Svend Robinson

[Committees Of The House, December 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, a point of order. I rose during the item of presentation of Private Members' Bills. I have a bill.

[Human Rights, December 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Justice on the eve of International Human Rights Day.

For over eight years, since March 1986, a series of justice ministers have stood in the House and solemnly affirmed their deep commitment to amend the human rights act to end discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In view of the fact that this minister has promised repeatedly to table this amendment by the end of the year, this month, how does he explain to lesbians and gay men that he may join previous Conservative ministers in breaking this promise and giving in to the Neanderthal McTeague 46 in his own caucus.

[Latin American Summit, December 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister who tomorrow will be attending the Latin American summit in Miami.

I want to ask the Prime Minister if he will assure the House that at the summit he will raise two specific issues. First, will he raise the issue of the exclusion of Cuba from the summit and the continued illegal and immoral blockade by the United States of that country.

Second, given the very critical situation is Chiapas, Mexico will the Prime Minister urge at the summit an open dialogue and a peaceful, negotiated, non-military settlement in Chiapas?

[East Timor, December 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, today marks the 19th anniversary of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. Since 1974, over 200,000 people, one-third of the population, have died in the genocide. Recent reports indicate that the repression continues with acts such as shutting down key media outlets, banning trade unions and arresting union leaders.

At the recent APEC summit, Canada managed to secure a number of important contracts but the silence on human rights abuses was deafening.

The situation in East Timor received international attention during the APEC meeting, but with the international spotlight gone the Indonesian government can continue to repress the people of East Timor.

It is imperative that pressure be put on now. Canada should end its arms sales to Indonesia and support an international embargo. We should put pressure on the Indonesian government to release all political prisoners, in particular Xanana Gusmao, leader of the independence movement. Canada should support independence and self-determination for the people of East Timor and show full respect for UN Resolutions 389 and 384.

[Petitions, November 17th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table petitions signed by many residents of my constituency of Burnaby-Kingsway who draw to the attention of the House the fact that the current provisions of the Criminal Code deny people who are suffering from terminal or irreversible and debilitating illness the right to choose freely and voluntarily to end their lives with the assistance of a physician.

Therefore the petitioners call upon Parliament to amend the code to ensure the right of all Canadians to die with dignity by allowing people with terminal or irreversible and debilitating illness the right to the assistance of a physician in ending their lives at a time of their choice subject to strict safeguards to prevent abuse and to ensure that the decision is free, informed, competent and voluntary.

[Violence, November 17th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, following consultation with representatives of the parties, I seek leave at this time to move a motion, of which I gave notice yesterday. I seek unanimous consent to move the following motion:

That this House strongly condemn the recent shooting of Vancouver, B.C. doctor, Gary Romalis, extend its wishes for a full and speedy recovery to Dr. Romalis, and urge the appropriate authorities to take all necessary steps to prevent violence directed at those providing legal medical procedures in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, if there is unanimous consent to put the motion I would briefly clarify the purpose of it.

[China, November 16th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Secretary of State for Latin America and Africa.

Last week the Prime Minister announced in China his support for the Three Gorges dam and the sale of Candu reactors to China. In view of the strong opposition by this minister and other Liberals to Canadian involvement in Three Gorges, described as an economic, social and environmental disaster, and in view of China's continued nuclear testing and dumping of waste in Tibet, how can the secretary of state justify this massive betrayal of the Liberal government's earlier promises on Three Gorges and Candu reactor sales?

[Recognition Of The Patriotes Of Lower Canada And The Reformers Of Upper Canada, November 1st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, recently I asked a question of the government, in particular the Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, concerning the upcoming visit of the Prime Minister and Team Canada, together with nine provincial premiers on a trade delegation to Asia. In particular I focused on the issue of human rights and democracy in Asian countries being visited by the Prime Minister and by the premiers.

In urging the Prime Minister to speak out forcefully with respect to human rights and democracy in China, Tibet, Indonesia and East Timor in particular I want to remind the Prime Minister of his own words in a letter written in December 1991: "Progress toward respecting human rights in much of the world is the direct result of pressure from western democracies".

I think it is rather ironic that the Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific was one of the very eloquent spokespeople for the pro-democracy movement in Canada, calling for democracy and human rights in China. He had a number of confrontations with that government and was one of the key organizers of a human rights delegation in which I had the honour of participating together with two other members of Parliament, including his colleague, the Liberal member for Nepean.

The plea I would make today, reiterating a plea I made earlier, is for the Prime Minister, for the Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, for the Minister of Foreign Affairs to recognize that the concerns which drove that plea for human rights in 1991 which

motivated the Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific in subsequent years and before then are alive and well today.

With respect to the situation in China it was on June 4 of this year that Premier Li Peng, on the 5th anniversary of the killings in Tiananmen Square, chose to implement harsh new regulations clamping down even further with respect to human rights.

There has been a crackdown on labour dissidents. The situation in Tibet is very serious. We know for example that China has recently banned the display of pictures of the Dalai Lama, continued its nuclear testing, continued its arms sales to repressive regimes and, most seriously, continued its inhumane policy of population transfer. There continues to be brutal repression of Buddhist nuns and monks in Tibet.

With respect to the issue in East Timor, the human rights abuses there are also very serious. I would urge the government to call for an end to government funding for promotion of trade with Indonesia, to support the international arms embargo, to call for the release of Xanana Gusmao and all East Timorese political prisoners, to support self-determination for East Timor as the Prime Minister did in his letter of December 1991.

In closing I hope as well that the government will reiterate our concern to the Chinese government about the importance of democracy, freedom of expression and the rule of law for Hong Kong as well, as the transition on July 1, 1997 is coming up in the very near future.

There will be a large banquet in Beijing in the near future. I hope that our government will recognize that in addition to promoting trade we must speak out forcefully for human rights and democracy. We must call for the immediate release of Wei Jingsheng. Certainly we must do everything we can to promote those values of human rights and democracy that are so important and so profound both in Canada and in Asia.

[Petitions, October 24th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition which is signed by hundreds of petitioners from across Canada, and in particular from my own constituency of Burnaby-Kingsway, from Port Moody, from Kamloops and a number of other jurisdictions.

The petitioners draw to the attention of the House the fact that the current Criminal Code denies people who are suffering from terminal or irreversible and debilitating illness the right to choose freely and voluntarily to end their lives with the assistance of a physician.

Therefore the petitioners call upon Parliament to amend the Criminal Code to ensure the right of all Canadians to die with dignity by allowing people with terminal or irreversible and debilitating illness the right to the assistance of a physician in ending their lives at the time of their choice and subject to strict safeguards to prevent abuse and ensure that the decision is free, informed, competent and voluntarily.

[United Nations Day, October 24th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the House for permitting me to respond. I will be very brief.

I would like to join other hon. members in commemorating United Nations Day and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.

[English]

On behalf of my colleagues in the New Democratic Party, I join in paying tribute today particularly to those Canadian men and women who have done so much to strengthen and build the United Nations.

Our peacekeepers around the world-and Canada has played a leading role in peacekeeping-have obviously made Canadians very proud, as well as other Canadian men and women who are active within the United Nations structure.

We certainly join with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in urging significant reform of the United Nations. The concept of a standing army that is able to respond at short notice is one that we welcome. As well we believe there should be far more focus on preventive diplomacy, on the opportunity to prevent crises from developing into national and in some cases international tragedies.

We also support the concept certainly of an international tribunal to judge war criminals, to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Finally I want to say that we in this party strongly support the concept of broadening the base of the United Nations to encompass a United Nations parliamentary assembly. While we recognize that this is a step that may take some time to develop, certainly we want to encourage the foreign minister in the actions that he is taking to develop support for this concept both in Canada and globally.

In closing, once again I want to join in congratulating those involved both in Canada, NGOs in Canada who support the United Nations, and globally-

Congratulations to everyone on this 50th anniversary of the United Nations and United Nations Day.