Thank you, Chair.
I am presenting three petitions today and have been asked by those who have signed these to make it clear that their expectation was that they would be presented to the House of Parliament, not to a committee, and through the Speaker of the House, not a chair.
In that regard, I am very disappointed that our private members' bills are being impacted by the hijacking of our Parliament.
They've indicated that sex-selection abortion is legal, as Canada has no legal restrictions on abortion. Sex-selective abortion is antithetical to our commitment to equality between men and women. A 2019 DART & maru/Blue poll conducted for the National Post showed that 84% of Canadians believe it should be illegal to have an abortion if the family does not want the child to be a certain sex.
International organizations, including the World Health Organization, United Nations Women and the United Nations Children Fund have identified unequal sex ratios at birth as a growing problem internationally; however, Canada's health care professionals have also recognized sex selection as a problem here in Canada.
Therefore we, the undersigned citizens of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to pass a criminal code prohibition of sex-selection abortion.