44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 19, 2023 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to be back in the House. I hope the feeling is mutual for the members opposite.
The first petition I want to share is in support of my private member's bill, Bill C-257. This bill recognizes the growing problem of political discrimination, that is, people facing discrimination on the basis of their political views. While federal human rights legislation protects people from various kinds of discrimination, it does not include a situation in which, for instance, someone could be fired from their job, denied access to a bank account or denied equal access to government funding simply because of political opinions they hold and have expressed. My bill would change that by adding protections against political discrimination to the Canadian Human Rights Act.
The petitioners like the bill. They want the House to support the bill and defend the rights of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am presenting is on a private member's bill, Bill C-281, the international human rights act, from a colleague of mine. The petitioners highlight that Canada should be committed to upholding the protection of international human rights. Therefore, they call upon the House to pass Bill C-281 to add protections against human rights violations and to promote a stronger role for Parliament in responding to those violations.
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- Sep/19/23 10:18:55 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am presenting is with respect to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. It notes various violations of the fundamental human rights of Falun Gong practitioners; these violations include, but are not limited to, forced organ harvesting.
The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada and the House to take stronger action to respond to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and to continue to be vocal about this issue.
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- Sep/19/23 10:19:29 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am presenting deals with the Canada summer jobs program.
Sadly, Ukrainian youth who have come to Canada as part of the authorization for emergency travel are not able to participate in the Government of Canada-funded summer jobs program. The petitioners believe, and rightly so, that this is an unfair exclusion and that youth coming here as refugees should not be prevented from accessing this very large number of summer jobs, which happen to be funded by the Canadian government. They are are looking to support themselves and their families. The petitioners note that youth from Ukraine are facing unique barriers and should not be barred from summer jobs in this arbitrary way. They call on the Government of Canada to allow Ukrainian youth under the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel to apply for jobs funded through the Canada summer jobs program. Sadly, it is too late for this summer, but there will be other summers in the future.
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- Sep/19/23 10:20:37 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am presenting opposes the changes the government has made to the Canadian passport. The petitioners note that the passport Canadians have used for a long time contains images significant to Canadian heritage, including the fathers of Confederation, the Vimy Ridge memorial and Terry Fox; the government plans to erase these images from it. Petitioners call upon the government to reverse its plan to erase these symbols of national heritage and identity from the Canadian passport.
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- Sep/19/23 10:23:32 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, next, I am presenting a petition regarding our international development policy.
The petitioners note the success of the Muskoka Initiative, which was launched by the previous Conservative government. It involved historic investments in the well-being of women and girls around the world, emphasized value for money and ensured investments in priorities identified by local women.
The petitioners note that the Liberal approach to international development for women and girls has recently been criticized in an Auditor General report because it fails to measure results. They say that the government has shown a lack of respect for cultural values and autonomy of women in developing countries by supporting organizations that, in some cases, violate local laws at the expense of international development priorities, such as clean water, access to basic nutrition and economic development.
The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to align international development spending with the approach taken in the Muskoka Initiative, focusing international development dollars on meeting the basic needs of vulnerable women around the world.
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- Sep/19/23 10:24:35 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the final petition that I am presenting today refers to comments made by Louis Roy from the Quebec College of Physicians recommending the expansion of euthanasia to “babies from birth to one year of age who come into the world with severe deformities and very serious syndromes”.
The petitioners believe that this proposal for the legalized killing of infants in Canada is deeply disturbing and wrong. They call on the Government of Canada to block any attempt to legalize the killing of children.
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