Bill C-257

An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act (protecting against discrimination based on political belief)

This enactment amends the Canadian Human Rights Act to add political belief and political activity to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination.

Human Rights

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Madam Speaker, the second petition is from a group of Canadians who believe it is important that Canadians have the right to be protected against discrimination, in particular political discrimination. They believe it is a fundamental Canadian right to be politically active and vocal, and that it is in the best interests of Canadian democracy to protect public debate and the exchange of differing ideas.

Bill C-257 seeks to add protection against political discrimination to the Canadian Human Rights Act. The petitioners call upon the House to support Bill C-257 and defend the rights of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the final petition I will present today is from Canadians across the country who want to be protected against discrimination. Canadians can and do face political discrimination, and it is a fundamental right of Canadians to be politically active and vocal. It is in the best interests of Canadian democracy to protect public debate and the exchange of ideas.

The petitioners are in support of Bill C-257, which would add protection against political discrimination to the Human Rights Act. They are calling on the Government of Canada and the House to pass this bill and defend the right of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to rise today to put the voices of 35 Canadians on the record through a petition in support of Bill C-257.

These Canadians agree that democracy is important, and they want to safeguard it. They think no one should be discriminated against based on their political beliefs. It is something we all believe in strongly on the Conservative side of the aisle.

We hope that we can get this bill passed quickly so that Canadians will not face discrimination for thinking differently, which we have seen the Liberal government do time and time again. We are hoping we can get this bill passed to protect the rights of Canadians across the country.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today.

One is in support of Bill C-257, which seeks to include political rights within human rights. As members know, unfortunately many Canadians are discriminated against because of their political beliefs. This legislation seeks to protect their political rights and the freedom of expression associated with them.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, I am honoured to table a petition. The petitioners are asking for support for Bill C-257, which would add protections for people who have political differences to make sure they are valued the same as other human rights in the federally regulated sphere. This is an important initiative, and certainly these petitioners need to be heard by their government. I hope the government will respond accordingly and favourably.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling is in support of Bill C-257. This is a private member's bill that I have put before the House. The petitioners highlight the importance of protecting Canadians from discrimination on the basis of their political beliefs. They recognize it is the fundamental right of all Canadians to be politically active and vocal, and that it is in the best interests of Canadian democracy to protect public debate and the exchange of differing ideas.

Bill C-257 seeks to add protection against political discrimination to the Canadian Human Rights Act by adding political activity or belief as prohibited grounds of discrimination. The petitioners call on the House to support Bill C-257 and to defend the rights of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling is in support of my private member’s bill, Bill C-257. This bill recognizes the challenges of people facing political discrimination here in Canada for their political beliefs.

The petitioners note that it is in the best interests of Canadian democracy to protect public debate and the exchange of differing ideas, and that this bill would protect people from the possibility of reprisals, workplace-based or otherwise, for expressing points of view on important political issues of the day.

The petitioners are calling on the House to support Bill C-257 and defend the right of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling is in support of Bill C-257, which is a private member's bill that I have put before the House. It responds to the problem of political discrimination, which is about people being discriminated against on the basis of their political views. The petitioners note that Canadians have a right to be protected against discrimination on the basis of their views and that it is fundamental to Canadian democracy when people are free to express their political views without fear of discrimination. Therefore, they ask the House to support Bill C-257 and defend the right of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

The next petition I am presenting deals with the ongoing arbitrary and illegal detention of Huseyin Celil. Mr. Celil is a Canadian citizen who has been detained in China, sadly, for substantially more time than Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor were detained. They were released after an unjust detention of 1,000 days. Mr. Celil, at the time of the writing of this petition, had already been in detention for more than 5,000 days. He is a Canadian citizen, an activist for Uyghur human rights and a father of four sons, the youngest of whom has sadly never met his father because Mr. Celil's wife was pregnant at the time of his detention.

The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to take the following actions to seek to address the situation: demand that the Chinese government recognize Mr. Celil's Canadian citizenship and provide him with consular and legal services in accordance with international law; formally state that the release of Huseyin 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; appoint a special envoy to work on securing Mr. Celil's release; and seek the assistance of the Biden administration and other allies around the world in obtaining Mr. Celil's release, as was done in the case of the arbitrary detention of the two Michaels.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Madam Speaker, I have petition 11759654 signed by 28 members. The undersigned citizens and residents of Canada draw the attention of the House of Commons to the following. Whereas Canadians have the right to be protected against discrimination, it is a fundamental Canadian right to be politically active and vocal. It is in the best interests of Canadian democracy to protect public debate and the exchange of different ideas. Bill C-257 seeks to add protection against political discrimination to the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Therefore, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada call upon the House of Commons to first, support Bill C-257, which bans discrimination on the basis of political belief or activity, and, two, defend the rights of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the next petition I have to present is from Canadians from across the country who want to have the right to be protected from discrimination.

Canadians can and do face discrimination, and it is fundamental that Canada has the right to be politically active, which is in the best interest of Canadian democracy.

They want to ensure that public debate and the exchange of differing ideas continues, and they are asking for Bill C-257 to add protection against political discrimination to the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Therefore, the undersigned are calling for the support of this bill to defend the rights of all Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have a few petitions that I will table relatively quickly.

The first petition is in support of Bill C-257, which is an excellent private member's bill put forward by me. It seeks to prohibit discrimination on the basis of political activity or belief by adding reference to political belief or activity to the Canadian Human Rights Act. One effect of this is that people could bring human rights complaints against social media companies if they were facing political discrimination by those companies.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am next tabling a petition in support of Bill C-257, my private member's bill that seeks to combat political discrimination.

Petitioners say that Canadians have a right to be protected against any form of discrimination, that Canadians can and do face political discrimination, that it is a fundamental right in Canada to be politically active and to be vocal and not face discrimination as a result, and that it is in the best interests of Canadian democracy to protect public debate and the exchange of differing ideas.

Petitioners call on the House to support and pass Bill C-257, which would add political belief and activity as prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act. They also want the House to defend the right of Canadians to peacefully express differing political opinions.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I know the member for Winnipeg North was hoping I would present a concurrence motion today, but the House is eagerly awaiting the address of the Leader of the Opposition on the budget, and I know that the member did not want to miss that.

I will only be presenting one petition today in anticipation of the great speech to come. It is in support of Bill C-257, my private member's bill. This is a bill that would combat the grave problem of political discrimination in this country.

Petitioners want the House to support Bill C-257, which would work to end discrimination on the basis of political belief or activity and also defend the rights of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

I hope members will support this legislation.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, I have two petitions to table today. Both deal with private members' bills that Conservative members have proposed.

The first is about a private member's bill I have put forward: Bill C-257. Petitioners want to see this legislation adopted. Bill C-257 seeks to combat political discrimination by adding political activity or belief as a prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act. This would align the federal Human Rights Act with most of Canada's provinces in this regard. Petitioners want to see the House support Bill C-257, which would ban discrimination on the basis of political belief or activity and would also defend the rights of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

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.