Debates of Dec. 6th, 2021

Criminal Code

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today is important because it will protect health care workers as well as patients. The scope of this bill extends well beyond vaccination. For example, it will also cover intimidation that takes place at family planning clinics.

Nevertheless, intimidation is still a crime regardless of a person's status or job.

Why the hurry to specify that this applies to health care services now, especially considering that it should apply to everyone, everywhere, period?

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her important question.

The bill we are introducing, Bill C‑3, is meant to protect all Canadians. Yes, it targets the health sector for the moment, but we are talking about a bill that will help all Canadians. We need to ensure that no Canadians are subjected to intimidation, and we need to be there to protect everyone.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, for almost two years workers have been forced to work sick. As is the case in many constituencies, in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith many constituents rely on their wages to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.

We have lost too many lives as a result of government inaction. Does my colleague find it acceptable to have forced workers for almost two years to report to work while unwell by refusing to provide them with the sick leave they need to keep everyone safe?

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I want to share with my colleague that in 2019 we moved forward on three-day sick leave and then we had the sick leave benefit. Here we are moving it to 10 days, so I believe we are doing exactly what she is proposing.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am wondering if this legislation would help people who have contracts. Does it extend to people who have contracts with the Government of Canada, or would it be just the employees of the government?

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity to listen to my colleague's speech this morning, which I much appreciated. I know she does great work in the House, and I want to thank her for that.

My understanding is that federal employees are already getting these benefits. These would be for federally regulated employees, so this would be an extension. The objective of our government is to have discussions with the provinces and territories so that we can move forward with the private sector to find ways to support all Canadians so they have access to sick leave.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that the House allow me to share my time with the hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable. I also congratulate you on your appointment as Deputy Speaker. I think it is fantastic, and I think that you are doing a fantastic job.

We are here, and some of us have already spoken in the House, but some have not had the chance to yet. This is my maiden speech of the 44th Parliament, and it has been quite a journey over the past two years. It was also quite a journey just getting to this place last night. Many of us are probably going on two and a half or three hours of sleep, but we are here, regardless. We are tired, but we are here.

Before I get into Bill C-3, it is important that I thank a few people.

First and foremost, as I did in the 43rd Parliament, I thank my Lord and Saviour for the opportunity to serve Essex and for my health. Without my God, I would not be here.

I thank my family. Probably my greatest supporter is my mother, but she is also my biggest critic, and she is probably watching right now. I love my Mom and thank her for keeping tabs on me and for all that she does.

I also thank my wife. I am only afraid of three people in this world, and they are in this order: my Lord and Saviour, my wife and my mother. My wife, Allison, is probably not watching, as she is most likely taking care of Levi, our grandchild. However, I love Allison dearly, and I thank her for giving me the freedom and the opportunity to come here to represent Essex and do what I know in my heart of hearts is right. I thank her for the sacrifices she has made for this country along the way. I love her so dearly.

I thank my staff, who have been working tirelessly. They are tired, and have had two years of being tired, with hundreds of thousands of phone calls, emails and text messages. Each and every one of them is absolutely fantastic, and I thank them for serving our constituents so well.

I thank my colleagues, those I have grabbed dinner with in the House, and I do not necessarily mean just Conservative colleagues, but those across the aisle as well. They have made a difficult time a little easier and a bit more enjoyable, so I thank my colleagues. As well, I congratulate all those re-elected. I encourage those who have been elected for the first time to hang on because it is a lot of fun up here. They will be able to do some great things. I congratulate each and every member.

I thank our Hill staff. The onboarding during a pandemic, compared to the onboarding during normal times in Ottawa, was second to none. To our Hill support, for the onboarding process, I thank each one of them. I thank them for their sacrifice and for making our jobs a whole lot easier on the Hill.

Most important, besides my Lord, are my constituents in Essex for giving me the honour to serve them in their seat. It is not my seat. It is theirs, and I thank them for the honour. I thank them for sending me back to Ottawa, and I promise my devotion to each and every one of them.

Bill C-3 should also have a Bill C-3.1 because, in my opinion, it really should be two bills. The bill talks about harassment, which falls under the Criminal Code, and it also talks about labour, which falls under the Canada Labour Code. I will speak to harassment first, and then I will finish with the labour issue.

On the day of the election, I had an unfortunate accident when, just so the world knows, I fell off my horse. I was spending time with my wife, and I was a little more banged up than perhaps even she knew. Long story short, I went to the hospital in Leamington, the Erie Shores HealthCare. The doctors were second to none. The nursing staff was second to none. I have actually had meetings with the CEO of the hospital to try to advance this forward.

Then I went to the Windsor Regional Hospital. In a couple of months, I will go to get shoulder surgery. My orthopaedic surgeon is second to none.

I was a firefighter. I know what frontline service is all about. I am really blessed to say that my aunt Eva was nurse of the year on a couple of occasions. My mother was a nurse as well.

Before I jumped on the plane that finally got me here, after hours and hours, through no fault of Air Canada, I held onto my grandchild, Levi, for about an hour. As he slept there so peacefully and innocently, I thought about this debate today and the influence I could have to leave the world a better place than I found it. I thought about what I could do for Levi today to ensure that he comes into a world that has less hatred and less harassment, and that respects all genders and respects our frontline workers.

I am excited about the harassment side of Bill C-3. It is something that we, as a generation, have perhaps lost a little focus, or perhaps a lot of focus, on. I also think, to a greater extent, that we all, in this place, agree with. That is something very monumental.

I am also a freedom fighter. I believe in the freedoms of Canadians. I believe that Canadians have the right to voice their opinions. I believe they have the right to protest. I also know that with that freedom comes nothing less than responsibility. What is absolutely vital, right now, is that people are not shamed into doing something against our frontline workers who are ultimately taking care of our parents and grandparents and, in my case, me. We need to give them full access and full support. It is absolutely not acceptable for the folks in this profession to have anything less than this House's support.

With regard to the Labour Code, in my capacity as deputy shadow minister for labour, I very happy to be able to stand here and speak to this today. I started my speech saying that many of us are tired. I can only imagine how tired our frontline workers are, the ones who get us on the planes, our air service personnel and the ones who get us here on Via Rail. They are not only tired physically. They are also tired mentally. This is to ensure there is a floor of 10 days, but many of these companies already have more than 10 days, so quite frankly it would not affect them.

They also deserve nothing less than this House's support. We are all tired. I am not saying that from a function of, “Oh, boo hoo, Chris had to spend some time on a plane”. No, I am saying that as a country, as a world, we are tired. Now is the time to bring the support forward, whatever that support looks like, and ensure that it gets done.

Rest assured, Conservatives will certainly be here for labour. Conservatives will be here for physicians, nurses and support staff. I am very proud to be back in the House. I thank Essex for sending me back to this place.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, qujannamiik..

In Nunavut, we do not have much access to health care. We only have one hospital for all of the 25 communities, so the rest of the 25 communities have to get health care services through health centres. Not many of them have doctors. Most have health nurse practitioners.

A lot of the patients from Nunavut, when they are looking to access the same level of health care as everybody else in this room, just as the member spoke so eloquently about before, they have to go on medical travel and be sent to places like Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg or Yellowknife. When these strikes are happening in these other major centres, they are also impacting patients from my constituency, so this is an important issue for me.

Knowing health care professionals in the south are being impacted by protests and are not being able to take up to 10 days of paid sick leave is a great concern. Does the member agree it is time for a 10-day paid sick leave?

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is a dynamite question.

Just yesterday WECHU, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, and I believe this to be true, was the first in Canada to come down with more restrictions for Windsor and Essex, which is a very sad thing.

The Erie Shores HealthCare I was speaking of earlier is actually pleading with people to go to a different area to get care if they can do so. It is brimming and flowing over the top.

All of Canada, quite frankly, deserves to have proper health care and proper physicians. We need to ensure we put the proper guards in place to make sure everybody is dealt with equally. I really hope, for the member's sake, the situation in her riding gets better.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my friend from Essex on his re-election.

What I heard in his speech was a message of unity dealing with the challenges we are all facing together as a country. If he could somehow elaborate on that, it would be great.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague nailed it. It is exactly what I am talking about.

I congratulate my colleague on the fantastic outreach he does, not only in Canada, but also across the world. I thank the member for that.

Absolutely, if there was ever a time for unity, a time to rally the troops, or a time to pull together and stop the divisiveness, now is the time. That is our responsibility. It is one of the things we can actually bring to our country through this House. With his help, we will all endeavour together to ensure that takes place moving forward.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, congratulations on your re-election, as well as your appointment to the chair.

Bill C-3 does not really change much. The offences in question are already covered by the law. As stated earlier, intimidation is illegal everywhere, and this bill simply reiterates that. It seems that Bill C-3 is really more about creating the perception that the government is doing something on the health care file.

However, there is something far more important the government could do, namely, restoring health transfers and increasing them to 35% of total spending, as Quebec and all Canadian provinces are calling for. What are my colleague's thoughts on that?

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, it kind of goes like this: If there had not been a $600-million election, which nobody wanted, we would be in committee discussing these things, and we would be moving this agenda forward. Unfortunately, that has not happened. I would strongly suggest we get back to committee, back to the business of the House. Then we could perhaps address many of the things my hon. colleague has brought up.

Business of the House

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I think you will find unanimous consent for the following motion:

That, notwithstanding any Standing Order, special order or usual practice of the House, at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, December the 14th, 2021, the Speaker shall interrupt the proceedings to permit the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance to make a statement followed by a period of up to 10 minutes for questions and comments; after the statement, a member from each recognized opposition party may reply for a period approximately equivalent to the time taken by the minister's statement and each statement shall be followed by a period of 10 minutes for questions and comments; after each member has replied, or when no member rises to speak, whichever comes first, the House shall adjourn to the next sitting day.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

This being a hybrid session, all those opposed to the hon. member moving the motion will please say nay.

Hearing no dissenting voice, it is agreed.

The House has heard the terms of the motion. All those opposed will please say nay.

Hearing no dissenting voice, I declare the motion carried.

(Motion agreed to)

Resuming debate.

The hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this being December 6, I will take a few moments to acknowledge the anniversary of the awful tragedy at Polytechnique Montréal where 14 young women lost their lives.

It is important to always take a few minutes on this day to reflect on what happened at the time and what continues to happen in our society. Violence against women still exists, now more than ever. Taking the time to commemorate this horrible tragedy makes us look at the present to see what has been done and what we are doing at home, in our neighbourhoods and across the board to ensure that such things never happen again. This includes small gestures when a man or a woman is in an unacceptable domestic violence situation. Women tend to end up vulnerable, without resources and without help, because they simply do not have the means and the necessary resources at hand to report and flee domestic violence.

I want to give everyone, especially the women in my riding, the phone numbers they can use if they find themselves in a difficult situation. In the Appalaches RCM, the La Gîtée shelter can be reached at 418-335-5551. In the Granite RCM, people can contact La Bouée at 819-583-1233. I commend the women in the Granite RCM who are marching today to speak out against violence against women and to advance the cause. In central Quebec, the La Volte-Face women's shelter can be reached at 819-795-3444. Anyone in need anywhere in Quebec can contact the domestic violence service SOS Violence Conjugale at 1-800-363-9010.

Resources are available, and people are there to help. It is just a matter of getting to a phone to ask for help. This is something each and everyone one of us should be more conscious of.

I also want to address Canadians who are currently living with domestic violence. Far too often, these people are overlooked or ignored, and others act as though nothing is going on. There has been an unusually high number of femicides since the beginning of the pandemic, and this trend is continuing. If every one of us took the time to recognize what is going on, to do something and to try to help people who are dealing with violence against women, we could surely make a difference and potentially prevent someone from becoming a victim. Anyone could be a victim at any time, in any place, because others turn a blind eye and pretend as though nothing is going on.

I wanted to say a little something given that today is December 6. It is extremely important and is directly connected to the bill we are debating today. This bill would provide meaningful protections against intimidation and harassment of health care workers. This type of intimidation has no place in our society.

The Thetford police force has released its 2020 annual report, and I bring this up because we will be calling on police officers to enforce a law that would eliminate or reduce instances of harassment of health care workers, essential workers and our guardian angels who have been there for us since the beginning of the pandemic.

The police are very aware of the situation and the problems, and they too wish they had the means to intervene. For example, they intervened 315 times in situations involving people with mental health issues, which is an increase of 17% from 2019 to 2020. Even though the number of suicides and attempted suicides decreased by 3% in the region during the same period, police expect an increase in this type of intervention in the coming weeks and months, as indicated in the report.

These police officers have been there from the beginning. I think we should spare a thought for them, as they will have to enforce these laws and implement these measures, while respecting people's right to protest peacefully.

Looking at everything that has happened since the beginning of the pandemic, many of our health care workers, our guardian angels, shared with us that they were exhausted dealing with an illness that they knew practically nothing about. They were not sufficiently protected and feared for their family members and friends. They also had to work overtime, sometimes 16 hours straight. It was extremely exhausting for all health care workers.

As the situation evolved, we unfortunately saw more and more people protesting against these very workers who were putting their heart and soul into trying to save people, our neighbours, our uncles, our aunts, our grandmothers and grandfathers from this horrible virus, which has been gripping our society since March 2020. That is on top of the stress at work caused by this unknown virus and professional burnout. I think it is about time that the government intervened to protect and, above all, to recognize these workers.

I, too, want to recognize the entire profession. I am thinking of the nurses, who have done an extraordinary job and who are also stretched thin. It is not only them, however; I am also thinking of the orderlies and the support staff. I am thinking of those who disinfect our hospitals. We do not often talk about them, but they are directly on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19. I am thinking of the administrative staff who are there to greet us in hospitals and who surely have also had to go through a very difficult time. I am thinking of the lab technicians who handle this virus to determine which of us have come into contact with it.

All these individuals deserve the respect and, most importantly, the protection of the government and fellow members of the public. They should not be harassed or threatened. I am thinking of the dedicated physicians and specialists. I am also thinking of the child care workers who, in taking care of our children, must also deal with the additional stress of the pandemic every day, because young children do not have access to vaccination and are a potential target of this accursed virus, even though its effects on them are not as serious.

I am thinking of teachers, of police officers, whom I mentioned earlier, and of paramedics and social workers, who also have to go out and see a lot of people because of mental health issues. At the very least, all of these workers should be protected by their government against harassment and intimidation.

For these reasons, I will certainly support this initiative, especially since it was included in the platform proposed by the member for Durham, the leader of the official opposition, during the last election campaign. He wanted to introduce a bill to protect critical infrastructure, including in health care.

I am also doing this for my daughter, who is currently studying to be a nurse. She has the calling and the drive, and she wants to help and to serve. I think that we should support and encourage her, not discourage her.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I think that we agree on how important it is to protect the full complement of health care workers, including orderlies and custodians, as my colleague was saying. These people are extremely important. It is unacceptable that these workers are being harassed when all they want is to do their job.

However, Bill C-3 has another part to it, namely 10 days of paid sick leave for federally regulated workers. My colleague has not said anything about this, and I would like to know what he thinks.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to reiterate that, for the benefit of all health care workers, this bill must be passed, yes.

The government also wanted to include in this bill 10 days of sick leave for federally regulated workers.

During a pandemic like the one we are going through, all workers, not just those under federal jurisdiction, should have access to sick leave and whatever else they need to help them continue working, take care of their families, and, most importantly, take care of themselves.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, my grandmother works at the hospital. We have seen the intimidation during these protests. Could the member speak to the importance of ensuring that we stand behind our health care workers during this very difficult time?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is a very important question. They are counting on us to do the right thing, to protect them from the bad attitudes we see in public sometimes. If we are not there for them, how can we count on them to protect us and take care of us? I totally agree with my colleague that we need to do what we can to achieve the goal of protecting them from the bad behaviour that we see are seeing in our society.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask my colleague a larger and broader question. I think we can all agree that we need to ensure that our nurses, our health care professionals and all front-line workers know how grateful we are and how much we support them.

Does the member have any reflections on what it says about us as a society that anyone would attack nurses, or try to block them or ill patients in an ambulance from making it to a hospital? What on earth has happened to us? I cannot believe we need a bill like this, even though I recognize we do.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. However, I would need more than 30 seconds to try and analyze our current society.

I will therefore go back to what I was talking about at the very beginning of my speech, namely, violence against women, which is still happening in our society today.

Despite tragedies like the one at the Polytechnique and the fact people are talking more and more about this type of violence in the media, it seems that some still suffer from this hard-to-treat disease.

Society needs to address this and find ways to protect victims. Most importantly, we also need to work to prevent this from happening, before women become victims.

There are groups that work to prevent violence, and some focus on abusive men. These men have access to certain resources, but they must first recognize that they need them.

It all comes back to what I said earlier. Each of us has a duty to go see our neighbours and let them know what resources are currently available. We must no longer turn a blind eye, but rather take action and direct these individuals to the appropriate resources.

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, this is my first time rising in the House since the election, so it is my turn to thank the voters of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun for placing their trust in me for the third time. I will do my best to represent them as their MP.

I would also like to draw everyone's attention to the fact that today is December 6. As a Montrealer, a Canadian and a Quebecker, the memory of what happened in Montreal on December 6 never fails to move me. Fourteen young female engineering students lost their lives. I will do my best to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.

I am pleased to speak at the second reading debate on Bill C-3, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Canada Labour Code, which I introduced alongside the Minister of Labour last week. I will focus my remarks on the Criminal Code amendments contained in the bill.

I am proud of Bill C-3, but I will be honest. I am disappointed, as was the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands a moment ago, that we are having to propose criminal law reforms to explicitly protect health care workers and patients against intimidation and obstruction.

Since the start of the global pandemic 20 months ago, the health sector in Canada has faced unprecedented challenges. Health professionals have been working relentlessly and under extraordinarily difficult circumstances to save lives. A Statistics Canada survey revealed that seven in 10 health care workers reported worsening mental health due to the pandemic. However, that is only part of the story.

On top of the strain on mental health, our health professionals are also facing violence in the workplace.

Dr. Katharine Smart, president of the Canadian Medical Association, told Canadians, during a news conference on this bill, that preliminary results from the 2021 National Physician Health Survey suggested that three out of four physicians had experienced intimidation, bullying and harassment in the workplace. She went further to say, “one in three say that this happens regularly. This number jumps to 80% of female physicians.” These numbers are telling me a deeply disturbing story, especially when we look at the impact on people who identify as female in the health profession.

Most Canadians have shown tremendous respect for our health care workers and have followed the guidance of public health authorities. Unfortunately, a small number of individuals refuse to believe the authorities or follow evidence-based public health measures. An even smaller group has even uttered threats, including death threats. These people have also committed acts of violence against health workers who were simply doing their jobs by providing essential care to Canadians.

Violence against health care workers is a long-standing problem. Ever since the pandemic hit, health care workers have expressed concern about their ability to keep doing their jobs. Some have even been forced to quit. Moreover, people who need health care services have expressed similar concern about their ability to keep accessing health care facilities safely.

I cannot stress enough how disappointed I was to learn of this behaviour. There is simply no place in Canada for such conduct, and we will not tolerate it. The ability to express ourselves and to protest what we do not believe is right is a cherished freedom in this country, but Canadians understand the difference between expressing our views and threatening those we disagree with.

We have seen the consequences of this abuse. For example, Dr. Gretchen Roedde of Latchford, Ontario has decided to retire early due to online abuse. This small town could lose a doctor because of this kind of behaviour.

Shockingly, this abuse and harassment even extends to children. Nolan Blaszczyk, a seven-year-old boy, faced a torrent of verbal abuse when he went with his mother to get his vaccine. Abby Blaszczyk was told that she was murdering her son and she was committing genocide. How is this acceptable?

As everyone knows, the Criminal Code includes a broad range of general offences to protect all Canadians. The Criminal Code already prohibits some of the despicable behaviour we have seen over the past year, including assault, criminal harassment, intimidation and threats. Today we see just how urgent it is to go even further.

Enhancing these existing measures by explicitly prohibiting this conduct in the health care sector has become necessary and urgent.

During the recent election campaign, as COVID‑19-related protests began to intensify around health facilities, the Prime Minister committed to protecting our health care workers and ensuring all Canadians had access to health care without fear of threat or intimidation. The measures introduced in Bill C-3 would fully address these commitments and ensure a broad range of responses to various forms of harmful conduct facing the health sector.

The bill would create two new offences specific to the health context.

First, a new intimidation offence would be enacted to protect both health workers and health seekers. Intimidation is already criminalized as a general offence, but these amendments would give police and prosecutors additional tools to specifically protect our health care workers and users. Furthermore, they would provide for a higher maximum sentence for intimidation of 10 years. The current intimidation offence carries a maximum sentence of five years.

This new offence would extend to health care workers similar protections to those justice system participants, people like judges, jurors, witnesses, as well as journalists who report on organized crime. Intimidation is treated as a more serious offence when committed to impede them in their important functions.

That specific intimidation offence was created in response to a series of incidents in which prosecutors, witnesses and others were intimidated by criminal organizations to destabilize the criminal justice system. Similar to what we are doing now, Parliament's response then was to enhance criminal law protections for such intimidation with a distinct offence and an enhanced penalty. It is important to protect those who are working to improve our country, whether through the health care system or legal system.

The new intimidation offence would prohibit any act intended to promote fear in health care professionals in order to stop them from performing their professional duties. As noted above, this includes health care professionals working at abortion clinics, other frequent target of threats and intimidation. Anyone who works to assist health professionals in the performance of their duties would also be protected by the intimidation offence. Depending on the circumstances, this could be a professional support worker or clinic staff working alongside a physician or nurse.

It takes a community of health workers to deliver health services in our country, so those who assist health care professionals in carrying out their duties are rightly covered by this offence.

The proposed offence would also protect anyone seeking or receiving health care services. Any behaviour intended to incite fear in individuals seeking health care services, for the purpose of dissuading those individuals from obtaining services, would be expressly prohibited.

Creating this new offence will also allow us to increase the maximum penalty for this behaviour. The new offence will be a hybrid offence and will carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, on indictment. This is a harsher penalty than the general offence of intimidation, which is five years.

Increasing the penalty in this way sends a very clear message that Parliament strongly condemns these forms of behaviour directed at the health sector.

There is another point that I want to be very clear about. The proposed intimidation offence can be committed in person or through electronic means, including social media and other online channels. Media outlets across the country are reporting that health care providers are being threatened and intimidated on social media. Medical associations, including the Canadian Medical Association and the Ontario Medical Association, have confirmed that threats and intimidation are occurring not only in person, but also online. The offence of intimidation would apply regardless of the means of communication.

In addition to protecting the heroes in the health care sector, the bill also creates a new offence that would prohibit intentionally obstructing or interfering with a person's ability to access a health facility. The offence would protect access to any and every place where health services are provided, including a hospital, a mobile clinic, an abortion clinic, a vaccine clinic, a doctor's office and even doctors' homes if that is where they provide their services. This new offence is hybrid and will carry a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment.

I want to be very clear about one thing. Nothing in the proposed legislation would undermine workers' ability to strike or Canadians' ability to peacefully protest. Our government stands by the charter and the freedoms it guarantees, including freedom of speech and the right to strike. That is why this offence would expressly exclude communicative activity that remains peaceful and lawful, such as strike action or peaceful protest, even if it has a minor impact on access. Minor inconvenience for those seeking to get into buildings is a fair price to pay to protect our cherished liberties, but behaviour that is threatening or violent or that creates a major impediment to access is rightly criminalized. This is the current state of our criminal law and the bill would only enhance that.

The legislation provides for a definition of “health professional” to clarify the scope of the offences and how they are intended to be applied to police and prosecutors. A health professional would be defined as a person who is entitled, under the laws of a province or territory, to provide a health service, such as doctors or nurses. Given that the provinces and territories are responsible for the health sector and regulation of health professionals and services, the definition is intended to be broad and capable of being applied in accordance with each jurisdiction's health system.

I would now like to talk about the sentencing reforms in Bill C‑3. These changes address the concerns that health professionals have had for a while now, and, in fact, parliamentarians from all sides have presented similar reforms in the past through private members' bills.

The bill would require that, in cases where there is evidence showing that the offence was committed against a health care provider who was carrying out their duties, sentencing courts treat this evidence as an aggravating factor. Aggravating factors will also apply if the offence involved impeding another person from obtaining health services. Individuals on both sides of our health care system must be protected, meaning health care providers and their patients.

Support workers, also referred to as orderlies, are also vulnerable to violence in the workplace. Even though they are not regulated in many regions across the country like health professionals are, they still provide care and essential support to many Canadians. Therefore, the aggravating factors proposed in this bill expressly include personal care services.

These sentencing reforms are based on long-standing calls from stakeholders. Indeed, during our news conference following the introduction of the bill, the presidents of the CMA and the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions affirmed the importance of these measures to our health workers.

The aggravating factors also implement a recommendation of the 2019 report conducted by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health entitled “Violence Facing Health Care Workers in Canada”. The report requested the Government of Canada amend the Criminal Code to require a court to consider the fact that the victim of an assault is a health care sector worker to be an aggravating circumstance for the purposes of sentencing. The same report documented that health care workers have four times the rate of workplace violence than any other profession, despite most of this violence being unreported due to a culture of acceptance.

While the pandemic has created new challenges for health care workers and exacerbated the violence they face, as I mentioned before, those who provide abortion services and the women who access them have also experienced unacceptable threats and violence. It was not so long ago, in the 1990s, that several physicians in Canada were shot because of their work providing abortion services. Abortion clinics have been attacked and blocked. Those seek abortion services have been harassed, threatened and intimidated by individuals opposed to abortion. The safety and security of abortion health care workers and patients continue to be a troubling issue. Our government will protect abortion service providers alongside other health professionals. We support the rights of women to control their bodies and have unimpeded access to abortion services along with other health services.

I hope—like all members here today, I am sure—that health care workers will one day be able to do their jobs free from violence and can feel safe and valued when they are caring for us. The pandemic is not over, as we know, and neither is the need to protect our health care workers.

These workers play a very important role in the lives of all Canadians. Thanks to them, we have been able to fend off this devastating pandemic and make recovery plans for our society and our country. The proposed reforms will enhance existing measures in the Criminal Code and they have broad support within the medical community. For these reasons, I urge all members to support Bill C‑3, which is urgent, important and necessary.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the fact that the minister was talking about the importance of these protests in that we need to protect the rights of Canadians. I could not agree more. My private member's bill, Bill C-205, went through the parliamentary process in the last Parliament, made it very close to the finish line and was about protecting the rights of farm families and ranch families from protests on farms and on their properties.

When we talk about the rights of Canadians, I think that goes both ways. I was honoured to have the support of the Liberal Party at committee as well as having the agriculture minister be in support of that initiative during the election.

I am wondering if the justice minister will also support Bill C-205, if I am able to bring it back this Parliament.

[David Lametti, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is always wonderful to field a few pucks from the hon. member's part of the House.

We were open as a party in the last Parliament, as the government in the last Parliament, to that bill. While I cannot commit as a minister of my cabinet to doing that right now, I can assure the hon. member that we will be open.

There is a general protection, as the hon. member knows, against intimidation and violence, which I mentioned in the course of my speech. It carries a five-year penalty. We have taken specific measures in the judicial sphere, we are now proposing to take specific measures in the health care sphere, and I would assure the hon. member that we would be open to considering this measure in other places and spaces.