“The use of the Emergencies Act was unprecedented, and Canadians rightly have many questions about how the government let the situation get to a point where that became necessary. Failures in leadership from several levels of government during the convoy crisis all contributed to the hardship Canadians endured. While governments argued over jurisdictions, people were abandoned. Canadians were abandoned because governments did not take the threat of this convoy seriously and took too long to act.
Canadians expect a thorough inquiry into the use of the Emergencies act and New Democrats support its broad mandate. However, the Liberals are doing everything possible to protect themselves from being held accountable for their delayed response to the illegal occupation. By claiming cabinet confidence, the Liberals are shielding themselves from scrutiny and this cannot be the government’s approach to the inquiry. Canadians deserve much better.
Today’s report only amplifies what many people of colour, women, 2SLGBTQI+ and Indigenous people within the military have been saying for decades: systemic racism and discrimination is rampant in our armed forces, and real action to address this is long overdue.
Both the Liberals and Conservatives have failed to make systemic changes as numerous stories of discrimination and rising extremism within the military have gone unchecked. In the past 20 years, 41 panels and 258 recommendations alerted the government on the gravity of the situation, but just like reports of sexual misconduct within the Canadian Armed Forces, these calls for help were largely ignored. Service members and employees at the Department of Defence should not have to continue to wait for concrete steps to be taken to address systemic racism within the army ranks.
“In his announcement today, the Minister failed to acknowledge the real reason why Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada quietly stopped the Federal Skilled Worker Program. Through an Access to Information and Privacy request, it was revealed that “These reductions are due to admissions space required to accommodate the Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident stream and the resettlement of Afghan nationals to Canada.”
The truth is the Liberal government failed to listen to calls from the NDP and those affected by these delays to ensure adequate staffing and immigration levels are available to meet the announcement of these two new immigration measures.
The lack of transparency and communication from this government is appalling and an insult to the people who are trying to balance important life decisions around possible outcomes of their applications. It should not take an Access to Information request for those aspiring to come to Canada to learn the truth about the processing delays.
“Today’s news reveals that Liberals are backing down on drug price reforms that would make life-saving medication more affordable for Canadians. While many Canadians are forced to make the difficult choice between buying their medication or putting food on the table, the Liberals choose to protect the interests of large, profitable pharmaceutical companies.
New Democrats have long called on the government to bring our drug prices into line with other countries. The reality is that federal policy keeps drug prices high for Canadians already struggling to get by with the rising cost of living. The lack of courage of the Liberals to stand up to Big Pharma means millions of Canadians will continue to go without the medication they need. This must change. No Canadian should ever go without the medicine they need.
“Today, my heart goes out to the George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan as they process the devastating discovery of 14 potential unmarked burial sites close to the former George Gordon Indian Residential School. Indigenous Peoples across Canada feel this pain as we are once again reminded of the genocide that was perpetrated and still goes on to this day.
The Prime Minister has promised to take significant steps to help communities heal and find truth, but many Indigenous communities still lack the resources they need.
New Democrats continue their calls for the Liberal government to give Indigenous Peoples the truth and justice they are owed.
“During the pandemic, our loved ones in long-term care suffered or died due to a lack of proper care. The pandemic has shown us the devastating costs of government inaction and neglect in our health care system – drastic changes are needed to support seniors.
Justin Trudeau promised long-term care workers, residents, and their families better support and more funding during the 2021 campaign. He broke that promise. While the Liberals promised an $9 billion investment into improving the quality and availability of long-term care homes, Budget 2022 included only $1 million in new spending.
As part of the NDP’s effort to tackle systemic racism and discrimination, earlier this year, Julian tabled a bill that would prevent anyone from selling and displaying symbols that promote hatred. The symbols that would be banned are Swastikas and other Nazi emblems of the genocidal regime, Klu Klux Klan symbols and the Confederate flag, symbols of slavery, racism and of white supremacy.
“Symbolic gestures don’t eliminate hateful and violent crimes against Indigenous people, Black, Asian and other marginalized communities,” said Julian. “We need real action with tangible objectives. People are tired of hearing pretty words. They want their government to stop the spread of hate in our communities. And this bill is one of the tools that the NDP is putting forward to combat hate, racism, discrimination and extremism.”
“Some of the funding allocations within the budget were misplaced. The government’s priorities are out of place, as it seems that they’re putting more energy towards strengthening the bureaucracy that has contributed to the government’s failure, than helping to resettle, and to process applications, and [address] the backlog,” said NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.) in an interview.
Kwan said the government needs to provide further transparency about what exactly the purpose of these funds will be, particularly as they are going to CBSA and CSIS—two organizations that are not exactly tasked with welcoming asylum-seekers in.
“When they say they’re strengthening the integrity of the government system, maybe what they can do is strengthen the integrity of the system by ensuring that applications are processed in a timely manner,” she quipped.
“New Democrats are appalled by how the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is reportedly treating Muslim organizations like the Muslim Association of Canada. We see clearly that Islamophobia and other forms of racism continue to exist in our systems of government. Not only does this pose a threat to the well-being of our communities, but it also hurts the social fabric of our country. We welcome the legal challenge launched on Wednesday.
Last summer, nearly 100 Muslim organizations and civil society groups sent a letter to the Prime Minister calling on him to reform the CRA’s auditing processes, which they allege unfairly target Muslims.
NDP MP Jenny Kwan on Wednesday called for the government to waive documentation requirements for Afghan refugees and streamline the process to allow people to enter Canada quicker.
Kwan said in a statement that the government had requested “even more documentation” from family members of Afghan interpreters’ families seeking asylum. She said Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) had emailed the interpreters stating they had 30 days to submit additional documents for their resettlement or their applications could be refused.
“The families have already submitted abundant documentation to IRCC when they first applied. Now, eight months later, the government is putting up more hurdles for [them],” Kwan said.
“While the families flee for their lives in Afghanistan, the government is burying their loved ones with more onerous paperwork. For some, this may as well be a death sentence.”
Kwan called for the Liberals to waive the documentation requirements, issue single travel journey documents to the family members to reach a third country and organize evacuation flights to reunite them with their loved ones in Canada. The NDP is also calling on the government to waive the refugee determination requirements and allow the families to apply for the special immigration measures from within Afghanistan.
“Former Afghan interpreters are part of the Canadian military family — they deserve recognition,” Kwan said.
“Former Afghan interpreters are part of the Canadian military family — they deserve recognition,” Kwan said.