House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2000, with 51% of the vote.
Recognition Of Crimes Against Humanity Act November 30th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, I am sorry to hear that. I ask for unanimous consent of the House to instruct the subcommittee on Private Members' Business of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs to reconsider the votable status of Bill C-224, the recognition of crimes against humanity act, and that the bill remain on the order of precedence until the committee reports on the bill.
Recognition Of Crimes Against Humanity Act November 30th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, in the last parliament the House passed a unanimous resolution calling for the week of April 20 to April 27 every year to be recognized as the week of man's inhumanity to his fellow man. The motion was accepted on the occasion of the 81st anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
In the spirit of that co-operation, I would like to propose the following to the House. I ask for unanimous consent of the House that Bill C-224, the recognition of crimes against humanity act, be made a votable item.
Recognition Of Crimes Against Humanity Act November 30th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, earlier in my comments I said that I had enormous support from many Canadians. Twenty-three committees have supported me so far. For the record they are: Association for Learning and Preserving of the History of WWII in Asia, ALPHA; Belarusan Canadian Coordinating Committee; Buddhist Communities of Greater Toronto; Canadian Arab Federation; Canadian Islamic Congress; Canadian Ukrainian Immigrant Aid Society; Council of the Muslim Community of Canada; Cypriot Canadian Federation; Federation of Associations of Canadians Tamils; Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations; Hellenic Canadian Congress; Hellenic Committee for Human Rights and National Issues: Latvian National Federation of Canada; National Association of Canadians with Origins in India; National Federation of Pakistani Canadians; Palestine Heritage Canada; Pan African Movement of Canada; Serbian National Shield Society of Canada; Slovenian National Federation; Toronto Kurdish Community and Information Centre; Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association; Ukrainian Canadian Congress; Ukrainian National Federation of Canada; and Ukrainian Women's Organization of Canada.
Two weeks ago, I had the honour of enlisting the support of the Armenian General Benevolent Union headed Mr. Danny Boyajan, which made my support at 23.
I will read a couple of lines from a letter which I received from the Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations. It reads:
The Federation urges the Canadian government to consider the establishment of a broadly based museum or exhibit on genocide that is inclusive of the realities of all ethnocultural communities.
It goes on to say:
Such a process should be publicly determined and accountable to the system.
I whole-heartedly agree with this.
I also have a general letter of support from a group of Canadians called Canadians for a Genocide Museum. They say that their 24-member association represents a wide multicultural group and that they whole-heartedly support the passing of Bill C-224, an act to establish by the beginning of the 21st century a museum exhibit to recognize crimes against humanity. As members can see, the support for this bill is enormous.
I had the chance to go to the Ukrainian church on the weekend for a commemoration. It was the 66th anniversary of the famine genocide on the Ukrainian population which took place in 1933. I was very moved to see young Canadians lighting candles for each of the nationalities I mentioned earlier that had suffered atrocities.
Further, on November 18 I asked a question in the House of Commons to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. In reply, she said:
Mr. Speaker, I would first like to thank the member for Brampton Centre who has done an incredible job getting together 22 organizations from across the country to work on this very important issue.
I hope that all members of the House will be here to speak in support of private member's bill, Bill C-224, which will be debated in the House on November 30.
I thank the minister for her support. I would like to save a few minutes at the end of the debate for my final comments.
Recognition Of Crimes Against Humanity Act November 30th, 1999
moved that Bill C-224, an act to establish by the beginning of the 21st century an exhibit in the Canadian Museum of Civilization to recognize the crimes against humanity as defined by the United Nations that have been perpetrated during the 20th century, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
Mr. Speaker, Bill C-224 was originally introduced on February 15, 1999, as Bill C-479. The number was changed because the House prorogued and began a new session. The bill calls upon the government to establish an exhibit in the Canadian Museum of Civilization to recognize the crimes against humanity that occurred in the 20th century. In total about 90 million people have died in this century from crimes against humanity.
There are many different definitions of crimes against humanity. Some call it genocide. Some call it holocaust. Some call it murder or atrocities. I chose the UN definition so that nobody could argue about it because we signed the UN definition of crimes against humanity.
I did not use the word genocide because our government and many governments around the world recognize that over 90 million people died of genocide. For example, 35 million Chinese people died because of genocide. I have used the phrase crimes against humanity because it would be inclusive.
The second point I wish to make is that I did not ask to have a freestanding museum for genocide or crimes against humanity, simply because as backbenchers we are not allowed to ask the government to spend money. I hope those two reasons will be taken into consideration when we go forward in our discussions.
I also acknowledge the presence in the gallery of the representative of the Turkish government at the embassy here and the charge d'affaires of public affairs of the Republic of Armenia. I was successful at bringing these two nations together in the gallery to sit down and listen to the debate. I also believe there are some Canadians of various backgrounds who are very much concerned with this issue.
When I first introduced my bill on February 15 I said in the House:
The purpose of the bill is to mandate the establishment at the beginning of the 21st century of an exhibit in the Canadian Museum of Civilization recognizing all crimes against humanity that have been perpetrated during the 20th century.
Canadians from diverse backgrounds have been affected by crimes against humanity that have taken place throughout the 20th century. The suffering of any group of victims is no less significant than that of any other group.
In introducing the bill I hope to address the concern that the creation of a museum to recognize only one group of victims would severely diminish the significance of the millions of other lives that have been lost or ruined as victims of crimes against humanity.
How can we as a government support one group of victims and ignore the suffering of others?
That would be an insult to the other 90 million people who died during this century.
The Senate held hearings in May 1998 and came up with a report called “Guarding History”. Recommendation No. 12 of that report called for the establishment of a museum for the genocide and/or the holocaust. My bill addresses the report given to us by the Senate.
We will recall also that the Prime Minister went to Auschwitz at the beginning of this year. I was hoping that he would make an announcement there that we would have an inclusive museum of genocide in the country. I regret that was not the case. Hopefully after the discussion today an inclusive museum will be established.
I visited Poland with the parliamentary delegation for NATO. I had a chance to visit Maidanek where I saw incredible scenes of atrocities. The number of nationalities involved in those atrocities was about 54. There were all victims of crimes against humanity.
When I presented my bill back in February I received, within two hours, endorsements from over 100 members of parliament. They wanted to see the bill come to the floor to be discussed. I will take this opportunity to thank them for their support. It was very beneficial to me. Throughout the few months that I worked on this, I had enormous support from various cultural groups, the list of which I will read soon.
We also had the chance to send about 85,000 pieces of literature: some post cards, some letters, some petitions and some just regular mail. Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit some to you. I would ask for the unanimous consent of the House to table these two pages.
Supply November 30th, 1999
Madam Speaker, could the hon. member table the letters from the RCMP officers that he spoke about earlier? I would appreciate seeing them.
Natural Disasters November 29th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, one month ago, on October 29, a cyclone believed to be the century's worst to hit India killed tens of thousands, left millions homeless and virtually wiped away the eastern Indian state of Orissa's infrastructure.
The Canadian Red Cross, Care Canada and the Canadian Lutheran World Relief Fund are leading the efforts in assisting CIDA in bringing aid to the victims of this disaster. I am happy to provide Canadians with the telephone number of the Red Cross cyclone relief effort that have been organized in Canada. Donations can be made by phoning 1-800-418-1111.
I encourage all Canadians to once again show their solidarity, generosity and to contribute to the relief efforts for the victims of this tragic natural disaster.
Museum Of Civilization November 18th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
After months of lobbying, thousands of letters of support and the signatures of over 2,500 petitioners in support of an exhibit in the Museum of Civilization to recognize all crimes against humanity committed in the 20th century, can the minister tell the House what action will be taken in reply to the tremendous support shown throughout the country for this concept?
Armenian Parliament October 28th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, I am terribly saddened by the deaths of Prime Minister Sarkisian, the Speaker of the Armenian parliament, Speaker Demirchian, and other members of the Armenian government at the hands of terrorist gunmen on October 27, 1999. We must all condemn this cowardly attack on fellow parliamentarians who were gunned down while they conducted their nation's democratic business in the Armenian parliament.
I invite all members of parliament and the public to join me and the former Canadian Ambassador to Armenia, Anne Leahy, when we meet with the Armenian community tomorrow night, October 29, at 7.30 p.m. at the AGBU Centre, 930 Progress Avenue, Scarborough, Ontario, at the corner of Markham Road and the 401.
I urge all Canadians to support Armenia during this time of crisis. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
Supply October 28th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, what is the member doing specifically to make sure that whatever happens to the airline industry it will continue to provide services to small towns in Ontario and other provinces?
Petitions October 27th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 it is my pleasure to present to the House a petition duly certified by the clerk of petitions and signed by over 2,250 Canadians from many provinces.
Whereas Canadians from many diverse backgrounds have been affected by crimes against humanity throughout the 20th century, the petitioners pray that parliament will support the Recognition of Crimes Against Humanity Act, Bill C-224.