Debates of June 9th, 2016

Commissioner of Lobbying

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I have the honour to lay upon the table, pursuant to section 11 of the Lobbying Act, the 2015-16 annual report of the Commissioner of Lobbying for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016.

Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Pursuant to paragraph 90(1)(b) of the Parliament of Canada Act, it is my duty to present to the House the annual report of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner in relation to the Conflict of Interest Act for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(h), this document is deemed to have been permanently referred to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.

Nunavut Implementation Panel

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2011-12 annual report of the Nunavut Implementation Panel.

Government Response to Petitions

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 24 petitions.

Rouge National Urban Park Act

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-18, An Act to amend the Rouge National Urban Park Act, the Parks Canada Agency Act and the Canada National Parks Act.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Pay Equity

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Special Committee on Pay Equity, entitled “It's Time to Act”.

Industry, Science and Technology

[Dan Ruimy, Liberal, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology in relation to the supplementary estimates 2016-17.

Employment Insurance Act

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-288, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (special benefits).

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation that would amend the Employment Insurance Act, to extend the maximum period for which special benefits for catastrophic illness, injury, or quarantine may be paid from 15 to 50 weeks.

This bill was inspired by Natalie Thomas, a cancer survivor from Coquitlam, whose story inspired this legislation and highlighted the changes needed to the Employment Insurance Act. Natalie was recovering from breast cancer surgery and was forced to return to work because her EI sick benefits ran out.

Canadians like Natalie who have suffered a serious illness should not be forced to go back to work too early. They should be able to focus on getting well and not having their health compromised by—

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I would remind hon. members that first reading is the time to explain the gist of what the bill is about and not to make arguments for the bill. I thank the hon. member for presenting his bill.

Canadian Optimist Movement Awareness Day Act

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-289, An Act to establish Canadian Optimist Movement Awareness Day.

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to stand today to ask the House to establish Canadian Optimist movement awareness day, which would be the first Thursday in February. The movement began in 1924 and now has nearly 600 clubs across Canada, each of which helps about 80 young people. This movement helps our young people flourish, nurtures their talents, and recognizes their progress. I hope that many Canadians will join the movement and that this day will be established.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Extension of Sitting Hours

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties, and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move:

That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, commencing on Monday, June 13, 2016, and concluding on Thursday, June 23, 2016, at any time a Minister of the Crown proposes without notice a motion “That the hour of adjournment for the current sitting day shall be midnight”, it be deemed adopted, provided that: a) the motion is neither moved after 4:30 p.m., nor on a Friday; and b) the Order of the Day called for the period of time beyond the ordinary hour of adjournment only be a motion for the consideration of Senate amendments under Government Orders.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Does the hon. parliamentary secretary have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

(Motion agreed to)

Physician-Assisted Dying

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present two petitions today.

The first petition is from residents of Saskatchewan and Ontario. The second is from nearly 400 residents from Ontario and British Columbia.

The petitioners are calling upon the Government of Canada to draft legislation that will include adequate safeguards for vulnerable Canadians, especially those with mental health challenges, to provide clear conscience protection for health care workers and institutions, and to protect children and those under age 18 from physician-assisted suicide.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition signed by residents from the town of Slave Lake in my riding.

In previous Parliaments, members of this House strongly rejected assisted suicide and supported better palliative care.

As such these petitioners call on the Parliament of Canada to adopt the strongest possible legislation against legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia, and instead establish a national strategy on palliative care.

Security Certificates

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise this morning to present two petitions.

The first one deals with an ongoing issue of human rights and civil liberties in this country, and that is the use of security certificates.

The petitioners ask the Parliament to abolish the security certificate process, and for those currently detained under security certificates, the petitioners request the certificates be removed and that they be allowed to defend themselves in open, fair, and independent trials, and that they not be deported.

CBC/Radio-Canada

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition deals with the issue, which I believe the new government is committed to improving, of the lack of adequate funding to our national public broadcaster.

Democratic Reform

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today I have the honour to present two petitions focused on fair electoral representation. Approximately 140 residents in my riding and the Waterloo region have signed these petitions. They call on the House of Commons to immediately undertake public consultations across Canada to amend the Canada Elections Act. I am pleased to be working alongside the Minister of Democratic Institutions in her leadership to ensure that Canadians from coast to coast to coast are being consulted.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all questions be allowed to stand at this time.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Opposition Motion—ISIS

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

moved:

That the House agree that ISIS is responsible for: (a) crimes against humanity aimed at groups such as Christians, Yezidis, and Shia Muslims, as well as other religious and ethnic minorities in Syria a nd Iraq; (b) utilizing rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war and enslaving women and girls; and (c) targeting gays and lesbians who have been tortured and murdered; and, as a consequence, that the House strongly condemn these atrocities and declare that these crimes constitute genocide.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to speak to the Conservative motion calling on this House to recognize the actions of ISIS as genocide.

I will be splitting my time with the member for Thornhill, who has for many years been an advocate for human rights.

As we all know, this past Monday marked the 72nd anniversary of D-Day and the allied landing at Normandy. Every year on June 6, we take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices of the Canadian troops, generations past, all in the name of stopping a tyrannical and bloodthirsty regime.

World War II saw the rise of fascism and anti-Semitism across much of the western world. Our troops fought valiantly for Canada, but they also fought to put an end to the horrors that were being inflicted across Europe by the Nazi regime through the Holocaust.

It was a campaign of genocide and is rightly recognized as such. Since that time, Canada and our allies have made a solemn commitment to never forget, and we recommit ourselves to that promise every year.

A commitment to remember also requires a commitment to act. Let there be no mistake: there is a need to act once more now. The terrorist group ISIS continues to leave a trail of destruction across an already unstable Middle East, and thousands of innocent lives have paid the price.

It is sometimes easy to forget how real the ISIS threat is, protected as we are here in Canada where we enjoy relative peace and prosperity.

Yet as we speak, the brutal, jihadist terrorist regime known as ISIS is systematically exterminating Christians, Assyrians, Yazidis, Shia Muslims, and countless other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq. They have tortured and beheaded children. They have raped women and sold them into sexual slavery.

There is a word for this kind of deliberate slaughter of specific groups of innocent people. It is genocide.

This campaign of genocide is waged against some of the most ancient and most venerable peoples of the world, many of whom can trace their heritage well into antiquity.

They have for many years lived as small, defenceless minorities; in fact, for centuries. They have faced prejudice and persecution before, but the strength of their faiths and communities kept them together in their historic homelands. Against the vicious onslaught of ISIS, however, they must leave or face enslavement and certain death.

Stories coming out of Iraq are chilling. ISIS has set up so-called sex-slave markets where girls literally have their teeth checked before being sold on the market. We just heard this week about another 19 Yazidi girls who were burned alive because they refused to become sex slaves.

The girls are regularly beaten, whipped, burned, and raped. This is both disturbing and heartbreaking. In 2016, it cannot be tolerated.

Not only is ISIS committing unspeakable crimes against humanity, it has deliberately destroyed dozens of ancient churches, mosques, temples, and monasteries, looting the artifacts within them for sale on the black market.

Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, has called this despicable vandalism “cultural cleansing”. It is an attempt to erase these communities from history by demolishing the most cherished symbols of their past.

ISIS has a simple goal: to create a new reality in its image across the Middle East and to wage war against the west, including Canada. Yet, under the current government, Canada has only been committed to half-measures.

The previous Conservative government was part of an allied effort to bring the fight to ISIS through an effective and forceful air strike campaign, halting its progress and severely depleting its resources. Sadly, under the current government, that effort was withdrawn. Canadians are still looking for an explanation as to why.

We can strengthen Canada’s response to this terrible threat being visited upon innocent men, women and children by calling ISIS’ actions what they truly are: an act of genocide.

Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs has avoided calling these actions genocide. He has said in the House of Commons that he wants to investigate whether a genocide has taken place. I do not know what more he needs to see.

While the minister stalls, our allies are moving forward.

In the U.S., the Secretary of State John Kerry has said, clearly, that ISIS is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control. In fact, on March 15, the United States House of Representatives unanimously declared that genocide was taking place in Iraq and Syria by ISIS.

The House of Commons in the United Kingdom also has followed suit and voted unanimously to recognize that Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria were suffering genocide at the hands of ISIS.

The European Union has also declared this a genocide.

Even the United Nations has made its voice heard. UN investigators have accused ISIS of committing genocide. Their evidence clearly suggests that ISIS intends to destroy the Yazidi as a group.

In just one example, the UN found that ISIS fighters rounded up hundreds of Yazidi men over age the age of 14 and summarily executed them.

The previous Conservative government also recognized the actions of ISIS as genocide.

Let us be absolutely clear. It is a dark spot on Canada's record that the Prime Minister and his government cannot gather the moral courage to name the threat that has driven families from their homes, seen women and girls sold into sexual slavery, or murdered outright, and forced thousands of innocent people into refugee camps.

Yet, the other side of the House remains silent on this issue. It remains silent, in particular, on the case of the persecution of young Yazidi girls who have been subjected to horrifying campaigns of sexual abuse and slavery. Despite all the government's photo ops and press conferences, it forgets to mention that only nine cases of Yazidi families have been processed since Canada' refugee plan was put in place. Only those few Yazidis have found safe haven in Canada, while many thousands more remain at risk of ISIS brutality. Its silence is just as bewildering to Canadians and as insulting to our allies as the Prime Minister's unjustified decision to withdraw Canada's fighter jets from the air campaign.

With no explanation coming, we are only left to conclude that the Prime Minister's inaction is in fact a political moneuvre, not one of principle.

There are times when we must call things as they are. Today, we are witnessing an ongoing campaign to wipe these ancient nations from the face of the Earth. There is no more fitting description for these terrible acts than the declare them genocide.

Having made this declaration, I invite all members of the House to reflect on what must be done to stop this genocide and whether Canada is doing its utmost to this end.

Now is the time for all 338 members of the House of Commons to stand up and be counted on, including the members opposite.

I ask them to do the right thing and vote in favour of this motion, and declare this a genocide.