There was a bill in 1992, Bill C-108, that died on the Order Paper. But at that time the Ontario Court of Appeal declared, in the Haig case, that the Canadian Human Rights Act was to henceforth be interpreted and enforced as if sexual orientation were one of the prohibited grounds of discrimination set out in the act.
In 1993 there was Bill S-15. This time the Senate was not very effective, perhaps because of the elections, I do not know, but the bill died on the Order Paper. We all know about the Egan and Nesbit case, in which the nine Supreme Court judges agreed that discrimination based on sexual orientation contravenes the clause on equality rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
More recently, we heard about commissioner Yalden's recommendation that the government take action in this area. He had been repeating the same recommendations for the last nine years and the government had still not taken any action in this area. He even pointed out that all seven justice ministers he had known had backed down when time had come to act.
Given your experience, Mr. Speaker, you know even better than I do that several justice ministers went on to become prime ministers. They could have had this legislation passed when they were prime ministers, but did not do so. They made that promise as justice ministers because they had to do something in that capacity. However, once they became prime ministers, probably under the weight of responsibilities, they forgot their promises.
In his annual report tabled on March 19, 1996, not so long ago, the commissioner had no choice but to recognize the federal government's inaction. Unlike the Commissioner of Official Languages who describes the kind of hypothetical reality he would like to see in Canada, this commissioner is not afraid of reality. The human rights commissioner is not afraid to look reality in the face and to acknowledge the federal government's inaction. Well, the government has finally made a move. This commissioner deserves our thanks for his good work.
He even accuses the Liberal government of not having the courage of its convictions. I have to admit that it finally summoned up the courage to take action, with the reservation I made a little earlier about the second paragraph he added to the act. The commissioner feels that, in the present situation, Canada has no lessons to give to other countries.
We will not repeat everything the commissioner said. Among the many interesting points he made, I would like to quote something he said in an interview he gave on March 19, 1996: "All I am saying is that it must be done. The courts have said so. In some countries to which we like to compare ourselves, this has already been done. This government and its predecessors have promised to do so. What we are saying is that the time has come to act". I hope we will have enough time to see this through, and that is what concerns me.
For example, if the Prime Minister felt like calling an election, this bill would die on the Order Paper. It might get lost on the way from this House to the other House. Although the other House has passed its own bill in this area, it might take some time before it takes action in that regard. The summer break is getting closer and leaving a bill pending is always cause for concern.
As it did for another bill, the government could also decide to refer it to the Supreme Court to see if it is constitutional. One never knows; the government has a lot of tricks in its bag when the time comes to take definitive action. We still have to see how this will go over in the Liberal caucus, how right-wing members of the government party will behave.
I think this bill is a matter of human dignity, justice, equity and tolerance. These are the key values of society in Canada and Quebec, and I think we will all be better off when Canadian legislation includes provisions to protect all members of our society, because we all have equal rights.