Mr. Speaker, I recently participated in the U.S.-based Freedom Forum, which brought together former political prisoners, dissidents, human rights advocates, thinkers and innovators at the cutting edge of the global struggle for freedom, which conferred the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent on Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Syi, an honorary citizen of Canada, who spoke movingly of the struggle for freedom always retaining its moral compass. In her words, “we need to free our people not just from oppression but from their own fears and their own hatred”.
The forum included riveting speeches by Iranian-Canadian author and former political prisoner Marina Nemat, reminding us of the plight of political prisoners in Iran, including Iranian-Canadians Saeed Malekpour and Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, and in respect of which we have established a global Iranian political prisoner advocacy program, and by Manal al-Sharif, the Saudi Arabian women's activist, who spoke of the ongoing repression of women, even in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
The forum serves as a beacon of hope for those suffering in the shadows of human rights violations, reminding us all that we must enlarge and enhance the international struggle for freedom. We look forward to the launch of a Canadian-based Freedom Forum in the new year to advance the cause of freedom, justice and human rights for all.