Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on June 22nd, 2021

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

I don't think the bells have gone yet, so we're now moving to the third round. We have MP Baker for five minutes or whatever times remains.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.

I thank all the witnesses for being here. I'm learning a tremendous amount from all of you and I wish I could ask questions to all of you.

We heard some testimony—

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I'm sorry, but I had my hand up asking to speak.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

I apologize, Mr. Chiu.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

That's okay. I'm sorry to interrupt our friend here.

I wonder if we could provide four minutes per party. Four times four parties equals 16 minutes, and that should be more than enough. I hate to have to cut short the witnesses. They have been so genuine and willing to come to our meeting.

I propose that, with unanimous consent, we extend the meeting by 16 minutes so that every party has four minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

It depends on how long the bells will go for. I don't know if they're going to walk it in or not, or how that will happen.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I'm sorry to interrupt, but I believe it's a 15-minute bell.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Has it gone off yet?

I'm looking around, but I don't know if we have unanimous consent. I don't know if we can do it either. The time just will not allow.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

The bells have not gone off yet, but they will likely go any minute now.

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

I would suggest that we continue until the bells go off.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

MP Baker.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.

Again, I thank all the witnesses for being here. I'm learning a tremendous amount from all of you.

We heard some testimony from one of my MP colleagues suggesting that Canada is not responding to the crisis facing Afghan Sikhs, or not doing so with urgency. My understanding is that this government has doubled the number of refugees from the previous government, and we've been a leader in refugee resettlement for the last three years. I know we've been working with the Manmeet Singh Bhullar Foundation to resettle Afghan Sikh families.

My question is to the Manmeet Singh Bhullar Foundation.

With respect to the statement that Canada is not responding to the crisis facing Afghan Sikhs, or not doing so with urgency, is this correct? How would you characterize Canada's response?

[Tarjinder Kaur Bhullar]

Thank you for the question.

The Government of Canada, as I said in my opening remarks, is the most viable option for this population, so that is essentially the foundation through which we have continued to have conversations with the members of government, as well as government departments.

I think it's important to remember—and I make no bones about it—that we need to get this work done. We have support from across the aisle and within the Liberal caucus. I have always said that this is not a partisan issue; this is a humanitarian issue. The responsibility lies with every single one of us.

We have had success, and I want to continue to have success.

We are in the process of settling the initial families who arrived in India from the province of Helmand, and we continue to say to the government, during our discussions, that we are creating a model that needs to apply to the families who have arrived since, who are part of the attacks that took place at the gurdwara. We also want to make sure that the lessons learned here are applied to humanitarian concerns regardless of where they occur across the world.

The thing is that we have to be able to learn and then apply, and as some of the other witnesses mentioned, always focus on a proactive approach versus a reactive approach. In a situation like this, reactive is too late, and proactive is what we want to see. How can we assist these communities before the inevitable happens and we lose lives?

I will say that we have had support from the government, and we continue to make sure that we press them on making this work a reality.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

I'm going to apologize to everyone, to the witnesses. Of course the members know that the bells have started ringing, and we have a vote in the House.

On behalf of the committee—all the members, all the staff, the interpreters, the clerk—we want to thank you for your testimony and for your answers to the many questions. We truly appreciate it.

Thank you very much, everyone.

That will conclude our meeting. We're adjourned.