Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my friend, the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent, for expressing her feelings so well regarding an issue that affects aboriginal children across Canada, and particularly for urging us to make Shannen’s dream become reality. What changes should be made to Canada’s policies so that the change everyone is hoping for can take place?

Alexandrine Latendresse: Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands for her question. Like me, she has a clear understanding of the issues facing Canada’s first nations, particularly aboriginal children. I am convinced she knows how dishonourable it is to see children live in the conditions faced by many first nations. Some very simple measures could be taken. First, we could provide true funding to schools and help children get access to books and textbooks, which is not the case right now. This is really minimal. It is said that millions of dollars have been thrown at these reserves, but we are talking about management in a broad sense. We do not try to find out what these people really need. We do not give them a chance to get what they really need. That would be a significant first step.

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Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. friend, the member who raised and supports, as I do, this motion, again recognizing that my riding is in Saanich territory where there are four first nations that uniquely have something called the Douglas treaty, which we should be called upon to observe.

In this instance, I want to ask my hon. friend what he believes will be the kind of commitment that will make the difference to ensure that all first nations children receive the high quality education they deserve.

Fin Donnelly: Mr. Speaker, I want to comment on what Canada’s New Democrats or an NDP government would do. We would commit to removing the punitive 2% funding cap that exists today that focuses on the current inequities, which is what I think is holding back putting the funding into a quality education system for every aboriginal first nations child across this country. That is what we would commit to, that is what we have been asking the government to commit to and that is what needs to happen.

We have heard the parliamentary secretary and others comment on the funding that has been put into first nations education. What is recognized is that it is inadequate. We need the 2% cap removed so we can address the fundamentals that go along with education and address even the poverty issues that exist on reserves for bands across the country.

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Elizabeth May: Madam Speaker, I want to make it clear that I plan to vote in favour of today’s motion. The treatment of children in first nations communities is scandalous. They have a right to a decent education. 

My question for the member for St. Paul’s is very direct and very brief. What does she believe it will take to see this legacy of shame end once and for all?

Hon. Carolyn Bennett: Madam Speaker, the exciting thing of having Cindy Blackstock of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and the brilliantly articulated Shannen’s dream, is that people have been thinking about these things for a long time. It is up to us to listen, to provide the appropriate resources and then to work with the first nations people on the ground to make sure that we are always re-evaluating in terms of investments and results. If more money is required to kickstart this out of the darkness, then we need to have a commitment that it will happen with stable, predictable funding that first nations can count on so that they can plan in the same way that other communities do in this country.

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