On Monday night, as lawmakers held an emergency debate in the wake of six Indigenous people being killed by police in just two weeks, New Democrats called on the House of Commons to put politics aside and find immediate policy solutions.
Lawmakers deliberated late into the night in Ottawa on the first day of the fall session, saying the death was a tragic reminder of Canada’s history of colonialism and systemic racism.
For Nunavut MP Lori Idlaut, who requested the debate, the question is not just whether these problems exist, but what lawmakers plan to do about them. In her letter to the speaker, Idlaut stressed the need to discuss “immediate action that can be taken today to save Indigenous lives.”
She was the first to speak at the start of the debate, telling MPs that colonialism and genocidal policies in Canada are not just part of history, but continue to this day.
“These genocidal policies and colonial attitudes are systemic. They are found across Canada,” Idlaudt said.
“We see it in our education system, our health care system and of course our criminal system. That’s what led to this call for urgent debate.”
She shared the time with New Democrat MP Charlie Angus, who represented Timmins-James Bay in northern Ontario, and grew emotional as he spoke about the violence and deaths in his constituency.
He then described his re-education, saying he now sees the RCMP as not a “bureaucratic force” that “keeps us all safe” as he had been taught, but rather a “shock force enforcing the dispossession of Indigenous land.”
“I don’t speak Oji-Cree so I don’t know what it is, but she told me they call the police ‘the people who take our children’,” Angus said.
“They don’t call the police because they don’t trust them. It’s a disgrace to colonial Canada and we still have six young people dead.”
The six deaths occurred between Aug. 29 and Sept. 8 and involved RCMP and municipal police officers in five provinces. A police watchdog group is investigating all the incidents.
Liberal Party criticized for lack of progress
The deaths recall a series of violent arrests and police killings of Indigenous people that drew national outrage in 2020.
In response to the incidents, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised a series of reforms, including legislation to improve the funding and credibility of Indigenous police services. The ruling party was criticized Monday for not delivering.
“As far as I know, no legislation has been introduced, even though the former minister of public safety has publicly stated that he is working around the clock, and that’s in 2022,” Raquel Dancho, Conservative member of the Kildonan-St. Paul electoral district in Winnipeg, said in response to Idlaut’s speech.
“Clearly, those promises were not fulfilled.”
Jamie Schmale, Conservative critic for Indigenous services and Crown-Indigenous relations, cited findings from the federal auditor general earlier this year that found the government mismanaged First Nations and Inuit policing programs.
Schmale decried the “chronic underfunding of Indigenous police services” and said Indigenous policing efforts “should prioritise a restorative justice approach that emphasises healing, rehabilitation and community cohesion rather than punitive measures.”
Surprised by the Conservatives’ tough-on-crime stance and their repeated “jail, not bail” slogan attacks on the Liberals, Idlaudt said he was “confused” by Schmale’s comments. He responded that his job as a pundit was to craft policies to be included in the next election manifesto.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Party was on the defensive, highlighting past actions, ongoing efforts, promises and proposed reforms.
Liberal MP Jennifer O’Connell, parliamentary secretary to the minister of public safety, cited the hundreds of millions of dollars the Liberals have invested in Indigenous policing since 2021 and said the government remains committed to working with First Nations people.
She also touted a bill to establish a new public complaints authority for the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency as important and urgent legislation.
“Bill C-20 will contain transformative provisions that will enable us to improve the way law enforcement operates, particularly with Indigenous peoples and other vulnerable communities,” she said.
What next?
Liberal MP Pam Damoff, former member of parliament for public safety and Indigenous services, echoed those comments but acknowledged the need for more to be done.
“There must be a systemic change in how police interact with Indigenous people. Too many lives are at risk,” she said.
In a letter to the speaker, Idlaudt said the lack of media coverage of the tragedy “suggests that systemic violence and death against Indigenous people in Canada is normal and expected.”
New Democrat MP Leah Gazan for Winnipeg Centre said politicians often ignore the issue while the media normalizes systemic violence against Indigenous people.
“But recently police violence against Indigenous people has escalated to shocking levels that our leaders cannot ignore,” she told the House of Commons.
