Jan Brown

[Writing Thru Race Conference, June 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

The "Writing Thru Race" conference sponsored by the Writer's Union of Canada has made no changes to its exclusionary policy. Racism is racism and you cannot hide it behind a banner of intellectual rationalization.

The minister stated last Friday that he would get the facts on the "Writing Through Race" conference.

The facts of this discriminatory conference are quite simple. Parts of the conference exclude white writers from participating and the Canada Council has committed $10,000 to support it.

Now that the minister has the facts will he issue a ministerial directive to the Canada Council to immediately withdraw its funding for this conference?

[Canada Council, June 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I thought we knew how many seats were vacant and how many were needed. I certainly do not question at all the talent and the capacity of the individual who has been so appointed.

However I do question the minister's commitment to the federal agency review process. I would like the minister to tell the House what relevance that federal review process now has.

[Canada Council, June 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

On May 4, I asked the minister when he was going to make appointments to the Canada Council of which 13 of the 21 seats were vacant at that time. The minister responded that he was committed to not making any appointments until the federal agency review was completed, and that is expected some time this fall.

Could the minister explain his inconsistency, his reversal yet again of an earlier decision as he went ahead anyway and made two recent appointments to the Canada Council?

[Writers' Union Of Canada, June 3rd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear that answer because yesterday the Minister of National Defence said he would refuse to enter Canadian Legions because they are discriminating against the Sikh and Jewish communities.

Ironically, if the Minister of National Defence attended the "Writing through Race" conference he would be refused entry to certain workshops on the basis of his race. This conference is demonstrating racial discrimination and it is clearly wrong.

Will the minister immediately withdraw federal funding from this conference, given what he just stated, and demand that the writers' union no longer practise discrimination of this sort.

[Writers' Union Of Canada, June 3rd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

Between June 30 and July 3 Vancouver will be hosting the Writers' Union of Canada conference "Writing through Race" which is receiving $10,000 from the federal government, as a matter of fact from the Canada Council.

Recently this conference has come under widespread criticism because participation will be restricted on the basis of race. Even the founder of the union and its former chairman, Pierre Berton, has argued the union should not support something "which excludes any people because of the colour of their skin".

Can the minister tell Canadians if it is the policy of the government to support organizations and conferences which discriminate on the basis of race?

[Young Offenders Act, June 2nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, amidst all the talk of criminal justice reform in the Young Offenders Act we often forget the victims who suffer at the hands of violence.

I would like to give a victim's impact statement today from a young woman in my riding, Christine Angus, who was recently beaten in broad daylight by two young offenders who demanded her purse:

"I knew that crime amongst young offenders was getting out of hand, but it was sort of on the sidelines and until this happened to me I never realized that crime is so close to all of us. I was on my way to work at 12.30 p.m., the noon hour, and two guys came up behind me, grabbed me around my throat and said they would hurt me if I did not give them my purse, then they spun me around". Christine was then beaten about the face and head.

Her final comment was: "Who will care for my emotional state? I cannot sleep at night. I am afraid. Who is going to help me with this?".

Victims like Christine feel betrayed by a justice system that lets them down time after time. Victims have special needs. Let us recognize them and hold young offenders accountable.

[Points Of Order, May 31st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct the record. During the debate on Bill C-26 on Friday, May 27, 1994 I said that I would bring forward a motion to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to reduce the National Library's appropriation by the amount that the director general of corporate policy and planning stated the bill would save the Library.

The figure that I mentioned was $300,000. The correct figure is approximately $100,000.

[Amateur Sport, May 27th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear there is certainly an intended review by all parliamentarians.

Will the minister table the report in the House and then refer it to the standing committee? Then there can be a very thorough and public review of that report in order to find out the specific criteria that were in place for those funding cuts.

[Amateur Sport, May 27th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage who is responsible for amateur sport.

Recently the minister received a report on the funding of amateur sport which recommended the elimination of funding for 19 different sports. The minister acknowledged that having received the report, he was not prepared to make any further decisions until the report was examined. Then yesterday, the minister announced that two of the 19 sports so identified for funding cuts, biathlon and freestyle skiing, would not have their funding cut.

Can the minister inform the House what specific criteria were used to decide which sports would have their funding maintained and which would have it cut?

[National Library Act, May 27th, 1994]

Mr. Chairman, I reiterate that indeed the Reform Party supports the legislation in spirit. Given the concerns expressed by my colleague in the Reform Party, I would like to add that it is imperative assurances be given in the regulations that this will not cause significant or undue financial burden for the book publishing industry.

I have heard that term several times today from the hon. parliamentary secretary without many specifics. There is an expectation that when we go to committee we will be accepting on good faith the regulations that will go forward because we have supported the legislation in principle. However, if it is at all possible, the parliamentary secretary should be somewhat more specific when she makes the statement "undue financial burden" that indeed there will not be undue financial burden on our book publishing industry.

It is unfortunate the regulations were not tabled or at least addressed a little more fully in the debate this morning.