Discussion · Government Orders
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Québécois
“This bill does not do enough to train workers. It also needs to make sure the government shares water quality data with First Nations. Band councils need this information to protect their people's health and manage their own water.”
“Mr. Speaker, for me, this is one of the blind spots. It is one of the aspects that I do not have much confidence in. It is also one of the most fundamental aspects that we worked on in committee back when we were examining Bill C-61. We looked at how to develop this workforce because it was not part of the spirit of the bill, and that is why I wanted to push to use the version of Bill C-61 that was passed as a starting point. We also introduced concepts such as epistemological data to ensure that first nations have access to the information that the federal government has but that the band council does not. If something is affecting water quality and is making people sick and one community is affected more than another, health care professionals and the federal government both know about it, but the community itself does not and cannot take action. That is one example of how we need to work together to establish data-sharing mechanisms that will help with first nations self-determination.”
Mr. Speaker, for me, this is one of the blind spots. It is one of the aspects that I do not have much confidence in. It is also one of the most fundamental aspects that we worked on in committee back when we were examining Bill C-61. We looked at how to develop this workforce because it was not part of the spirit of the bill, and that is why I wanted to push to use the version of Bill C-61 that was passed as a starting point. We also introduced concepts such as epistemological data to ensure that first nations have access to the information that the federal government has but that the band council does not. If something is affecting water quality and is making people sick and one community is affected more than another, health care professionals and the federal government both know about it, but the community itself does not and cannot take action. That is one example of how we need to work together to establish data-sharing mechanisms that will help with first nations self-determination.