Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today and discuss the issue that I attempted to raise in question period on March 4, 2010. My question at the time was for the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism and it concerned the new citizenship guide that had come out in the fall.
Reports had just come out on the new citizenship guide. The bureaucrats and public servants, after doing all the work of consultations with experts, et cetera, had prepared a draft guide. When it was finalized, it went to the minister and the minister ordered that a reference to equal civil marriage rights for same-sex couples be removed.
When I raised this with the minister, the minister's response was that x, y and z were also not mentioned and that the previous guide, which was published under the previous Liberal government, made zero mention of gays and lesbians, women's voting rights, equality of men and women or aboriginal residential schools, and he went on. He is perfectly right. The previous citizenship guide that was published under the Liberal government did not make those references.
That guide, if I am not mistaken, was published some 15 or 16 years ago. Society evolves and the values of society also evolve. It was the public servants, through their consultations, who felt that the reference to equal civil marriage rights for same-sex couples should be an important part of the new guide that was coming forward in the third millennium, in the 21st century, given how Canadian society had evolved and given our notions of democracy, equality and the impact of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
I will not apologize for shortcomings that may have existed in the previous citizenship guide. In fact, when that was first published, my understanding is that there were no criticisms of it for not mentioning certain things. However, as we hit the third millennium, issues were being raised about how it was not fully representative of our modern democracy and how Canadians see themselves.
I was quite dismayed by the answer from the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism because it sounded to me like a child saying, “So and so is not any better and that excuses my behaviour”. The minister deliberately had the reference removed. I think it was unjust and it should not have happened. I wonder what the minister's motives were for doing that.