My question is to the Solicitor General. Sadly, there’s a concerning rise in criminal activity across the country. Here in Ontario, we’re seeing more and more reports of crime in all parts of our province. This has left many feeling troubled over the safety and security for themselves and their loved ones.

Speaker, we all know that these trends cannot continue. Everyone in Ontario has the right to feel safe in their communities. That’s why our government must continue to show leadership by addressing this disturbing surge in criminal activity that is negatively impacting every one of us.

Speaker, can the Solicitor General please explain what actions our government is taking to enhance public security across the province?

Another disturbing trend being seen all across Ontario is just how quickly firearms can be purchased in the US, smuggled into Canada and used to commit criminal offences here. That’s why it’s important for our police officers to have the tools and resources they need to tackle this new level of organized crime. It’s negatively impacting our province.

Speaker, can the Solicitor General please explain how our government is increasing measures that will support police services as they combat complex organized crime?

Usually when I rise in the House, I always start by thanking God for giving me an opportunity, giving me this job, thanking my family and my extended family, and thanking the residents of Mississauga–Malton. Because as we know, as the Solicitor General said earlier, there are less than 2,000 people who had this privilege to make an impactful change to our province for the better by bringing the best of ourselves here, by seeing beyond the impediments, the biases, the intolerances, and bringing hope and dreams to life.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to speak on a serious matter. A matter of understanding how, in this House of responsibility, our words and actions have impact. And from that impact, it leads to the consequences on those around us.

Our Solicitor General talked about the founding principles of our democracy. Democracy of the best of who we are matters. The rule of law matters. The right to live safely in our homes and communities matters. And the right to live free of hate matters. It matters a lot. Democracy matters. Tolerance matters. Respect matters. Caring for each other matters. And regardless of our faith, our culture, our religion, our individualities or exceptionalities, the love, the respect, the tolerance, the care matters.

So it is very important to talk about this motion so that we can give the joy which all Ontarians have to the next generations to come. That’s how it matters.

Before I start, I want to talk about a phrase that is engraved in my life, something which I have seen myself, something which I learned from my grandmother, from my father: When innocent people die, innocent families suffer. Starting with 1947, when the partition happened, when India and Pakistan were born—the time my father and my mother both were born in Gujranwala, Pakistan, and they had to immigrate to India. While on that journey, they lost many of their relatives. And they were not alone. During the time, there were 15 million people who were displaced. It cost two million lives, which is two million innocent people who were killed. When those two million people were killed, the families for those two million people suffered for generations. I’ll give you an example.

Even though they were safe, they came, but they had to start from scratch, they had to work hard to go back to the basics of life. I’m thankful to God for giving my parents their education. My father was a very smart man, but he could only study up to grade 10 because he could not afford to after that. Immediately, he had to go to work because he had to feed his newly married wife, who actually started a job just after they got married but couldn’t continue because they wanted to raise us. Yes, he survived, but he could not do the best for himself. That is what matters when we talk about the innocent people who died. Those who survived, those innocent families, suffered.

I was born in Punjab, India, in 1972. When we talk about the Punjab crisis, when we talk about the dark time of the Punjab from 1980 to 1993—during the crisis, I was eight years old when it started. During the dark time, many, many innocent people were killed; from the buses, from the shelters, from many places.

I’ll give you some of the examples which I’ve taken out from the newspapers, Madam Speaker. In October 1983, eight people—I would rather say eight innocents—were killed. They were killed for no fault of their own. Madam Speaker, when they were killed, when these innocent people died, their innocent families suffered. We saw, in 1984, genocide—over 3,000 innocent people died. When these 3,000 innocent people died, were killed, many, many innocent families suffered. In 1986, 13 innocent civilians were killed in fighting. July 1986: 15 bus passengers killed. November 1986: 24 innocent bus passengers gunned down. The list is endless.

Madam Speaker, during this time, many youngsters took up arms, many went missing and many of those have never returned. When those never returned—when those innocent people died—many, many of their innocent families are still suffering. While the actual number of these killings during this decade-long violence, which started at the age of eight and it got finished by the time I was age 21—and I wasn’t alone. Almost every family in Punjab and every Punjabi can never forget those dark days. As I said, many, many youths have gone missing.

This painful cycle of violence—what I see now around the world, it reminds me of the human cost of conflict. When I was looking at the media report, the death toll—1,400 people killed and 3,800 injured since October 7. They’re not outsiders, Madam Speaker. The pain for many of those here at home—six Canadians known so far. My heart races when I look at the data and the information and I’m going to try to say: Shir Georgy, age 22; Ben Mizrachi, age 22. When innocent people die, innocent families suffer—