Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to speak to the bill entitled an act to amend the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act.
The bill includes a variety of changes to the existing Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act most of which are technical in nature.
The main amendments are designed to facilitate international events including summits in Canada and to enable us to comply with our existing commitments under international treaties.
The bill would also correct several housekeeping inadequacies identified since the act was enacted by parliament in 1991.
As the House may know, the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act provides the statutory basis for the privileges and immunities of diplomats in Canada. It also provides the government with the ability to deal by order in council with the privileges, immunities and legal status of international organizations and their events or summits in Canada.
For example, existing orders in council under this act govern the legal status in Canada of organizations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations and the Agence de la Francophonie.
The bill's core amendment is key to providing privileges and immunities to foreign officials who attend intergovernmental conferences or summits in Canada. The amendment broadens the definition of "international organization" to include international organizations and meetings that are presently excluded such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the G-8.
Several years ago the Standing Joint Committee on the Scrutiny of Regulations adopted the formal view that the present definition permits orders to be made under this act only for international organizations that are created by a treaty. Therefore we have the odd situation where, for example, the Sommet de la Francophonie is covered by the act, as there is a treaty relating to L'Agence and la Francophonie in that case, but the summit of the Americas and the G-8 are not.This is an anomaly that we would like to fix before Canada is scheduled to host the G-8 summit in June 2002.
This amendment would ensure that these meetings and foreign officials involved obtain protection and treatment under Canadian law.
The second amendment in the bill that I wish to draw to the attention of the House concerns the police authority to provide security and protection for intergovernmental conferences held in Canada.
Following the violent protests at international events, for example, Genoa and more recently the terrorist attacks in the United States, it would be timely for the government to clarify in statute the present common law authority for police to provide security and protection for high profile international events.
The legislation would provide that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would have the primary responsibility to ensure the security for the proper function or a meeting of an international organization attended by persons granted privileges and immunities under the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act and for which an order has been passed under that act.
The provisions would make clear for greater certainty the present authority of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to take appropriate measures to ensure that such international conferences or meetings are able to be carried out safely and effectively.
The bill would allow the government to extend privileges and immunities to international inspectors who come to Canada on temporary duty in order to carry out inspections under the chemical weapons convention and the agreement with the preparatory commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization.
Under the chemical weapons convention, a treaty ratified by Canada in 1999, a verification regime was established providing for both reporting via declarations and on site inspection by inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The chemical weapons convention requires that inspectors be granted diplomatic privileges and immunities similar to those accorded to diplomatic agents under the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.
The problem is that neither the implementing legislation nor any other Canadian legal instrument can at present provide the privileges and immunities up to this level for these inspectors.
As a temporary arrangement, privileges and immunities have been provided by an order in council, which invokes less extensive privileges and immunities. This means that Canada could be criticized as not being in full compliance with the treaty. Therefore it is the government's obligation to resolve this situation as soon as possible, and the bill does just that.
The bill also broadens privileges and immunities to permanent missions accredited to international organizations, such as the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, located in Montreal. ICAO is presently the largest international organization operating its headquarters in Canada.
By enhancing our relationship with ICAO, the amendment would improve the ability of Montreal and other Canadian cities to service the headquarters of international organizations operating their headquarters in Canada.
The amended legislation would also help Canada compete with other countries to attract these headquarters of other international organizations.
The benefit to the local economy of such organizations is quite significant. A 1990 study showed that the economic benefit to Montreal and the international intergovernmental organizations located there was $80 million.
Montreal is not the only Canadian host city that benefits from the presence of international organizations. Vancouver hosts a Commonwealth of Learning Secretariat and Halifax of course hosts the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization.
The final important amendment that I wish to mention is the clarification of the relationship between the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act and the Immigration Act.
The amendment which is supported by the minister of immigration would make clear that when an order is passed under the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act, the requirement to grant ministers' permits under the Immigration Act is removed.
In summary, the bill to amend the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act would allow Canada to live up to its international obligations to grant privileges and immunities to international organizations.
The amendments would enable Canada to continue to safely host important international events and summits in Canada and thereby fulfill our treaty responsibilities.