Svend Robinson

[Criminal Code, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I hear a Reform Party member saying "right on". I hope that member will have the courage to stand in his place and defend that particular-

[Criminal Code, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to address a question to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice.

The parliamentary secretary is a member of this House for whom I have considerable respect. We have worked together on the justice committee over the years. The member was present in the House a few minutes ago when one of his colleagues from his province of Nova Scotia made certain comments with respect to this bill and in particular with respect to the provisions dealing with crimes motivated by hatred, prejudice and bias on the issue of sexual orientation.

The parliamentary secretary may be aware as well of the fact that this Liberal from Nova Scotia in question has made a number of similar comments to those that she made in the House. In the House today she stated among other things that homosexuality was immoral and unnatural.

[Criminal Code, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am one of the 10 per cent to whom the hon. member just referred. I am not a member of a special interest group. I am not a member of a faction. I am a member of a family and gay and lesbian people in this country, as the member should know, are also very much not only members of families but are also families themselves.

I want to take a couple of minutes to respond to the comments of the hon. member. I want to tell the hon. member that what we are debating here is legislation which which will ensure that when a crime is motivated by hatred or intolerance or bigotry, whether it be based upon sexual orientation, religion, or race, that crime is punished more severely.

A couple of weeks ago for example the brother of a young teacher from Toronto came to my office and told me about how his brother had been brutally murdered by five teenagers in a Toronto park. He had been kicked to death because he was a faggot according to them.

I also met with people who were attacked and whose arms were broken by a group of thugs in a restaurant on Davie Street in Vancouver. They were attacked for no other reason than the fact that they happen to be gay.

This legislation says that when attacks are motivated by that kind of hatred they should be punished more severely.

I want to challenge this member and I want to leave her with time to respond to this. The hon. member, and I use those words advisedly, has suggested that "homosexual couples are not families in natural law. They will not be family. To condone homosexuality which is an inhuman act would make us a pagan nation". She goes on to suggest that gays and lesbians do not deserve any protection against discrimination and that homosexuality is in the same class as pedophilia and bestiality. I might say as well that I heard hon. members from the Reform Party saying "hear, hear" as she spoke.

My question for the hon. member is a simple one. Will she now stand in her place and retract those hateful comments she made suggesting that people, homosexualists as she called them, were promoting and advancing the homosexual movement which is spreading AIDS. That kind of fear mongering, that kind of hateful conduct has no place in this House.

I want to ask the hon. member to stand in her place and take this opportunity to withdraw those hateful words. Failing that, I want to ask other members of the Liberal caucus when will they end their silence and when will the Prime Minister end his silence and say that this woman has no place in the Liberal Party of Canada?

[Petitions, September 19th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I too have the honour to present a petition which is signed by hundreds of Canadian citizens from Kingston, Ontario, from Quebec, Nova Scotia and my own constituency which calls upon Parliament to amend the Criminal Code to ensure the right of all Canadians to die with dignity by allowing people with terminal or irreversible and debilitating illness the right to the assistance of a physician in ending their lives at a time of their choice subject to strict safeguards to prevent abuse, and to ensure that the decision is free, informed, competent and voluntary.

[Tribute To The Late Gaston Péloquin, September 19th, 1994]

On behalf of all my colleagues from the New Democratic Party, I want to express my sincere condolences to the friends and relatives of Gaston Péloquin, and particularly to his adopted son Pascal.

I had the opportunity to talk to Gaston on several occasions and I found him to be a man of compassion and integrity who was very concerned by the plight of the poor and the vulnerable in our society. Even in his maiden speech in this House he referred to social programs and, in particular, to the rights of handicapped people. A strong believer in an independent Que-

bec for many years, he was also very devoted to the well-being of his constituents of Brome-Missisquoi.

This is a terrible loss for them, for us his parliamentary colleagues, and especially for his family. We will all miss him.

[Cuba, June 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that Canada is lifting its 16-year policy banning government aid to Cuba. I want to congratulate the government on this important step and urge it to recognize the grave humanitarian needs of the Cuban people particularly in the areas of fuel, power, transport, food and medical goods.

Canada must strongly call for the lifting of the cruel, illegal and inhumane embargo by the United States, an embargo vigorously condemned by the United Nations. Canada should also urge President Clinton to invite President Fidel Castro to the upcoming hemispheric summit later this year.

Finally let me take this opportunity to congratulate the many Canadians who demonstrated their solidarity with the people of Cuba at this difficult time. They have supported caravans of humanitarian aid through Friendshipments.

The strength and courage of the Cuban people will see them through this difficult time.

Venceremos.

[Petitions, June 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition which is signed by hundreds of residents of provinces across Canada which draws to the attention of the House the fact that the current Criminal Code denies people who are suffering from terminal or irreversible and debilitating illness the right to choose freely and voluntarily to end their lives with the assistance of a physician.

Therefore the petitioners call upon Parliament to amend the Criminal Code to ensure the right of all Canadians to die with dignity by allowing people with terminal or irreversible and debilitating illness the right to the assistance of a physician in ending their lives at the time of their choice subject to strict safeguards to prevent abuse and to ensure that the decision is free, informed, competent and voluntary.

[National Anthem Act, June 21st, 1994]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-264, an act to amend the National Anthem Act.

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this bill is to change in the English version only the words "thy sons" to the words "our hearts" in order to remove any sexist reference from our national anthem and to change the word "hearts" to the word "pride".

In introducing this bill I would like to pay tribute to a group of students at Westridge school in my constituency, in particular Tim Wood and Aly-Khan Virani and their teacher Emily Sutherland, who have worked very hard to document and help change the unequal representation of females in the media and elsewhere in Canadian society.

I congratulate these young students and their teacher on their leadership in promoting equality for all Canadians including girls and women in Canadian society.

The purpose of this bill is to ensure that equality is reflected in the wording of our national anthem as well.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

[Petitions, June 3rd, 1994]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour of presenting a second petition signed by residents of my constituency of Burnaby-Kingsway and in particular signed by many members of the Burnaby detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as well as civilian employees.

The petitioners note that under section 745 of the Criminal Code of Canada convicted murderers sentenced to life imprisonment without a chance of parole for 25 years are able to apply for review after 15 years and that the murder of a Canadian citizen is a most reprehensible crime.

Therefore the petitioners request that Parliament repeal section 745 of the Criminal Code of Canada.

[Petitions, June 3rd, 1994]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour of tabling two petitions today. The first one is a petition signed by hundreds of Quebecois who are asking Parliament to completely abolish all tests and experiments conducted on animals under the pretence of applying the findings to human beings. The petitioners claim that such practices are not only cruel, unnecessary, unjustifiable, inaccurate and morally unacceptable, but they also invariably lead to misleading conclusions and dangerous results which are extremely detrimental to the health of Canadians and people throughout the world.