Mr. Speaker, in December 1994, Stephan Zbikowski, a Canadian citizen, was arrested for drug trafficking and is still in jail, in Tocyito, Venezuela. This maximum security penitentiary houses the country's most dangerous criminals, which raises concerns about the personal safety of Mr. Zbikowski, who has no criminal record in Canada. Moreover, no guilty verdict has yet been rendered in Venezuela.
Close to 2,500 people signed a petition asking the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to make representations to Venezuelan authorities, so as to bring this most preoccupying situation to a positive conclusion. At the request of Mr. Zbikowski's mother, I sent the petition to the Prime Minister's office.
We do hope that, given the concrete support shown by all these signatures, the Prime Minister will give this issue all the attention it deserves.