Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to highlight some comments. First of all, I wanted to thank the Members of the Standing Committee on Social Development, my colleagues, and of course, our committee was led by my colleague, Mr. Shane Thompson, the Member for Nahendeh. Also, recognizing the members of the public that attended the public meetings and wrote to the committee. Of course, last but not least is the Minister and the department and their staff, for working collaboratively with the committee. This discussion would not be possible without their cooperation and assistance.
In short, we received the draft LP that was referred to this committee. We did the public rounds of consultations, and what we found is that, if the department and committees work together collaboratively, things can happen. Good things can happen. Such was the case when we went through this stuff at the clause-by-clause and then doing the report, and here we are.
As my colleague pointed out, Bill 45, when it was first proposed, was an old legislation that needed to be updated, and my initial thoughts on that were that, basically, it will be a cut-and-paste exercise and that, in the end, the status quo will prevail. My expectations were such.
I am realizing, too, that being aware that most of the correctional institutions that we have, not only here in northern Canada, but all over Canada, the majority that are housed in those institutions are Indigenous people. With that in mind, too, I think, last winter, we also received letters of grievances and concerns from inmates. I think that we had to listen to those issues and bring them to the forefront and try to, at least, make a difference. That being said, we also are reminded of the Auditor General of Canada's report on the lack of programs and services for inmates in these institutions.
Juxtaposed with that, of course, we have the Truth and Reconciliation report that highlighted the sad and tragic legacy of residential schools and, at the same time, highlighting the whole tragedy of missing and murdered women. Largely so, if we observe the history of Indigenous people with justice, the system that we have now is very punitive. It takes a punitive approach with people who take on deviant behaviour or non-conformist behaviour that goes against society and basic law. They are incarcerated and experience the whole idea of shame. That is basically how we deal with criminals in society generally.
I am encouraged that this legislation, the exercise that I have seen with my own eyes, offered me a glimpse of hope that reconciliation indeed could happen with this government. What we have achieved to some degree is a level of public oversight on how inmates are treated, and it also offers some elements of regulations to ensure that we have a fair and transparent system in place for inmates, but most importantly, it is a model of collaboration between the committee and the department, and we worked together. There's a commitment and passion on both sides, and if you have that, some good things happen. I think some good things happened during this exercise, and I'm glad that I was part of this process, and I could proudly say that I think we have come up with a good draft that would shine a light on possibilities and hope for inmates who are incarcerated in all these institutions. Mahsi.