Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise in the House today to speak to this motion.
Our nation is built on our founding values: freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Throughout our history, Canadians have fought and died defending these values and we believe they should be the birthright of all human beings.
We stand with those who protect our values, and especially with those who are denied those values. Unfortunately, there are many countries in which citizens are denied these fundamental rights and freedoms.
However, few have faced such brutal repression as the long-suffering people of Burma. For nearly two decades, they have endured the unrelenting tyranny of an unelected military dictatorship.
Over the past few weeks, the latest peaceful demonstrations have been violently put down by the despots who now control Burma.
Tens of thousands of Burmese took their noble cause to the streets. Thousands were arrested and imprisoned and there have been countless reports of beatings, torture and summary executions.
Canadians were horrified and scandalized by these events.
There have been public protests in support of the Burmese people in cities across our country, including on Parliament Hill last week. All Canadians know that what is happening in Burma is an attack on the values we hold dear, indeed an attack on the values of civilization itself. They want us to act and we must.
Earlier this month, we demanded a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the situation in Burma. Together with the international community, we condemned the regime's brutality.
The protesters in Burma, here in Canada and around the world are rallying behind Aung San Suu Kyi. A Nobel Peace Prize winner, she is the living embodiment of the long struggle for freedom and democracy in her country.
Her National League for Democracy won a landslide election but was not allowed to form a government. In fact, she has been a political prisoner for most of the last 18 years. More than anyone else, she has focused international attention on the plight of her people.
That is why, today, we are conferring honorary Canadian citizenship on Aung San Suu Kyi.
To acknowledge and support her long, courageous battle for freedom and democracy in Burma, I urge and thank all parliamentarians for supporting this motion. I hope it will be adopted unanimously in both chambers of this Parliament so that it can be clear as always that Canada stands for universal values that are under siege today in Burma, and once again, to also send to Aung San Suu Kyi the important message that Canadians and indeed all civilized people of the world stand behind her in her quest for democracy and freedom in that country.