Mr. Speaker, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees all people freedom of religious expression.
The people in the Baha'i community in my riding and elsewhere in Quebec and Canada are very concerned about the persecutions of members of the Baha'i faith living in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In addition to being persecuted, they are being deprived of the most basic rights, such as the right to higher education for young people and the right to own property.
Baha'is seek only the unity of humankind, the equality of men and women, the reduction of the gap between rich and poor and the elimination of racial, religious and social conflict. For this they are tortured, raped, killed and stripped of their property.
I ask the Government of Canada to take the necessary steps so that the international community condemns this intolerable situation.