Madam Speaker, after a thorough and careful study in committee, the Bloc Québécois will be voting in favour of Bill C-219.
This is an important initiative aimed at strengthening our legislative framework on international human rights. As mentioned earlier, this bill proposes a definition of what constitutes a prisoner of conscience. A prisoner of conscience is an individual who, in contravention of international human rights standards, has been detained or otherwise physically restricted solely because of their identity or their conscientiously held beliefs, including religious or political beliefs.
One of the purposes of this bill is to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act to require foreign affairs ministers to table an annual report in Parliament on the government's actions to advance human rights internationally. The report would include information on political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, as well as Canada's efforts to support them. Bill C-219 is essentially the same as Bill C-281, which received the unanimous support of the House of Commons at third reading before dying on the Order Paper in the Senate.
This bill includes one vital component that we welcome and fully endorse: recognition of transnational repression. This was requested by the Bloc Québécois and it even formed part of its election platform. The bill defines transnational repression as:
tactics used by a foreign state to intimidate, harass, surveil or threaten individuals or groups located outside the state borders or physically harm such individuals or members of such groups, including elected officials, political dissidents, human rights defenders, exiled journalists, diaspora communities, civil society activists and refugees, for the purpose of silencing dissent and stifling activism.
In Quebec and Canada, we regularly confront transnational repression. Examples were given earlier involving our Uyghur, Tibetan and Taiwanese friends, but there are many others. I have seen cases of transnational repression targeting Kabylia separatists first-hand. Many of them report that simply expressing their opinions publicly or on social media can provoke intimidation against family members and retaliatory measures in Algeria.
This bill broadens the scope of the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, also known as the Sergei Magnitsky law, as mentioned earlier, by adding transnational repression to the list of explicit grounds for imposing sanctions on foreign individuals. As has already been noted, Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer who exposed corruption in the Kremlin. He was subsequently imprisoned for fraud in a Moscow jail. He died in custody in 2009 after being subjected to torture.
Bill C-219 will strengthen efforts to combat attempts by foreign states to intimidate, surveil or harass individuals living in Quebec, Canada or elsewhere outside their national borders. It will enable Canada to impose sanctions on foreign nationals who have engaged in activities that undermine international peace, security or stability in a manner inconsistent with international law or who are responsible for, or complicit in, gross and systematic violations of internationally recognized human rights or acts of corruption. The bill also enhances the effectiveness of sanctions by prohibiting visas and other official documents from being issued to the immediate family members of sanctioned individuals. This measure recognizes that family members are often used by sanctioned individuals and criminal actors, both in Canada and abroad, to circumvent the sanctions in place.
The bill would give the government new tools by requiring close inter-institutional co-operation between the RCMP and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, which would have to give the department the necessary information to develop and track the application of these sanctions. Some provisions aim to facilitate the seizure and possible forfeiture of assets belonging to sanctioned foreign officials.
The bill would also amend the Broadcasting Act to prevent the issuance, renewal or continuation of licences for broadcasting undertakings influenced by foreign persons or entities involved in a genocide recognized by Parliament or already sanctioned by Canada.
All in all, Bill C‑219 would strengthen human rights protections, help in the fight against foreign interference and increase government accountability in the implementation of international sanctions. That is why we will support Bill C‑219.