Mr. Speaker, last Monday in downtown Hamilton's Mahal Restaurant, I had the honour to meet Afghan journalist Farida Nekzad, 2007 winner of the International Press Freedom Award and the founder of a coalition of over 200 women journalists in Afghanistan.
Every day Farida is threatened with violence and death simply because she is a woman and a journalist who challenges the status quo. One of Farida's best friends, another woman journalist in Afghanistan, was gunned down in her own bed last June. Farida was told that she is next. Farida has said she will not give up her fight, “Even if I escape tomorrow, they will just target another woman”.
Thanks to the organization Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, Farida's courage, determination and incredible work have been recognized.
At the same event, I spoke with Hamilton Spectator managing editor Jim Poling, who founded the internationally trained journalists project, which helps foreign trained journalists who now live in Canada get work experience here. This year 34 people will graduate from this influential program.
Thanks to people like Farida Nekzad and Jim Poling, the right of freedom of expression everywhere is being promoted here in Canada.