Madam Speaker, I am pleased to lend by support to the private members' bill of my colleague for Quebec. The issue is extremely important and deserves the attention of all of us in the House.
During the recent hearings by the standing committee on citizenship and immigration we discussed and heard evidence on gender based immigration. Canada was the first country to recognize gender based persecution, and women who fear genital mutilation have been granted refugee status. Experts say over 100 million women have been subjected to genital mutilation-what horror.
In Montreal, the Human Rights Commission is threatening legal action against anyone performing such an abomination on young girls. The mutilation is practised on young girls for religious and cultural reasons.
We know how difficult it is to change traditions and customs, but we can at least forbid such violent acts in Canada, thus protecting naive young girls who do not have access to other cultures and traditions. The amendment to the Criminal Code will ensure that such a practice is neither accepted nor justified in our society.
The procedure is carried out by a woman who does not even need to have the necessary expertise or instruments to operate on the young girls.
Even though we cannot intervene in other countries, we must make sure that such tragedies do not occur in Canada where multiculturalism protects us, but does not condone practices which are contrary to human rights or criminal in nature.
Multiculturalists can help with educating Canadians on this and other issues. Nowadays new surgical techniques are being developed to undo the damage so that women who were subjected to infibulation can have children without having to suffer excruciating pain and can have almost the same type of life an
adult woman is entitled to. This is only a way to cure and we need to be proactive.
We are learning more and more about genital mutilation. We are also learning that in some countries it is inflicted on all young girls. It is known that after an extremely painful operation conducted without anaesthetics or proper surgical tools the young girls will never be able to enjoy a full life as an adult and they often die.
Because of the facts I just mentioned and for many other reasons mentioned by my colleagues, I will support Bill C-277 regarding the genital mutilation of female persons. I also want to thank the member for Québec for bringing this piece of legislation forward.