Madam Speaker, every day I think about how lucky I am to be a Canadian. There is simply no better country in the world. Our nation is seen as a beacon of hope by so many. Whether it is the natural beauty of our environment, the kindness of Canadians, our robust free market economy or the right to live in a free society that seeks to honour and protect the rights of its citizens, we are truly among the most fortunate.
However, Canada has not always been as just as we would like it to be. Certain groups have faced more challenges than others. Indigenous Canadians are one of those groups. The treatment of indigenous peoples is a stain on our history, and we cannot forget about the injustices of the past; we must learn from them.
As a Jewish Canadian, the term “never again” always comes to mind. The commitment of never again is a solemn pledge to never let hatred and injustice take control of our society, to never let genocide take place, to never stand idly by while bad actors motivated by something sinister wipe out those who seem to be getting in their way.
As scholar and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel said:
I swore to never be silent.
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
We are all here as elected officials, 338 out of 38 million Canadians. These 38 million Canadians expect us to get it right. We have no option but to be successful in these efforts.
The process of reconciliation is vital and fundamental to the future of our society. As Canadians, we need to have the difficult conversations necessary to ensure indigenous Canadians can live in a more equitable society for all.
As Senator Murray Sinclair said:
The road we travel is equal in importance to the destination we seek....When it comes to truth and reconciliation we are forced to go the distance.
It is hard to believe the enormous challenges that still exist today for indigenous communities. How is it possible that we live in a country where boil water advisories still exist? It is 2020, and we are witnessing technology development like we have never seen before. We have cellphones that possess 100,000 times more of the computing power than it took to land Neil Armstrong on the moon, and yet we still cannot find a way to get clean running water to indigenous communities.
Before having the honour of serving my community in this place, I was an elected member of Winnipeg City Council. In my time there, we made great progress in advancing initiatives for our city to come together and explore what reconciliation truly means. Just after I was elected to council on January 22, 2015, Maclean's magazine published a story calling my city a place where racism was at its worst.
We could have protested Maclean's assertion, but instead we embraced our own call to action and did what we could do, as Senator Sinclair said, “to go the distance.” That call was to take immediate and proactive steps to make reconciliation more than just a word on a page.
I remember the day vividly. I was driving to city hall when the story came out. Mayor Brian Bowman called an emergency meeting of community stakeholders in both indigenous and non-indigenous communities. I remember partaking in a traditional smudging ceremony that morning in the mayor's office, where we came together with indigenous leaders to express our desire to do better.
As Winnipeggers, we did do better. I want to tell members what we did. In 2015, the year of that article, we held the ONE: The Mayor’s National Summit on Racial Inclusion at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, bringing together many leaders and community members into a think tank of compassion to tackle racism in all its forms.
The following year, the mayor declared 2016 to be the year of reconciliation, and we instituted mandatory indigenous awareness training for all employees and councillors in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's call to action 57. I attended those sessions.
That same year, we invested $10 million towards the building of the Freedom Road project, which built an all-weather road, not in Winnipeg, but to Shoal Lake 40 first nation on the Manitoba-Ontario border. It was completed just over one year ago.
This community has supplied fresh water to Winnipeg for over 100 years and yet has spent decades under a boil-water advisory. I was proud to share a small role as the chair of finance in correcting this tragic irony and historic injustice. We took action, Freedom Road was built and a new water treatment plant is well under construction.
In 2017, we unanimously adopted Winnipeg's first indigenous accord and I was proud to be among its first signatories. This accord marked the beginning of new conversations about the future, as well as a commitment to make our community more inclusive. It provided the framework for indigenous and non-indigenous citizens from across Winnipeg to keep moving forward in our reconciliation journey. I worked alongside my council colleagues to look inward and talk about what we could do to be better as a city. We chose unity over division and worked to amend the wrongs of the past. We worked to foster a positive public dialogue about reconciliation with indigenous groups across our communities to ask them how we could do better. I have no doubt that each of my colleagues from here and across Canada share these goals.
If we could do all those things in Winnipeg, we in this place can do so much more. Canada is a nation of immigrants that stands on the traditional territories of and shoulder to shoulder with first nations, Inuit and Métis people. In fact, as many people have acknowledged today, we are gathered right now on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin people.
Canada is one of the few countries in the world where indigenous and treaty rights are constitutionally entrenched. I firmly believe that educating all Canadians about these rights is an important step on the path to reconciliation. I am pleased to join my Conservative colleagues in supporting treaty rights and the process of reconciliation with Canada's indigenous peoples and in supporting this bill. In fact, our party's policy declaration acknowledges this fact where it says that it is a fundamental obligation of the federal government to improve the living conditions of indigenous Canadians, including Inuit, in terms of economic opportunities, health, education and community safety.
I have spoken to countless new Canadians who have become citizens of our great country. The day they get to stand and pledge their allegiance to Canada is the affirmation of many years of hard work and struggle. The oath represents opening the door to new opportunities and new beginnings for many who have escaped war-torn countries, genocide, human rights abuses or were simply looking for a better life for them and their families. As a part of this proposed bill, new Canadians must swear or affirm that they will observe the laws of Canada, including indigenous rights. Becoming a new Canadian involves learning about our constitutional rights and understanding the history of Canada's relationship with indigenous peoples and the need for reconciliation.
The changes proposed by this bill to the oath of citizenship, namely the addition of recognizing constitutionally entrenched rights for indigenous Canadians, will be an important lesson for all those looking to make Canada their home. This will signal that reconciliation with indigenous Canadians is among our highest priorities and we welcome new Canadians to become part of this journey.
Our society is plagued by voices who continue to call for hatred and discrimination. As Canadians, we must be better than this. We cannot succumb to these calls. We must respect the truly important work that was done by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and work together to ensure that reconciliation is a part of Canada's present and future.
In closing, we have lots of work to do, not only as legislators but as Canadians. We need to ensure that we do our part in building a better future for all Canadians. We need to build an inclusive society where Canadians from all walks of life can feel safe, secure and be afforded the fundamental rights and freedoms granted to them as citizens of our great nation. We need to continue to have those uncomfortable conversations and remember the dark chapters of our past as we move forward on the path toward reconciliation.