Mr. Speaker, the next petition that I am tabling is regarding human rights in Hong Kong and applicable immigration provisions.
The petitioners note how many democracy activists in Hong Kong have been subject to arbitrary, politicized sentences, some of them under the national security law, but there have been many cases in which offences not under the national security law have nonetheless been used to target people who are involved in legitimate democracy advocacy. This creates problems when those individuals might be applying for immigration to Canada. They might be excluded on the basis of criminality even though they have not committed any crimes; they have simply been involved in pro-democracy, pro-freedom protests.
The petitioners therefore want to see the Government of Canada recognize the politicization of the judiciary in Hong Kong and its impact on the legitimacy and validity of criminal convictions. They want to see affirmation that national security law offences will be considered irrelevant and invalid in relation to prospective immigration to Canada. They further want to see a mechanism whereby Hong Kong people with pro-democracy movement-related convictions not under the national security law could also be deemed admissible to Canada, notwithstanding the criminality provisions. They want to see Canada work with other like-minded states to have similar such provisions.
I commend all these petitions to the consideration of my colleagues.