Mr. Speaker, I welcome this opportunity today to rise in support of the motion of the hon. member for Rosemont and also to raise another aspect of this question which was mentioned by the hon. member for Rosemont and the hon. member for Laval-Est.
Aside from the human aspect, it is necessary to give hope for parents who experience this kind of situation. I just heard the government whip tell us about what happened to people he knew, and the situation has not been cleared up yet at this moment, so that the family, the mother still wonders whether she will ever see her daughter again.
One would also expect, and this is not intended as a partisan remark, the government to do more than just being understanding. I heard what was said by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. It is all very interesting to hear the Secretary of State say that he sympathizes with the family, that he understands the problem very well, and that he hopes we will find a solution will be found to the problem now facing Mrs. Tremblay, but I think they should also tell us-not only tell us but do something-they should also tell us what they are going to do in concrete terms to find a solution to this problem.
Unfortunately, I have to say that this government's past record does not hold out much hope for Mrs. Tremblay and others in a similar situation. We saw this in the case of Trân Trieu Quân, which my colleague from Louis-Hébert has raised in this House on several occasions. As far as the government and the Minister of Foreign Affairs are concerned, the case is closed.
As in the case before us today, no specific action was taken, so that Mr. Quân is still in prison in Vietnam. For the past three years, Mrs. Tremblay has taken legal action upon legal action to obtain the return of her child, of whom she has custody. Unfortunately, three years later we are asking the same questions and making the same requests.
I do not want to waste your time, but I want to tell this government's representatives that they must approach the Egyptian government in order to find a definite solution. Of course we can deplore the fact that Egypt did not sign The Hague Convention concerning this type of situation, but we must find a concrete solution. The government must stop talking and start acting.
I refuse to believe that the Minister of Foreign Affairs cannot intervene directly with the Egyptian government and make it listen to reason in this particular case.