Emergency Debate in Parliament Shows It Is Part of the Problem, Not the Solution
An emergency debate on the police killing of six Indigenous people in less than two weeks was held after the House of Commons business of the day on September 16, the first day of Parliament's fall session.
Lori Idlout, the NDP MP from
Nunavut, requested the Emergency Debate. APTN National News
reported that in her letter to the Speaker of the House
requesting the Emergency Debate, Idlout said, "The lack of media
coverage of these tragedies shows that systemic violence and
deaths of Indigenous Peoples in Canada is normal and expected."
She wrote "After years of hearing about police reforms in the
wake of Black Lives Matter, the government's commitment to
community policing in Northern, rural and remote areas, and a
commitment to pass a First Nations Policing Act,
Indigenous Peoples are owed answers by this government as to why
Indigenous people continue to be victims of violence carried out
by the government." She said, "There is a clear, urgent interest
for Parliament to debate this disturbing pattern, so that
parliamentarians can discuss immediate measures that can be
taken to save Indigenous lives, today."
The Emergency Debate ended at midnight and clearly demonstrated to anyone who watched that Parliament has neither the interest nor the ability to address the problem of police impunity in the killing of Indigenous people. All the "interesting ideas" put forward in the debate did not once address how to end the police violence against Indigenous Peoples on which the Canadian state was founded. Idlout's hope that the killing will end if the government implements all the calls of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Report does not get to the heart of the problem, never mind that there is no chance of the calls of the TRC or of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls being implemented because the Canadian state does not recognize the rights and sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples. If it did, the recommendations would have been implemented long ago.
The Emergency Debate was rife with diversions. The Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Toronto Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree mused: "We have been struggling with the notion of systemic racism in law enforcement for many years and across different jurisdictions. In this particular case, it was in different areas and involved different police services. What would accountability and truth look like in these cases? I know there cannot be one particular answer because they are all different, but I would like to get a sense from the member of what she feels justice would be."
Ms. Idlout's response missed the crucial point that it is the Canadian colonial state and not the Canadian people which is responsible for the racist colonial laws and policies that make Indigenous people "fair game." She said, "Part of the reason systemic racism still exists is that there is still too much ignorance. There is still too much denialism about residential schools, for example. We need to make sure we are opening the eyes of Canada."
Fueling the fire of blaming the people and not the state, Elizabeth May of the Green Party stated: "Truth and reconciliation starts with understanding the truth of 167 years of racism and genocide. We must recognize that individuals, settler culture Canadians, are very uncomfortable with the word racism. They say, 'Well, gee, I am not a racist.' White fragility is also an issue."
During the course of the debate, proposals were made to increase funding for Indigenous policing, including a proposal from the Conservatives that if they formed the next government they would decentralize policing and put it in the hands of Indigenous organizations and communities. Liberal MPs patted themselves on the back for what they claimed were advances in Crown-Indigenous relations. Altogether the debate was treated as an opportunity for Parliamentarians to take cheap shots at one another and blow their own horns, exposing the institution's deep disrespect for Indigenous Peoples and all Canadians and Quebeckers. In the Parliament, even an "emergency debate" about an urgent matter of six lives lost to police violence, is turned into fodder to advance the self-interest of the cartel parties. It was a charade.
Toward the end, Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons offered: "Mr. Speaker, listening to the debate this evening, one of the things that crosses my mind is that we have the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. As with all other standing committees, there is always an agenda set. There are individuals such as the national chief of the AFN [Assembly of First Nations] Cindy Woodhouse, who has always been a very strong advocate for Indigenous policing. As well, I know the member for Sydney-Victoria moved a motion at that standing committee saying that we should be conducting a study on the issue. The member opposite [Conservative MP for Battle River-Crowfoot Damien Kurek] knows having an emergency debate is not that common on the floor of the House of Commons, especially on this issue. Given that we are having this debate tonight, would he not agree that the standing committee should look at what has been suggested by the member for Sydney-Victoria so we can actually have that committee deal with what is being talked about this evening?"
Such "debate" went on until midnight with not one concrete action to change the situation coming out of it.
Parliament, with all its trappings and underpinnings of British colonialism, is no more capable of addressing the problems facing Canadians than are the colonial courts and police. As an institution of liberal democracy it is neither representative nor democratic and is an anachronistic holdover of a past era. The people need to build new institutions based on a modern constitution they write which upholds the hereditary rights of Indigenous Peoples and the rights of all.
(With files from Hansard, APTN)
This article was published in
September 30, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/ITN2024/Articles/TI54213.HTM
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