Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague pointed out, it is indeed in the best tradition of goodwill displayed on Thursdays, and I thank my colleague from the NDP for his support and good work ensuring this change could be made.
First, we are opposed to the original motion to amend that refers to restricting work done by children under the age of 16. The reason being that it could be somewhat prejudicial to certain persons. There are Liberal members who have told me: "This is great, but if little boy or little girl work with me on the farm, that does not necessarily constitute exploitation of child labour". If a paperboy or girl or anyone else has a craft, business or family activity, it is not necessarily exploitation.
One of the reasons for changing the text before us is that we understand that some children may want to gain work experience in extremely favourable conditions or students may wish to work in the field, so to speak, to increase their chances of
finding a better job later in their lives. But to restrict any work done or the importation of any components made by children under the age of 16 might, for one thing, make it obviously difficult to enforce the legislation, as well as be prejudicial to children who want to learn, who are simply interested in experiment with a new job.
I also move this amendment in a somewhat special context. As you know, National Child Day was celebrated last week. I was invited by a high school in my riding to attend a demonstration to remind international leaders of the commitments they made in writing only four years ago in New York at the UN international convention on children's rights.
They told me about some of the promises that were made. They quoted seven of the 24 promises. I will tell you about some of them in a moment. None of the promises-which dealt with child malnutrition, exploitation and conscription-even came close to being kept. None of the almost 150 countries, including Canada, that signed these promises showed the will and rigour to implement them.
The students at Paul-Arseneau high school who invited me asked me to mention it in this House. Since I was waiting for the opportunity-I also have a petition on this subject I should table in this House before long-with today's proposed amendment to this bill, I, as a member of Parliament, become the representative of these 1,200 students who have asked me and other parliamentarians who sign papers and make commitments to honour them. These promises were made four years ago.
I will repeat to you some of what a 12- or 13-year-old student told me: "Everyone knows that people sometimes forget things. It happens to us when we are taking exams. It can also happen to our government leaders. All of us here today-I remind you that there were 1,200 of them-want to help them remember. That is why we all signed a giant petition to remind the Prime Minister of Canada of the government's promises at the World Summit for Children that was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York four years ago. All promises made should be kept. People should keep their word." And I think we are here to lead by example.