Madam Speaker, I would like to present a petition that is signed by a number of Ontario residents.
The petitioners point out that at one time Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan numbered in the hundreds of thousands, but today fewer than 5,000 remain. They point out that the Minister of Immigration is already empowered to create legislation to allow vulnerable minorities to come to Canada as privately sponsored refugees directly from the country where they face persecution. These groups are ready to sponsor Afghan minority refugees. Therefore, the petitioners call upon the Minister of Immigration to use his powers to grant special programs to help persecuted minorities in Afghanistan.