Mr. Speaker, early one morning in November 1999 a 24 year old law student, Robbie Peterson, was brutally kicked and punched in the head and face. It happened at the corner of Regent and Brunswick streets in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He was attacked because he was gay. He was attacked from behind, thrown to the ground and kicked repeatedly. His attacker hurled anti-gay insults as he fled into the night.
Shortly after that attack I questioned the Minister of Justice in the House, asking her when she would be introducing legislation to include sexual orientation in the hate propaganda provisions of the criminal code. She replied at that time, which was December 1999, two years ago, that we would be making the necessary changes to the criminal code in the coming months.
That was two years ago. In fact it was a year and a couple of months before that in October 1998 that the provincial attorneys general, together with the federal attorney general, agreed at their annual meeting in Regina, Saskatchewan, that they would move ahead and deal with hate motivated activities in a manner consistent with the charter; in other words, to make those amendments. That was over three years ago.
Last month, almost two years to the day after Robbie Peterson was brutally attacked in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Aaron Webster was murdered in Stanley Park. Aaron Webster was a gay man. He was bludgeoned to death and he was attacked because he was gay.
Today, over three years after the Minister of Justice promised to amend the criminal code, I am appealing once again to the minister through the parliamentary secretary to do the right thing and asking why it has taken so long since the promise was made, first in October 1998 and then in December 1999.
That was the question I asked the minister just a couple of weeks ago after Aaron Webster's death. She responded that she would consult with the provincial and territorial attorneys general.
Consult she did once again and they unanimously agreed again that there must be action. I spoke personally with the attorney general of Saskatchewan, Chris Axworthy, who agreed to this. The attorney general and justice minister of Manitoba, Gord Macintosh, said:
It is pathetic that this issue got lost somewhere in Ottawa.
We do not want to see another three years go by and another killing to move this issue along.
This affects both the violence and hatred directed at gay and lesbian people and those perceived to be gay and lesbian, but it also affects the ability of the police to stop hatemongers at the border, people like Fred Phelps.
The Ottawa police said recently that if this were done against a catholic, a jew or a black person charges could be laid. If we had that legislation in place we would not have to put up with the nonsense of Fred Phelps on Monday. We could have told him that if he shows up and starts spreading this hate we will arrest him.
I want to call on the government to act and to act now to finally include sexual orientation in the hate propaganda sections of the criminal code. This is long overdue. No one else should be bashed or murdered simply because of the fact they are gay or lesbian in a land in which our criminal code does not prohibit the spewing of that hatred and violence.