Evidence of meeting #50 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was ensure.
A video is available from Parliament.
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Ms. Julie Lalande Prud'homme
Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.
I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair.
The clerk cannot receive other types of motions, entertain points of order or participate in debate.
We can now proceed to the election of the chair. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.
I am ready to receive motions for the chair.
Go ahead, Mr. Dykstra.
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
3:30 p.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
—we have come to a unanimous conclusion on this side.
I would like to nominate David Tilson as chair.
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Mr. Dykstra that Mr. Tilson be elected chair of the committee.
Are there any further motions? I see none.
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried and Mr. Tilson duly elected chair of the committee.
3:30 p.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
Before inviting Mr. Tilson to take the chair, if the committee wishes, we will now proceed to the election of the vice-chairs.
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.
I am now ready to receive motions for the election of the first vice-chair.
Go ahead, Ms. Sitsabaiesan.
3:30 p.m.
NDP
Rathika Sitsabaiesan NDP Scarborough—Rouge River, ON
Thank you.
Madam Clerk, I'd like to nominate Jinny Jogindera Sims as a vice-chair of this committee.
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Ms. Sitsabaiesan that Ms. Sims be elected as first vice-chair of the committee.
Are there any further motions? I see none.
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried and Ms. Sims duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.
3:30 p.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.
I am now prepared to receive motions for the second vice-chair.
Go ahead, Mr. Menegakis.
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Mr. Menegakis that Mr. Lamoureux be elected second vice-chair of the committee.
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
3:30 p.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried and Mr. Lamoureux duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.
3:30 p.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
I now invite Mr. Tilson to take the chair.
3:35 p.m.
NDP
Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC
I notice that when I look at our list of witnesses, there is one witness, the Canadian Immigration Report, that gives me a great deal of concern.
I have to say that I didn't know anything about this group before we got the notice for today's meeting, so like any MP in my position, I started to glance over their website. One of the first things I noticed about the website was that there was an article posted that praises Minister Kenney for being the most active and fearless immigration minister in recent history. I guess it is no surprise that the government would have put this name forward to appear at our committee on this study.
I want to be clear that I would normally never object to a government witness. After all, differences of opinion are healthy in a democracy. However, as I looked through this website, I got more and more concerned—appalled, I think would be the correct word. There is a section called “interviews”, in which this organization goes to the American Renaissance Conference and interviews some well-known white supremacist. There is a video of Paul Fromm, a notorious Canadian white supremacist with ties to the KKK, that is actually posted on this website. He says, and I am quoting again,
Certainly the policy in Canada is one of ethnic cleansing and replacement. By 2015, the European founding settler people will be a minority. We will have been...ethnically cleansed out of our own country.
In another video posted on the Canadian Immigration Report website, Tito Perdue says that black people would be more comfortable under segregation, and calls their poverty self-inflicted. I will quote Tito from the website. He says,
If you look at the civilizations that black people alone have created, they generally turn out to be a kind of hell on earth.
There are even more shocking words attributed directly to the witnesses before us. There is a post from the Canadian Immigration Report that seems to defend National Socialism, the ideology of the Nazis. Again, I am quoting.
This hate on for National Socialism is completely misguided…there is nothing inherently wrong with it at all.
I could go on and cite passages that seem to justify white nationalism, or point out an entire section of this website that links crimes to specific racial groups, but frankly, it is disgusting, and I refuse to give those views any more airtime.
Mr. Chair, I am quite shocked that government members have asked this group to testify before us. I would hope that you would agree with me that these views don't have any place at a parliamentary committee in one of the most diverse, open, and accepting countries on earth.
As I said, I could go on and read out a lot more from the website, but I cannot imagine anybody sitting around this table going to that website and then being comfortable having representatives from that group speak to us today.
I am asking for a ruling about whether that particular witness is going to be proceeding to give testimony here today.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
