INDIGENOUS LOBBY DAY Canadian Labour Congress - CLC Convention 2021
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Canadian Labour Congress INDIGENOUS LOBBY DAY
facebook.com/clc-ctc @canadianlabour @canadianlabour youtube.com/canadianlabour canadianlabour.ca Canadian Labour Congress Anti-Racism & Human Rights Tel: 613-521-3400
Table of Contents It’s Time to Take Action 2 Safe Drinking Water 4 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls 8 Honouring Residential School Children 10 Indigenous Education 12 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 14
It’s Time
to Take Action
2
First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) peoples THE ISSUES:
in Canada have been subject to gross human
rights violations throughout history. The legacy As per the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
of colonialism, the paternalistic Indian Act, the (TRC) report, “. . . Reconciliation is about
forced relocation, marginalization and abuse of establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful
Inuit communities, and the disgrace around the relationship between Indigenous and non-
treatment of missing and murdered Indigenous Indigenous peoples in this country.
women and girls (MMIWG) and their families,
are only scratching the surface of the root In order for that to happen, there has to be
causes of generational trauma haunting FNMI awareness of the past, an acknowledgement of
communities. Canada’s unions have been and the harm that has been inflicted, atonement for
continue to be at the forefront of human rights the causes, and action to change behaviour.”
issues and believe that justice for FNMI peoples is Canada’s unions are calling for action on
long overdue. reconciliation as prescribed by the TRC report.
As of November 30, 2017, Health Canada Reconciliation is a process. It is continuous.
reported 130 advisories in effect in 85 Reconciliation is complex. It is about learning and
communities. unlearning. It is about challenging ourselves. Most
of all, reconciliation is necessary and necessary
A 2011 Statistics Canada report estimated that now.
Indigenous women are seven times more likely
to be victims of homicide than non-Indigenous
women.
The legacy of residential schools and the Sixties
Scoop points to generational trauma added to JUSTICE FOR FIRST
the existing systemic barriers faced by FMNI
communities in what we call Canada today. NATIONS, MÉTIS,
That is why the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) AND INUITS PEOPLES
is calling on the federal government to take action
on: IS LONG OVERDUE.
• safe drinking water for First Nations
communities;
• justice for MMIWG;
• Indigenous education and honouring for
residential school children; and
• passing Bill C-369 for National Day for Truth
and Reconciliation.
3
Safe Drinking Water 4
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS:
• Provide appropriate funds and resources to As of early 2019, there were long-term drinking
support the development of much-needed water advisories affecting dozens of First Nations
publicly delivered water infrastructure; communities and about 45,000 First Nations
individuals without access to safe, dependable
• Support the training and certification of First drinking water or proper sanitation.
Nation water operators;
The Government of Canada committed to ending
• Implement more effective water treatment all long-term advisories on public water systems
processes, guaranteed by the federal on reserves by March 2021.
government;
According to a Department of Indigenous Services
• Invest in and share successful models of First Canada (DISC) news release in January 2019,
Nations-led approaches to resolving drinking since the Government of Canada’s commitment
water advisories, including the development was made in November 2015, 78 long-term
and implementation of source water protection drinking water advisories have been lifted on
plans; public systems on reserve. DISC is working
to end the remaining 62 long-term advisories
• Ensure adequate education and training for and prevent further short-term advisories from
First Nations to be able to make decisions becoming long-term.
about the treatment of their own water;
According to DISC, since November 2015, 95
• Develop legislation and regulations impacting short-term drinking water advisories (lasting
First Nations’ right to clean water with First between 2 and 12 months) were lifted before
Nations as equal partners; and becoming long-term.
• Develop a long-term infrastructure strategy that However, new short-term drinking water
addresses the municipal infrastructure deficit advisories have also been added; there were
and includes funds dedicated to supporting 27 “short-term” advisories added in 2018, and
wastewater facility upgrades that meet federal as of as of January 25, 16 had been added in
standards. 2019. As well, these figures only include short-
term drinking water advisories in First Nations
Access to safe drinking water is vital to the communities below 60 degrees north.
health of all Canadians. Drinking water needs
to be managed rigorously and tested regularly The 2016 federal budget committed
to ensure its safety and protect public health. $1.8 billion over five years for on-reserve
Provinces have legislation and regulations in water and wastewater infrastructure. Budget
place to ensure the safety of the drinking water 2017 invested an additional $4 billion over
supply chain, but provincial regulations are not 10 years, starting in 2018-2019, to build and
applied on reserves. improve infrastructure in First Nations and Inuit
communities. The 2018 budget committed an
additional $172.6 million over three years,
5
starting in 2018-2019, to improve access to
clean and safe drinking water on reserve.
However, this federal commitment only pertains
to water and sanitation systems financially
supported by DISC. Although the Department
financially supports most systems on reserves, it
does not support all systems; even if the federal
government fulfills its commitment, First Nations
communities may continue to struggle with
inadequate infrastructure.
Long-Term Drinking Water Advisories
1. The federal government’s goal: all long-term
drinking water advisories on public systems on
reserve lifted by March 2021.
2. 78 long-term drinking water advisories lifted
since November 2015; 62 long-term drinking
water advisories remain.
3. Projects underway or completed as of
September 30, 2018:
• 383 water and wastewater projects to
repair, upgrade or build infrastructure
• 55 supporting initiatives like water
operator training
• 52 feasibility studies to determine
infrastructure needs
67
Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women and
Girls
8OUR RECOMMENDATIONS:
The CLC is calling on the government to focus The rate of sexual assault of Indigenous women
on the following key considerations to ensure the is more than three times that of non-Indigenous
success of the MMIWG Inquiry: women.² The homicide rate of Indigenous women
in Canada is six times higher than for non-
• The Inquiry report must include the Indigenous women in 2017.³ The police solve
development of a national action plan to end rate for Indigenous women homicide victims was
violence against Indigenous women; only 76% compared to 84% for non-Indigenous
women victims—a shift from past years when the
• The Government of Canada must fully rates had been similar for these groups.
implement all recommendations made in the
Inquiry report. The missing and murdered Indigenous women
crisis must be understood within the past and
There was a strong public outcry and demand present context of colonialism that devalues
from numerous segments of Canadian society, their being and culture resulting in a long
including Indigenous women’s groups, civil and continuing history of the sexualisation,
society and human rights groups, women’s groups racialization and commodification of Indigenous
and labour, for the government to take greater women.
and immediate action to address the national
crisis of MMIWG. In 2015, the TRC’s Call to Action #41 urged
the government to establish a public inquiry to
In 2014, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police look into MMIWG. In September 2016, the
(RCMP) reported 1,181 Indigenous women were government officially launched the national public
killed or went missing across the country between inquiry into MMIWG. The MMIWG Commission
1980 and 2012.1 However, in 2016, the then submitted their interim report on November
Minister for the Status of Women suggested 1, 2017. The Commission asked for a 2-year
that the total number of missing and murdered extension to their mandate but the government
Indigenous women could be closer to 4,000 – agreed to a shorter extension instead. The
much higher than reported by the RCMP. MMIWG Commission currently has until April
30, 2019, to submit the final report, and another
Indigenous women and girls in Canada two months, or until June 30, 2019, to conclude
disproportionately experience and are affected by operations.
violence, and are highly over-represented among
women homicide victims.
1
RCMP. 2014. Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: A National Operational Overview. http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/missing-
and-murdered-aboriginal-women-national-operational-overview
2
JustFacts. July 2017. Victimization of Indigenous Women and Girls. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/jf-pf/2017/docs/july05.pdf
3
Sara Beattie, Jean-Denis David and Joel Roy. November 21, 2018. Homicide in Canada, 2017. Juristat 85-002-X. https://www150.
statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2018001/article/54980-eng.htm
9Honouring Residential
School Children
10OUR RECOMMENDATIONS:
• That the federal government provide sufficient the existing systemic barriers faced by FNMI
funding to the National Residential School Student communities in what we call Canada today.
Death Register; and
• Established in the 1800s under Prime Minister
• Fund research for the missing remains of all Sir John A. MacDonald, the goal of the
children who died at residential schools and residential school system was to “civilize”
present the remains to the families who request it. Canada’s Indigenous population.
• “Residential schooling was always more than • Over 150,000 FNMI children were a part of the
simply an educational program: it was an integral residential school system.
part of a conscious policy of cultural genocide”
—TRC Summary Report • Approximately 80,000 survivors are alive
today.
At least 6,000 Indigenous children died while in the
residential school system according to the chair of • What we don’t know:
the TRC, Justice Murray Sinclair. At some residential
schools the mortality rate was 60 per cent. • The exact number of children who died while in
the residential school system.
During the program’s first half-century, tuberculosis
and then influenza were the primary killers. Neglect,
abuse, lack of food, isolation from family and badly
constructed buildings assisted in killing Indigenous
RESIDENTIAL
children at residential schools. A lawyer who
conducted a review in 1907 told the government, SCHOOLING WAS
“Doing nothing to obviate the preventable causes
of death, brings the Department within unpleasant ALWAYS MORE
nearness to the charge of manslaughter.”
THAN SIMPLY AN
In 1913, Duncan Campbell Scott, then deputy
superintendent-general of Indian Affairs, documented: EDUCATIONAL
“It is quite within the mark to say that fifty per cent of
the children who passed through these schools did
PROGRAM: IT WAS
not live to benefit from the education, which they had AN INTEGRAL PART
received therein.”
OF A CONSCIOUS
What we know: POLICY OF CULTURAL
• The legacy of residential schools and the Sixties GENOCIDE.
Scoop points to generational trauma added to
11Indigenous Education 12
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS:
• In the spirit of justice for residential school Some schools on reserves are reported to have
survivors, the federal government must follow mold, inadequate heating and need major
through with Budget 2016 commitment repairs.
to “making sure every First Nations child
receives a quality education”, by investing Other schools are showing entire classes fail
in Indigenous education on reserves and in crucial subjects because of high turnover in
addressing the funding gap between on and staffing and lack of resources. It is difficult to
off reserve education. retain workers when working conditions are
unsafe and children are not receiving fair and
• Ensure that Indigenous education on reserves adequate funding for education: a fundamental
remains controlled by Indigenous communities. human right.
Canada is known to have one of the best Indigenous Services Canada is the federal
education systems in the world. Education is department responsible for providing education
critical to improving the well-being of children, yet support for on reserve First Nations students,
Indigenous children on reserves continue to face and education has been the Department’s largest
significant funding and resource gaps. program in terms of overall spending.
In 2016, the Parliamentary Budget Officer
reported that education gap was as much as The federal government committed to
$665M. $2.6 billion over five years in its 2016 budget
toward education funding, aiming to close the
The funding gap impacts not only the quality of education gap.
education received, but the health and well-being
of Indigenous children.
13National Day for Truth
and Reconciliation
14OUR RECOMMENDATIONS:
• Pass Bill C-369 for a National Day for Truth Furthermore, Canada will join countries such
and Reconciliation as a statutory holiday; and as Australia, Brazil, the US and New Zealand
in formally recognizing Indigenous peoples
• Develop and implement a strategy for nationally.
broad engagement in informative and
commemorative activities to build awareness In response to the TRC Call to Action #80,
around the history and current realities of Canada is to designate a day to remember
FNMI peoples in Canada. residential schools and reflect on the generational
trauma this colonial tactic imposed on Indigenous
With Bill C-369 there is an opportunity to turn the communities.
language around reconciliation into action.
An Angus Reid Institute public opinion survey
There may be objections to Canada needing report pointed to a deep gap between what
another statutory holiday however, it is critical to government must do in the spirit of reconciliation
take a comparative perspective. and what Canadians really think about the state
of Indigenous peoples.
Compared to other advanced industrialized
countries and its most important trading partners,
Canada offers relatively few public holidays.
Adding another statutory holiday would
simply move Canada into the mainstream of
Organisation for Economic Co operation and
Development (OECD) comparator countries.
15Humanizing the plight of FNMI peoples is
a natural first step to not only participate in
reconciliation figuratively, but more literally
and in the spirit of many calls to action in the
TRC recommendations.
One of the most gripping quotes from the TRC
Report states “Too many Canadians know little
or nothing about the deep historical roots of
these conflicts,” referring to the violent and
catastrophic legacy of colonialism in Canada.
It goes on to say “This lack of knowledge has
serious consequences for First Nations, Inuit
and Métis peoples and for Canada.”
We don’t have to decide whether people in
Canada engage with this statutory holiday by
celebrating or reflecting and commemorating.
It does not have to be about either/ or.
As part of our efforts to foster reconciliation
in our workplaces and communities, the
government of Canada must develop a
strategy to encourage people in Canada
to participate in celebrations of resilience,
commemoration and reflection on the new
statutory holiday outlined Bill C-369.
There is a need for a public awareness
strategy to deliver “hard truths”.
People in Canada deserve truth even when
the truth is uncomfortable.
16 March 201917
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