Madam Speaker, I would like to elaborate on a question I put to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration on November 24, 1994. I asked what action the Canadian government is taking to ensure the human rights of Vietnamese refugees in southeast Asia.
On December 12, 1948, the year in which I was born so it is close to my heart, the United Nations Assembly passed the universal declaration of human rights. On Friday of this week the world celebrates International Human Rights Day.
I have a number of constituents from the wider area of southeast Asia and the concern has been raised with me and other members in southwestern Ontario that constituents of ours are very concerned about the safety of some of their family members in their original homelands.
Since 1988 Hong Kong has granted refugee status to Vietnamese who proved justified fear of persecution at home and I understand that since 1991 refugees have voluntarily been returning to Vietnam. The Hong Kong government is now operating a program of forcible repatriation to encourage the 24,000 refugees remaining in camps there to leave by 1996. That is the cause of the very real concern a number of Vietnamese Canadians share about the safety of their loved ones back home.
There is no question there have been incidents of violence and assault against these refugees. In September of this year the Government of Hong Kong admitted quite candidly that 142 Vietnamese refugees were injured in a forced repatriation operation. There have been serious allegations and questions about police brutality since the repatriation program began earlier this year.
This deplorable situation has been brought to my attention by leaders of the Vietnamese community both in my own city and in southwestern Ontario, and indeed by certain segments of the media in southwestern Ontario. I share their concern. Quite frankly Canadians generally would share this concern. We do not want to see human rights violations such as these going unanswered.
I certainly applaud the actions of our own new government and of previous governments of various political stripes in being a leader in the world in accepting refugees from virtually every part of the world. We know that is true and we are all as Canadians rightly proud of that record. However there is a situation here which needs to be addressed.
I am pleased to follow up my question to the minister this evening with this statement and to explore a little further the answer the minister gave to me in the House.
I would like to put a question to the parliamentary secretary. What other initiatives can Canada take besides accepting refugees? What other initiatives, either publicly or through appropriate diplomatic channels, does the government foresee might be taken to stop violence against Vietnamese citizens forcibly repatriated against their will?