Mr. Speaker, November 15 marks the Day of the Imprisoned Writer. Around the world today, over 200 writers and journalists are in prison.
In 1926 an organization was formed in Canada to speak on behalf of imprisoned writers. PEN Canada has since expanded to include journalists, playwrights, publishers, translators, editors and screenwriters.
PEN uses words as weapons in the battle against censorship. Nevertheless, violations of freedom of expression remain widespread in the world today.
I would therefore ask my colleagues to join me in saluting the efforts of the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN which is monitoring over 740 attacks upon writers and journalists in 99 countries.