Sheri Benson

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, April 16th, 2018]

With regard to the Visa Office at the Canadian High Commission in Singapore: (a) what is the total number of sponsorship requests the Singapore Visa Office received in each year from 2012 to 2017; (b) how many applications were processed in each of the years in (a) and, of those processed, what percentage was approved in each of those years; (c) which group of asylum seekers had the highest acceptance rate through the Singapore Visa Office in each of the years in (a); (d) which group of asylum seekers had the lowest acceptance rate through the Singapore Visa Office in each of the years in (a); (e) what number of Pakistani Christian asylum claims have been handled by the Canadian Singapore Visa Office in each of the years in (a); (f) what number of Pakistani Christian asylum claims have been accepted by the Singapore Visa Office for resettlement in Canada in each of the years in (a); (g) what number of Pakistani Christian asylum claims were rejected by the Canadian Singapore Visa Office for resettlement in Canada in each of the years in (a); (h) of those Pakistani Christian asylum claims rejected by the Singapore Visa Office for resettlement in Canada, how many Pakistani Christian asylum claims filed for a judicial review in each of the years in (a); (i) of those Pakistani Christian asylum claims rejected by the Singapore Visa Office for resettlement in Canada, how many Pakistani Christian asylum claims filed for a judicial review and received a “second interview” by the Singapore Visa Office in each of the years in (a); (j) how many Pakistani Christian asylum claims which received a “second interview” from a judicial review were accepted for resettlement in Canada by the Canadian Singapore Visa Office in each of the years in (a); (k) does the Singapore Visa Office conduct independent evaluations of asylum claims from Pakistani Christians; (l) what role, if any, does the the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees's assessment of asylum seekers have on the Canadian Visa Officers’ decision; and (m) is a Canadian Visa Officer in Singapore allowed to work for the Canadian government, as well as a private international immigration firm, or would that be considered a conflict of interest?

[Housing, March 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, budget 2018 was a disappointment with very little new money to help Canadians find safe, affordable housing.

The $15.9-billion co-investment fund announced last fall is supposed to start accepting applications in less than a week, but so far, there are no details. Meanwhile, our existing rental stock is aging, and communities are waiting anxiously to make repairs and build new affordable housing, but so far there is nothing.

How much longer will Canadians have to wait?

[Housing, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, when the Liberals unveiled their national housing strategy, the Prime Minister very clearly stated, “Housing rights are human rights”, just days after they voted down our bill on the right to housing. Now they talk about a rights-based approach to housing. However, even the UN special rapporteur on housing has concerns that the government will not recognize that “housing is a human right unto itself.”

When will the government stop using the “right to housing” as an empty slogan and actually recognize this fundamental human right in law?

[The Budget, March 20th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the member may or may not know that housing is a passion of mine. Homelessness and housing in my community sort of pushed me to take that big step to put my name forward, and here I am today.

I appreciate my colleague's comments. The only new money in housing is $11 billion over 10 years. The rest of the money the federal government often talks about is money that is supposed to be coming from provincial governments. We have not heard anything. We are almost hearing crickets when it comes to that conversation. Communities are wondering when the government is going to start to act and pull that forward.

Federal governments have pulled out of housing over the last 30 years. We are nowhere near where the investment was 30 years ago. I want to give my colleague an opportunity to talk about the fact that the government says that it is spending $40 billion but half of that has to come from the provinces. We have not heard anything about those conversations to date.

[Homelessness, February 15th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, let me begin with a quote, which states:

I would encourage the member for Saskatoon West, as well as all members from all parties and all parts of the country, to become part of the government's nation-wide efforts to ensure that all Canadians have the safe and affordable housing they need and deserve.

Through you, to my hon. colleague from South Shore—St. Margarets, and to all parliamentarians on all sides of this House, I say that her call to be part of the government's efforts is exactly what my motion, Motion No. 147, is all about. It is about including all parliamentarians in our collective leadership to end and prevent homelessness. That motion, to remind Canadians, is to create a national plan to end and prevent homelessness, a plan based on results and outcomes. It is not about the political right or left. It is about rolling up our sleeves, and with relentless focus, ending homelessness in this country.

However, I am at a loss as to how we rally the support of Canadians, ourselves, and parliamentarians and tackle such an urgent issue as homelessness by saying that we will only go halfway. We are going to house only 50% of homeless Canadians over 10 years. We can and must do so much better.

We owe an urgent response to each and every Canadian living on our streets without safety or shelter. They are our children, our loved ones, our families, our friends, and our veterans. I want all Canadians to be able to hold in their hands our plan to end and prevent homelessness and say, “This is where my government is going. This is how they are going to get there, and I can hold them to it.”

I want to thank the countless number of Canadians and organizations who support and endorse my motion, organizations like Raising the Roof, the Peel Alliance to End Homelessness, OUTSaskatoon, Quint Development Corporation, Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, the Canadian Housing & Renewal Association, Upstream, the mayor of Saskatoon, the YWCAs of Saskatoon and Lethbridge, the Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and the Alberta Federation of Labour, to name a few. I want to thank my fellow parliamentarians who took the time to meet with me to talk about how we can and must end homelessness in this country.

Two weekends ago, I held a town hall in my adopted neighbourhood in Ottawa at the Centretown United Church. Despite the snow, the lure of Winterlude, and the Super Bowl, people actually came. The one overriding question that emerged was this: where is the urgency by governments to end homelessness? Only one speaker that day got a standing ovation, and it was not me.

Tyler Palmer works for the Youth Services Bureau as a community developer working with tenant organizations. As a young person who has experienced homelessness, Tyler speaks from a place that most of us can only imagine. He said:

...homelessness is its own place: a world of fear and shame, that often feels impossible to escape.... it is hard to fathom why something so basic as shelter is still as elusive as it is, especially in a prosperous and stable country like Canada.

The face of homelessness is changing. It affects young and old, women, families, and children.

Tyler went on to say:

Many come from privileged or advantaged families. No one is immune.... [Many queer and trans youth] are still expelled from their former lives just for being who they are.... In short, homelessness is not just an economic problem, it is a human problem.... As a society, we are on the same road: all of us can do our part. I firmly believe that, only together, can we end the isolation and grief that homelessness creates.

I agree with Tyler. That is why I ask that we all work together to create a federal plan to end homelessness.

Ten years from now, let us not regret what could have been or how far we could have come. Ten years from now, we will have an opportunity to be proud of our efforts as parliamentarians toward ending and preventing homelessness in Canada. We will have the chance to be thankful that we worked together in 2018, that parliamentarians chose to recognize that housing rights are human rights and that our country refused to abandon the most vulnerable.

An urgent and bold federal intervention into the homelessness crisis is possible. Let us work together to build a plan and make sure we get it right. We need not wait for a more perfect time.

[Business of Supply, February 15th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate learning from my hon. colleague from Barrie—Innisfil and other colleagues about some of the issues facing veterans. I want to echo the comments I heard from the member across the way acknowledging the need to rebuild trust. That is very important. We all acknowledge the issues we are dealing with concerning veterans. It is a broken system, and it did not just happen overnight. There is no point hanging out here figuring out whose fault it is. At the same time, I believe that the Prime Minister needs to offer an apology.

I just wanted to mention that I met with Trevor Sanderson, one of the veterans out front who is advocating for changes. He stressed the need to be nonpartisan on this issue to move forward. He said something to me that really resonated, which is that we need to include the voices of veterans who are accessing services to find out what the gaps are. I am concerned that the Liberals are going to go away and figure out a solution to a problem they do not fully understand and will not include the voices of veterans enough.

[Indigenous Peoples and Canada's Justice System, February 14th, 2018]

Mr. Chair, my hon. colleague from Saskatoon—Grasswood and I share a community. We represent citizens in Saskatoon. It is a community that I know we both love. Obviously, from his comments, he understands that we have some challenges. They are not unique to Saskatchewan, but they are challenges that people right across Canada know about. We had a police department in Saskatoon that dropped indigenous people off on the side of town who froze to death. We have had lots of challenges, and there are things we need to do. I liked his comments about education.

To follow up on the comments of my colleague across the way about what changes we need to make or what role education plays in perhaps not having indigenous people overrepresented in the justice system, I wonder if the member could share some ideas on how he thinks those two are linked. What role does education play in people's lives and why is it that indigenous people are not doing well in our education system?

[Business of Supply, February 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his comments and perhaps a bit of a preview of what we might hope to see in the 2018 budget.

Today, we are reminding government members of not only promises they made to Canadians during the election, but also commitments they made here in the House to motions. In particular, I want to bring forward the stock option loophole, and capping it and getting rid of it. I would like to hear the member's comments on the possibilities that would be opened up on what we could do, including what I heard yesterday, which is being able to get rid of the backlog of over 10,000 indigenous post-secondary students who wish to access funding in order to access their treaty right of education.

I hope the member agrees with the motion and will encourage his government to follow through with the promises it made during the election, in particular, to that funding for indigenous students.

[Business of Supply, February 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his very passionate speech about fairness in the tax system and making sure everyone in our communities have access to the things they need to thrive and grow.

My earlier comments talked about the backlog of indigenous students. There are over 10,000 that are unable to access their treaty right to post-secondary education, because there is a backlog of funding for those students.

One of the reasons we are talking about tax avoidance and tax evasion today is that there is an opportunity here for this federal government to, first of all, follow through on not only a commitment here in the House but during the election campaign to find the revenue to make a difference in people's lives. That is part of the equation. The other part is that during the election the government promised to invest an additional $50 million into education so that those students could access their treaty right to post-secondary education.

I would like my hon. colleague to comment about the need to follow through, not just to talk about or indicate but to follow through, on the issues we have raised today, in order for those students to be able to access their education because the funding is available, because the government is actively, and with all seriousness, going after tax avoidance schemes and tax evasion.

[Business of Supply, February 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I will first state that I have a lot of respect for entrepreneurs, people who build things and develop products. It is something I do not have the skills to do, and I have a lot of respect for that.

What I was talking about in my speech was fairness, not giving one group a reduction or a lower tax rate than the other group. I was saying that the government could step up and actually follow through on the promises it made to Canadians during the campaign. If it followed through on its promises to do the things it was asked to do a year ago, it would actually have the funds, without raising taxes, to do the things it said, such as child care and housing.