Mr. Speaker, I feel privileged to have an opportunity to speak on the legislation. I would like to come at the legislation from a different point of view.
I have been listening to most of the speakers here today and I have heard some good ideas coming from all sides of the House. I especially want to acknowledge some of the thoughts put forward by the member for Wild Rose who spoke earlier today.
I personally do not support the notion of a boot camp but I am very much in sympathy with the notion of creating environments for young people where they can achieve an atmosphere of discipline and athleticism because all those things affect the development of the whole person.
The preamble of the bill states:
Whereas members of society share a responsibility to address the developmental challenges and the needs of young persons and to guide them into adulthood.
With that preamble in mind, I want to share with the House an experience I had last summer in Tor Vergata, Italy, which is a university campus just outside of Rome. Last August, on behalf of the members of the House of Commons, I attended the World Youth Day event led by the Holy Father. This was the eighth or ninth World Youth Day event. It is an event where young men and women come from all over the world to celebrate the values of sharing and caring for each other.
What I experienced at the event, which was attended by close to two million young people from all over the world, was an attitude and a spirit I have never witnessed in my entire life. I was in attendance with the premier of Ontario, Mr. Harris; his minister responsible for the World Youth Day celebrations coming to Toronto; Mr. Chris Hodgson; and our mayor.
I raise this event today in the House because it can serve as an example to members of parliament. They can draw on it in working together to mobilize and motivate all the machinery of government around the whole area of youth crime prevention. It can help build the confidence, vision and hope of young people and teach them that the values of caring and sharing are central to building the fabric of the country.
For members of the House who may not be up to date on the project, in July 2002 Canada is hosting the next World Youth Day celebration in Toronto. We as a nation, along with the Catholic church and the Conference of Bishops of Canada, will be inviting probably close to a million people from all over the world to come to Toronto for five days from July 18 to 28.
When these young people come together they will be demonstrating to us as parents and legislators that they are interested in working in their own communities and countries on issues related to personal development, human development and whole person development.
This is one thing I wish we could talk about more today when debating the legislation before us. I sense that members of the Bloc Quebecois are much more sensitive about the notion of personal development and growth than many of us, quite frankly. They have done a magnificent job in the debate today in talking about the personal growth of young people.
I wanted to speak to the bill today and remind the House of World Youth Day because it is a concrete example of where all members of the House have come together with over 13 departments of the Government of Canada to touch a million young people from all over the world.
Our former ambassador to Russia, Ann Leahy, and her assistants in Toronto are busy organizing the event. I wanted to put it on the record today because as the year unfolds I do not think we as members of parliament can do enough in the whole area of prevention, of touching young people before they are put at risk.
I believe that has been the mission of the member for Wild Rose for most of his life as an educator. It was the primary point he was trying to get across today in the House when he talked about his experience as a principal and an educator. He said we need the tools that will allow us to assist in the personal development of young people.
I go back to the preamble of this piece of legislation which reads:
Whereas communities, families, parents and others concerned with the development of young persons should, through multidisciplinary approaches...respond to the needs of young persons, and...provide guidance and support—
That is where I want to come from. We do not do enough in Canada to build dreams and hope and give proper instruments of support to young people. Quite frankly that is why I am pleased that we as the House of Commons have been so united in promoting this event which is coming to Toronto in July 2002.
Some people have not connected with the profound impact the project will have. I will give an example. If we hosted the Olympic games we would touch, at most, 300,000 people per day. With this project we will be touching one million people or five times that number. I will be splitting my time with the member for Chatham—Kent Essex.
On behalf of the House of Commons and the entire federal team under the direction of former Ambassador Leahy, Cardinal Ambrozic, Bishop Meagher and Father Thomas Rosica, I want to convey that we believe in working with young people to develop the whole person. We will be with them in Toronto in July 2002.