That's an immensely important question. We're in Parliament advocating for honorary citizenship for Vladimir, because we believe that would offer a life-saving protective cover.
He has written from prison mentioning that.... As an aside, it shows the effectiveness of targeted sanctions. His jailers were the same people who tried to assassinate him twice. He miraculously survived, and they have not tried to assassinate him a third time, because they know the world is watching and cares, and those sanctions have helped in this case.
There's a risk of that attention waning. The acts of aggression and global crises may be shifting. We need to show that we continue to support this expression of Canadian values for someone who testified before this committee and helped make our country's foreign policy more effective and humane. By adopting the very sanctions we're discussing today, he deserves our solidarity and support just as a matter of shared values, let alone for the life-saving actions it will give him.
The jailers in his prison have often said to him, and he's written about this from prison, “Please make sure we're not included in Magnitsky sanctions. Please make sure we're not referenced in international statements.” Those who are holding his life in their hands are watching what this Parliament does. Adopting a motion by unanimous consent to accord him honorary citizenship may very well help save his life, and will certainly be an expression of what this Parliament stands for.