Madam Speaker, I am happy to see that other members of this House will support some of the amendments I proposed in my speech on Bill C-27, more specifically on genital mutilation and sex tourism.
I note that my colleague who just spoke also agrees with me on the age limit. I do not see why there should be an age limit and why the practice of genital mutilation should be allowed in some cases for women over the age of 18. I think there should be no age limit.
If we want to send a clear message to cultural communities and to eliminate this practice, there must be no exceptions. What kind of message would we send if the law made an exception and allowed this practice in some cases? That is why I will introduce amendments to ensure that there is no age limit and that this procedure cannot be performed on any female individual.
The bill I introduced had a very specific purpose, namely to protect the physical integrity of women and girls. Women's physical integrity can be protected at any age. I think the minister's bill does not address this aspect. The legislation should also apply to any individual who participates in or promotes mutilation.
As the House knows, this cultural practice involves an individual accompanying, encouraging or taking a child, for example, out of the country to undergo this procedure. This is another amendment I would like to make to the minister's bill.
I would also like to see another amendment providing that no exceptions shall be made to allow this surgical procedure. I think that physicians know full well what genital mutilation entails and disagree with this practice, so I do not see why there should be exceptions to allow surgery if the woman is healthy.
I take comfort in seeing that some of my fellow members will support my amendments and I thank my colleague for raising these amendments here in this House today.