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Context: House Hansard - 138 - Nov/30/22

Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Nov/30/22 3:59:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the first petition I am tabling today is in support of an excellent private member's bill that I presented in the House. We have a parallel version of that bill that was tabled just yesterday in the Senate. These bills are Bill C-257 and Bill S-257. Conveniently, they have the same number. Petitioners are calling on the House to recognize the problem of political discrimination and how Canadians can face political discrimination and have a right to be protected from that kind of discrimination. It is a fundamental right to be politically active and vocal. It is in the best interests of Canadian democracy to protect public debate and the free exchange of ideas, and Bill C-257 and Bill S-257 seek to add protection against political discrimination to the Canadian Human Rights Act. Petitioners call upon the House to support Bill C-257 and Bill S-257, which seek to ban discrimination on the basis of political belief or activity, and to defend the rights of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Nov/30/22 3:59:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, next I am tabling a petition that draws attention to the situation of Huseyin Celil. Huseyin Celil has been detained in China for over 5,000 days. Petitioners note that they were very pleased to see the release of the two Michaels from unjust and arbitrary detention in China. They would like to see the Government of Canada make similar efforts to secure the release of Huseyin Celil. The petitioners note that Celil is a Canadian citizen; that he was taken from Uzbekistan to China; that the Chinese government has continued not to recognize his Canadian citizenship and denied him access to lawyers, family and Canadian officials; and that he was coerced into signing a confession and underwent an unlawful and unfair trial. Evidence now makes clear as well that the Chinese government's treatment of Uighurs meets most, if not all the criteria for genocide, as outlined in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Mr. Celil was active in promoting the human rights of Uighurs prior to his arrest and detention. Petitioners call on the government to take a number of specific steps: to demand that the Chinese government recognize Mr. Celil's Canadian citizenship and provide him with consular and legal services in accordance with international law; to formally state that the release of Mr. Celil from Chinese detainment and his return to Canada are a priority of the Canadian government of equal concern as the unjust detentions of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor; to appoint a special envoy to work on securing Mr. Celil's release; and to seek the assistance of the Biden administration and other allies on working to obtain that release, as we have seen in the past.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Nov/30/22 3:59:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the next petition also deals with an issue of freedom of speech and expression. It is a petition raising a grievous concern about a commitment in the Liberal Party's election platform to deny charitable status to organizations that take positions the Liberals disagree with, particularly on the issue of abortion. Petitioners note that this commitment to deny charitable status on the basis of the convictions of an organization could put at risk the charitable status of organizations like hospitals, houses of worship, schools, homeless shelters and other charitable organizations, simply on the basis of the personally and sincerely held views of those who lead or work at these organizations. This proposal from the Liberal platform would involve applying a values test, discriminating against people based on their political views, similar to what we saw in the previous values test put in the Canada summer jobs initiative. Therefore, petitioners call on the House to protect and preserve the application of charitable status rules on a politically and ideologically neutral basis, without discrimination on the basis of values and opinions and without the imposition of another values test. Also, petitioners want to see the House affirm the right of Canadians to freedom of expression.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Nov/30/22 3:59:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling speaks to concerns about the situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Notably, this petition came in prior to the signing of the recent peace deal. I know now there is a great deal of hope that the deal will be fully and quickly implemented and will lead to lasting peace, justice and reconciliation. However, I still want to put this petition on the record to demonstrate the active engagement and concern of Canadians about the situation in Tigray. It includes a call that is very much still relevant, which is to engage directly and consistently with the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments on issues that emerged from the conflict and to call for international investigation into credible reports of war crimes and gross violations of human rights law.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Nov/30/22 3:59:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the next petition that I am tabling deals with the human rights situation of Hazaras in Afghanistan. Petitioners note various campaigns of genocide that have targeted the Hazara community in the last 100 years and state that the situation has only gotten worse since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Petitioners call on the government to recognize the 1891 to 1893 ethnic cleansing perpetrated against Hazaras as a genocide and to designate September 25 as Hazara genocide memorial day.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Nov/30/22 4:09:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling is similar but somewhat more specific. It also deals with the issue of organ harvesting and trafficking broadly, and calls on this House to adopt legislation to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. The petitioners note a number of bills that have been brought forward on this topic. Most recently we have Bill S-223, which has just come out of committee and will soon be going to third reading in this House. The petitioners hope that this Parliament will be the one that finally succeeds in passing organ harvesting and trafficking legislation.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Nov/30/22 4:09:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the next petition that I am tabling highlights the plight of the Sikh and Hindu minority in Afghanistan. It calls on the government to take action to support that minority by having a special program to allow persecuted minorities from Afghanistan to come to Canada. Many of these signatures were gathered prior to the Taliban takeover, and petitioners no doubt were expressing their will at the time that the government could have acted, when it would have certainly been much easier to provide support to these minorities. Nonetheless, I think it is still important to table this petition to recognize what could have been done and was not, and still needs to be done to support Sikhs, Hindus and other minorities facing persecution in Afghanistan.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Nov/30/22 4:09:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the final petition that I am tabling in the House deals with the issue of conscience rights. It notes that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed serious gaps in support and services available to seniors and those who were dying. The forced closure of care homes and hospices which do not wish to participate in or facilitate the killing of their patients risks exacerbating the crisis in available long-term and palliative care. The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to respect the charter-protected conscience rights of those who operate and work in care homes and hospices, ensuring that these facilities will be able to continue to operate.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Nov/30/22 4:09:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am tabling a petition that highlights the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. The petitioners note various reports that have identified this persecution, and that the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners includes organ harvesting, killing people for their organs and transplanting those to others, obviously without the consent of the person being killed. The petitioners call on the Canadian Parliament and the government to seek to stop the mass murder of innocent people for their organs, including but not limited to Canadian legislation to ban organ tourism, also to take additional steps to call for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, and to urge that those who participate in this persecution be brought to justice.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Nov/30/22 4:09:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 869, 871 and 873.

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Nov/30/22 4:10:05 p.m.
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Question No. 869—

Questioner: Raquel Dancho

With regard to the illegal border crossing at Roxham Road: does the government have any plans to shut down the border crossing, and, if so, when?

Question No. 871—

Questioner: Robert Kitchen

With regard to Order in Council P.C. 2020-903 and the coming into force of Section 292 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2019, No. 1 (S.C. 2019, c. 29): (a) on what date did Section 292 of the act come into effect; (b) who, in the Office of the Prime Minister, signed the order fixing the date for the coming into force of Section 292 of the act, which was published on December 9, 2020; and (c) what are the details of any government website entries related to the coming into force of the Order in Council, which have been modified in any way since January 1, 2021, including, for each, (i) the website which was modified (ii) the date it was modified, (iii) what was modified, (iv) the manner in which the information was modified, (v) the reason for the modification, (vi) who ordered the modification?

Question No. 873—

Questioner: Rachel Blaney

With regard to the Pacific Salmon Strategic Initiative (PSSI), since its inception: (a) what initiatives, programs, and projects have been created or received funding, broken down by key area, namely (i) conservation and stewardship, (ii) salmon enhancement, (iii) harvest transformation, (iv) integration and collaboration; and (b) what is the total amount of funding spent to date through the PSSI?

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Nov/30/22 4:10:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the government's responses to Questions Nos. 865 to 868, 870 and 872 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled immediately. The Deputy Speaker: Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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Nov/30/22 4:10:22 p.m.
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Question No. 865—

Questioner: Bonita Zarrillo

With regard to the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), broken down by round, province and units: (a) how many RHI applications received federal funding; (b) how many RHI applications were denied federal funding; (c) of the units in (a), how many (i) have been completed, (ii) are still being built; and (d) of the units in (a), how many were not completed and the applications collapsed, and what were the reasons?

Question No. 866—

Questioner: Rick Perkins

With regard to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the southern resident killer whales at the Pender Island bluffs, broken down by year since 2015: (a) how many southern resident killer whales have travelled to the Pender Island bluffs; (b) on what date were they first spotted; (c) on what date did they leave the zone; (d) when did they travel, (e) what did they feed on; (f) how many (i) were struck or entangled, (ii) died; (g) how many boats were fined for entering the zone; (h) what was the yearly cost of enforcement; and (i) how often did DFO patrol the transit zone?

Question No. 867—

Questioner: Rick Perkins

With regard to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), broken down by year since 2015: (a) what was the DFO's budget and expenditures in view of enacting their willing buyer-willing seller policy, for all licence buy-backs; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by license type and species; and (c) how many licenses have been acquired, broken down by license type and species, and what is the average cost by species?

Question No. 868—

Questioner: Rick Perkins

With regard to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the spawning biomass of North Atlantic mackerel in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, broken down by year since 2015: (a) what was the size of biomass, broken down by the date of data collected; and (b) what are the details of how the data in (a) was collected, including the location of data collected, the methodology used and what vessel was used to collect the data?

Question No. 870—

Questioner: Robert Kitchen

With regard to reports that some files related to requests made under the Access to Information and Privacy Act (ATIP), which have received lengthy extensions and are not being worked on, broken down by government entity subject to the ATIP: (a) how many outstanding ATIP requests have received an extension in excess of five years; (b) for each request in (a), what are the details, including the (i) date received, (ii) length of extension, (iii) anticipated completion date, (iv) subject matter; and (c) for each request in (a), what specific work was conducted on the file, broken down by year since the request was received?

Question No. 872—

Questioner: Don Davies

With regard to the federal tobacco control strategy for fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22: (a) what was the budget for the strategy; (b) how much of that budget was spent within each fiscal year; (c) how much was spent on each component of the strategy, specifically (i) mass media, (ii) policy and regulatory development, (iii) research, (iv) surveillance, (v) enforcement, (vi) grants and contributions, (vii) programs for Indigenous Canadians; (d) were any other activities not listed in (c) funded by the strategy, and, if so, how much was spent on each of these activities; and (e) was part of the budget reallocated for purposes other than tobacco control, and, if so, how much was reallocated?

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

Nov/30/22 4:10:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I ask that the remaining questions be allowed to stand. The Deputy Speaker: Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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Deputy

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Nov/30/22 4:10:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I ask that all notices of motions for the production of papers be allowed to stand at this time. The Deputy Speaker: Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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Mr. Arif Virani (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, Lib.)

Nov/30/22 4:10:55 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-29

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to contribute to the debate on Bill C-29 at third reading. This is quite critical legislation and I will start with some preparatory comments. Our government is committed wholeheartedly to pursuing all avenues possible in the advancement of reconciliation in this country. It goes without saying that when we speak about reconciliation, a cornerstone of this concept is the idea about accountability, that the government, the country, needs to be held accountable for historical wrongs that have been perpetrated against indigenous peoples for literally centuries on this land. Residents in my riding of Parkdale—High Park in Toronto have spoken to me regularly over the past seven years about the importance of reconciliation, the need to advance it and to address the TRC calls to actions. I am very pleased to note that the TRC calls to action, five of them in particular, are really at the heart of this legislation. What my constituents and people around the country have told me is that we need to ensure we are doing everything in our power as a government and as a Parliament to remedy the wrongs that were inflicted upon generations of indigenous people, particularly indigenous children who, through the residential schools program, were robbed of their families, their culture, oftentimes their language and, indeed, their history. Going back seven years to 2015 before we came into power as government, we campaigned on a platform that called for a renewed relationship with indigenous peoples, one that would be based on the recognition of rights based on respect, co-operation and partnership. An important cornerstone of any nation-to-nation relationship as it is being advanced is basic respect for the autonomy and self-determination of the various indigenous peoples that we engage with, being first nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. This is important on the international stage, but it is also important right here in Canada. The reconciliation process that I am speaking of has to be guided by the active participation and leadership of indigenous peoples. I will digress for a moment. We had an example of that in the legislation I was privileged to work on, which, if memory serves, was either Bill C-91 or Bill C-92 two Parliaments ago. However, the important piece is not the number of the bill that we advanced at the time, but the indigenous languages legislation that we advanced and passed in this Parliament, which is now firmly part of Canadian law. In that context, we co-developed the legislation in that spirit of reconciliation, in terms of giving full participation and leadership in the development role to indigenous communities, first nations, Inuit and Métis. That is an important aspect of reconciliation and how it manifests, but so too is this bill. With this bill, we would put in place institutional mechanisms that are called for in the TRC calls to action for indigenous peoples, so they can hold Canada and the Canadian government to account for meeting goals on the path toward reconciliation. What is Bill C-29 about? It is called “an act to provide for the establishment of a national council for reconciliation” and, like the indigenous languages bill that I was privileged to work on two Parliaments ago, it has been driven by the active participation of first nations, Inuit and Métis communities, organizations and individuals right across the country. What it would do is establish a permanent, indigenous-led, independent council with a mandate to monitor and support the progress of reconciliation in this country, including progress toward the full implementation of the TRC calls to action. Let us talk about those calls to action. I mentioned them at the outset of my comments. The calls to action call on the government to create a non-partisan body that would hold the Government of Canada to account on the journey toward reconciliation. Specifically, calls to action 53 and 54 call for the establishment of this national council for reconciliation and for permanence of funding, which is very critical. We need to not only create the body, but adequately resource it. Call to action 55 calls on the government to provide relevant information to the council in support of its mandate, providing it with the tools so it can execute its functions. Call to action 56 calls on the government to publish an annual report in response to the national council's annual report covering what the government is doing in terms of advancing reconciliation, another key component. I will digress for a moment. I know there were some very useful amendments proposed at the committee stage, which I believe were universally adopted and it was unanimous coming out of committee. One of the components was for the government's response to be led by the Prime Minister himself, which is really critical in terms of emphasizing the prioritization and importance of this issue about advancing reconciliation. It is critical to not underestimate the impact that this kind of council will have on fostering the type of relationship with indigenous peoples I mentioned at the outset of my comments. Through the annual response report, Canada would be consistently required to account for progress being made and also progress that has not yet been made, including identifying challenges, hurdles and obstacles. It would be the people most impacted by such policies, the first nations, Inuit and Métis people on this land, who would have the power and wield that power to hold the government of the day to account. That is really important. This is not about partisanship. This is not about what the Liberal government will be held to account for. This is what any government in the country would be held to account to do, going forward, with respect to advancing reconciliation, which is very critical in terms of such a pressing matter. It is clearly only the beginning of some of the work we need to be doing. We know that, in Ontario, in my province, the median income of an indigenous household is 80% of that of a non-indigenous household. We know that the life expectancy of an indigenous person is over nine years shorter than a non-indigenous person on this land. We know that while fewer than 5% of Canadians are indigenous, indigenous women represent over half of the inmate population in federal penitentiaries. We know that when we account for male participants, while indigenous men represent 5% of the population, they represent 30% of the prison population. Those are really chilling statistics. I can say, parenthetically, that TRC call to action 55 has several subcategories. Two of the subcategories, and I will just cite from them, talk about the council ensuring that it reports on the progress on “reducing the rate of criminal victimization of Aboriginal people” as well as, in call to action 55, subsection vii, “Progress on reducing the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the justice and correctional systems.” I think one important facet of what the council will be doing, and also how the government will be responding, is highlighting some of the initiatives we have already started to take. I am very pleased to say that, about two weeks ago, we secured passage and royal assent of Bill C-5. The bill addresses mandatory minimum penalties in the country, which have been in place for far too long, and how those mandatory minimum penalties served to take low-risk, first-time offenders and overly incarcerate them, disproportionately impacting indigenous men and Black men in Canada. That is an important facet, in terms of how we advance this fight for reconciliation and how we advance some of these terms that are specifically itemized in the calls to action. That is exactly the type of thing I would like to see reported on by the council and included in the responses by the Canadian government, as to what further steps we can take to cure such instances, such as overrepresentation. There are lasting effects. All of these statistics I have been citing demonstrate the lasting effects of the intergenerational trauma in Canada that has been inflicted upon first nations, Inuit and Métis communities. They are the result of enduring systemic discrimination and systemic racism in this country. That is critical to underline. It should be an issue that is really incontrovertible in the chamber. We cannot begin to address such serious issues until we put into law a mechanism for holding the government of the day accountable, consistently accountable, for the actions, both past and present, and for what we are doing to remedy these historical injustices. I was quite pleased to see this bill get the support of all parties at second reading. I am very confident that, hopefully, it will get support, once again, of all of the parties in the chamber. I note, again, some of the important amendments that were made. I mentioned one of them right at the start of my comments. Other useful amendments presented by a multi-party group at committee included having elders and residential school survivors and their descendants populate the board of directors for this council. That would be a really critical feature. I will say, somewhat subjectively, that I was quite pleased to see the fact that the importance of revitalizing, restoring and ensuring the non-extinction of indigenous languages also forms part of the amendments that were suggested by the committee, something we have wholeheartedly adopted already in Parliament. As I mentioned earlier, the response to the annual report will be led by the Prime Minister himself. That being said, this bill would do more than place obligations on the government. It would compel the government to continuously hold a mirror to itself, to urge us to never stop striving to do the best job we can vis-à-vis reconciliation. It would urge us to take ownership of the wrongdoings of the past and of the challenges of the present, and to work toward a commitment to do better going forward. I think this type of honesty and accountability has been long sought after, and Bill C-29 is a step in the right direction. I commend the bill and I urge all of my colleagues to do the same and ensure its passage.

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Mr. Gary Vidal (Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, CPC)

Nov/30/22 4:20:54 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-29

Madam Speaker, the process was a very collaborative one at committee and I appreciate that process. The hon. member spoke a couple of times about the amendment that was made to call on the Prime Minister to respond to the annual report, rather than the minister, as was in the original legislation. It was agreed upon at committee that we would do that. I am just curious if the member has a reason why that was not included in the draft legislation in the first place, as that was very specifically a response to call to action 56 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

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Mr. Arif Virani

Nov/30/22 4:21:36 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-29

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his work on the committee. I have reviewed the calls to action myself and I recognize what is in call to action 56. I could simply say, without having in-depth understanding of the genesis of the bill, that I presume it was probably deemed appropriate at that time for the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, who led off debate yesterday at third reading, to be leading the response. That is the key ministry that was involved in generating the legislation. However, I take at full value what is listed in call to action 56 and also the fact that the government has supported that very useful amendment.

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Ms. Monique Pauzé (Repentigny, BQ)

Nov/30/22 4:22:19 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-29

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. It really is nice to see everyone rallying around this bill. I am glad all members want to see it pass so we can head in the right direction. This bill refers to all sectors of Canadian society and all governments in Canada. It is not very precise. Will federally regulated private corporations be subject to this legislation? Will an independent aviation company be subject to it? Would the member please clarify some of these things?

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Mr. Arif Virani

Nov/30/22 4:23:08 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-29

Mr. Speaker, the member for Repentigny asked a very good question. This is my personal opinion, but I believe it is everyone's responsibility to fight discrimination against indigenous peoples, including federally regulated private corporations. I think this is a challenge that all companies, even private ones, should take up. However, I cannot provide a specific answer. I will follow up, and we can talk about it later.

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