Lois Brown

[Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, June 12th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke at length about the national minimum age. Quite frankly, I was surprised to learn that there was no national minimum age.

She also spoke about some international focus on this topic. Could the member talk about some of the other countries that have set a national minimum age, and what is Canada doing in light of those decisions other countries have made?

[Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, June 12th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I was in Malawi three years ago with the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association, and I sat in front of a group of women who were begging our association to speak out in Malawi about the issue of early and forced marriage.

I was in Dakar, with the Prime Minister, for the Summit of the Francophonie, and we were taken to a museum where our whole delegation was shown the pictures of girls who had been forced into early marriage.

I was at the Girl Summit in England last summer, with David Cameron, where the topic of early and forced marriage was the topic of the day.

Our government has put this issue on the table. Our former foreign minister took this to the United Nations and said that Canada was going to lead on this. We are leading on child protection globally. We have put maternal, newborn, and child health on the table, and we have a number of other donor countries that are helping us with this.

Early and forced marriage is one of the issues that goes against the grain of protecting children. I wonder if my colleague has any comments on why Canada should not take issue with it here at home when we are being so vocal on the world stage.

[Albinism, June 12th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians and this government are always prepared to stand up and speak out about systematic discrimination. Today I stand to speak about one of the most despicable and disturbing forms of discrimination that has ever been presented in this House.

Witch doctors in eastern Africa in and around Tanzania have been systematically murdering local Africans who suffer from albinism, which is a lack of skin pigment, to sell their body parts, believing that those human body parts bring good luck. More than 80 people with albinism have been murdered in Tanzania since 2000, including a one-year-old boy just a few weeks ago.

According to the International Red Cross, witch doctors are prepared to pay up $75,000 for an individual with albinism, alive or dead. Canadians are a tolerant people, but this practice must stop.

[Taxation, June 3rd, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, we know the Liberal leader's solution for the middle class: a dramatic tax hike. He was clear when he said the Liberal Party is looking at a mandatory tax increase to the Canada pension plan like the increase proposed by Kathleen Wynne in Ontario. We know that someone earning $60,000 a year will be paying $1,000 more in taxes.

The good people of Newmarket—Aurora do not want to pay more taxes. They want more of their own money in their own pockets. They want to choose how they save for their retirement through increases to the tax free savings account. We respect that choice.

Canadians simply cannot afford the Liberal plan.

[International Development, May 14th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we are not going to export controversy. We are going to continue to export our world-leading expertise. The results we are getting under the Muskoka initiative are nothing short of miraculous. We are saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and millions of children every year.

Let me read what Melinda Gates said about this. She stated:

We have made such great progress for women on prenatal care, on providing the contraceptives that they want, and on encouraging proper care and nutrition for newborns, and we need to keep moving forward. The only way to do that is to be clear, focused, and committed

[International Development, May 14th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, we will not export controversy; we will export our world-leading expertise. Our efforts are backed by the international community, and we continue to rally international consensus for our program in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. We will not reopen this debate, and we will not export divisiveness.

We will continue the leadership of the Muskoka initiative because what matters most are results, and that is what we are delivering.

[Sports, May 13th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, during this year of sport in Canada and with the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games around the corner, Canadians are applauding their athletes for dedicating themselves to being athletically fit and at the top of their game.

Unfortunately for many, staying fit is not part of their daily routine. The town of Aurora has decided to draw a line in the sand and proclaim that it wishes to become Canada's most active community. It plans to get everyone involved, with the ultimate goal of building durable citizens who are and remain active their entire lives.

Aurora is involving sports leaders, students, seniors, corporations, government officials and organizations to help the entire town become physically fit, more active and above all, make this athletic movement sustainable.

Over the next five years Aurora will assemble the building blocks to become the most active community in Canada. It encourages everyone to follow its journey online at beactiveaurora.ca.

[Iran Accountability Week, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I think I am closing this debate tonight here in Ottawa in the House. I am pleased to participate in this important debate on Iran's human rights record.

During the 2013 Iranian presidential election, the world was hopeful of President Rouhani being elected. He promised equal rights for all Iranians regardless of ethnicity and religion. He promised to tackle entrenched corruption and grant Iranians basic freedoms, as well as unleash the constrained talents and aspirations of the Iranian people.

Unfortunately, as we approach the two-year anniversary of Rouhani being elected, his promises have not been realized. The people of Iran continue to suffer at the hand of the regressive and oppressive Iranian regime. Rouhani has failed to live up to his commitments. He has attempted to cover up the failings and crimes of his regime through a sophisticated public relations campaign.

This is the reality of Rouhani's time in office.

Since his taking office, the number of executions has actually increased in comparison to his predecessors. In 2014, the Iranian regime executed 753 individuals. This was an increase from the already record high of 687 in 2013. Moreover, for this year, the Iranian regime has already executed 329 individuals, well on its way to break last year's totals. This startling reality was echoed by the United Nations Secretary General who noted, “...the application of the death penalty, including in relation to political prisoners and juvenile offenders”, has increased.

Despite pledges by Iran's current administration on human rights issues, the situation in Iran has not improved. This is a regime that has not changed its ways. It continues to systematically infringe and violate the most basic human rights. The Iranian regime continues to flout due process and the rule of law, and severely restrict freedom of expression and assembly. Our government has actively taken action with our global partners to advocate for human rights of Iranians. We have imposed some of the strictest sanctions in the world against the regime.

We also led and co-sponsored last year's United Nations resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran, alongside 46 other countries. This ensures that Iran's human rights record remains on the global agenda.

In addition, we have also partnered with civil society groups to create and open an online digital square for Iranians to discuss openly and freely the issues facing the Iranian people. The people of Iran can count on Canada to remain vocal on the human rights situation in Iran.

On the nuclear front, the regime has remained non-compliant. In defiance of the United Nations Security Council resolutions, Iran continues to have a ballistic missile program and has been accused of seeking to develop missiles capable of being armed with a nuclear warhead.

In November 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, released a report detailing 12 areas of nuclear research and development. The IAEA described these activities as being “...relevant to the development of a nuclear...device” and stated that prior to 2003 these activities were part of a structured program with links to the military. The report went on to say that some of the activities have continued past 2003 and could be ongoing. Many of these activities have no known civilian purpose. If Iran were not pursuing the development of nuclear weapons through this research into nuclear explosive development indicators, as the IAEA terms them, then why will Iran not co-operate with the IAEA, and verifiably demonstrate that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes?

In 2013, the IAEA agreed with Iran on a framework for co-operation to look into the issues of the possible military dimensions, or PMDs, of Iran's nuclear program. Iran failed to meet the August 25, 2014, deadline for implementing measures related to two of the PMDs, to which it had agreed. Since August 2014, when IAEA director general Amano travelled to Tehran to get promises of co-operation from Iranian President Rouhani, the framework for co-operation has remained effectively stalled due to stonewalling by Iran. Iran has repeatedly made high level, public promises of co-operation, but does not deliver on these promises.

Iran has repeatedly refused to allow IAEA inspectors to visit Parchin, a military base close to Tehran, where Iran is suspected of having conducted high explosives testing relevant to the development of a nuclear weapon. Iran will also not allow the IAEA to speak with key Iranian scientists, including those who have led PMD-related work. Why would any country that was only aspiring to peaceful uses of nuclear power not simply allow the IAEA's inspectors the access they are seeking?

Diplomacy is the only way out of the situation. Iran needs to give the IAEA “anytime, anywhere” access, as Canada and other responsible countries do.

The time has come for Iranian exceptionalism to be over. Iran must follow the same nuclear rules as we do and be held accountable for its actions.

[Iran Accountability Week, May 5th, 2015]

Oh, brutal.

[Iran Accountability Week, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, my colleague got a little off topic or off of her notes when she was talking and I wonder if she would like to use the next minute to give a bit more of her dissertation.