Jean Chrtien's comments on Attawapiskat criticized in Commons

Comments made by former prime minister Jean Chrtienon the substandard living conditions facing many remoteFirst Nations communitiesspilled over into the House of Commons Tuesday nightduring an emergency debateover the many suicide attempts inAttawapiskat.

Earlier in the day in Ottawa,Chrtien had suggested "people have to move sometimes"a commentNDP MP Niki Ashton denouncedas "assimilationist." Theformer prime ministerwent on to say he doesn't think the First Nations community of Attawapiskat itself should move or be moved.

MPs debated for more than five hours what to do about the suicide crisis in Attawapiskat and other public health emergencies facing First Nations communities across the country. Many communitiesare without proper health services, adequate housingand in some cases access to clean water.

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"Suicide and self-inflicted injuries are among the leading causes of death for First Nations people," said Ashton in the Commons Tuesday night.

"But this didn't just happen. In fact, the trauma that is apparent through suicide crises across Canada is the direct result of our history of colonization and decades of racist policiespassed through this House."

The emergency debate in the Commons coincided with the140th anniversary of the Indian Act "a piece of legislation that is the symbol of colonialism," Ashtonsaid.

"This piece of legislation and the way it is imposed on First Nations is deeply connected to the oppression that exists today."

Ashton told the Commons that colonialistviews continue to be perpetrated against Indigenous people "even today."

"A former prime minister of Canada, when asked about the suicide epidemic in Attawapiskatperpetuated such assimilationist views in suggesting that First Nations people should just leave their communities," Ashton said.

Ashton blames Indian Act and colonial oppression for suicides

8 years ago

Duration 2:34

NDP MP Niki Ashton rose during the emergency debate to explain how the growing number of suicides on reserves is due to years of colonial oppression by successive Canadian governments.

'Some people have to move'

While Ashton did not mentionChrtien byname, she went on to quote an excerpt ofwhat he told reportersearlier in the day.

Chrtien, who was the minister of Indian affairs and northern development from 1968 to 1974, was on Parliament Hill earlier Tuesday for unrelated business. (He said he was there to meet with Peter Harder, the government's new representative in the Senate, who was being sworn in along with 6 other new independent senatorsonTuesday afternoon.)

Asked specificallywhether he would considermovingAttawapiskat, Chrtien suggested the solution for some First Nations people may be to leave their isolated communities.

"The problem is sometimes you can not. You know, it's uh, people have to move sometimes. Sometimes it's desirable to stay if they want to stay, but it's not always possible,"Chrtien said.

"So you can not have a statement that is generic, you know... it's one case at a time."

Ashtondenounced in the Commons someof Chrtien'scomments.

"First Nations people and many people who work in solidarity with First Nations people know that these views are unacceptable,"Ashton said in the Commons Tuesday.

Chrtiensaidthat from his own experiencethe problem was "extremely difficult."

"It takes time and patience, and there's always tragedies of that nature that occur, and the government has to do its best to cure it. But it's not easy."

Chrtien said after he left politics he spent a lot time visiting remote First Nations communitiesin northern Manitoba andSaskatchewan.

"It was extremely difficult at that time. It's difficult, there was no economic base there for having jobs and so on, and sometimes they have to move like anybody else."

The former prime minister was asked again, moredirectly,whether theFirst Nations community of Attawapiskat should move.

"I don't know.No, no. You look at each case, each case. But some people have to move."

"Not the reserve?,"Chrtien was asked.

"No, no."

Jean Chretien speaks with reporters after Question Period-The Full Scrum as it happened

8 years ago

Duration 9:38

The Former Prime Minister spoke about Attawapiskat, Mulcair, Trudeau and the Deficit