Tuesday night the Special Committee On Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls will meet for the first time. This special committee, created by the Liberal motion unanimously passed on February 19, will have the mandate to conduct hearings on the critical matter of missing and murdered Indigenous women and...

At the end of Friday's meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and First Nations leaders, it was astounding to hear the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs John Duncan tell the people of Canada that the Conservative Government has fulfilled its constitutional "Duty to Consult" First Nations on the legislation affecting them.

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) hosted a Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa last week to develop a plan to deal with the Conservative government's increasingly confrontational approach toward First Nations. Speaking to the Assembly, National Chief Shawn Atleo referred to the deterioration in the relationship with Ottawa noting, "We've...

"The current state of over-representation of Aboriginal women in federal corrections is nothing short of a crisis." This rebuke is not from a politician or civil society group, but directly from a report commissioned by the Department of Public Safety itself. The unusually forceful language in this recent government report...

The Prime Minister's annual trip to Canada's North is always tough for me because it never deals with the real problems facing the North. Watching the television coverage, I find it difficult to understand why the Prime Minister has a chuckling smile on his face amid the serious challenges facing...

The government was wrong in its response to the crisis in Attawapiskat and its ongoing attempt to divide Canadians with misleading information is shameful. Federal court ruled
this morning the that the Conservative government's response to the crisis in Attawapiskat was unreasonable and failed to look...

The Conservative government is turning its back on an estimated 800,000 Canadian households that struggle to put nutritious food on the table. Instead, they are attacking those who raise legitimate concerns about food insecurity. Although this "shoot the messenger" approach seems to be the Conservative's standard response to every issue,...

One of the huge privileges and joys of being an MP is getting to travel across the country and listen to Canadians talk about their needs, as well as hear their thoughtful proposals for real solutions. It means that we spend a lot of...

Monday in Question Period I asked Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq a simple question:

Mr. Speaker, unbelievably, the Minister of Health has made Aboriginal health the number one target for cuts in her department. She has cut programs for diabetes, youth suicide and Aboriginal health human resources. She says she...

In sport, in business, in politics, winning is generally viewed to be better than losing. Winning by cheating is never to be celebrated -- not in Russia, not in Burma, and certainly not in Canada.

The question is no longer whether there were nefarious activities to secure a Conservative victory...

For 21 years, we've been commemorating Dec. 6 as a day of mourning and remembrance for the 14 young women at École Polytechnique brutally slain by an angry male who hated feminists. For 21 years we have read the wonderful poem that Stevie Cameron wrote the next day....

Last month Quebec's Minister of Justice, Jean-Marc Fournier, came to Ottawa to plead with the Conservative government to look at the evidence-based approaches to crime his province has pioneered. These approaches lead to safer communities. He explained that the C-10 "tough on crime" approach doesn't actually work. When accused by...

The Ontario election outcome was hugely important for Canada. Ontarians have traditionally preferred to put in place the checks and balances of divided government -- Trudeau/Davis, Mulroney/Peterson, Chretien/Harris -- and this election was no different. Ontarians chose a Liberal Government to provide a counterbalance to the Harper Government and, in...

Last week the Conservative government introduced Bill C-10, "The Safer Streets, Safer Communities Act," which, according to all the experts and the evidence, will not produce safer streets or safer communities. It may, in fact, do exactly the opposite.

Statscan reported this summer that "the...

I once heard Maurice Strong explain that you just need to look to the top of the globe and you'll find the countries with the most developed social programmes. He explained that in the cold countries in the north, communities figured out that they truly needed to help...

Next week the Canadian Medical Association meets in Newfoundland. The program looks interesting, as always. The education sessions on Sunday afternoon will be on Health Care Transformation and preparing for the renegotiation of the Health Accord between the federal government and the provinces and territories in 2014.

As always,...

Recently Toronto mayor and chair of the city's executive committee pulled an 'all-nighter' to hear from approximately 300 of the roughly three million people who live in Toronto. They were invited to share their views of the KPMG study that outlined the areas for possible program cuts in the City's...

Over the summer I hope to develop the theme of 'Democracy between Elections' -- the two-way accountability that is meaningful citizen engagement. The goal is to provide in chunks a framework for a 'Politicians Guide to Listening and a Citizens Guide to Being Heard'. It seems imperative that we move...

Every year, July 1 is the day we get to pause and celebrate our truly wonderful country.

Canada means "village" or "settlement" in the Saint-Lawrence Iroquoian language. Somehow our "village" or "settlement" has evolved into a beacon of diversity and tolerance for the world. We need to look to...