Thank you, Chair. I was again listening carefully to what my colleague had to say. As I said, many questions have been raised last week and this week about the motion, and I have not heard a clear answer to those questions.
It is important for me to talk about anti-racism at every opportunity I get, not just here at committee, but on social media or in front of a mike. Every chance I get, I will talk about that.
Unfortunately, we are going back and forth debating a motion that clearly is a fishing expedition. The opposition has cast a broad net, much broader than the motion they moved back in July. I just don't understand what has changed in the last few months for them to think that investigating an MP's relative is appropriate.
It doesn't matter what the subject is; they just want to see all the records, going back to 2008, I think, and want access to these documents. Those questions have been answered. It doesn't matter what.... Opposition members are saying how simple it is. I don't think we should take it too lightly. We had the Prime Minister and chief of staff testifying for hours before the finance committee. There were a lot of truthful testimonies already given to the public. This shows the willingness of the government to present its argument, to present the facts to opposition members as well as to the public.
As to the whole notion of us trying to hide something, or why we are we not supporting this motion that was supported back in July, I don't think that's true. Until my concerns and my questions are answered, I will continue to take every opportunity to raise issues that are important to me, my constituents, Canadians and future Canadians. I will continue to talk about how important it is and why the committee is not looking into the matter of anti-Asian racism happening during COVID. This is a big problem.
I applaud the government for what it announced in the throne speech. I remember that the Conservative Party dismissed it and decided to vote against it right away, without even taking the time to investigate and consider the content and extensiveness of the throne speech.
I take this opportunity to share something I picked out from the throne speech that might be of interest to all members of this committee: “Move forward on enhanced civilian oversight of our law enforcement agencies”, “Modernize training for police and law enforcement”, “Move forward on RCMP reforms” and “accelerate work to co-develop a legislative framework for First Nations policing as an essential service.”
These actions are not just reserved for the throne speech and the floor of the House of Commons. In fact, there was a motion adopted in the last Parliament, put forward by Mr. Angus, to study facial recognition technology in Canada and its use. The motion adopted by the committee read:
That pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(h)(vii), the committee study the use or possible use of facial recognition technology by various levels of government in Canada, law enforcement agencies, private corporations and individuals; that the committee investigate how this technology will impact the privacy, security and safety of children, seniors and vulnerable populations; that the committee examine the impact of facial recognition technology on racialized communities; and that the study include how this technology may be used nefariously, such as a tool for criminal harassment or for other unlawful surveillance purposes....
I think it's a very good motion. I would support it right away. We are in a very unique situation with COVID, where a lot of people are required to wear masks. It presents a very unique situation for us to understand other important aspects of this technology. This is very important work. In many ways, the pandemic has been a good thing to reduce the uptake of facial recognition technology. Now that everyone is wearing masks, these companies have not been able to move their technology forward.
Speaking of wearing masks, I remember a story my wife told me at the beginning of COVID. I was outraged after hearing it. She was supposed to meet up with a friend. Her friend was taking a ride on the red rocket, which, as you know, is what we call the subway here in Toronto. She was wearing a mask. At that time, there were a lot of negative views toward people wearing masks, at the start of COVID. She was called the B-word, and it was very offensive. She was shocked and hurt; worse, nobody stood up for her. She just moved to the other end of the car. She told my wife, who shared it with me, and I shared it with my colleagues in the caucus.
I applaud the Prime Minister, Minister Ng and many of my colleagues who spoke up on that point, and on any incidents where Asian Canadians wearing masks became targets of hate and racial attacks. It's not getting any better. We've seen hundreds, if not thousands of incidents throughout COVID where Asian Canadians are getting attacked. Some of their families have been here for generations. They're Canadians. We heard from the Prime Minister that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian. We all need to stand together in the face of COVID, and also in the face of these exposures of racism happening in our society.
I mentioned earlier Justin Tang's recent experience. He was in Ottawa, at the Rideau Centre, and someone not wearing a mask held the door open for him and his friend. He walked by and was told that it was his fault that we're in a COVID situation. There was a death threat following the comment. That is completely unacceptable.
That's why I am taking every opportunity to raise these issues. I hope this will change the minds of my colleagues and we'll study these important issues and provide some recommendations to the government through the House, so we can change these things. We can at least slow the pace, because these incidents are happening so often and they are not slowing down.
In addition to the work of the House—