House of Commons Hansard #17 of the 37th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was representation.

Topics

SupplyGovernment Orders

5:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

SupplyGovernment Orders

5:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

No.

SupplyGovernment Orders

5:50 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

SupplyGovernment Orders

5:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Yea.

SupplyGovernment Orders

5:50 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

All those opposed will please say nay.

SupplyGovernment Orders

5:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Nay.

SupplyGovernment Orders

5:50 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

In my opinion the yeas have it.

And more than five members having risen:

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

Division No. 9Government Orders

6 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

I declare the motion lost.

The House resumed from February 19 consideration of the motion that Bill C-4, an act to establish a foundation to fund sustainable development technology, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Canada Foundation For Sustainable Development Technology ActGovernment Orders

February 20th, 2001 / 6 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

The House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at the second reading stage of Bill C-4. The question is on the motion.

Canada Foundation For Sustainable Development Technology ActGovernment Orders

6 p.m.

Liberal

Marlene Catterall Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON

Mr. Speaker, if the House would agree, I would propose that you seek unanimous consent that members who voted on the previous motion be recorded as having voted on the motion now before the House with the Liberal members voting in favour.

Canada Foundation For Sustainable Development Technology ActGovernment Orders

6 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Does the House give its consent to proceed in such a fashion?

Canada Foundation For Sustainable Development Technology ActGovernment Orders

6 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Canada Foundation For Sustainable Development Technology ActGovernment Orders

6 p.m.

Canadian Alliance

John Reynolds Canadian Alliance West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Alliance members present vote no to the motion.

Canada Foundation For Sustainable Development Technology ActGovernment Orders

6 p.m.

Bloc

Stéphane Bergeron Bloc Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC

Mr. Speaker, members of the Bloc Quebecois will vote against this motion.

Canada Foundation For Sustainable Development Technology ActGovernment Orders

6 p.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

Mr. Speaker, members of the New Democratic Party will vote against this motion.

Canada Foundation For Sustainable Development Technology ActGovernment Orders

6 p.m.

Progressive Conservative

Rick Borotsik Progressive Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

Mr. Speaker, members of the Progressive Conservative Party will vote in favour of this motion.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Division No. 10Government Orders

6 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

I declare the motion carried. Accordingly, the bill stands referred to the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, Northern Development and Natural Resources.

(Bill read the second time and referred to a committee)

Ways And MeansGovernment Orders

6 p.m.

Glengarry—Prescott—Russell Ontario

Liberal

Don Boudria LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, there has been consultation among House leaders and I understand that there would be unanimous consent to deem that a motion to concur in the notice of ways and means tabled earlier this day by the Secretary of State for International Financial Institutions to have been duly proposed and adopted on division.

Ways And MeansGovernment Orders

6:05 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Does the government House leader have consent to propose the motion?

Ways And MeansGovernment Orders

6:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Ways And MeansGovernment Orders

6:05 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Ways And MeansGovernment Orders

6:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

(Motion agreed to)

Ways And MeansGovernment Orders

6:05 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

It being 6.06 p.m. the House will now proceed to the consideration of private members' business as listed on today's order paper.

Canadian SikhsPrivate Members' Business

6:05 p.m.

NDP

Bill Blaikie NDP Winnipeg—Transcona, MB

moved:

That this House recognize the importance of April 13 to all Sikhs and the contributions that Canadian Sikhs have made to our country, and that this House also recognize the importance of the five K's: the KIRPAN—a sword representing indomitable spirit; KES—unshorn hair, representing a simple life, saintliness and devotion to God; KARA—a steel bangle worn as a sign of the eternity of God; KANGA—a wooden comb worn to represent a clean mind and body; and KACHA—short breeches, representing hygienic living.

Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure for me today to bring this motion before the House for debate and hopefully even for passage at the end of the hour.

The motion that is before the House today is a motion that was originally passed by the Manitoba legislature on July 13, 1999 with the support of all parties in that house. It was with the intention or the hope that this motion might also pass this House that I brought it forward at the request of the Sikh community.

It was with that in mind that I sought to have this motion made votable when I appeared before the subcommittee on private members' business. However, since it was not chosen as votable, now we are only debating it. I am still hopeful that perhaps we might find our way to passing the motion.

There are three dimensions to the motion. The first one is recognizing the importance of April 13, the festival of Vaisakhi , which is the anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa .

The second dimension is recognizing the contribution of Canadian Sikhs to Canada.

The third dimension is recognizing the importance of the five K's: the kirpan , the kes , the kara , the kanga and the kacha to the Sikh community.

I begin with April 13, the anniversary of the day in 1699 when Sikhism's last guru, Guru Gobind Singh created the brotherhood of the Khalsa. The brotherhood was built on the sense of community that Sikhism's first guru, Guru Nanak, established much earlier when he started among other things the tradition of the community kitchen, or the Langar which continues to this day. The Langar is such a great practical symbol of the egalitarian spirit that permeates the Sikh tradition. It is a spirit of equality that extends to men and women and which distinguished Sikhism from the values of the caste system long before it became popular to do so in any modern sense of the word.

The story of Sikhs in Canada, according to a book I am reading about Canadian Sikhs and written by Narindar Singh, probably goes back to Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897 when Sikh regiments passed through Canada on their way to London. They passed through again in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII.

By 1903 Sikh immigration to Canada had begun. Between 1903 and 1908 nearly 6,000 Sikhs entered Canada, most of them travelling directly from their village in the Punjab to British Columbia. Unfortunately, their arrival in B.C. was greeted with opposition in many quarters. There were Vancouver members of parliament and the mayor of Vancouver who called for a ban on further immigration of Sikhs.

In April 1907 Sikhs were denied the right to vote in B.C. and laws were passed prohibiting Asians from entering the professions, serving on juries, obtaining government contracts, and buying property in some parts of Vancouver. The recently arrived Sikhs were included in this category and therefore these laws also affected them, although they were not directed only at them.

To make a long story short, Sikhs were eventually prevented from entering Canada by virtue of the continuous journey mechanism that flowed from the then deputy minister of labour, a man by the name of William Lyon Mackenzie King. The consequence of this was that Sikh immigration did not resume until the late 1940s with the exception of the wives and children of people who were already here.

Sikhs were employed in many jobs, but they were employed mainly in the sawmills of British Columbia. An almost exclusively male community until 1920, they maintained their sense of community and tradition by living together, supporting each other and gathering in their gurdwaras or temples. I am pleased to now have two in my riding, the Khalsa Diwan Society Temple and the Guru Nanak Darbar Temple. The Khalsa Diwan Society was formed in B.C. in 1907 for the protection of Sikhs in Canada.

In 1913 the worst incident of anti-Sikhism in Canada occurred when the ship the Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver on May 21, 1913 and was kept from landing for two months and then was eventually sent away. This is a story that I do not have the time to tell in great detail, but the details are both fascinating and embarrassing in this day of multiculturalism, human rights and racial and religious tolerance and pluralism.

Given this early experience of Sikhs in this country, we should be all the more pleased with the attachment that so many Sikh Canadians feel today for Canada. We should be all the more pleased to recognize, through the passage of this motion and speaking to this motion, the great contribution they went on to make to all of Canada, as Sikhs immigrated to provinces other than British Columbia and made their mark in many Canadian cities in all walks of life.

Certainly in my own city, the Sikh community has made a tremendous contribution to the growth, development and the nature of the city of Winnipeg. Winnipeg is a city that has always prided itself on its diversity.

Sikhs in Winnipeg have certainly enriched and enhanced that diversity by bringing to it the values that emanate from their way of life and their religion: the values of equality, social responsibility, community service and the importance of family. It is an ethic that resonates with the values that Canadians want to uphold as Canadians, no matter what their origin or religion.

It is in this spirit that I urge members of the House to contribute their own comments to the debate on this particular motion and to consider whether or not at the end of the debate we might find our way through to passing the motion.

I am not going to take up all my time because I believe there should be an opportunity for as many members as possible to contribute to this particular debate. I will finish by reciting words often heard in gurdwaras across the country and which I have had occasion to utter myself when speaking to Sikh congregations in my riding:

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh