Mr. Speaker, Saturday, February 22, will mark the one-year anniversary of the Algerian uprising, when Algerians started taking to the streets to demand democratic reforms, more justice, more freedom and respect for human rights. Once a week, millions of Algerians fill the streets to protest for those rights. Sadly, they are met with repression from an authoritarian regime that arrests people just for expressing an opinion, chanting a slogan or waving an Amazigh flag, a Berber flag. We believe that is totally unacceptable.
Hundreds of people have signed this petition calling for an end to the repression. The petition calls upon the House to urge the release of all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Algeria and to condemn systemic human rights violations in Algeria, as a Parliament, as supporters of democracy, and as citizens of Quebec and Canada.