Ya'ara Saks

[Passport Canada, May 6th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, we continue to work to open as many client counters as possible and passport offices. As I mentioned before, we have hired 500 new employees, and we continue to work with workload management and processing technology to increase efficiency in our processing call centres and our offices. We have extended hours both on weekdays and weekends, and we continue to provide as much service as physically possible to Canadians for the service they are entitled to.

[Passport Canada, May 6th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, we have been preparing for this for some time. As early as December, we hired 500 new employees to process passports. We opened three new processing centres around the country, and over the weekends we opened as many locations as possible to serve Canadians. In addition to that, over 300 Service Canada centres are processing passport applications for Canadians.

We continue to do more to alleviate this unprecedented level of demand for service.

[Passport Canada, May 6th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, Canadians are travelling again, and there has been an unprecedented volume increase in the demand for passports for those who wish to travel. It has resulted in long lineups and wait times for in-person service. We do understand that this situation is difficult and stressful for many.

The minister has been travelling across the country visiting Service Canada locations to hear directly from frontline staff who have been working days, nights and weekends to alleviate the long lines and the wait times. We have hired 500 new employees, and the minister and the department will continue to turn every rock to find solutions to serve Canadians with the service they are entitled to.

[Passport Canada, April 29th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, as we know, Canadians have waited a long time to travel again, and many of them are eager to do so to reunite with loved ones and to take a much-needed rest and vacation, but as I mentioned before, demand for passports is up over 40%, and our Service Canada employees are working night and day, overtime and weekends. As I said before, we will continue to uncover every opportunity to ensure Canadians receive the service they deserve.

[Passport Canada, April 29th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, there is an overwhelming increase in demand for passport services at this time, of nearly 40%. The minister has been working with officials. As I mentioned before, as of December we had already hired 500 new passport employees, but we have done more than that. We created three additional passport application processing centres. We have extended service into weekends and overtime. Our Service Canada officials are working day and night to make sure that Canadians get the passports and services they need.

[Employment Insurance, April 29th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, as I mentioned previously, we are doing everything we can to ensure that the EI services and support that Canadians have paid into are received by them in a timely manner. We recognize the concern and the hardship that they are experiencing through fraud, and we are working diligently with officials to make sure they receive their benefits in an integrated action plan. We have increased our EI call centre and Service Canada centre officers to be trained to address these hardships and to be a first point of contact for those who are experiencing them. We will continue to work diligently with our officials to make sure that people receive the benefits they deserve.

[Employment Insurance, April 29th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

We recognize the concern and the hardship of identity theft and attempted EI fraud that has happened to many Canadian families, particularly in Quebec. The department has seen an increase in the attempt in fraudulent activity and we know it has impacted the benefit payments of many individuals.

In response to the situation, the minister has expressed her concern to officials and then asked officials to explore ever effort possible to assist Canadians in combatting fraudulent activity in their accounts and to make sure that their benefits are secured and received in a timely manner. This includes adding approximately 150 investigators who are dedicated to resolving these issues in Quebec.

[Passport Canada, April 29th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, we know that Canadians are eager to travel again, and there has been a significant and overwhelming increase in demand for passports at all Service Canada centres across the country from those wanting in-person service. I have spoken to the minister about this and she is well aware that it is very stressful and difficult for Canadians. She has been visiting Service Canada centres throughout the country speaking to local staff. In addition, already in December, we hired 500 more passport officers to process applications.

We are using every tool that we have in our tool box at this time to improve service to Canadians for what they deserve.

[Yom HaShoah, April 28th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, last night around the world, Jewish communities began to mark, from sunset to sunset, Yom HaShoah, which is Holocaust memorial day.

This morning at 10 a.m. in Israel, air raid sirens sounded throughout the country. An entire nation, the Jewish people, stopped their day-to-day lives at the moment of these sirens. They were a collective cry. It was a moment to reflect, to listen and remember.

On this day, six million of our people live in all of our hearts. Today, we are the eyes that remember. Today, we are their voice. Today, we cry for them and for what was lost in their murder at the hands of the Nazi regime. We cry for their memory.

I was honoured to join the Prime Minister and colleagues from across the House this morning to stand with the Jewish community at the national Holocaust memorial to honour and remember the men, women and children whose lives have been lost forever.

We stand together as the Jewish community with our country here in Canada to say clearly and resolutely, “never again”. In every generation, it is our duty and obligation to honour the victims of the Holocaust, to learn from this tragic moment in humanity and to ensure that the words “never again” are both a focus of remembrance and a reminder to never be complacent in the face of evil and to be relentless in our efforts to fight back against the darkness of hate.

Lighting a flame of remembrance today is to shine a light into all of our hearts and to protect those who are in crisis. Then, now and always,

[Member spoke in Hebrew]

[English]

May their memories be a blessing.

[National Strategy Respecting Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Act, April 26th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I cannot express how happy I am to talk about this bill.

I would like to congratulate Ms. Zann, because her leadership on environmental racism and justice is exemplary. She started the fight as a provincial member and continued her advocacy so fiercely and so strongly, and I had the honour and the pleasure, along with my colleague over there who spoke earlier, to learn from her and Dr. Waldron how pressing an issue environmental racism and environmental justice is in this country for Black, indigenous and racialized communities.

We should congratulate all of those who have advocated and fought for this. We are, in this moment, able to bring this back to the table, where it belongs. We need to celebrate that leadership and honour the importance this moment holds with this legislation, because systemic racism is a fact in Canada and around the world.

One of my Conservative colleagues questioned earlier the ability of the government to even do this and whether it would be able to act and respond to this. I will dig a little into my Jewish roots. We have a beautiful expression in Hebrew that I will share:

[Member spoke in Hebrew]

[English]

“It is not upon you to finish building the kingdom, but you are not allowed to step away from the opportunity to start the work.”

[Member spoke in Hebrew]

[English]

“You are not free to release yourself from beginning this work.”

This work has been waiting for over 70 years. For 70 years, communities across this country have suffered. Their socio-economic status and health and well-being have been impacted in ways that we do not even begin to understand unless we pass legislation such as this and until we begin to dig into the science and the data to truly understand the harms that have been done.

I am so happy to support this legislation as it comes into the House and the work that needs to be done, because I worked on it already. I want to thank again Dr. Ingrid Waldron, Ms. Zann and all of those champions. We have so much to learn and we also have so much to fix and heal. We need the understanding, the data, the knowledge, the legislation and the framework in place so we can learn, ask the questions and be challenged on those answers to know how to move forward.

The tide rises, but it is not equal for everyone. That is what we know about environmental justice and environmental racism. Not everyone is in the same boat and not everyone has had the same experience, and we have an obligation to make sure all Canadians in this country have a healthy and safe environment to live, to grow, to thrive and to succeed in. Unless we ask those tough questions in a framework such as this national strategy, we are not able to give them the answers they deserve.

I would challenge my colleagues who question our ability to do this not to question the ability to do it, but just to do it. We do not need to ask why, maybe, if or if it is possible. It is possible, because we choose to make it possible. For the sake of marginalized and racialized communities, we absolutely have the obligation to do it.

To each and every one of us in the House who has fought for the principles of climate change, such as my colleague from the Bloc, whom I sat at the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development with, and so many others who understand that this is the moment, we need to move forward with asking these questions and putting these types of bills forward to make sure we get the right answers for all Canadians.