Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to present a petition to the House that has been signed by hundreds of Canadians and continues to be circulated across the country.
The petitioners understand that more than 100 million anti-personnel land mines are laid around the world and indiscriminately kill or maim between 1,000 and 2,000 men, women and children every month. They understand that land mines impoverish communities by denying access to land and impede social and economic post-conflict reconstruction.
Therefore they petition Parliament to legislate the prohibition in Canada of the use, production, stockpiling, sale, trade and transfer of all anti-personnel land mines; to work for an international convention banning these activities; and to ask the Canadian government to increase its contributions to the United Nations for assistance in land mine clearance and for programs that would rehabilitate mine victims.