Mr. Speaker, the motion in front of the House today is one of great import. It deals with the message that Canada is sending to the international community in terms of our official position on human rights in light of the Prime Minister's statement about the death of Fidel Castro.
The motion in front of us reads, “That, in light of the regrettable comments”, and I would have used a stronger word, but nonetheless, I will support this motion.
The motion continues:
...made by the Prime Minister on behalf of Canadians on the death of Fidel Castro, and in an effort to send a clear signal to Cuban people and the international community that his comments do not reflect the true sentiments of Canadians, the House: (a) reject the comments made by the Prime Minister on November 26, 2016;
I will start with this first component of the motion.
My colleagues in the NDP and the Liberal Party, a couple of parliamentary secretaries as well, applauded when the suggestion was made that this was a waste of time. I do not think that they understand the gravity of the statement that the Prime Minister made and how embarrassing it was for Canada in terms of our ability to stand up and be honest brokers of human rights policy in the world.
Frankly, when I saw this statement come forward, I thought it was a hoax. I could not believe that this was actually true. I thought it was from The Onion, or The Beaverton in Canada, I guess. I actually had to double-check to make sure that it was true.
However, I should not have been surprised. Why? The Prime Minister stood up after the international community derided this statement, and it was universal derision, except from other brutal dictatorships around the world, which makes me question where his policy allegiance lies, quite frankly. However, under harsh criticism of the statement, he stood up and said that he always stands up for human rights, which is just not true. Why? When one stands up for human rights, it has to matter. The statement that he made, the whitewashing of Fidel Castro's record in his country, is the exact opposite of standing up for human rights. It is not even a whitewashing of it, but a complete celebration of the man as a person, which is embarrassing.
Moreover, the Prime Minister has had several chances to stand up for human rights in this place, but has not done so. In June 2015, two days before a UN report came out stating what everybody in the world knew, the United States knew and voted on it, the U.K. knew, Germany knew, the Prime Minister had an opportunity to stand up here and declare that the crimes of ISIS against the Yazidi people were genocide. He had the opportunity to stand up for human rights. What did he do? He sat down. He stayed in his seat.
Moreover, this statement here is cementing Canada's lack of backbone on our ability to stand up for what is good and right. Why is this motion not a waste of time but something that is so important? This motion is vitally important, because we have to give the Canadian people some sort of hope that the people in this place understand what is good and right. It is because the Prime Minister did not have the backbone to stand in front of a group of press corps and say, “You know what? I got this wrong. This was wrong. I should not have whitewashed a despot's record.”
We have to have this vote in the House of Commons, because the world not only laughs at us, but the world is raising their eyebrows and asking what role Canada has. This is why every member of the House, especially the Liberal Party, especially those who espouse a stand for human rights for groups of minorities in Canada, especially those people, need to stand up and support this motion. They need to send the Prime Minister a message. They need to say, “Hey, when I woke up on that morning, I also thought that your statement was wrong, and I thought it was a hoax. I'm sending a message to you.”
If they do not do that, if the Liberal caucus cannot stand up to say that celebrating a brutal dictator's record in a formal statement from the Government of Canada is wrong, then they are doing a disservice to every one of their constituents of every political stripe. Moreover, they are sending a very dangerous message to the international community about what Canada is about, and that is wrong. That is why this motion is so important here today.
I will take no lessons from the current government saying that this is not an important motion. We need to repudiate what the Prime Minister said. Why? Every single government that we want to have a relationship with and a partnership in standing up for human rights is saying, “What did you do? What is this? This is crazy.”
This is crazy. It is insane. I cannot believe that the Prime Minister of Canada wrote this statement. It is disgusting. It is immoral. It is just so profoundly wrong.
When we have NDP members and Green Party members agreeing with this, when there is unity across party lines in Canada that this statement was an embarrassment and danger, every member in this place should stand up and vote for this motion. The Liberals are trying to make out that it is partisan.
This motion is what is right and it is the second component of the motion that Canada should stand for:
recognize the past atrocities and repression borne by the Cuban people under the rule of Fidel Castro, including his long and oppressive regime of imprisoning critics and reported beatings during arrest, restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly, and the suffering and restrictions placed on the press, minorities, and the democratic process, including the LGBT community;
That is partisan? No, that is fact. That is what the Prime Minister conveniently forgot to mention in his wonderful celebratory statement of Fidel Castro. It is that component of this motion.
Every person in this place is going to have the opportunity to stand up and say, “I recognize this happened”. If we do not recognize that something happened when it comes to human rights, if we try to whitewash it or forget it, that is when atrocities happen. That is when we forget who we are and what policies we should be putting forward or who we should be fighting for.
I could go on and on. My colleagues have spent a lot of time here today talking about the abysmal, which is not a strong enough word, disgusting, and inhuman record of Fidel Castro when it comes to human rights in his country. I could talk about imprisoning members of the LGBTI community; the complete lack of free speech; and the oppression of his people; the complete, utter, abject failure of their economy. I could go on and on.
This motion is important because in this place we are recognizing that those things happened. We are not turning our back on it or forgetting it as a country that purports to stand up for human rights. If this Prime Minister wants to say “I always stand up for human rights”, then stand up for this motion and admit this happened.
The third component of the motion states:
express its hope and full support for the people of Cuba, that they may now begin to see freedom and a commitment to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, in order to ensure a brighter and better future for the Cuban people....
A parliamentary secretary stood up before and said, “Why would we be doing this instead of talking about the future of the Cuban people?” This motion is all about the future of the Cuban people. I want them to be ruled under a free democracy with freedom of expression and complete rejection of the things that have been happening under the former military dictator's rule. I want to see the Cuban people free and prosperous. The people who were celebrating on the streets in Florida after he died were doing that for a reason. In Canada, we should be standing up and recognizing it, not issuing a shameful, embarrassing statement that celebrates the rule of a dictator and completely whitewashes his record.
Time and again, if we hear from groups of people around the world who have suffered genocide, who have suffered human rights atrocities, they will say, “always remember, we must remember”. This weekend, we remember the Holodomor. In this House of Commons, we voted to recognize the Yazidi genocide because we must remember.
When the Prime Minister of a G7 country stands up and forgets to mention an abysmal human rights record and the death of thousands, and then says that this is a waste of time and has his parliamentary secretaries applaud when it is suggested that correcting that grave mistake is a waste of time is shameful and embarrassing. I hope every Canadian watches this vote next week and watches the members opposite stand up and not remember. We need to remember what happened there so it does not happen again.
There are people across the aisle who have worked with me and implored their caucus to stand up for motions around genocide and to stand up even if it means standing up alone when something is right. This is not a partisan motion. This is what the entire world is thinking. If the government will not stand up and vote for it, then it stands against the world.