QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
Ministerial Priorities
November 26, 2024
Welcome, Minister Anandasangaree, and thank you for joining us. It’s good to see you in this house.
I would especially like to welcome you as a neighbour from Scarborough-Rouge Park, where we hail from. I listened keenly to the apology you gave on the weekend to the people of Inuit Nunavik for the mass killing of sleigh dogs, an incredibly cruel act on the part of the Canadian government that took place 60 to 70-plus years ago. Can you share with us the most pressing and timely priority for you as minister following this long-overdue apology? What are the next steps that you’ll be taking?
Thank you for the question, senator. I too wish to express our solidarity as Scarborough folks. I notice one of the pages who brought me here is also from Scarborough, so I want to give a shout-out.
The work around reconciliation is complex and multifold. I think the work that we did this weekend was on addressing some past wrongs and correcting the record to find a path where we can rebuild trust, this time with those from Nunavik. It was a very important and deeply emotional experience for me, and I’m still reflecting on it. I don’t think I have fully caught up with real life after coming back this weekend.
The other more pressing issue that we deal with — and this is not one over the other; it’s a parallel stream — is ensuring that we are setting a long-term path to self-determination. This is about establishing modern treaties and ensuring there’s self-determination over aspects of people’s lives. This summer, we initialled three modern treaties in British Columbia — one with Kitsumkalum First Nation, one with Kitselas First Nation and one with K’ómoks First Nation — and we’re on track to do more of that in the next few months as well.
In your mandate letter, you’re called on to accelerate the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action and the implementation of the 2021 Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People. Can you speak to the progress on these two initiatives?
Thank you, senator. I did speak to some of it earlier. Let me just talk about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action. There are 94 Calls to Action, and I know we have made significant progress. Of those items that are exclusive to federal jurisdiction or mixed jurisdiction, 85% are in progress, and some of them have been completed, but it is going to take time. It is going to be an intergenerational effort.
One of the inspirations I have is I was at — and many of you were there as well — Senator Sinclair’s memorial. It was deeply inspiring to me that he, too, had the same thoughts.
We have a lot of work to do, and it’s something we need to do collectively, senator. It’s not something that I think we’ll be able to complete in our lifetime, but it’s one that we’re all committed to.
