Mr. Speaker, I must say that, as a Canadian—and I am not saying this for the sake of it or because I happen to sit in this House—I am truly and always concerned about anything that relates to human rights.
Without getting into specifics, I want to give you a few examples of what I mean. I had the pleasure of leading the delegation that travelled to Chiapas to talk about human rights. Incidentally, I am very pleased with the progress made by the Reform Party which, at the time, showed no interest in coming to see what the human rights situation was, but which has now suddenly become a champion of these rights.
I played an active role regarding the land mines issue. I also tabled a petition on behalf of the Chinese minority in Indonesia, whose rights are being trampled. I will stop here, but I do think I have a very specific interest in human rights. That is why I would like to know what really happened at the Vancouver APEC summit, in November. I would really like to know.
This truth is important to me on several levels—naturally on the level of human rights and on the level of how we conduct ourselves as a democracy. I think Canadians have the right to know that.
Beyond the TV images that upset me as they did everyone, what really happened? There is an organization, an institution established a number of years ago, whose role was and remains to direct us to the truth we are all after.
This commission was set up specifically to hear public complaints about the conduct of the RCMP. Clearly the mandate of the commission—not only as it appears in the texts establishing it, but also in the interpretation given it by its own chair—enables it to determine the truth we are after.
The interesting part of this is that the commission is an example of the commissions and administrative tribunals established by the legislator so that complainants would not have to pay for legal representation for justice to be done.
I think the motion before us today runs counter to the spirit of the legislator in establishing this commission. In purely emotional terms, it would be appealing to support this initiative. However, we must consider, as the government—and I was going to say as responsible members—the consequences of our actions.
And what are these consequences? If administrative tribunals were set up by the legislator so complainants would not need the services of a lawyer in order to be heard or for justice to be done, we are moving in the opposite direction and questioning the very principle of administrative tribunals. We are questioning the initiative of the legislator, who, regardless of the party in power, established this procedure to give the public a forum it previously lacked. The public has access to this forum without legal representation.
If we agree with the principle underlying this motion, it means—and we have to realize this—that we are creating a precedent. By creating this precedent, we are indicating our willingness as a government to adhere to the principle of providing and paying for legal services in other tribunals or in this one for other cases. This touches on the question of the costs that may be incurred as well as the real purpose of these organizations.
There is, of course, a fundamental question we must ask ourselves: Is this in the Canadian public's interest? Is this in the interest not only of the complainants in this case but also of those who may file a complaint in the future before this commission or any other administrative tribunal? Is it in the interest of complainants to say that, from now on, lawyers will be provided or that they will have to be represented by lawyers? We would then create a precedent so that things would have to be done the same way in future.
Before making such an important and far-reaching decision, I think the least we can do is to give it careful consideration. I have no lessons in democracy to learn from anyone. I say this in all humility and simplicity. This debate is not about defending democracy. Any time someone rises in this House or takes a stand nationally for democracy, whether from the NDP or any other party represented in this House, I will be the first to support any initiative to ensure that democracy in this country is not only respected but also furthered.
That is not the issue. The issue is whether it would be legitimate and responsible to fund legal representation for an individual complainant or group of complainants who have access to justice by extremely clear means that lawmakers intended to make accessible to all?
I cannot help but conclude on a somewhat sad note. Today, we are asked to fund legal representation for complainants before this commission. But for weeks now, every initiative, each and every question the opposition has put to us in this House had a single purpose: to undermine the credibility of the RCMP public complaints commission as an institution. There is a fundamental contradiction: on the one hand, the credibility of this institution is not recognized and, on the other, they want funding for lawyers to make representations to this commission. This does not make any sense. I am sorry, but I do not see the logic here.
Too often, the members opposite accuse us of blindly toeing the party line. I have been in this august place for just over a year and I cannot remember when the New Democratic Party in particular allowed its members to vote as they wished. Unless I am mistaken, and I am sure somebody will be only too glad to correct me, those members vote along party lines, whether for private members' bills or other kinds of bills.
In a great majority of cases, the same is true for many political parties. I cannot say that this is always so, because I would have to look into it thoroughly, but what is clear, and I am sure those following our debates and votes on television see this too, is that these political parties vote along party lines, but as soon as we vote according to our conscience and that turns out to be the party's collective conscience, we are no longer entitled to do so or are doing something wrong.
It is a double standard. I do not think anyone is fooled.