Health committee  I actually support what Francyne just said. If you want to have these conversations, they need to include us. Reconciliation is about having us all at the table because part of reconciliation is our healing. We can't heal by somebody's actions that happen in some ivory tower somewhere else.

Health committee  In some of the incidents that we are aware of, it was social workers in a place in the hospitals where they were assessing that the person had too many children that they couldn't properly care for, or there were poverty issues or other social issues, and they're the ones who encouraged the signing of the documents at the hospital.

Health committee  The federal government could play a key role in helping to ensure that institutions across this country develop policies that provide cultural safety in trauma-informed work within all these institutions so that when indigenous people go there, it isn't based on a racist view of who they are, but on finding a supportive, culturally safe environment.

Health committee  Can I also add something to that? Many of these indigenous women who are being taken advantage of in these ways are disadvantaged. They may have had issues within the medical institutions in the past. They may have had behavioural issues that have been targeted. We know of many instances where women are red-flagged, so when they come into the hospitals for procedures ,they're treated in a certain way.

Health committee  Yes, I do. If we were to put laws in place that made people accountable for coerced and forced sterilization, do I think, much like they said, a bunch of doctors would end up in a jail cell? No. I don't believe that. But I do believe this brings accountability into this question.

Health committee  We don't know how many women have been impacted or affected by forced sterilization. Number one, when we went to our community and talked to the women in our community and sampled only a small group of women, many of them had no idea what their experiences were. They hadn't shared that with their fellow Métis sisters.

Health committee  Good afternoon. First, thank you to the committee for inviting Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak to speak here today. We're the national voice for Métis women in the Métis homeland. We wanted to come here to discuss the gross violation of basic human rights that must be rectified in the name of justice for Métis women.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I support what they've already presented.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If you want to talk about the best interests of the child, I think you need to work with the indigenous communities to help identify what that is in relation to who they are. Quite often the best interests of the child have been based on a system that wasn't our system. What might have been important in a European process might not be the most culturally relevant, important thing to these children.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First off, there was a considerable amount of consultation that was done in relationship to the building of this law. I want to tell you that I don't know that I would have defined it as co-developed. I'm going to be sincere about that. We didn't even see the bill that was being brought forward, the final draft of the bill.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. Good morning, everybody. My name is Melanie Omeniho and I am the President of Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak, Women of the Métis Nation. I want to identify, before we get going, that Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak is not the French version of Women of the Métis Nation.

Status of Women committee  One thing I would say is that, especially in corrections, if people understood their responsibilities and their rights as individuals within the system, they'd feel a lot more comfortable to identify. If identifying as an indigenous person in an institution is going to put me into the gang unit, I don't want to be there either.

Status of Women committee  I'm not sure where you would find the evidence, but I know there have been studies done, even on profiling by way of carding, for instance, which is going on in our communities right now. I don't think you'd have to look very far to find a lot of that evidence.

Status of Women committee  No, but I mean, I'm just using that—

Status of Women committee  But it is true. Why can't you ask the question? Why can't people identify? It would put us on a train towards understanding the differences and distinctness of each of our communities.