HANSARD: Recent Deaths of First Nations People During Police Interventions Emergency Debate

Debates of Sept. 16th, 2024
House of Commons Hansard #336 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session
Recent Deaths of First Nations People During Police Interventions Emergency Debate

11 p.m.

 

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Mr. Speaker, this is also my first opportunity to make an intervention.

I heard the member's speech. The reality is this: He can rattle off some dollars and then say that the government is doing something. The truth is that it is not doing enough. The truth is that the action is not yielding the results. In fact, there has been very little action. We already know that the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls for action is a failure. We also know that this is the case with the calls for justice for the missing, murdered and indigenous women and girls, to the point where people are now asking, “What is the point?” The government is not taking the necessary actions, and we see death, such as what we are seeing right now, in just two weeks, the last 15 days. This is the reality that indigenous people are faced with.

My question for the member is this: Instead of saying that we should send this for study at a committee, can he tell us what the government is doing to implement all of the TRC's recommendations, and what timeline will it give for that implementation?

 

Francesco Sorbara Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON
Liberal

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Vancouver East, and if I misspoke the name of the riding, please excuse me, used some very strong language with respect to “failure” and so forth. I want to say that I fundamentally disagree with the hon. member's viewpoint on that.

Our government has been diligent. Our government's first and most important priority is the relationship with first nations, which is a nation-to-nation relationship. To say that there have been failures and shortcomings, I will be as polite as I can be on that. Our government and the ministers have worked very diligently with first nations people in building this nation-to-nation relationship. It does not happen overnight. This is a system that is in place.

What is going on is obviously something long-standing. The issues faced by first nations people did not happen overnight, but over many decades, if not centuries. To make sure we get this right requires diligence, co-operation, collaboration, looking at things in a positive manner and taking action, which our government has been doing over the past number of years.

 

Click this link to read the Hansard:

https://openparliament.ca/debates/2024/9/16/jenny-kwan-14/

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