Mr. Speaker, I am sure that all members will join me in recognizing and commending among our fellow Canadians those Muslims who are fasting during this month of Ramadan.
In Canada, we proudly respect the hard-won right of all people to practise their faith. Unfortunately, some Muslim communities around the world will face severe discrimination as they seek to undertake this religious practice. Muslim Uighurs in China face various efforts by the government to prevent them from fasting: restaurants being forced to remain open; people being forced into 24-hour guard shifts, which make fasting virtually impossible; and students being forced to watch Communist propaganda films on the day of their prayers. In at least one school, students are regularly forced by administrators to eat and drink.
Uighurs, as well as Tatars in Russian-occupied Ukraine and Rohingya in Burma, face severe religious and ethnic discrimination. Muslim minority communities continue to face severe religious discrimination in many Muslim majority countries.
Rather than continuing to curry favour with brutal human rights violators, Canada must be a strong voice for justice and religious freedom.
Ramadan Mubarak.