Madam Speaker, I too am pleased to speak in the debate on the motion by the hon. member for Lanark—Carleton.
First, I would like to thank and congratulate our hon. colleague from Lanark—Carleton for again drawing the House's attention to the very disturbing situation of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Based on our long discussions, especially on the expulsion of the Acadians, I know that the hon. member for Lanark—Carleton is deeply concerned with justice and respect for human rights.
Not so long ago, I had the pleasure of speaking in the House on a bill regarding China's accession to the World Trade Organization. I was very happy to speak in that debate to amend our legislation so that the People's Republic of China could join the WTO.
Members will recall that I mentioned at that time that there are a number of human rights issues in China that are currently great cause for concern. The fate of Falun Gong or Falun Dafa practitioners is one of our concerns, particularly in the context of China's accession to the WTO.
At the time, I went over the evolution of Canadian policy from the days of the Progressive Conservative government. This debate is almost like talking about the chicken or the egg. The Progressive Conservatives had decided to make respect of human rights one of the pillars of Canadian foreign policy. When the Liberals came to power in 1993, they quickly changed direction, making trade one of the new pillars of our foreign policy.
I come back to the chicken or the egg. The Progressive Conservative government claimed that the approach to take with foreign policy was to oblige States to respect a minimally acceptable human rights policy.
Members will recall the very courageous policy put forward by the Progressive Conservative government, particularly within the Commonwealth, regarding the contentious issue of apartheid in South Africa. We had decided, on the one hand, to sever diplomatic relations and on the other to boycott South African products, to introduce an embargo, to force change in South Africa.
When the Liberals came into power, they said to themselves “This may not be the way to do things. Perhaps the best approach might be to encourage trade so as to facilitate exchanges, contacts and dialogue. Through these, we could have some impact on the development of societies, serving as an example so as to be able to transmit to them our democratic values, our respect for human rights”.
I do not want to go into the intrinsic value of such a policy. Because the government has adopted it as policy, we need to work to improve the human rights situation in certain countries as much as possible by encouraging exchanges.
In my previous speech, I applauded the admission of China to the World Trade Organization for a number of quite obvious reasons, including the size of the market, since we cannot exclude over one billion people from the developing world market. I think therefore that it was highly appropriate for the People's Republic of China to be able to join the WTO.
That said, it is also a fact that the People's Republic of China did indeed gain membership in the WTO in December 2001, and has also complied with a number of treaties relating to human rights.
The People's Republic of China cannot, therefore, be surprised if the international community, and Canada in particular, is concerned about the human rights situation in that country, given its commitments within the international community in this area. The international community is therefore responsible for ensuring that the signatories of the treaties in question meet their commitments.
I must therefore say that the motion again presented by the hon. member for Lanark—Carleton has already had some positive impact, as he has mentioned. This motion, which was already unanimously adopted in this House in October 2002, appears to have brought about, or at least contributed to bringing about, the release of at least three of the Falun Gong practitioners listed in the resolution.
It therefore seems likely that focussing attention on the situation of our fellow citizens of Quebec or Canada, or of the Chinese relatives of those fellow citizens, can have a positive impact on what happens to them.
However, I think, and I am sure the member for Lanark—Carleton will agree with me, that through these specific cases we have decided to highlight here today, as we did in October, we really want to focus on the predicament of all Falun Gong practitioners and dissidents, whose human rights are being violated.
Falun Gong, as our colleague mentioned, is a peaceful and apolitical organization that promotes a spiritual approach based on three broad principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Falun Gong tries to bring human beings closer to the fundamental nature of the universe to achieve harmony.
According to Falun Gong practitioners, the group is neither a sect nor a religious movement. The zealousness of authorities in the People's Republic of China when it comes to persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners needs to be examined. Possibly the reason for their intolerance of the group is because Chinese authorities identify it as a religious movement.
Of course we know the old saying that applies in communist regimes, which states that “religion is the opium of the masses”. We know that all religious movements have been persecuted by various communist countries.
There is also cause to wonder about what is really motivating authorities, beyond this simplistic take on the situation. They say the group wants to topple the communist regime and the powers in place. Of course, Falun Dafa followers strongly and vigorously deny this.
However, what we need to consider, and this is the fundamental issue, is that human rights and democracy go hand in hand. In a democracy, it is unacceptable that human beings be treated this way, when we know that according to figures provided by Human Rights Watch, more than 37,000 members of Falun Gong have been imprisoned since September 1999.