Parliament convened on Monday night for an emergency debate surrounding the lobster fishery in southwestern Nova Scotia.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh condemned RCMP for systemic racism and says we’re in this position because of failures by both Liberal and Conservative governments.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a stern condemnation against racist acts that have happened over the past few weeks.
“There is no place for racism in our country,” he began. “The appalling violence in Nova Scotia must stop now. It is unacceptable, it is shameful, and it is criminal.”
Trudeau says he spoke with Premier Stephen McNeil on the issue, and says that the feds will continue working with provincial counterparts and RCMP to make sure everyone in the area remains safe.
West Nova Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont began his address by pleading with MPs not to paint residents of West Nova with the same brush.
Before I get to the current situation, I want to say to the Minister and to the people that are speaking here today: please don’t paint my area as racist,” he affirmed. “There’s probably a few, as in many of our ridings. Systemic racism is true in Canada but my area is not, by default, racist. It does not represent the majority of my citizens.”
The Liberals re-iterated that nation-to-nation negotiations are ongoing and that there’s no basis for commercial fishing industry’s assertion that lobster stocks are under threat from Mi’kmaw fishermen.
The full emergency debate can be viewed here; scroll to 19:14 timestamp.
