Ms. Fakhri, I want to touch a little bit on the title of this bill, because we have some members of the opposition who take issue with the word “culture” in the title. The title, as you know, is “Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act”. We maintain that “culture” does not refer to any one particular culture. In fact, we have seen elements of this bill affecting a number of different communities.
We want to send a clear message that we will not tolerate cultural traditions that are barbaric here in Canada. Children cannot grow up here and be forced to go back to their parents' country because they were promised at some point to be married to somebody. Lo and behold, they arrive there, they are 14 years old, and then they are in a wedding situation. We maintain that these are barbaric acts. They are cultural practices in some communities, not one specific one but several. We want to make sure that this is evidently clear in the title as well.
Do you agree that these practices, rooted in some cultures, are indeed barbaric and should be criminalized?