Debates of Feb. 16th, 2021

Status of Women

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

This subject is addressed every year, but no action is ever taken. This motion stems from the very comprehensive report of a select committee of the Quebec National Assembly, which conducted consultations for nearly two years. The committee made four very important recommendations, which are included in Motion No. 63. These recommendations are unanimously supported by four political parties in Quebec. I believe that it is in the federal Parliament's best interest to act now.

Nothing has been happening for far too long. The Government of Quebec came up with these recommendations and the Conservative Party supports them. I do not see why the Liberal government would not take immediate action.

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

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague for Lethbridge.

In this debate there have been excellent speeches by members across the House who bring different perspectives and different aspects of knowledge and experience to the table, and I have learned a lot by listening to them. I want to particularly recognize the members of the all-party group who have been working on this issue, and especially my friend for Peace River—Westlock, who has been a tireless champion of justice for the oppressed and for victims of human trafficking since he came to this place. I have no doubt he will continue to be that advocate for as long as this terrible scourge remains with us.

This issue has an international dimension and a domestic dimension. It is important for us to be aware of and respond to both, because while the nature of the violence and the victimization may be similar, the nature of our response, and what we can do about it internationally versus domestically, is quite different. I have the honour of serving for our party as the shadow minister for international human rights, so I will focus on the international dimension, although I will make a few comments about the domestic dimension as well.

Members here are increasingly aware of the horrific situation of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in China. This is a situation of systemic sexual violence, mass detention in concentration camps, and efforts to reduce or eradicate the population through mechanisms including preventing births within the group by forced abortion, forced insertion of IUDs and forced sterilization.

Another human rights abuse that we see against Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims is slave labour. An Australian think tank released a powerful report called “Uyghurs for sale”, which details how people, simply on the basis of their faith and ethnic background, are effectively sold into slavery and are producing products for international markets. They are producing products that recognizable brands are buying and selling to us here in Canada and in parts of the world beyond China. We have a responsibility to become aware of that, respond to it and do all we can to make sure at the very least that we are not complicit in these horrific violations of fundamental human rights: that we are not wearing shirts or eating tomatoes produced by people who were violently enslaved and compelled to work on products that were exported to us. There is so much more that Canada can do.

We have heard testimony at the foreign affairs committee about some of these issues. We heard recently from a representative of the International Justice Mission, an excellent organization working hard to advance justice around the world. We heard that Canada was really behind many other countries in terms of tracking, identifying and responding to the human rights violations that happen within our supply chains.

It is important to know that there are major concerns about production of the personal protective equipment that all of us increasingly rely on in the midst of this pandemic. We have to do more to ensure that the personal protective equipment we may be importing from China is not tainted by the enslavement of people who are forced to produce those products.

Canada has fallen behind, we have heard. We need to do more. Following pressure from our party especially, but also from many individuals in other parties who played key roles in this, the government put forward a policy that, facially at least, addressed the issue of supply chains, specifically in the context of Uighur forced labour. However, in my estimation these measures are far too little and far too late. They do not get to the nub of the issue, which is identification and enforcement. The government said in its release that it was not going to allow products that had been produced by slave labour, but it has still failed to put in place effective mechanisms and tracking to address that.

We had a technical briefing in which these new measures were explained to us, and it was pointed out that many aspects of these measures are still being worked out. The government came out with an announcement saying it was going to do this, but so much has not been done in terms of knowing how to identify a product produced from slave labour. What we have so far is a sense that this process will be complaint-based, and it will be adjudicated by CBSA.

People who are victims of slavery have no way of ensuring that their rights are going to be protected in a process where someone would have to have evidence and make a complaint to the Canada Border Services Agency.

Other measures have been put forward. I am very supportive of Bill S-216, which was discussed previously in this debate. It is a bill that would go farther toward addressing these issues, in terms of the supply chain. However, more work needs to be done, even on top of that.

In the United States, a bipartisan initiative called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act created a presumption that products sourced from certain regions involved slave labour. It was a presumption that in a sense created a reverse onus. If somebody was importing products from there, they would have to prove that slave labour was not involved. If a company is sourcing products from East Turkestan or Xinjiang in China, it should not be a mystery to anyone what is going on there. The extreme risk of slave labour being involved in a place where this is systematically done and supported by the government is too high for us to do anything other than presume that products produced in those regions are indeed tainted by slave labour.

In terms of information gathering and enforcement, Canada could do so much more to collaborate with our allies. There is a lot of work to be done in terms of gathering and tracing this information, but we do not have to do it alone. We could look at best practices from other countries. We could partner with our allies.

I am part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a global network of legislators working to address various issues of human rights, security and other things created by the current direction of the Chinese government. It is such a pleasure, through that group, to work with legislators from all different political traditions in various countries: U.S. Republicans and Democrats, British Conservatives and Labour members, members from Japan and from other parts of the world.

The collaboration that should be happening, not just at the legislator level but at the government level, to address slave labour in our supply chains is so important.

Finally, we need to note and understand that this is not just an international issue or a supply chain issue, but that violence, human trafficking and slavery are happening right here in our country of Canada.

A few days ago a class action lawsuit was filed against MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub, for posting videos of two underage children being drugged and raped. Two weeks ago, at the ethics committee, we heard witness testimony from Serena, who at 14 found an explicit video of herself posted online without her consent. She fought to get the video taken down. Afterwards, every time it was taken down, it was reposted.

I applaud the committees that are looking into this issue at MindGeek, of sexual violence being filmed and posted online. We hear so many stories about incidents of human trafficking here in Canada. Police services in Canada have reported over 1,700 instances of human trafficking since 2009, and about half of all victims were between the ages of 18 and 24. About a third of the victims were under the age of 18.

This is a form of violence that is affecting children and young people, and people of all ages. Other colleagues have spoken in detail, which I do not have time to go into, about the domestic situation and the domestic response.

When we think about human trafficking, it is important to understand that this is something that happens very far away and it is something that happens right here at home. This awareness day, and these efforts to address human trafficking, are critically important, both to recognize and note it in awareness, but also to go further and advance the legislative proposals that I and others have talked about for ending human trafficking here and around the world.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his comments.

When we talk about human trafficking in Canada, we probably do not have the exact figures because it is impossible to track everything that is happening in this area. It is important to remember that 90% of victims are women, Canadian women, and that, as the member mentioned, 25% of them are under the age of 18. We must keep in mind that over 61% of these women are victims of sexual assault. There is also the issue of labour, which has been extensively documented by the UN and the ILO.

Members have been talking a lot about justice mechanisms and asking for justice to be done, but how can we address these issues in a preventive manner? What can we do to prevent this or how can we be proactive on sexual assault and labour issues?

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

Madam Speaker, it is important that we think about prevention, and there are various ways of doing that. One issue that many of my colleagues have spoken about in terms of prevention is making sure that serial perpetrators of human trafficking are behind bars, that there are effective consequences and that there is protection for victims who come forward. That is a key piece of it.

In this House we have debated other legislation about judicial education to ensure that, when people who are victims of sexual violence come forward, they are treated properly within the system and not revictimized by comments made by judges or others.

In general, education is important. We are doing that through this debate, and also through creating this awareness day, making supports known and available, and encouraging people to be aware and on the lookout for this problem. All of these steps are important on the road to prevention.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Madam Speaker, what do we need to do further to ensure that laws are actually enforced? We have heard other members say that we have laws that already exist in Canada, but they are not being enforced. What do we need to do to make sure these laws are actually being enforced, and the people perpetrating these crimes pay the full penalty?

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

Madam Speaker, there are some separate issues here in terms of enforcement of international expectations and enforcement on the domestic side.

When it comes to the enforcement of standards of supply chain integrity, we need to put in place stronger reporting mechanisms. In some cases, as I talked about, we need to have presumptions that slave labour is going on in certain industries in certain regions of the world. In order to ensure the enforcement of our expectations, we need stronger laws in those particular cases.

When it comes to domestic enforcement, there are probably other members who know in more detail what is required in terms of ensuring laws are enforced. However, we can certainly increase our chances of being successful at prosecuting those who are guilty in these cases with greater education; greater awareness, including support and awareness for law enforcement; and support and protection for those who come forward.

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

Madam Speaker, we are debating this very important issue today, and of course, the Greens are in favour. As has been mentioned, individual members of the Green caucus are supporters of the effort to recognize February 22, but also to go way beyond that to take substantive steps in eliminating slavery in our supply chains and dealing with the issues of human trafficking.

This is something we need to conceptualize. Intellectually, they are somewhat different issues, but they both come down to commodifying human beings for money, and therefore, they are about slavery.

Human trafficking happens in our own communities. However, as my hon. friend from Scarborough—Guildwood pointed out, something like having a slave vessel that is scooping fish out of the ocean for fish meal to feed shrimp aquaculture facilities is another category of enslavement.

It is not exactly the same set of issues, so how do we get at both ends of the problem?

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

Madam Speaker, the member is right in that there is, in a sense, a similar philosophical root to this evil and a similar experience for the victim, but two very different policy responses. There is one set of things that we can and have to do domestically in law enforcement and education. There are also the things that we can and must do internationally with our supply chains, but we do not have the power to do the same kind of enforcement as we do on the domestic side. She is right about that—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I am sorry, it is time to resume debate.

The hon. member for Lethbridge.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Madam Speaker, many would consider slavery to be a thing of the past, and many would consider it to be something that does not happen in the western world, but only overseas in developing nations. This is a myth. It happens right here in our own country, on our own land.

Human trafficking is, in fact, modern-day slavery. It is the world's fastest growing crime. It generates a profit of $150 billion per year, and of this, commercial sexual exploitation of women, girls, boys and young men contributes $99 billion, the vast majority of that revenue. In 2017, an estimated 40.3 million victims were trapped in modern-day slavery around the world.

Trafficking is a pervasive transnational and domestic phenomenon that is happening right now in urban and rural communities across Canada, so it is with a heavy heart that I come before the House today to talk about this issue. It is not something we can look at from a distance. It is not something we can only consider based on stats from other countries. It is not something of our past. It is something of our present, and if we do not take action, it will be something of our future. As parliamentarians, it is incumbent upon us to take action to make sure it stops now.

Designating February 22 as national human trafficking awareness day, I believe, is a necessary step in educating those who are unaware that this crisis is taking place across the country. People's lives are being exploited and destroyed altogether. I would say we have an obligation to uncover the horror that is taking place on a daily basis and do something to stop it.

Sometimes that something is as simple as speaking up. Sometimes that something requires legislative measures. Sometimes that something requires the RCMP or local police involvement. Sometimes that something requires border security and safety measures. Sometimes that something requires all of the above.

We know that 93% of Canada's trafficked victims come from within our country. They are here within our borders. The vast majority of these victims of human trafficking are women and girls. Over 70% of the exploitation that takes place is for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and so it there I will focus the majority of my attention today.

I believe a great deal of light has been shed on this topic as of late, and Pornhub comes front of mind. Numerous national articles have been written on the topic of women and girls being exploited online, and of consent not being granted. This is a form of human trafficking. It is severe in nature, and it cannot be ignored.

I believe that prostitution and trafficking are connected, and most researchers would agree with that. Prostitution, in most cases, is not a choice. The trafficked individual is often under age when they begin, and therefore, cannot legally consent. The individual is often a young girl when she starts, often for socio-economic reasons. Again, it is not exactly a choice.

It is out of survival that she enters into the business of selling her body, and sometimes that exchange results in money for her, but other times, most times even, it results in money being given to someone who is exploiting her body. This is, in fact, trafficking. I would like to defy and challenge the myth that trafficking is somehow a choice. It is not her choice.

This is not only happening abroad, and it is not a thing of the past. Human trafficking, and especially sexual exploitation, is happening right here, in our own country, today.

I would like to share a number of stories pertaining particularly to the tech giant Pornhub, which, of course, is an online platform where individuals can post videos. Now, it is not necessarily the individuals who are in the videos who are posting them. In fact, many of the videos are posted by other individuals who took the videos, sometimes in bathroom stalls and sometimes during a sex act. Sometimes they pressured a girlfriend or another girl in their class, for example, to present them with nude shots or videos of various accord.

Pornhub attracts 3.5 billion visits every month. That is more than Netflix, more than Yahoo and more than Amazon. Some have said it is infested with rape videos. It monetizes child rapes, revenge pornography, spy-cam videos of women showering or using the bathroom, again, often underage.

It is footage of women that is then made available online. I should clarify that it is not just women. It is women, girls, young boys and some men, but again, predominantly it is women and girls. These images are uploaded and then made available.

Cali is one victim and will I quote her. She said, “Pornhub became my trafficker.... I'm still getting sold, even though I'm five years out of that life”.

Another individual, Taylor, said, “They made money off my pain and suffering”. A boyfriend who had pressured her into providing a video had then secretly posted it to Pornhub. The students in her class had it available to them within days and, of course, from there we can imagine the type of bullying and conduct that took place at school.

She talks about walking down the hallways and weeping as she went to class. She then talks about trying to take her life several times, but was not effective in doing so. She now lives with the horror of what has happened to her. It is an example of trafficking, an example of sexual exploitation.

Another individual called it soul destroying. Another individual talked about how Pornhub is making money off the worst moment in her life. It is making money off her body. She talked about how two American men paid her when she was 16 for a sexual encounter that they then filmed and posted on Pornhub. Even though she asked repeatedly for Pornhub to remove the video, it refused to do so.

Another individual said that it is an assault that never ends and that the suffering is unimaginable. She went on to say that they are getting so much money from her trauma.

These individuals are just a handful of the many, many women and girls across this country and throughout North America who are consistently exploited. This phenomenon is not just taking place in other countries. This is something that is right here within our borders. This is something that legislators have the opportunity to do something about, but it is also something that we must invite the general public to be a part of, which is where awareness and education come into play.

It is so important that we name a national day because it helps bring it to light. Every single year we would have this day that would stand as a reminder that these things do occur in our country, but we, as the Canadian people, do have the power to stop this behaviour. We have the ability to stand up for these individuals who are trafficked, and we have the ability to say “no more”.

We have to remember that this is about people. This is about preventing the crime. This is about protecting the victim. This is about prosecution of the offender. This is about working in partnership with various agencies, and this is about empowering victims. That is what this is about. It starts with a day, but my hope is that there would be greater action that would take place from there.

Serena Fleites came to the ethics committee a few weeks ago. When asked what would she tell the people at Pornhub about what they did to her, she said:

I would tell them that they're really selfish. They need to really look at themselves in the mirror because they're prioritizing money and content over actual human beings' lives, because obviously, they don't care that much....

I would tell them to look in the mirror and re-evaluate themselves. They need to figure out where their real priorities are and not be so focused on money and content rather than real humans' lives and what they're doing to them.

We are talking about human beings. We are talking about people. We are talking about their present and their future.

For this reason, because of people, because of their innate value and because they deserve us to stand up for them, we ask for this national day.

[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]

Madam Speaker, I have been listening to the debate for the last few hours and would point this out. When a lot of people think of human trafficking, they think about people living outside of Canada who come here and are put into the sex trade in one form or another. That is true; it does exist.

I will give a real case, without providing any names, of a young girl, probably 12 or 13 years at the time, who was enticed to sneak out of the house. That ultimately led to her being trafficked for prostitution. It is absolutely critical that one of the things we do is to ensure there is a very strong educational component in seeing this day being recognized.

Could the member provide her thoughts on just how important it is that we have a strong educational component that reaches into our communities, in particular our school divisions?

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Madam Speaker, as I mentioned in my speech, I do believe that education is very important and it must be a very strong component going forward. Those predators, those who seek out young children to then sell them into the sex trade, or to exploit them, or use their bodies and monetize them, work in our schools, our malls and other workplaces. They are throughout Canadian society. We must do all that we can to educate young people to identify who those individuals might be in order to keep themselves safe. We must also help parents identify them. We must help society at large, so together we can protect the vulnerable.

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

Madam Speaker, I have been in Parliament for 17 years and I have never been as shocked and moved as I was by the testimony of Serena Fleites, who, at age 13, attempted to get a Canadian company to take down abusive non-consensual child pornography of her. She pretended that she was her own mother because she did not want her family to know. Her life was destroyed. Her testimony was incredibly powerful.

What I found most shocking was that when Pornhub-MindGeek executives came to committee and we asked them about her case, they said that they did not have any recollection. This young woman blew their business model apart, forced them to take down 80% of their videos and caused them massive economic damage, yet they came to a parliamentary committee and said that they could not remember any details of her numerous attempts to beg Pornhub-MindGeek to take the videos down.

I would like to know my hon. colleague's thoughts on this. Is it possible that maybe they were just gaslighting her and trying to diminish her value as a survivor or are we looking at a company that was so indifferent to allegations and issues of child pornography on their site that they did not even bother to go back and track the story of what happened to this young woman?

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Madam Speaker, certainly with a business like Pornhub, the parent company MindGeek, which hosts millions and millions of videos, I suppose that it is possible for one's soul to eventually stop functioning and for one's conscience to eventually stop convicting them. I suppose that it is possible for those individuals to forget and that is a shame.

My hope would be that as a Canadian society we are not okay with it and that we would take a stand for these women and girls who find themselves victimized by companies like Pornhub and by those individuals who posted their videos. My hope would be that we would stand up and say that although they may not have a soul or a conscience, we do and we will hold them accountable. We will take a stand for the sake of this great country and our future. Most important, we will take a stand for the sake of those who have been impacted and who could potentially be impacted in the future. Again, this is about people.

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

Madam Speaker, the conversation we are having today is so important. It is wonderful to hear the many members who have spoken on the need for a day of recognition on this atrocity going on throughout Canada.

I was fortunate enough to work on the status of women committee. I was not only its chair but also its shadow minister. Since 2015, I have met some incredible women, some survivors, who have shared with me their victimization. I have had the opportunity to work with many organizations across the country as well, but we know more needs to be done.

My riding of Elgin—Middlesex—London is fortunate to have different organizations that are helping young women and girls who are being trafficked.

I would like to talk about Courage for Freedom. It is an organization that focuses on young girls and boys under the age of 18 who are being trafficked. Kelly Talon-Franklin and her husband jump in their truck and hit the roads many weekends, driving six hours to bring a young girl to safety. They will try to find her a home that is safe and has all the necessary supports to help her mental and physical health in an attempt to rebuild that young woman. In some cases, it may be a young boy. We continue to see this. The way we stop this is by working together. That is why having this awareness day is so important.

I am from a small community, Sparta, Ontario, with a population of 300. We do not hear a lot about human trafficking. However, just down the road is Port Stanley, Ontario, which has a population of 2,000 people. We know someone was attempting to traffick three young girls from this small village. It is a tourism village. We think we are safe where we are, but this does not happen just in big cities or communities along the 401 or Highway 69. It happens in all our different communities.

At the beginning of this pandemic, the MAPI, the Measures to Address Prostitution Initiative, funding was being reduced and was going to end in May of 2020. I spoke to many organizations about the issues that were happening with domestic abuse or young women and girls leaving their homes and trying to find safe places to go. During those discussions. we also found out a lot about how the MAPI funding was coming to an end. As we discussed some of the issues that were happening with shelters, the government was ending this is a program. It was at that time when we could really see the heart of Parliament come together. I was so fortunate to work with members of the Bloc, Green and New Democratic parties to continue to push the government, saying that we needed to stick up for young women and girls who were being trafficked. I am so proud of this group of people who had come together. Back in May we continued to push and did get a response from the minister on this. Was it exactly the response we wanted, no, but it did push this item forward, and we need to continue to do that.

One thing I really noticed throughout my discussions as the shadow minister was how organizations worked in silos. Some organizations are doing the same things, which may need to be tweaked, but they may also not be aware of what is going on next door.

We have the London Abused Women's Centre in London, Ontario. Many times in the House I have stood to speak about my friend and colleague Megan Walker. She will be retiring soon, so I wish her a well-deserved retirement. I know she will continue her fight for our young women and girls. I thank her for all her efforts. It was from speaking with her and other advocates that I realized that an organization two hours away from the city of London had never heard about the London Abused Women's Centre, or the Joy Smith Foundation or the organization in Vancouver that was working with women as well. I brought some women together in a smaller group, some of the best of the best. On the call were Megan Walker from the London Abused Women's Centre, Trisha Baptie from Vancouver, Kelly Talon-Franklin from Courage for Freedom and Joy Smith, a former parliamentarian, from the Joy Smith Foundation. I will share with members the relationship I have built with Trisha and why I think we need more Trishas in this world to share the awareness of what happens to these young victims.

What we see across Canada is that sometimes we work in silos. We need to bring best practices. Some of this is awareness, such as knowing what is happening in our own communities, people sharing what their organizations are doing. It cannot be just about February 22; it has to be talked about 365 days a year.

I want to share some of the notes I have from this meeting. We as parliamentarians can do a lot of work, but we need to give the tools and resources to organizations across the country that help these young victims get away from their perpetrators or at least on a way to a different path in life.

Megan Walker stated, “We try and help survivors move on with their lives. We need legislation as framework, but we need robust supports such as financing, housing and we need education, so every action we take is consistent with one of those pillars. We are trying to eliminate the silos. What I feel is missing is a group for equity, nordic and abolitionist model as the connection between prostitution and trafficking. It's men paying for the use of girls and men pushing the trafficking industry.”

This is really important. We saw the great work being done at the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on Pornhub. We have to understand there is a buyer, so how do we stop that? We put in different measures through the criminal justice system when it comes to dealing with people who have trafficked individuals.

Unfortunately, through Bill C-75, I was quite disgusted to be honest. For me, a person who is willing to victimize a young child should not have a sentence that is concurrent. These should be consecutive sentences. These people have stolen somebody's life. These things are really important to me.

Megan also talks about what we need to do for survivors and that we need to ensure we have policies and solutions. This awareness day would be an opportunity for people to talk more. Perhaps it might be more Zoom conventions or more meetings, but there is also a need for survivors to speak to other survivors. This awareness day would help remove some of the stigma for people who have been victimized and are survivors of this.

We need to ensure people have somebody to lean on, which is why I want to talk about Trisha Baptie. Trisha is a young woman who shared her story with the anti-human trafficking committee. She talk about what it was like for her when she was a preteen and started being solicited by her family members. The members from Calgary and Edmonton talked earlier today about how this is sometimes not about strangers but about intimate members of our family. In some cases, it is about step-parents or other individuals who are ruining a young woman's life. Trisha wants to have a role in the UN and be a spokesperson to talk about what it is like.

We need to ensure we have all the resources so Trisha, this young woman who has left the life of prostitution after being trafficked, can be there to help others. This awareness day and working together would help promote this. One of the biggest challenges is that people feel alone. They are ashamed for some of their previous actions, not recognizing they did not put themselves in that situation in many cases; it was somebody they trusted.

It is really important to ensure we have these types of supports, supports like professional counsellors who can help the victims, but also a peer-to-peer aspect, people who can say that they understand, that they have been in their shoes, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I would like to thank all the members of the all-party anti-human trafficking committee for the work they have done to make this come to fruition today. I believe we have a Parliament that is coming together to end human trafficking.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Is the House ready for the question?

[Some hon. members]

Question.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The question is on the motion.

If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes to request a recorded division, or that the motion be adopted on division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.

The hon. member for Peace River—Westlock.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Madam Speaker, I would like to request a recorded division.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Pursuant to an order on Monday January 25, the division stands deferred until later this day, at the expiry of the time provided for oral questions.

Nuclear Weapons

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

Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise to present a petition. I note the speech earlier today by the member for Scarborough—Guildwood reflecting on William Wilberforce, who first used petitions as a method of advancing a cause: the abolition of slavery.

I rise today with a petition that came in electronically and is signed by nearly 2,000 Canadians calling for the government to acknowledge the newly enacted treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. It came into effect on January 22 this year and has been supported by 122 countries around the world. The petitioners ask that the government both sign and ratify it, so that Canada can join the 122 nations that have declared, in a binding treaty, that nuclear weapons are illegal.

Human Rights

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

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to present three petitions in the House today.

The first petition is with respect to the situation of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in China. The petitioners call on the House and the government to follow the statement of the all-party Subcommittee on International Human Rights and recognize that Uighurs are subject to an ongoing genocide in China. The petitioners further call on the House to use Magnitsky sanctions to target and hold accountable those who are involved in these gross violations of human rights.

Human Organ Trafficking

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

Madam Speaker, the second petition is in support of Bill S-204. It is a private member's bill in the Senate that would make it a criminal offence for a person to go abroad and receive an organ that has been taken without the consent of the person whose organ it is, or in a case in which the organ is purchased. This bill has been before the House and the other place in various forms for over 10 years, and it has currently been put forward by Senator Salma Ataullahjan in the Senate.

Medical Assistance in Dying

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

Madam Speaker, the third petition is respecting Bill C-7, the government's bill that seeks to dramatically expand euthanasia, or medical assistance in dying, in Canada. Concerns have arisen, especially from the disabled community, about how some people are eligible for suicide prevention, whereas others, as a result of their physical disability, may be subject to suicide facilitation. All disability communities that have spoken about this issue have raised significant concerns about it. Petitioners call on the government to restore important safeguards, which it is proposing to eliminate as part of this bill.

I commend these three petitions to the consideration of the House.

Pensions

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am presenting a petition from constituents in my riding. Nearly half a million pensioners are in receipt of the United Kingdom state pension, which is frozen. Canada has 128,000 pensioners. The petitioners are calling on Parliament to raise the issue of frozen British pensions at the upcoming Commonwealth heads of government meeting in June 2021 and also to ensure that any future trade expansion discussions with the United Kingdom are dependent on the U.K. government first unfreezing the U.K. state pension payments worldwide.