Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2020-10-29 19:11 [p.1465]

Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise virtually during Adjournment Proceedings to address a question I asked on October 19, not that long ago, in relation to the ongoing conflicts between the Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia and non-indigenous fishermen, and more specifically in the context of systemic racism.
We know that the name Donald Marshall, Jr., as I said on October 19, will always be remembered in Canada as synonymous with injustice and systemic racism. He was jailed for 11 years for a crime he did not commit, and when he was finally out of jail, he continued to play a significant role in indigenous rights for the Mi’kmaq people. Two different court cases bear his name.

The Marshall case stands for the proposition that, of course, the treaties of peace and friendship of 1760-61 established that Mi’kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy rights to land and resources were never surrendered. Donald Marshall took the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada because the simple act of fishing eels was considered out of season, even though it was completely within Mi’kmaq fishing rights.

The systemic racism that I want to address is deeper than the RCMP’s actions in failing to protect the Mi’kmaq lobster catch or the lobster pound in West Pubnico, where the Mi’kmaq catch was being stored. As we know, it was burned to the ground while the RCMP stood by. In my question on October 19, I asked why there is never any shortage of well-equipped RCMP officers to move in to arrest non-violent indigenous protesters protecting their land and resources anywhere across Canada, but particularly in my home province of British Columbia, yet there is somehow a failure of the RCMP to protect indigenous property. It is much deeper than these several episodes.

Let us look at the statistics of how injunctions are granted. It is injunction law that allows RCMP officers to be converted from public security and public safety officers into essentially the private police of corporations operating on indigenous lands. The Yellowhead Institute, in a study from October 2019, noted that when corporations go to court and seek injunctions to prevent indigenous people from interrupting their commercial enterprises, corporations succeed before the courts in gaining injunctions 76% of the time. In contrast, when indigenous people go to court to seek injunctions to protect their land from corporate operations, they are rejected 81% of the time. Thus, the system in which we operate is, again, systemically racist in that the RCMP are far more likely to show up for corporations.

In the case of the Elsipogtog, there were indigenous actions against fracking back in 2013 in New Brunswick. Mi’kmaq residents, in full possession of their rights, in a non-violent protest against fracking, had the police show up with attack dogs. They showed up well armed and arrested people. They arrested them forcefully. This is quite an outrage when we look at the history of how the RCMP operate to enforce injunctions to protect resource-extracting companies. Their rights to extract resources come right up against indigenous rights recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada, yet over and over again, it is indigenous people who are not protected by the RCMP while corporations are.

When we look at what has happened in British Columbia, certainly injunctive relief was available—

Joël Lightbound (Louis-Hébert)
2020-10-29 19:15 [p.1465]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to see you even through the use of technology. I also want to thank the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands whom I am pleased to see again.

As usual, she is raising very important questions. I very much appreciated the information she provided on the injunctions and the disproportionate share that is granted to the corporations. It is an interesting element that I will look into. It is true that systemic racism is not limited to the actions of the RCMP. It is much more widespread than that. It is institutional. We acknowledge it, we condemn it and we are working to resolve it.

I also want to thank her for allowing me to say a few words about the situation in Nova Scotia. This situation happened in the wake of the implementation of livelihood fishing by the Sipekne’katik nation. I will begin by saying a few words about the criminal acts that were committed during the dispute between the first nation and the commercial fishers.

Our government clearly condemns the racism, violence and crimes committed during this conflict. We implore all those involved to support constructive efforts for peaceful de-escalation and dialogue. Moreover, all of this is taking place while we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Our government remains committed to reconciliation and the development of a new and improved relationship with indigenous peoples, one based on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and collaboration.

While the RCMP has faced complex issues this year, it continues to work to build meaningful, lasting relationships with indigenous peoples. It would be a shame to let the criminal acts committed in this conflict undermine these efforts. Any lasting resolution to this dispute must be based on the recognition of the legitimate Mi’kmaq treaty rights.

This means that the threats, racism, violence and intimidation must stop. The primary role of any police force is to protect the public and enforce the laws, including the Criminal Code of Canada. All Canadians enjoy the fundamental freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and demonstration. They should be able to exercise those freedoms safely.

However, resorting to violence and putting lives in danger to protest a situation is totally unacceptable. The people responsible for these crimes must be held to account. The RCMP takes its role of ensuring public safety very seriously and has been on site since the start of the conflict. At the same time, the governments, namely the federal government and the government of Nova Scotia, are trying to make the parties reach a lasting solution based on the recognition of the legitimate rights of the Mi’kmaq and the treaties.

Charges have been laid and multiple investigations are under way into crimes against persons, in particular the violent assault of Chief Michael Sack. The police is also investigating crimes against property, such as the fire at the lobster pound on October 19. This is a sad episode in our collective history.
To further increase the capacity of the RCMP, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness approved a request put forward by the Attorney General of Nova Scotia to increase, as needed, the number of RCMP members under contract present in Nova Scotia so they can keep the peace as is their duty. To say that the RCMP police presence in the region is unusually high would be an understatement. It will continue to be high as long as necessary. The increased and enhanced presence of the RCMP includes officers in uniform ensuring greater visibility of law enforcement and carrying out random patrols in communities.
In addition to officers in uniform there are more strategic tactical operations officers from several authorities. Furthermore, RCMP officers patrol the waters in the region depending on the needs and the RCMP emergency response team has a vessel for immediate deployment if necessary.

Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2020-10-29 19:20 [p.1466]

Madam Speaker, I want to contrast for parliamentarians the notion of indigenous people having the right to a moderate livelihood in the lobster fishery of Nova Scotia with Clearwater Seafoods. Its founder, John Risley, has a net worth of $1.2 billion from fishing in Mi’kmaq waters. Clearwater Seafoods has been found guilty by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans of gross violations of conservation rules, such as leaving lobster traps on the ocean floor over a period of years, allowing for an illegal catch to take place. Clearwater Seafoods does not have the RCMP showing up to give it a hard time. Clearwater Seafoods takes a huge resource, and I am not against that. I just think the contrast between corporate rights and exploitation and the way indigenous people have been treated in this, seeking a moderate livelihood, is a scandal. I would ask all of us to—

Joël Lightbound (Louis-Hébert)
2020-10-29 19:20 [p.1466]

Madam Speaker, one minute is not very much time to talk about the serious issues raised by the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.
At the request of the Nova Scotia government, the RCMP was sent to help protect people and maintain law and order. That is what everyone should expect here. We need to de-escalate the situation. That is vital. The RCMP will play a role in that.

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It is my first full day home after a long shift in Ottawa, from June 1-18. The COVID-19 pandemic has been nearly over-shadowed these last few months by issues of racism and police violence. It is almost one month since the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed, handcuffed, innocent black man by the Minnesota police. The anger and cries for justice in the face of anti-Black racism have not lost momentum. On the contrary, Black Lives Matters protests have spread the message globally that racism must end.

For any Canadians who felt these issues did not touch us, the recent killings of indigenous people in New Brunswick are a wake-up call. Chantel Moore, a young Tla-o-qui-aht woman, had only recently moved from her home on Vancouver Island to be closer to her own mother and small daughter when she was killed by Edmundston, NB police. Seven days later, Rodney Levi, a local Mi’kmaq First Nation father of three, was killed by RCMP. I happen to know people who knew both Rodney and Chantel. What they seemed to have in common, in addition to being shot by police, is that both were well-loved. Their deaths are unexplained, shocking and unacceptable.

The video of the brutal attack on Chief Alan Adams, also released this week, further undermine any confidence in the RCMP and its treatment of indigenous people and people of colour.

On Wednesday, I held a press conference on Parliament Hill to repeat our call for a full inquiry into the RCMP as an institution, as well as into the systemic racism in police forces and the RCMP in particular. Watch video of entire press conference here: Greens call for inquiry into the RCMP.

We must ensure zero tolerance for racism from the RCMP and from local forces. In that press conference, I revealed further evidence of the degree to which the RCMP is racist as an institution. Detailed ATI revealed that the RCMP dishonestly rigged the bidding process for their new Communications Centre in Nova Scotia to deny the Millbrook First Nation a fair chance at winning the contract. This one example speaks volumes to me. For any entity to pull such a transparent bit of “cooking the books” means they believe they are unaccountable and above the law. This cannot be allowed to go uninvestigated. (see details of this contract here: Greens demand full inquiry into RCMP ) Most media focused on the uproar over Jagmeet Singh being ejected from the House. I think the focus must stay on the real issue.

As we try to navigate issues of diversity and race across Canada, the Green Party leadership race is also trying to level the playing field to ensure support for intersectional equity-seeking candidates. I have to apologise to those of you who received a fund-raising letter from the Annamie Paul campaign. I deeply regret the long time lag between assisting Annamie and the other candidates for whom assistance is planned. I know it created the impression that the letter from me was an endorsement. It is not. I am not endorsing Annamie Paul, nor will I endorse anyone in this race. My commitments to Annamie’s team are now complete.

Within the next few days, I expect that the party will allow me to write all our members a fund-raising email to assist other candidates. I am committed to do any fundraising events with the intersectional equity-seeking candidates upon their request.
We are working through difficult issues.  We are innovating. We are “walking the talk”; of truly supporting candidates from equity-seeking backgrounds. We have made mistakes. We will likely make more.  There is no “add water and stir”; handbook for taking a party that is overwhelmingly white and actually leveling the playing field of politics.  Politics has for generations been primarily the domain of straight white men.  That is changing, but it is a slow change. It leaves many people still looking in at a parliament where it is hard to find people who share their life experiences. This must change.

The leadership race is challenged by taking place in a pandemic. Events have to be on line. We are so grateful to Fair Vote Canada for hosting the first virtual event of the campaign – the first of several debates. This debate will focus on Electoral reform and the need for proportional representation. The benefits of fair voting are never far from my mind. I focused on PR as part of my speech this week in the House. response to the supplementary estimates. Please register at this link and tune in (https://www.fairvote.ca/greensdebatedemocracy/) for the first of the debates between and among the ten candidates for leadership. I will co-host with my immediate  predecessor, Jim Harris. We are both excited and positive about the strong field of diverse candidates. One of these ten candidates will be the tenth leader of the Green Party of Canada and take us to new heights in the next election!

Also never far from my mind is the worsening climate emergency. Wednesday, June 17th was the one year anniversary of the passage of the House of Commons motion that we are in a climate emergency. Watch my five minutes of questioning of Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson. I contrast the government’s response to the COVID-19 emergency and the pressing climate emergency. Elizabeth May: When will the government take the climate crisis as seriously as it is taking the COVID-19 pandemic?

Stay well and safe.

Much love to all,

Elizabeth

This weekly newsletter is published by Elizabeth’s EDA in Saanich-Gulf Islands. You can sign up for it here.

E-petitions open for signature
 e-2447 Open competition for research funding (closes June 23)
 e-2450 Legalize the transportation of CBD products across the Canadian border (closes June 26)
 e-2624 Include long-term care in the public health system (closes July 3)
 e-2416 Mandatory labelling of food containing GMOs (closes July 4)
 e-2655 Extend work permit timit limit for international students (closes July 10)
 e-2471 Grant the RCMP Funding for Body Cameras (closes July 16)
 e-2534 Amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (closes August 14)
 e-2565 Request that Israel immediately lift the blockade on Gaza (closes September 4)
 e-2583 Implement a Guaranteed Livable Income (closes 19 August)

 e-2615 Divest CPP from fossil fuel investments (closes October 3)

The post Good Sunday Morning – June 21 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

June 17, 2020

OTTAWA – Last week, Green Party parliamentary leader Elizabeth May stated: “The RCMP is a racist institution.” Today, Ms. May provided further evidence of the institution’s racist, anti-Indigenous attitude.

In 2017, in what was supposed to be a fair and open competition to locate a new RCMP Occupational Communication Centre in Nova Scotia, the RCMP rigged the process to rule out the bid of the Millbrook First Nation.

The details of how this was done emerged through Access to Information requests and are laid out in a March 25, 2020 letter from Chief Robert Gloade of Millbrook First Nation to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair (attached).

“Surely a claim to respect the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires, at a minimum, fair access to economic opportunities,” said Ms. May. “But the RCMP unfairly added an unexplained $1.6 million in costs to the Millbrook proposal, while inaccurately describing the RCMP HQ proposal as involving zero rent.

“Over the years I served as leader of the Green Party of Canada, we have called for public inquiries into the RCMP multiple times. Occasionally, a review took place but never with the teeth to allow investigators to get to the facts.”

Issues requiring investigations include:

-RCMP interference in the 2006 election;

-The RCMP’s militarized approach, including the use of violence against peaceful protesters at Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick in 2013;

-Systemic sexism in the RCMP and horrific treatment of female officers;

-What the RCMP knew about the scandal of money laundering in British Columbia casinos;

-The violent arrest of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs last winter; and

-The degree to which racists and those with links to white supremacist organizations have joined the RCMP.

“We also need an inquiry into how the RCMP handled the April 2020 mass murder in Nova Scotia that ranged from Portapique to the Wentworth Valley, Debert and Shubenacadie, the killing of Rodney Levi by New Brunswick RCMP, as well as this contract ‘fixing’ to advantage the RCMP proposal and disadvantage Millbrook First Nation,” said Ms. May.

“In other words, it is time to place the RCMP under a microscope. I want to know why the RCMP is receiving an unexplained additional $18 million in supplementary estimates on top of its $3.5 billion budget and additional $220 million, to, quite rightly, compensate officers injured on the job. The $18 million is without detail. Now would be a good time to say ‘no.’

“The collectivity of recent (post-2005) experiences does not inspire confidence. The impression is of an unaccountable, secretive organization. It is time for a thorough review to ask whether this institution is capable of reform.”

*Letter to Ministers attached

# # #

For more information or to arrange an interview

Debra Eindiguer

613-240-8921

debra@greenparty.ca

Rosie Emery
Press Secretary

613-562-4916 ext. 204

rosie.emery@greenparty.ca

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We have hit the three months mark of living in pandemic land.  I don’t know about you, but I am sick of it.  But we know it is not over.

We have to be careful.

As Greens, we called for a coordinated national response months ago. We are the only party that called for the federal government to trigger the measures for a Public Welfare Emergency under the Emergencies Act.

Recently, Professor Amir Attaran, professor of both law and epidemiology, called for the same thing in Macleans.

And although they differ on some aspects of their pandemic analysis, Ontario’s former health minister Eric Hoskins agrees we have an appalling lack of information: “decision-makers are just reading tea leaves while blindfolded.”

As Canadians, as ever, we congratulate ourselves for how well we are doing (on any issue) fill in the blank.

Amir Attaran asks us to look at other wealthy countries. When we look globally, our numbers and our response are not that good.  Compare us to Australia, with its 25 million people.  Only 100 people have died in Australia of COVID-19.  With 33 million people, we have had 8,000 deaths and that number is climbing.

Like Canada, Australia has complex federalism. As in Canada, public health in Australia is primarily not the federal government’s responsibility. So the public health officers from every state and territory in Australia, along with the national public health officer and other officials, formed a national committee that determined a national response.  We still have provinces not delivering key data to the federal government.  And it is being sent by fax machines. Worse, the Public Health Agency of Canada agreed to allow provinces to suppress data that those governments might find embarrassing.

Attaran finds our response poor, even compared with far poorer countries: “Our progress on ‘bending the curve’ is halting and unimpressive compared to Europe and Asia. Our testing is so broken down that it lags behind Rwanda’s and Ethiopia’s. Our epidemiological data is so inadequate that even if we wanted to conduct the endgame well, often we cannot. Places like Toronto and Quebec are reopening too soon, risking to sicken—and kill—people needlessly, while the Maritimes and Prairies are reopening too slowly, strangling the economy.”

Canada is lagging in testing and tracing. We do not have reliable data to guide us.  Dr. Attaran thinks we still have time to get ahead of these failures and avoid a worse, second wave.  As Attaran points out, by far most of the cases continuing to be diagnosed in Canada are in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta.  Our federal-provincial tensions are getting in the way of public health. I will keep calling for the Emergency Act to be invoked.

Meanwhile, this was a week in which Canadians demanded answers from the RCMP. Yet another indigenous man was killed by police in New Brunswick.  The family of Chantel Moore, who was killed last week by Edmundston NB police, continues to demand answers. The killing of a physically petite, 26 year old indigenous woman by an armed RCMP officer, who reportedly shot her five times, requires answers. And justice.

At a Thursday press conference in Ottawa, when asked about systemic racism within the RCMP, I noted that I know many very competent and wonderful members of the RCMP, but that “The RCMP is a racist institution.”

Greens Launch Reimagining Our Future: Reconnected, Renewed, Resilient

By the way, the purpose of that press conference was to launch our post-pandemic vision document: Reimagining Our Future.

Please share it widely. Read it and engage.  And also a strong note that this is NOT replacing Mission: Possible, the platform or Vision Green.  We are fully committed, for example, to democratic reform and eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. These key issues remain front and centre for Greens.

And this week, Greens also hit a milestone: the full list of candidates who wish to run for the federal leadership was released.  Ten candidates from nearly every part of Canada – Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories – are in contention.  Five lawyers, a brilliant scientist, an emergency room doctor who is also a climate campaigner, urban planner and former Minister of Environment, and entrepreneurs are in the running.

Please be sure to encourage friends and family to join the party before September to be able to vote. The election is one member/one vote/on-line and by preferential ballot voting.  Debates are coming up soon, so watch the Green Party website for details.  Or sign up for email alerts of new developments.

For now, have a great Sunday.  I can hardly wait, as by next Sunday, I will be home again and back in self-isolation with my view of the Salish Sea!

Love,

Elizabeth

E-petitions open for signature

• e-2525 Eliminate fossil fuel subsidies (closes June 15)
• e-2447 Open competition for research funding (closes June 23)
• e-2450 Legalize the transportation of CBD products across the Canadian border (closes June 26)
• e-2624 Include long-term care in the public health system (closes July 3)
• e-2416 Mandatory labelling of food containing GMOs (closes July 4)
• e-2655 Extend work permit timit limit for international students (closes July 10)
• e-2471 Grant the RCMP Funding for Body Cameras (closes July 16)
• e-2534 Amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (closes August 14)
• e-2565 Request that Israel immediately lift the blockade on Gaza (closes September 4)
• e-2583 Implement a Guaranteed Livable Income (closes 19 August)
• e-2615 Divest CPP from fossil fuel investments (closes October 3)

The post Good Sunday Morning – June 14 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

OTTAWA – The Green Party of Canada calls on the federal government to open a national inquiry into whether white supremacist and far-right groups have infiltrated Canadian law enforcement agencies.

“Events in the United States have highlighted that police brutality against black people, other racial minorities and even journalists is far too frequent and wholly unacceptable,” said Green parliamentary leader Elizabeth May (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands). “That violence has been exacerbated by rhetoric from Donald Trump that has, since 2016, emboldened white supremacists. His recent comments have increased the risk of violence.

“With Prime Minister Trudeau accepting the hard reality that racism persists in Canada, it is essential that we hold a full inquiry to determine to what extent white supremacist organizations are infiltrating our own law enforcement agencies and the Canadian Armed Forces.

“In 2006, the FBI warned that white supremacist groups were urging members to become police officers to blend in and covertly advance their racist cause,” said Ms. May. “That 2006 warning from the FBI appears to have been ignored. We cannot afford to ignore the threat. If indeed, white supremacists are joining the police forces and the military it would explain why we are seeing more acts of violence and killings of black men and women perpetrated by law enforcement officers, few of whom face charges. Indigenous people in Canada are also disproportionately experiencing violence, and even death, at the hands of law enforcement.

“CSIS has confirmed that there are white supremacist groups in Canada. We need to recognize them for the terrorists that they are. If there is one thing worse than a white supremacist with a gun, it’s a white supremacist with a gun and in uniform.”

In 2019, the Liberal government added two international neo-Nazi groups to Canada’s list of outlawed terrorist organizations as part of a series of new measures to combat online hate. A 2019 study conducted by Universite de Montreal criminologist Massimiliano Mulone, Universite du Quebec, Montreal sociologist Victor Armory and Mariam Hassaoui, a sociologist from Universite TELUQ, found “systemic bias” by Montreal police, but stopped short of saying that officers were engaged in racial profiling.

Green caucus justice critic Jenica Atwin, (MP, Fredericton) said: “It’s terrifying to think of police entities harbouring white supremacists, especially knowing what we know about over representation of black and Indigenous people in the prison system, and how many die during police interventions.

“Hate must be weeded out. We need systemic restructuring to vet for white supremacy, along with misogyny and xenophobia. And these attitudes must be denounced by all leaders including the President of the United States.”

“There’s no reason to think that Canadian law enforcement agencies, or armed forces personnel, are immune to infiltration,” said Green Party Interim Leader Jo-Ann Roberts.”Earlier this year we learned that former Canadian Forces engineer Patrik Matthews had been arrested by the FBI on firearms charges and was accused of being a member of a violent neo-Nazi group. A full inquiry would be a proactive step to ensure this is not happening here, and at the same time, help to provide Canadians in racialized communities with more confidence in our law enforcement agencies.”

# # #

For more information or to arrange an interview:

Contact:

Rosie Emery

Press Secretary

613-562-4916 ext, 204

rosie.emery@greenparty.ca

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With all respect to the hon. parliamentary secretary, I suggest to him that his three tiers are not enough. We have to have airport security as a priority and border security as a priority.

When the unions that represent border service agents say they think smugglers will get the upper hand, Canadians should be worried.

When the RCMP officers are pulled from our airports for austerity reasons, I think we should all be concerned. It is a small amount of prudence for a large amount of benefit.

Pierre Poilievre: Mr. Speaker, the RCMP as the police of jurisdiction will continue a police presence at the Kelowna and Victoria airports with routine patrols and in response to 911 emergency calls for service. I assure the member that the RCMP is well equipped, well trained and well positioned to continue to carry out this essential function. We will support our national police force in so doing.

The post Adjournment Proceedings – Airport Security appeared first on Elizabeth May.

As well, the RCMP presence was withdrawn from Kelowna. Although Kelowna is in quite a spectacularly beautiful part of Canada, in the Okanagan, it happens to be, according to security experts with whom I have consulted, something of a thoroughfare for the smuggling of drugs and weapons. It is in an area where there are significant markets in northern Alberta and, without the RCMP detachment at the Kelowna airport, there is a concern that there will be an increase in drug dealing and other offences.

This comes at the same time as significant cutbacks in border security agents. According to the union representing the border guards, the Canada Border Services Agency has had cuts of up to 1,000 people. A lot of us saw the news coverage of the loss of the canine division, which was very efficient, effective and accurate at detecting the presence of illicit drugs and narcotics and so forth at borders. We have lost the canine division, we have lost the workforce of Canada Border Services agents who worked with that canine force, and we are losing security along the Canada–U.S. border at the same time that these cutbacks at the RCMP have lost us protection in our airports.

I have to say that I find this rather baffling, coming from an administration that has fashioned itself as being tough on crime and as being one that wants to protect Canada and Canadians from the threats of violent crime and the threats of illegal and illicit activity. This is in fact not just affecting particularly the Canada Border Services agents, not just affecting so-called backroom arrangements, agents and operations, but actually will affect the front-line operations of border security agents in such a way that the president of the union feels that smugglers will get the upper hand.

It really would be appropriate for the federal government to revisit these ill-advised cuts and to restore and replace the presence of RCMP officers in the class 2 airports, such as in Victoria and in Kelowna, and at the same time to revisit the cutting of border security agents. These are ill-conceived cuts that will cause far more damage through the loss of security than they can possibly gain in austerity.

Pierre Poilievre: Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands for providing me with the opportunity to respond to some of her concerns. Like other police services across Canada, the RCMP in British Columbia provides on-site policing at airports. Airport security in Canada is designated into three tiers across the country.

Tier 1 includes larger airports with policing detachments such as Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and similar other larger centres. The policing detachment in each tier 1 airport is provided by the police of the jurisdiction in that municipality where the airport is located.

Tier 2 airports are located in medium-sized municipalities that include cities like Kelowna or Victoria.

Tier 3 airports are located in small communities across Canada and do not have dedicated police presence as part of their security measures.

Security assessment of all airports is a continuous effort of Transport Canada.

The funding for airport security measures is paid directly by Transport Canada to the airport authorities and the municipality.

The RCMP provision of policing services under contract is conducted through co-operation with the municipality and the chief operating officer in each airport.

Total security operations for each airport include various measures, for example, perimeter fencing, employee security passes and controlled access zones. Budget allocations by Transport Canada are based on the assessment to determine the risks and need for security at each airport.

In 2012, Transport Canada estimated that existing security measures as a whole at tier 2 airports, including Kelowna and Victoria, other than dedicated police officers and detachments, were sufficient to ensure public safety at these airports.

We have confidence in Transport Canada’s assessment that the overall security package at Canadian airports, including Kelowna and Victoria, provide maximum security and safety measures for all Canadians. Let me assure the House that the policing presence at Kelowna and Victoria airports is ongoing through routine patrols and by responding to all emergency 911 calls for service.

With that being said, I thank the member for her query and I now anticipate her follow-up.

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I happen to know the rules quite well because I have the somewhat unique perspective of being able to bring forth both deletions and substantive amendments at report stage. In this case, it is a disservice to those who might be looking at this debate, or reading Hansard later, to think the official opposition is obsessed about the short title. It is simply looking for a chance for democratic debate.

Hon. Vic Toews: Mr. Speaker, I do not know what that party’s or that member’s position is. She is not a member of the official opposition.

The official opposition is the New Democrat Party. I see from what they have brought forward that all of those issues have been fully considered and that we are beginning to spin our tires by bringing forward amendments that would delete the short title of the act.

The post Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act (Bill C-42) appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Since 2006, Transport Canada has provided funding under the Airport Policing Contribution Program to the Victoria, Kelowna, Hamilton, and London airports. The Program was established four years earlier under the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), but transferred to Transport Canada in 2007. It was designed to assist certain airports in financing the rising cost of policing in order to increase public confidence in the aviation system and provide a “consistent police response.”

This valuable federal contribution to the safety and security of Canadian workers and travellers will end on March 31.

“When I was travelling through Kelowna recently, staff at the airport were concerned about the imminent removal of RCMP officers assigned to the airport,” Ms. May stated. “Despite the fact the airport is relatively small, there are concerns that it serves as a conduit for drugs headed into northern Alberta.

Ms. Candice Bergen (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, CPC) replied to Ms. May’s question.

“I am concerned that the decision to remove the RCMP and other police presence at the airports, including the Victoria airport in my own riding, was taken without full consultation with local officials and local communities,” Ms. May said. “I am afraid Ms. Bergen’s response does nothing to alleviate my concerns.”

The post May Asks Prime Minister Why Airport Security Being Abandoned appeared first on Elizabeth May.

I do not know how much community consultation took place or what security arrangements were made instead. Certainly Kelowna is an area where local law enforcement worries about a drug trade that goes through the Kelowna airport, heading to northern Alberta.

Would thePrime Minister inform the House what security measures would replace those that are now being removed through cost-cutting in our airports?

Candice Bergen: Mr. Speaker, the deployment of RCMP assets is an operational decision and certainly we do not involve ourselves politically in the day-to-day operations of the RCMP.

I do appreciate the question, though, because it gives me the opportunity to talk about the tools that we are giving front-line officers, including the RCMP, to do their jobs.

I would ask the member to support our initiatives, especially the one currently before the House, Bill C-42, which would enhance accountability, again, and give the RCMP and front-line officers the tools that they need.

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