Yvonne Jones

[Natural Resources, May 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, as has already been indicated and as the member opposite knows, the contract for the pipeline expansion has been awarded, and it has included provisions that almost 75% of the steel, which I believe is equivalent to about 800 kilometres of pipe, will be produced right in Regina. I know that is good news for him, just as it is for us, and we share his enthusiasm in seeing the project proceed.

The Trans Mountain expansion pipeline is in Canada's national interest, and it is part of the sensible approach that includes diversifying our energy market, improving environmental safety, and creating thousands of good middle-class jobs, including good jobs in indigenous communities as well.

What I would say to the member is that regardless of who develops this pipeline, we will always maintain that it will be done in the interest of Canadians and it will be done to the benefit of Canadians.

[Natural Resources, May 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this is both timely and important because, as the Minister of Natural Resources noted earlier this week, the contracts for this pipeline expansion have already been awarded, and the economic development benefits for the project will be felt right across the country, including in the member opposite's home province of Saskatchewan, which I'm sure he is very pleased to hear this evening.

It will include a contract that ensures that almost 75% of the steel, or about 250,000 tonnes of pipe, will come from Regina. This is one of the reasons this government decided that the Trans Mountain expansion pipeline is in Canada's national interest, as it will create thousands of good jobs.

However, this is not the only reason. As the Minister of Natural Resources has outlined on more than one occasion, by moving more Canadian oil to export markets, our producers will have greater access to new global markets and higher prices. That could add billions annually to the value of our oil exports.

In addition, the construction and operation of the pipeline is expected to generate billions in new federal government and provincial government revenues. Those are new tax dollars to pay for our hospitals and schools, to build new roads and safe bridges in our communities, and to fund our cherished social programs that extend to every Canadian in this country.

This is all while our government is also making unprecedented investments to enhance environmental protection and indigenous participation, investments that include the historic world-leading $1.5-billion oceans protection plan, which will strengthen the eyes and ears of the Canadian Coast Guard, enhance our response capabilities, and build meaningful partnerships with indigenous people.

The Prime Minister has called the TMX project a “vital strategic interest to Canada”, and he instructed the Minister of Finance to initiate formal financial discussions with the pipeline's proponent, Kinder Morgan.

Last week the finance minister updated Canadians on the status of those discussions by noting that our government is “prepared to indemnify the project against any financial loss that derives from [B.C.] Premier Horgan's attempts to delay or obstruct the project.” The finance minister also said that “The indemnification would allow Kinder Morgan to finish what they started, what they received federal and B.C. approval to do.” Furthermore, our government is prepared to extend the indemnification to another interested party should Kinder Morgan decide not to proceed with the expansion, and we will make sure that the support we provide is sound, fair, and beneficial to all Canadians.

We want and expect to see this pipeline built, and we are doing so with an approach that is sound and sensible for Canada and for all Canadians.

I want to thank the member for his question and I certainly want to thank the members of our government, who have worked very hard in leading this initiative to where it is today.

[Rural Crime, May 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise to speak this evening to Motion No. 167, which is focused on the study of rural crime in Canada. I certainly want to commend the member for Lakeland for the motion and for bringing it forward to the House of Commons.

The issue of rural crime is certainly worthy of a committee study, and we support that. It is important that it be brought to our attention in the House, but also to the attention all Canadians.

While rural crime has declined overall since 2014 in most regions of Canada, there are exceptions in some provinces where there has been a notable increase in property crime. We know that as much as 30% of violent gun crimes in Canada happen outside of a major city. Overall, the territories and Saskatchewan have the highest rates of firearm-related violent crime within the country. I say all of this with the caveat that data comparing urban and rural crime statistics tends to be outdated in the country. That alone is one reason why a detailed study of the issue by the committee would be most welcome.

During the first hour of debate, we heard that one of the fundamental challenges facing rural areas was the lack of current data. Rising rates of property crime, home invasions, and thefts are problems often compounded by isolation, distance from police, and unreliable cellular service. Motion No. 167 stipulates that the committee should consider these factors and trends, and should look at policing resources and policies in developing recommendations to curb rural crime.

The government has indicated its support, and I am here to reconfirm our support for the motion. Should the committee undertake this study, it is my hope that it does so in a way that complements Bill C-71, an act to amend certain acts and regulations in relation to firearms, which is currently being studied within the Commons.

That legislation proposes practical and sensible measures to address growing rates of firearm-related crimes, keeping guns out of the wrong hands, and ensuring the safety of all Canadian communities, from coast to coast to coast.

It is truly all about protecting Canadians. Whether in urban or rural Canada, I know that during a study members will have the chance to hear important testimony that will reflect the needs and challenges facing rural communities specifically.

Canadians expect the government to be smart on crime, and that is exactly what we are doing.

The government announced major new federal funding in 2017, committing up to $327 million over five years, and $100 million annually thereafter, to help support a variety of initiatives to reduce gun crime and gang activities. Close to $43 million was committed to projects to support the national crime prevention strategy, a strategy that we all know has been working well in so many communities across the country.

That funding allows the government to support the development of cost-effective ways to prevent and reduce crime among at-risk populations and vulnerable communities, rural and urban, by intervening to mitigate the underlying factors that put them at risk. It provides support to programs that reach out to young people to help steer them away from problem behaviours, like drugs and gangs, with additional funding programs supporting crime prevention in northern and indigenous communities, as well as other communities across Canada. It is a plan that is working.

In fact, Public Safety Canada's aboriginal community safety planning initiative continues to support indigenous communities in developing community-specific plans that address their unique vulnerabilities and circumstances.

As has been the case on so many important issues, the government continues to reach out to Canadians to get information and to get their opinions on the way forward when it comes to important issues like this that impact our lives.

In March, the Minister of Public Safety hosted a Summit on gun and gang violence, with the goal of hearing from and engaging both urban and rural representatives on a range of issues and best practices to combat guns and gangs. The government heard from over 180 experts at this summit, from law enforcement to indigenous to youth and community organizations to mayors from large municipalities and representatives from most provinces and territories. Rural crime was an important topic of discussion at that summit.

The government confirmed that funding would support communities, law enforcement, and border operation efforts to crack down on crime. The views heard at the summit will help target that funding to best reflect local realities.

The funding includes initiatives addressing prevention, enforcement, and the disruption of crime. It is on top of investments we have already made over the next five years for policing on first nations and in Inuit communities. This investment, which is nearly $292 million over that period of time, will be under the first nations policing program to ensure that both first nations and Inuit communities have the policing services they require.

There are up to $144 million to support priorities including salaries, policing equipment, and addressing officer safety. There is an additional nearly $45 million, starting in 2019, for up to 110 additional officers in existing agreements with these particular groups and governments. That means continued support for professional, dedicated, and culturally responsive policing in over 450 first nations and Inuit communities across Canada.

These are policing investments in indigenous communities both on reserve and off in Inuit and first nations regions, which we are very proud of as a government. We are very proud of the fact that it will help us in addressing the issues around guns and gangs, but also in increasing the human resources and additional resources for policing in many of these areas.

Some areas are looking at reduced crime in a proactive way, for example, through the crime reduction strategy in Alberta, the rural crime watch, the community safety officers, and the community constable program. The RCMP has developed strong relationships with communities and rural associations. There are now 55 communities in Saskatchewan participating in that program, and 80 more have shown an interest in joining.

These are the reasons our government welcomes the motion from the member today. We know much more needs to be done, and we are determined to do it. For example, in 2018-19, the RCMP plans to increase its enrolment in the cadet program by nearly 1,300 cadets, depending on operational needs and the ability to support the efforts we are outlining today to combat rural crime.

At this time, I want to acknowledge the work of the RCMP and the critical role its members play in protecting and providing for the safety of all Canadians. We need to ensure they have the resources and the staffing to do their jobs and to do them properly.

I talked to RCMP officers in Saskatchewan just recently. They are dealing with a lot of gun and gang violence in the regions they serve. They are very happy to know that our government is investing money to increase policing on reserve, to provide them with additional resources in those regions, and to ensure we allow them to do their jobs and do it properly, providing for their own safety and protection as well.

I want to thank all of those officers out there who go above and beyond to serve and protect us as Canadians. We want to do what is necessary to ensure they are safe in their jobs in keeping Canadians safe.

[National Seal Products Day, May 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, today I am wearing seal in honour of National Seal Products Day. Inuit and coastal communities across Nunavut, Atlantic Canada, and Quebec have relied on seal and seal products for sustenance and survival for millennia, and continue to do so to this day.

Seal day is about recognizing and honouring the historical, social, cultural, and economic contributions that seals represent for our communities. It is a day when we can recognize and counter narratives about the seal harvest that seek to delegitimize the practice, as these have had devastating impacts on our indigenous and coastal communities. Supporting a culturally sensitive, sustainable, and humane seal harvest, I believe, is just one step on our path to reconciliation with all Canadians who depend upon this resource.

I urge everyone to watch the award-winning documentary Angry lnuk, which talks about how vital the seal harvest is to Inuit food security, health, and well-being.

Today, we will host a seal products day in the Speaker's lounge. I invite all my colleagues to join us, and also to join us tonight as we meet with the seal industry of Canada to celebrate National Seal Products Day.

[Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association, May 9th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate National Nursing Week, we acknowledge the tremendous, skilled and caring nurses across Canada and thank them for their endless contributions to health care.

I would like to welcome the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association to Parliament Hill and acknowledge the significant work that it does to advance indigenous nursing and improve the lives of indigenous people.

Through their association, nurses promote the development and practice of indigenous health and nursing to hundreds of communities and reserves in Canada. Through their work, they are providing unique and specialized care to indigenous people. They understand the specific needs of indigenous patients and the challenges that indigenous people often face in accessing and navigating the Canadian health care system.

I ask members to join me today in thanking the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association, all of its employees and those they serve, and to thank all those hard-working and dedicated nurses across Canada who lift us up in our country with hope and health when we need it.

[Business of Supply, April 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Nunavut for his words today and for telling of his lived experiences and how it has affected him. I know it has affected so many people around him in his riding and in our country.

With respect to the journey of healing and reconciliation, especially for residential school survivors, what are some of the key pieces he feels we should be leading as Canadians to make that journey a bit easier and hopefully a whole lot more successful?

[Business of Supply, April 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments today in this debate, and continue to thank the member for Timmins—James Bay for bringing forward this motion to the House.

When the Truth and Reconciliation Commission put out the calls to action, it was a road map for so many people who had been hurt in our country through the residential school system. It was a way we could all enter this journey of reconciliation together. More importantly, it was a journey of reconciliation for survivors of residential schools.

In reflecting on the TRC report and those calls to action, is it the member's belief and understanding that each one of those recommendations is equally important on that journey toward the goal of reconciliation for Canadians?

[Business of Supply, April 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague across the floor for her comments. She is always such an eloquent speaker on many issues in the House of Commons.

Like many others, I realized this when I sat in a room with so many survivors of residential schools in Canada. When they were receiving an apology, whether from the United Church of Canada, the Anglican Church of Canada, or the Government of Canada, there was such a sense of recognition, that someone believed them, someone understood them, and someone accepted that harm had been done to them, harm that never should have happened.

For many survivors, what they are asking of the Pope right now, and I think this is shared by many parishioners and Christians across Canada who recognize this apology is needed to move forward in reconciliation, is that the church recognize harm was done to them and someone should be responsible for that. What we are asking of the Pope is to make right something that has been wrong for a very long time.

[Business of Supply, April 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I know my colleague understands this issue very well, having come from a family that has endured such challenges in this country and under the leadership of the Catholic Church. I too am a child of a family, of a mother, who is a survivor of residential school, and I have met and talked with so many people about their experience. I will always remember the emotion in their voices, the grief and sadness in their eyes, and how so many of them passed away without ever receiving an apology from Canada or from the Church.

Because my colleague understands and knows how so many people are feeling, how critical is this apology from the Pope at this time in allowing reconciliation to move forward for so many of those people who have been affected?

[Business of Supply, April 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the comment made by my colleague is a true reflection and a true comment. Many indigenous cultures, such as the ones I represent, are very devout Christians in many ways. It is fair to say that regardless of the challenges any of us face in our lives, some much greater than others, we all look to a greater power. We all look to a more spiritual and uplifting leadership within our society, within our world, within our universe, within the sphere in which we live. Indigenous peoples, like all people in this world, believe truly in those things that can inspire and uplift them. Indigenous people have been no different.