and Motion No. 103 will then be the direction given to a committee to study and it will bring some recommendations back.

If any members on the other side agree with me that we should support the Conservative motion, then we will have also a study at committee that talks about ending racism.

There is no loss in this. Let us get on with the work. Let us vote in favour of both motions and get down to work, as Canadians are asking us to, and show leadership and stamp racism out in every form.

[Business of Supply, February 16th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member of Parliament for Sherbrooke.

We have to combat all forms of racism and religious discrimination in order to build more inclusive communities. Canada is better when we do. Fighting against these discriminations is a means to advance the interest of peace in society, and the way to promote solidarity in our society and communities.

I want to talk more than anything about people who are working in our communities to build that solidarity. Against the backdrop of 150 years of race-based discrimination against indigenous people, I had the great honour in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith of spending the first four days of 2017 with Master of Business Administration students from across the country. Vancouver Island University hosted the MBA Games, and 500 students from business schools across the country came together and challenged each other in all kinds of ways.

I am so glad that the organizing committee of Vancouver Island's MBA Games chose indigenous reconciliation as its theme. In particular, it chose the Moose Hide Campaign, #moosehidecampaign, as its charitable cause. All week long, students from across the country made videos, sang songs about ending violence against women, and spoke about the imperative for indigenous reconciliation for true a nation-to-nation relationship. They raised $300,000 for the Moose Hide Campaign, which is a fantastic charity based on Vancouver Island where I am elected.

It was one of those great moments of knowing that these smart, effective, future leaders of our country from coast to coast are informed, engaged, and committed to this cause. That is what is going to change our country. That is what is going to bring real reconciliation, much more than a debate in the House. Members can read about it in The Globe and Mail business section, which carried this story on January 6.

My thanks to the organizing committee of the MBA Games. When I talk with indigenous women's organizations, with the Native Women's Association of Canada, with front-line people who are doing hard work and have been pulling hard for an end to the tragedy of murdered and missing indigenous women for 10, 12, or 15 years, and for some families for decades; when I tell them that the MBA students from across the country are pulling in the same direction and are doing their work of education, fundraising, pulling in the same direction even if they are not exactly side by side, I see visible relief. We all feel the relief of knowing we have this future group of leaders who are cultivating real solutions. I thank the Vancouver Island University. It is fantastic.

Keeping with my cause and commitment to end racism and intolerance in Canada, I participated in last night's Liberal debate, and here I am participating in today's Conservative debate. I am not sure why, given the motions are virtually identical, that we needed to spend a whole day in the House debating this. I am hearing about a lot of other issues from Canadians that they need to have Parliament's action on.

I will say right up front that I am going to vote yes to both motions. Condemning racism and intolerance is about fighting hate and violence perpetrated against a specific community. Canada has already seen an increase in targeted attacks towards Muslims, such as last month's tragic and horrific attack in Sainte-Foy, Quebec where Muslims were killed on their knees at prayer. I never thought that we would ever see a story like that in Canada. It has certainly raised everybody's awareness about racial intolerance and violence, murdering people because of their race. We need to stand together. We need to combat all forms of discrimination, including Islamophobia. Therefore, I will support the Conservative motion that is on the floor today to condemn racial and religious discrimination.

However, I have to say that the conversion on the Conservative side is kind of breathtaking. I will read two quotes from people who were my member of Parliament.

In 1996, my member of Parliament, Bob Ringma, who was Reform, Alliance, Conservative said that he would fire or “move to the back of the shop” employees who were gay or ethnics, if the presence of that individual offended a bigoted customer or hurt business. This was from my MP in 1996, which was not so long ago.

In the year 2000, my member of Parliament, Reed Elley, Conservative Reform Alliance member of Parliament in the House of Commons, on April 10, 2000, said:

The feminist movement started a strident campaign to bring women into the 20th century. They burned their bras, demanded protection from unwanted pregnancy, spurned chastity and scorned the pro-life people.

A gradual blurring of the sexes occurred that gave young men growing up in many female dominated, single parent homes an identity crisis. This led to a rise in militant homosexuality, a coming out of the closet of gay men and women who also demanded equality. The things that had been considered improper went looking for a desperate legitimacy.

Members can see why I wanted to become a member of Parliament. We could not be represented by people who so proudly and publicly espoused that kind of misogyny, homophobia, and racism in every way.

In 2013 we had a very difficult chapter in my community, where in the name of free speech, letters to the editor were published in our local newspaper that were horrifyingly racist against indigenous people, just at a time when our community was doing some healing work in bringing cultures and communities together. The publisher chose to print those letters to the editor but refused to publish letters to the editor that challenged those negative and racist opinions.

It culminated in a particularly terrible letter that drew a protest of 300 people outside the newspaper publisher's office. Included among those 300 were Assembly of First Nations Chief Shawn Atleo; Doug White, who was the Snuneymuxw First Nation Chief; and the mayor of Nanaimo, John Ruttan, who had never been to a protest in his life. That is what brought him out to stand up against that racism against indigenous people.

The very next year, the federal Conservatives acclaimed that same man, the publisher, as their candidate. In 2014 they were happy to have people in their stable who were very comfortable expressing racist thoughts.

I do not know whether to be relieved by the motion on the floor today and to see it as a true conversion. I hope it is not just to take potshots at the Liberals, not that they need any defending, but this is too important to play politics with.

I will end by saying, like many members of Parliament, that I have had a lot of mail about the Liberal member's Motion No. 103. I have tried to write to each of these people, assuring them that the motion, which I intend to support, does not condemn free speech. It asks for parliamentary study of an important and urgent issue, and if it were a stifling of free speech, I would not be voting for it.

I want to thank the Liberal member of Parliament for Mississauga—Erin Mills. The letters of hate and attack she read in the House this afternoon are horrifying. As a House, we must find a way to root that out, to make it unacceptable for anyone to want to press “send” for such an email or to publicly post in social media the kind of hateful, sexist, racist things that were said about her. I was horrified to hear those words, and I extend my condolences to the member, her family, and her staff. This must be very hard to read.

The committee study that is going to happen, because we are going to vote in favour of this, surely, can be a great opportunity to provide context and recommendations on the state of systemic racism.

I hope it also gives parliamentarians a new tool with which to talk with our communities to reassure them that when newcomers enter our country, we will still fund social programs. We will still prioritize looking after working people and all Canadians. This is not an either/or, choosing immigrants and refugees or looking after long-standing Canadians. We need to do all these things together well.

We must stand together against this global tide of hate. We must do what we can in this Parliament to change the tone, and I hope we can work together to that end.

[Business of Supply, February 16th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, given the systemic racism and discrimination against indigenous people completely under the control of the federal government for the last 150 years, does the member agree to work in solidarity in every way he can in the spirit of this motion and last night's motion to stand up and resolve the discrimination against murdered and missing indigenous women, to get out of the courts and not fight victims of the Sixties Scoop, and to stand up for truth and reconciliation with indigenous people in every way possible?