House of Commons Hansard #99 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was jurors.

Topics

Human Organ TraffickingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:40 p.m.

Conservative

Len Webber Conservative Calgary Confederation, AB

Mr. Speaker, I am tabling this petition in support of Bill S-223, a bill that seeks to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. This bill has passed the Senate twice and the House once in its current form. It is currently stalled before the foreign affairs committee and petitioners hope that this will be passed soon. The families of victims of forced organ harvesting and trafficking have now waited almost 15 years for Canada to pass this legislation. Let us end the delays and let us get this work done.

Herring FisheryPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:40 p.m.

NDP

Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table e-petition 3965 signed by 707 signatories. They are petitioning the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, whom they cite aims to restore Pacific herring stocks to enable this keystone species to play its vital role in sustaining Pacific salmon populations and the marine ecosystem.

The undersigned citizens call upon the minister to, first, postpone licensing any further shellfish aquaculture facilities located in or near herring spawning and rearing habitat in Baynes Sound and Lambert Channel until an ecosystem-based assessment is completed on the impacts of this industry's activities on the herring stock, and this industry establishes a record of effectively managing its gear and equipment and pays for the cleanup of the tons of plastic debris it produces annually. They also ask the minister to develop, with first nations, a co-management plan for Baynes Sound and Lambert Channel that is area-based and ecosystem-based, and respects and recognizes unceded traditional territories and this location's unique value as an ecologically and biologically significant area and important bird and biodiversity area with 21 salmon-bearing creeks and herring spawning and rearing grounds.

Old-Growth ForestsPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:40 p.m.

Green

Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise here and present a petition that has a number of points. I will try to summarize them briefly.

In general, this petition calls on the government to act to protect endangered ecosystems, particularly old-growth forests. The petitioners specifically mention Fairy Creek on southern Vancouver Island, but the petition is broader in its scope.

It is looking for the Government of Canada to work with first nations and provinces to protect such endangered old-growth ecosystems right across Canada; to fund the long-term protection of old growth as part of Canada's climate action plan; to support value-added forestry initiatives, creating jobs and particularly working with first nations; to ban the export of raw logs so our logs go to sawmills, creating jobs; and, last, to ban the use of forest products in Canada for wood pellet biofuel production, a false climate solution.

OpioidsPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:40 p.m.

Liberal

Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, presenting a petition with approximately 900 signatures on it. These individuals are calling on the government to take a different approach to current drug policies than what we have.

In particular, the petitioners are asking for the government to look at decriminalization as a form of treating the opioid epidemic that exists in our country right now. They note that, between January 2016 and June 2021, there have been roughly 25,000 deaths in Canada related to this particular problem. They also note that over 30 countries have implemented some form of decriminalization and studied the impacts. The petitioners also note that Canadian health, human rights and law enforcement sectors have endorsed decriminalization options. Therefore, they are calling on the government to take a different approach and decriminalize the use of drugs for personal use so that this can be treated as a health crisis.

Human Organ TraffickingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:40 p.m.

Conservative

Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to present a petition in support of Bill S-223, a bill that seeks to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. The bill has passed the Senate twice and the House once in its current form. It is currently stalled before the foreign affairs committee and petitioners are hoping that this bill will be passed through the committee soon.

Families of victims of forced organ harvesting and trafficking have now waited almost 15 years for this legislation to pass, so let us end the delays. Let us work to get this done.

Human Organ TraffickingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:45 p.m.

Conservative

Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK

Mr. Speaker, I am tabling this petition in support of Bill S-223, a bill that seeks to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. This bill has passed in the Senate twice and in the House once in its current form. It is currently stalled before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, and petitioners hope that it will be passed soon.

The families of victims of forced organ harvesting and trafficking have now waited almost 15 years for Canada to pass this legislation. We need to end the delays and get this done.

Human Organ TraffickingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:45 p.m.

Conservative

Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to table a petition in support of Bill S-223, a bill that seeks to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. It has passed in the House once in its current form and twice in the Senate. It is currently stalled before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the petitioners who signed it are hoping that it will pass soon.

For 15 years the families of victims of forced organ harvesting have waited for Canada to pass this legislation. Let us end the delays and get the work done.

Human Organ TraffickingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:45 p.m.

Conservative

Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB

Mr. Speaker, I, too, stand to table a petition in support of Bill S-223, a bill that seeks to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. We certainly owe it to victims and those affected by this abhorrent practice.

Specifically, I would note the work that the late Hon. David Kilgour did to forward this important issue. The House should lend its support to this important cause and simply get this bill passed in honour of Mr. Kilgour and so many others who have been fighting for this cause and in recognition of the victims of this abhorrent practice.

Human Organ TraffickingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:45 p.m.

Conservative

Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS

Mr. Speaker, I also am pleased to rise to table a petition in support of Bill S-223, a bill that seeks to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. The bill has passed in the Senate twice and in the House in its current form. It has been before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs of this House for some time, and the petitioners hope that it will pass soon.

The families of victims of forced organ harvesting and trafficking have now waited 15 years for Canada to pass this legislation, so the petitioners ask that the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs get on with the work, study the bill, amend it, pass it, do whatever it needs to do from that study, and send it back to the House so we can finally pass this bill and get the job done.

Human Organ TraffickingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:45 p.m.

Conservative

Dean Allison Conservative Niagara West, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am tabling a petition in support of Bill S-223, a bill that seeks to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. This bill has passed in the Senate twice and in the House once in its current form. It is currently stalled before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the petitioners hope that it will be passed soon.

The families and victims of forced organ harvesting and trafficking have now waited almost 15 years for Canada to pass this legislation. Let us end the delay and get this work done.

Human Organ TraffickingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:45 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions to table today.

First of all, I stand in solidarity with my many colleagues who are tabling petitions in support of Bill S-223. For those who do not know, this is a bill that seeks to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. This bill has actually passed the Senate twice and the House once in its current form, but it is currently stalled before the foreign affairs committee, and petitioners hope that it will be passed soon.

The families of victims of forced organ harvesting and trafficking have now waited almost 15 years for Canada to pass this legislation. Let us end the delays, and let us work to get this done. I will commit to colleagues that the petitions will stop when the bill is passed, but not all of the petitions, just the ones on that particular topic. There will be others, no doubt.

UkrainePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:45 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Mr. Speaker, the second petition that I am tabling has a number of asks with respect to the ongoing, illegal, genocidal invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

The petitioners begin by noting the various facts surrounding the invasion, including the fact that Ukraine was initially invaded by Russia back in 2014 and that what we have seen this year is a further invasion that really builds on and is consistent with the long-running, violent behaviour of the Putin regime.

The petitioners want to see the Government of Canada stand with the people of Ukraine against the threat faced in terms of their sovereignty and territorial integrity, and work with the international community to take decisive action, including banning Russia from various international organizations. They want to see sanctions swiftly imposed and applied to Russia, no doubt without the kinds of exemptions that we have seen this government introduce. They want to see a complete boycott on Russian oil and gas imports into Canada and Europe and secure energy supply agreements with western partners, with Canada fuelling our partners instead of having them rely on Russia.

Also, the petitioners ask the government, as it relates to calls from the Ukrainian government just recently, to increase the supply of military equipment to protect the territory and human rights of the Ukrainian people, to provide humanitarian assistance, to provide vital assistance to refugees impacted by the conflict in Ukraine and to allow Canadians with family members in Ukraine to urgently bring family members to Canada for as long as this conflict persists.

Human RightsPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:45 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Mr. Speaker, the third petition that I am tabling highlights the ongoing detention of Mr. Huseyin Celil, who is a Canadian citizen in China.

The petitioners note that they are pleased to see the release of the two Michaels, but they want to see this government advocate for Mr. Celil and other detained Canadian citizens with the same level of intensity that was applied in terms of advocacy for the release of the two Michaels.

In particular, the asks of this petition are, first, that the Government of Canada demand that the Chinese government recognize Huseyin Celil's Canadian citizenship and provide him with consular and legal services in accordance with international law; second, that it formally state that the release of Huseyin Celil from Chinese detainment and his return to Canada is a priority of the Canadian government of equal concern to the unjust detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor; and third, that the government appoint a special envoy to work on securing Mr. Huseyin Celil's release. The petitioners also want the government to seek the assistance of the Biden administration and other allies around the world in obtaining Mr. Celil's release, again similar to the practice used in the case of the two Michaels.

The next petition highlights concerns about minority rights in Pakistan. It notes that the 2021 report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom stated that Pakistan's blasphemy law has contributed egregiously to human rights abuses and fostered an overall atmosphere of intolerance for religious minorities, often leading to violence and discrimination.

The petitioners particularly note the case of Notan Lal, the owner and principal of a private school in Ghotki, Pakistan, who was detained and charged under the blasphemy law after being falsely accused by a student. In 2020, 20% of those accused of blasphemy were Ahmadi Muslims, and 5% were Hindus and Christians. The arrest of Mr. Lal lead to riots and the ransacking of a local Hindu temple.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has also noted the abduction and forced marriage of women and underage girls from minority communities, in particular Hindu girls from the Sindh region of Pakistan.

The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to call upon the Government of Pakistan to combat the abduction and forced marriages of women and girls in minority communities, to condemn the imprisonment of Notan Lal and demand his release, and to condemn Pakistan's blasphemy laws in general, which disproportionately target minority communities.

EthiopiaPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

The last petition that I will table today then relates to an Order Paper question that I put on notice yesterday about the situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Some of the specific acts in this petition are somewhat dated, although we have seen the resumption of conflict, so it is relevant again.

Petitioners want to see and are calling for an immediate end to violence and for restraint on all parties involved in the conflict in Tigray, immediate humanitarian access to the region, and independent monitoring being allowed. They want the Government of Canada to engage directly and consistently with the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments on this conflict, and to call for immediate international investigations into credible reports of war crimes and gross violations of human rights law.

With that I commend all of these petitions to the consideration of my colleagues.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Winnipeg North Manitoba

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all questions be allowed to stand at this time.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

Is that agreed?

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Motions for PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Winnipeg North Manitoba

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all notices of motions for the production of papers also be allowed to stand.

Motions for PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

Is that agreed?

Motions for PapersRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Noise in the ChamberPoints of OrderRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Kmiec Conservative Calgary Shepard, AB

Mr. Speaker, this is my first opportunity to raise an issue that occurred during the opening prayer and the minute of reflection we have in this place. It was almost during the singing of “O Canada”. At various points in time this morning, as well as yesterday, there has been noise in the courtyard because of how this place was built to house the interim chamber. It is difficult to hear what members are saying. It happened today during the petition tabled by the member for Kingston and the Islands. I actually had difficulty hearing the petition because there were so many people speaking outside the chamber.

I wonder, Mr. Speaker, if you could again call attention to this to make sure that more signs are posted and there is stronger enforcement by the PPS, so that there is less noise and we can do our work on behalf of Canadians in this House.

Noise in the ChamberPoints of OrderRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

I want to thank the member for his intervention. I intervened twice yesterday on the same issue, and I believe we talked about it last week. When we have especially solemn issues here in the chamber, we need to try our best to keep the noise from bleeding into the chamber. I think that the House leaders and their desks will continue to work hard to talk to their members, especially when they are walking on the back side of the chamber.

I see that the hon. member for Edmonton Griesbach would perhaps like to intervene on this point of order.

Noise in the ChamberPoints of OrderRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

NDP

Blake Desjarlais NDP Edmonton Griesbach, AB

Mr. Speaker, I just want to point out to my hon. colleague that, of course, that noise has been growing very loud. Members on this side of the House would agree with him that the noise is quite loud. It is very difficult to hear just the length of even your comments, Mr. Speaker.

One recommendation that might be helpful for this would be to post signage, similar to when pictures are being taken, in places where members should be silent or at least moderate their speech, tone or volume. I think that signage would at least help to notify members and the public that that noise does carry into this place.

Noise in the ChamberPoints of OrderRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

Thank you for that intervention as well.

What we will do is have a look to see if there are some possibilities of putting some signage up just for a reminder.

I would ask the House leaders and whips to bring this back to their respective desks to see if there is an opportunity to maybe keep those doors closed during the session. I know it gets hot in the lobbies.

There are a number of things that I think we can do as members of Parliament to keep it quiet as we are walking in the silent areas. It actually says “silence” on the back sides of the chamber. We will continue to work with the parties to see if we can come up with a reasonable way to keep the noise down when we are here in the chamber. I am saying that and we are hearing noise right now.

The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.

Noise in the ChamberPoints of OrderRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Kingston and the Islands Ontario

Liberal

Mark Gerretsen LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate)

Mr. Speaker, I was just going to point out that, even as you were making those comments, I was having a hard time hearing you because of the background noise out there.

It seems like every time this issue comes up, we just talk among ourselves about it, but the message never gets out there. Perhaps there is a way. I would never want someone to not be able to hear my petition being tabled, as was indicated by another member. Perhaps there would be a way to have the appropriate staff deal with this, so that it can actually get outside of the walls of the chamber.