Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 25th, 2017

[Pouyan Tabasinejad]

The way we see it is that it is what's going on there and how it's affecting the majority of the population. You mentioned human rights violations, but there are observers who say that sanctions are human rights violations on a grander scale, on a huge scale, in Iran. The difference is really in how you look at it, whether you're looking at the experiences of the aggregate, the entire population. I'm trying to express to you—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I'm sorry. I think we've gone way over time here. I'm giving you guys a lot of leeway here.

Next is Mr. Breton, for the Liberals.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Good afternoon. It's very helpful to have both of you here today.

I'd like you to talk about education and culture. I have three children, aged 21, 18, and 15. They attended a multicultural elementary school with many immigrant students. My kids didn't see any difference. When they started at the school, they were just as likely to have friends who were Mexican or Chilean as Iranian. My children's friends who come over are just friends, plain and simple; in my children's eyes, there is no difference. It's at that level where a lot of this happens.

I know your people face considerable discrimination in Canada, and I think that's really a shame.

Could you talk to us about your organization's efforts to raise awareness among Canadian youth and educate them as members of society?

[Pouyan Tabasinejad]

Thank you for the question.

A big part is the education of youth, I believe. I have gone through the Canadian public school system. We need to show our children the contributions of Irish Canadians, of newcomers, of others to the Canadian fabric and to Canadian economic, social, and cultural life. I think that's really what needs to happen. Education is a big part.

Unfortunately, we didn't have the time to really get into what we would have liked to talk about, but we need an educational curriculum that really emphasizes the contributions of different communities. Again, especially, we would like to target this kind of stuff as time goes on. If we see a certain community being attacked in society, maybe these are individuals we need to include in such a curriculum, so we can express that these individuals about whom there are a lot of negative stereotypes, for example, have actually contributed to our country. That needs to be addressed.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Ms. Ghasemi, would you care to add anything?

[Soudeh Ghasemi]

Sorry, I don't....

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Do you have something to add?

[Soudeh Ghasemi]

Unfortunately, I didn't get your question. I was listening to the French. I'm sorry.

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Do you have something to add on the education issue?

[Soudeh Ghasemi]

On the education issue, yes. In the education system, I do believe that it's very important that there are curricula to teach students how to address discrimination, to battle discrimination, and to understand these concepts. Training in the school environment is very important.

We received a few reports that some students in school have been called terrorists because of their Iranian backgrounds. It's very unfortunate. Once again, this is another example that never turned out to be any sort of case because it wasn't a death threat to anyone. However, it's very important that this curriculum be added to the education system so that youth will learn about this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Monsieur Breton.

I will move on to Jenny Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for your answers.

As this discussion was going on, it reminded me that this year is the 75th anniversary of the Japanese internment. In British Columbia, we had a number of different events. As you're talking about this, there is this ripple effect of something else that's going on outside of Canada, and somehow there's blowback for the people in that community from the ethnic community.

If this is happening, it appears to me that we haven't learned from our history very well at all, so your point about education is a very good one, especially in the context we're talking about, of children learning about what discrimination looks like. Thank you for that.

I want to get back to this financial agency issue. FICOM, the Financial Institutions Commission, is the regulatory body for banking agencies. In your experience, have people gone to FICOM to make a complaint?

[Pouyan Tabasinejad]

I deal with these cases usually on a personal basis. We have, as much as we could, directed individuals. We research and we talk to them and to these financial regulators. There's another one as well, but unfortunately, it doesn't come to mind. There are two main financial regulatory bodies. I think one is voluntary.

Unfortunately, we haven't seen that going anywhere much. Part of the issue is that, again, our community members are often afraid to take it to that level, but we really encourage them to go that path. It's difficult.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Fair enough. The committee should be looking at how to effectively deal with something like that.

You talked about having collected some data within your organization. I wonder whether or not—because I think my time's running out—you could share some of that data with us on what you have found, the lived experiences of people from your community, and where they have experienced discrimination. What do those examples look like? From that perspective, the committee can take a look at that and see how we can hopefully derive recommendations in that direction.

[Pouyan Tabasinejad]

Sure.

We're in the process of creating a report out of the survey that we have. Once that report comes out, we'd love to send it to you. Right now it's an internal kind of survey. The results have come in, but we haven't put it into presentation format yet. Once we do, we'd love to share it with you.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Great. That could be shared through the clerk's office for everyone's benefit.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Any time we ask for any kind of information whatsoever, you send it to the clerk, and the clerk will redistribute it.

Go ahead, Mr. Reid.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Could you let our witnesses know what the deadline is? I'm worried they may not get it to us until it's too late. We're getting pretty tight. What is the deadline?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We had agreed that our deadline would be before November 16.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

The November 10, before Remembrance Day.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

That's the answer, then.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

It's November 10. On the website, there is a little button that tells you what the deadlines are.

Jenny, have you finished, or did you want to...?

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Do I have more time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Well you don't, but since I allowed everybody to go over....

I think we should go to the next group.

I want to thank our witnesses for coming. You gave us a very different perspective on how you are impacted by international events, which we haven't heard from many people. I want to thank you for coming.

Now we'll suspend for about five minutes so we can get the next group of panellists in place.

Thank you again.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I'd like to call the meeting to order, please.

Again, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), this heritage committee is studying systemic racism and religious discrimination.

We have two panellists here from the Canadian Labour Congress, Larry Rousseau and Elizabeth Kwan, and from the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, we have Cindy Blackstock. Welcome. It's an honour to have you here. I know you guys have a lot to offer this hearing.

I'll begin without further ado. Here are the rules: there are 10 minutes per panel. The Canadian Labour Congress panellists have 10 minutes between them. Cindy, you have 10 minutes. I will give you an eight-minute warning so that you will know to round it up in two minutes.

We'll begin with the Canadian Labour Congress.