Thank you, Chair. Thank you to all our witnesses.
Chair, before I get into my comments, I note that we’ve had requests from other groups to meet. We've chatted about that. I look forward to making the opportunity for them to present if we can find time for another meeting on this very important issue that I think has seized many Canadians.
On March 25, 1911, there was a factory disaster, a catastrophe in the United States. It was the infamous Triangle Waist Factory disaster. It led to the changes in production of textiles in the United States and in Canada. It changed health and safety. It changed working conditions. In that infamous fire of 1911, 146 people were killed, mostly women.
April 24, 2013, will go down in history as another event that hopefully changed the world for the better, but as we all know now, over 1,100 people died, many of them women and children. On that day, a young girl, Tahmina Sadia, went to work. She didn't want to go to work. In fact, she asked to not go into the building. Reports said that she was slapped by her supervisor and told to go to work. She started working at 11 years of age because she had to. I say that because we're going to get into a lot of technical aspects about standards, which are important; protocols, which are important; and obligations, which are important. But I think it's important for people to go back and read the history of what happened in 1911 and what just happened in April.
This is about people. This is about people who, for reasons of survival, go to work in places they shouldn't have to go to work in. Let's remind ourselves of that.
I'll start with Peter in Vancouver.
We were the party that brought forward this motion for Foreign Affairs to study this issue because of its importance. I'm glad to see the government supported a study on this issue. On May 9, I wrote to our Minister of Foreign Affairs and asked if our government would call on the Bangladeshi authorities to guarantee respect for key labour health and safety standards as codified in the ILO agreements and conventions to which Bangladesh is a signatory.
I also asked him to engage with the international community to develop and implement a common response to holding the Government of Bangladesh accountable for what's just happened, in particular with response to the high-level ILO mission to Bangladesh, that they be a partner to push forward these provisions within the conventions that Bangladesh is a signatory to. I said that because I think Canada can and should play a role here.
You've made some points in your submission. What do you think our government should be doing? Specifically, what should our government be doing to work with the Bangladesh government, and the ILO and other international organizations, to ensure that girls like Tahmina will not suffer from this kind of exploitation? Also, that we do not abandon Bangladesh—no one wants to see that.
What should the Government of Canada be doing to ensure that we do our part?