Mr. Speaker, I will also be very brief. I have a couple of comments to make with respect to the speeches which have been made by hon. members today.
Jody Williams was mentioned several times. I attended a breakfast for her a couple of weeks ago, as did many hon. members. When she was questioned on what she would be doing for her next project, she was quite clear that she had nowhere near finished her project on land mines. She said that she would be continuing with that project.
Right now we have the opportunity to take this issue one step further, which is the type of thing she would like to do. The Asia-Pacific economic co-operation meeting is taking place in Vancouver. I understand that the APEC meeting will not address human rights concerns, that it will only address economies. That is not the right thing to do. I know that many Canadians and the minister feel that this is not the right thing to do.
The human rights records of our trading partners should be mentioned and not just in passing. Similarly, APEC provides an excellent opportunity to discuss security matters. The Pacific Rim is becoming more volatile as communist China grows stronger and North Korea becomes more and more unpredictable. In the future APEC will address international security concerns in the region. It will soon not be able to ignore the issue. It would be a wonderful start to set an important precedent if Canada led this initiative.
It is my suggestion that Canada bring up the issue of the land mines treaty fully and publicly and not just in bilateral meetings. If the government is really serious about ridding the world of land mines, the APEC summit would be a timely opportunity to challenge countries to join.
Again, I want to congratulate the government and particularly the Minister of Foreign Affairs for his efforts.