Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to respond to the Commissioner's Address to discuss equity for Indigenous people in terms of equal treatment in terms of improving reality. I want to ask whether we deny students in our small communities - especially our Indigenous children -- Indigenous students - the chance at a proper education?
My first Member statement during this Fall Session addressed the legacy of unequal education that began with residential schools and continues to the present day. Inequity begins in early education, Mr. Speaker, and lasts through secondary. We see this with students in the Tlicho region and other regions as well. More than half -- 53 percent -- of children are considered volnerable in small communities. We are failing these children. We need to help them succeed. I am here to advocate for Indigenous child equity.
In one of the communities in my riding, 30 students graduated this year. Graduation is something worth celebrating but what does the future hold for these students? How many will go on to post-secondary education? How many of these students will complete post-secondary programs? How many will take upgrading programs before pursuing trades or professional programs? We need to invest in our young people if we want to achieve prosperity. We need to build from within.
Mr. Speaker, in the Northwest Territories, there are Indigenous youth who have significantly fewer resources for education, health, and community services, than those available to non-Indigenous youth. This is a fact. A comparison of Yellowknife and almost any of our small communities confirm this, but it is clear to me that significant disparity exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students when it comes to educational outcomes at all levels of the education system. We have seen this time and again through reports on outcomes. Yet, Indigenous people are still living in poverty. They are living in terrible conditions. Not much has been done even though reports and research support this view.
If Christopher Columbus had not lost his way looking for spices, Mr. Speaker, we might have been better off today. I can speak for those living in small communities, Mr. Speaker. We do not have the luxury of fixing Cadillac problems or even Ford Focus problems. Problems in our communities are like the oldest car imaginable, Old Betsy. We must maintain her and keep going.
The problems our young people face are systemic. They require systems to change. As a result, many Indigenous people are settling their land claims to look after their own affairs. They are getting tired of the treatment they receive from the government.
Mr. Speaker, year after year the gaps remain. It is time for the Government of the Northwest Territories to find solutions to these problems so that our Indigenous young people can prosper and reach their full potential. I have said it before, students must have security when it comes to financial assistance. They must be reassured that the progress we make now will continue, that the government will keep honouring treaties. These are key issues for our Indigenous students. A public commitment to guarantee continued reconciliation efforts - like the removal of semester limits and increased access to student funding under the basic grant - will help improve education outcomes for Indigenous students.
These commitments should be made in the same spirits as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action, particularly Call to Action No. 10 which highlights the need to:
Provide sufficient funding to close identified educational achievement gaps within one generation;
Improve education attainment levels and success rates; and,
Respect and honour treaty relationships.
An increase in education funding for Indigenous students would have a huge impact on my community, the Tlicho region, and communities across the territory. During its 2020 review of early childhood to grade 12 education in the Northwest Territories, the auditor general recommended that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment identify what exactly they needed to provide equitable access to quality education for all students and take actions, and that this should include providing additional support for small schools.
Equity will mean more community-based education. The auditor general found that the Department of ECE adjusted its funding formula to offset the higher cost of living for schools in small communities and to provide more administrative support to schools. This is good progress, but we must take further steps towards reconciliation by closing educational gaps for Indigenous students. We can do this by increasing the amount of funding students in small communities can access.
But, Mr. Speaker, these needed improvements are not limited to the education systems. We receive the same inequity in health care, the justice systems, community infrastructure, and in fixing homelessness and lowering unemployment rates.
Indigenous children, Mr. Speaker, are overrepresented in the child protection system. Indigenous youth (our future generation) and adults are overrepresented in the correction system. Every child matters. This is not just a saying, Mr. Speaker; it is the truth. We have missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. What are we doing about it? I see inequity in the number of our Indigenous youth that face criminal charges. They suffer the indignity of arrests. These events have the power to alter the course of their lives.
Many of our residents have substance abuse problems. They need treatment, aftercare, and new opportunities after they get out. Suicide rates are rising. Young people are running away or missing from home. There are people selling drugs in our small communities. Our youth are our most vulnerable people; they are victims.
Mr. Speaker, if we do not honour our treaty obligations, if we do not prioritize change, the result will continue to be a crisis in underfunded housing, health care, child protection, and education. The system will seem like it discriminates against us. It will seem like children in small communities will be at a disadvantage from the day they are born. Our people will continue to struggle. I have heard elders say when we speak the truth it does not harm, it heals.
We have heard these themes repeatedly in this House, Mr. Speaker. We have heard about high unemployment rates. We know our communities have aging and failing infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, I ask whether there is a basic level or standard for services and infrastructure for our small communities? I ask what equity should look like. Young people should have hope. Change needs to come from within the territory so that our communities are able to help themselves and do not have to rely on outside assistance and other peoples' timelines.
Real equity is achievable, but it means confronting inequity in our communities, and bringing capacity into small communities. I think education is a barrier to build this capacity. We need to start focusing on building capacity from within. Internal growth, Mr. Speaker. We must build capacity into our communities and start focusing on building up our youth. We must give them the same amount of hope that children anywhere have.
Mr. Speaker, I do love and care for our young people. I am advocating for future generations, for meaningful change. We all want things to get better for them.
With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all my constituents. Festive season is approaching. For some, it is going to be difficult. It's not going to be the same. My thoughts and prayers are with the families. And I want to thank all the interpreters here and outside. They are indeed the keeper of our Indigenous language. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Replies to the Commissioner's address.
Colleagues, realizing we've been in this chamber for two hours, we will take a brief break to give the translators a rest. Thank you.
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We were a little bit longer; I apologize. Member from Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to make a correction to the Hansard record. Yesterday, in my opening remarks to Bill 15 during Committee of the Whole, I said based on the feedback from committee, several amendments were made to the bill before you today. This sentence is inaccurate and was included in my remarks in error. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member. A correction will be -- would be noted in the Hansard. Point of privilege, Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of privilege under section 1.7(1)(e) of our rules.
Mr. Speaker, the specific privilege is, for the benefit of the Members is, it says privilege of a Member includes, section (c), freedom of obstruction and intimidation in relation to their duties as an elected representative.
Mr. Speaker, while during the break I was walking to my office, I was confronted by the Member for Yellowknife North. She said, I know you're mad at me. I interjected and I said, I'm not mad. She continued to say, I would never be that petty to nay your consent.
Mr. Speaker, implying that a Member's petty for following the rules of the House in carriage of their duties and using the phrase "petty" is, I feel, a form of intimidation.
Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, just to tie it up, in December 2023, Senate Speaker Gagne noted hurling insults at Members could be understood as an attempt to intimidate colleagues and unduly constrains them in the extraction or retribution against them in the performance of their parliamentary duties.
And lastly, Mr. Speaker, I find using the phrase "petty" in the duty -- in the carriage of my duties here personally insulting. I didn't -- I would have welcomed a reasonable conversation, but I felt that this is now causing me to second guess my choices in following -- as we follow the rules of the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. I will allow some debate on the point of privilege. Do other Members wish to speak on this? Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to clarify that what I actually said was that I wanted to reassure him that I would never do something petty as naying his request for unanimous consent to conclude his statement. So what I was trying to point out was that I felt that the action was petty, but I was not accusing him or calling him any names in that regard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Are there any others who wish to comment on this? Member from Yellowknife Centre, do you wish to conclude?
Mr. Speaker, by saying I would never be petty implies I am being petty. And as such, I leave it for the House to make the decision. I think the most honourable thing, and request I'm asking for, is an acknowledgement that that phrase targeted me was inappropriate, and I would accept any apology if given or whatever decision of the House seems appropriate. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Colleagues, I will take this matter under advisement and will provide a ruling later on. Thank you very much.
