Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to present two petitions today.
The first is in support of an advocacy priority that is important for much of the Sikh community, which was articulated again to me in a meeting with representatives of the World Sikh Organization.
The petitioners call upon the government to do more to support vulnerable Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan. They would like to see the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship use the power granted to him to create a special program to help persecuted minorities in Afghanistan, in support of their desire to be privately sponsored by the community here in Canada. They also want to see the Minister of Foreign Affairs raise the issue of the persecution faced by these communities with her Afghan counterpart and strongly advocate for more to be done to protect them.
I commend this petition for the consideration of the House.