Debates of Nov. 2nd, 2020

Bills of Exchange Act

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois agrees to apply the vote and will vote in favour of the motion.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP members agree to apply the vote and will be voting for the motion.

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

Mr. Speaker, the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands agrees to apply and will be voting yes.

[Jenica Atwin, Green, Fredericton, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I vote for the motion.

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply and I will be voting yes.

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Independent, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply the vote and I will be voting yes.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I vote in favour.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I abstained from the last vote, but I am very pleased to vote for this motion.

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I similarly abstained on the previous vote, but I vote in favour of this motion.

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I abstained from the previous vote, but I will vote in favour of this motion.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #18

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I declare the motion carried. Accordingly, the bill stands referred to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

(Bill read the second time and referred to a committee)

Human Rights

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to present e-petition 2764, signed by over 1,500 Canadians from all 10 provinces and the north. Initiated by the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition, the petition calls upon the House of Commons to pass a resolution for the Government of Canada to apologize for Canada's role in the enslavement of African people and their descendants; publicly acknowledge Black Canadians as a distinct people; recognize August 1 annually as emancipation day; and renew Canada's commitment to addressing the general effects of enslavement, segregation and systemic anti-Black racism.

The petitioners note that the United Nations has called for nations to acknowledge and apologize for the suffering and evils of the enslavement of African people and, as such, they urge the government, as do I, to take action.

Opioids

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to table e-petition 2783, which was brought forward by constituents in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith.

The overdose crisis has been declared a public health emergency in British Columbia. This year, more people in B.C. have died of opioid drug poisoning than from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The petitioners are calling upon the Government of Canada to declare a public health emergency because of overdose deaths in Canada; reframe the overdose crisis in Canada as a health issue rather than a criminal issue; take a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach to the overdose crisis by addressing issues of addiction, poverty, housing, health care, racial discrimination, and economic inequality and instability; listen to and act on recommendations made by social workers, front-line workers, nurses, doctors, drug users and individuals directly involved in the drug-using community; end the wasteful and ineffective war on drugs; and decriminalize personal possession of all drugs in Canada and guarantee a safe supply of drugs in Canada.

Firearms

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to be presenting five petitions in the House today.

The first petition is with respect to the rights of law-abiding firearms owners, as well as the need to protect Canadians.

The petitioners highlight that virtually all gun crime in this country involves illegal guns, often guns that have been smuggled across the border. They believe the government's order in council banning firearms that are legally obtained and legally owned does not effectively respond to that concern.

The petitioners call on the government to reverse the order in council put in place on May 1 and replace it with measures that would effectively target illegal guns and gun smuggling.

Physician-Assisted Dying

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition deals with Bill C-7.

The petitioners are concerned with how Bill C-7 removes a number of safeguards associated with the euthanasia regime that are unrelated to the Truchon decision. They highlight the elimination of the 10-day reflection period, which introduces the possibility of someone requesting and receiving euthanasia on the same day.

The petitioners call for Bill C-7 not to pass or to be amended to remove those changes.

Human Rights

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition is with respect to the human rights situation of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in China. The petitioners call attention to the absolutely horrific abuses of Uighurs and call for the use of the magnitsky act to target and sanction those responsible for these heinous crimes.

Afghan Minority Communities

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the fourth petition deals with the circumstances of the Sikh and Hindu minorities in Afghanistan. It calls on the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to use the powers granted to him to create a special program to help persecuted minorities in Afghanistan. It also calls on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to highlight this issue with his Afghan counterpart.

Human Organ Trafficking

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the fifth and final petition deals with Bill S-204. It is in support of this bill, which would make it a criminal offence for a Canadian to go abroad and receive an organ for which there has been no consent. This petition seeks to respond to the horrific practice of forced organ harvesting and trafficking. The bill is currently before the Senate.

I commend all of these petitions for the consideration of the House.

Public Safety

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

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to present an electronic petition, e-2734, put together by my constituents and others. It acknowledges, which I think is common knowledge, that the level of police violence against indigenous people and people of colour is disproportionately larger than that against people who are not of colour and non-indigenous people, or, in other words, settler culture Canadians. The petitioners note that it is very hard to keep track of the data on how often police use force and excessive force against indigenous people and people of colour.

The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to create a disaggregated database that will keep track of the police's use of force, which we do not keep track of. They ask that it be disaggregated by race, ethnic background, culture and in other ways so that we are able to document, track and hopefully reverse the disproportionate use of force by police against indigenous people and people of colour.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-8, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's call to action number 94), be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Citizenship Act

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Before we proceed, I wish to inform the House that because of the deferred recorded division, Government Orders will be extended by 45 minutes.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Kildonan—St. Paul.