Mr. Speaker, as the human rights critic for the NDP, I am concerned with the direction Canada has taken over the past number of years in regard to human rights both in Canada and abroad.
The United Nations Human Rights Council recently released a draft report on the Universal Periodic Review of Canada's human rights record. A disturbing thread that runs through the review is that Canada talks a good game, but we are not advancing human rights in Canada and internationally as Canadians believe their government should do.
Countries are asking why Canada is avoiding its responsibility to ratify the Optional Protocols of the Convention Against Torture. With the results of the O'Connor inquiry in the Maher Arar case and the Iacobucci review of Abdullah Almalki case and others, we know now that Canada, at the very least, has been complicit in torture by proxy.
Just who is responsible for ensuring that the recommendations coming from these reports and reviews are given proper consideration? Who is accountable for their implementation?
Canada has so much more to do. Other countries like China and Sudan give lip service to human rights. When will Canada once again—