Jesse Flis

[Immigration, September 28th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, in reply to the hon. member's question and intervention, I have taken the liberty to note the first interview given by Chief Superintendent Neil Pouliot in his capacity as commissioner of the United Nations civilian police contingency in Haiti.

Commissioner Pouliot has clearly indicated that Canada's commitment in Haiti has been set for approximately 18 months, that is until the inauguration of Haiti's next president which is slated for February 1986.

He has also said, and this became the basis for the member's question in the House today and his intervention now, is that he thought Haiti might need eight to ten years before its police force reforms were fully implemented. This comment made in his capacity as UN commissioner referred to the need for a complete change of attitudes and the time needed for all ranks of the future 5,000 strong force to assimilate the concepts of a modern police force.

He certainly did not imply that Canada has committed itself for that length of time. That is certainly not our intention. Canada has pledged to assist Haiti in the area of police reform through our participation in the United Nations Mission in Haiti. For this purpose we have sought 100 volunteers who will be deployed in the weeks or months ahead once the Security Council has authorized the United Nations Mission in Haiti.

The cost of this participation has been estimated at $12.8 million for the 18-month period I have just mentioned. This is what the member was asking. CIDA will cover those costs.

The task of the RCMP officers will be to monitor the behaviour of the new Haitian police, accompany them on their daily rounds and give them on-the-street training. The RCMP will not take official duty. They are there to train, not to do the policing themselves.

We do not know yet how long such monitoring will be required and if, after a certain lapse of time, all of the 100 Mounties will be needed. Once a formal training program has begun it is quite possible that smaller numbers will be required.

I thank the hon. member for raising this. He has made excellent interventions in the standing committee on foreign affairs and in the joint committee reviewing foreign policy. I know he views this issue with great interest and importance.

[Immigration Act, September 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Port Moody-Coquitlam for a very clear presentation. I would remind her to look at the minister's remarks when he introduced the bill when he said: "Throughout the years immigrants have helped build our country. The contributions of recent immigrants are also widely recognized. But Canadians will not tolerate and I will not tolerate those who abuse our generosity and violate our laws". That is what this bill is attempting to do, to remove any immigrant or refugee who violates our laws.

We have heard from the Reform Party how we must reduce our annual deficit and public debt. I agree with the Reform Party on that. To do what the Reform Party wants in immigration will require additional resources, additional personnel resources, additional financial resources.

I would like to ask the member for Port Moody-Coquitlam where her party suggests we get the additional funds to implement what the Reform Party would like to see in Bill C-44.

[Peacekeeping, September 21st, 1994]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. We do need clarification. My interpretation of the standing orders is that when we divide a 20-minute period into 10 and 10, it is 10 minutes plus 5 minutes for comments and questions.

[Criminal Code, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to the hon. member's intervention. In my riding of Parkdale-High Park in Toronto my constituents are very concerned at the trend where streets are becoming more unsafe instead of being safer.

This is why the minister has come up with some tools to combat crime in the streets, to reduce the drug trade, to prevent the violent sex offender from threatening the community. We can all get up and recite horror stories one after another. Is this going to prevent an increase in crime?

I would like to ask the hon. member of the Reform Party this. Does he have any constructive amendments to this bill? This is why we debate, so that opposition parties and members from our own party can improve the bill. The government would be very interested in any constructive amendments that the hon. member can make to improve the bill.

[Poland, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, last week President Lech Walesa of the Republic of Poland paid his first state visit to Canada. Poland is emerging as the fastest growing economy in central Europe, proving that Canada's small but significant investment in technical assistance will eventually pay dividends to both countries in the long run.

President Walesa has a bold new vision to promote greater trade between our two countries and he invites Canadians to strongly consider Poland for private investment.

While travelling through Poland this summer, I had the opportunity to witness the tremendous progress the people of Poland have achieved both economically and in terms of their efforts to turn the tide of environmental degradation after decades of improper management.

On behalf of the Government of Canada I wish to congratulate the people of Poland for their success and pay a warm hearted thanks to their president for his visit.

Today we have another distinguished visitor in the gallery, Mr. Speaker, and I know you will introduce him at the appropriate time.

[Foreign Affairs And International Trade, June 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure and honour to table, in both official languages, the annual report entitled "Export of Military Goods from Canada: Annual Report 1993" put out by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

[Petitions, June 17th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, it is my duty to present, without prejudice, a petition signed by over 200 Canadians from across Canada on the situation in Kashmir.

They claim that gross human rights violations are being committed against the Kashmiri people and that the Indian government is not allowing any humanitarian aid, human rights activists or foreign journalists to operate or enter into Kashmir.

The petition calls on the Government of Canada to bring pressure on the Indian government to end its human rights violations against the Kashmiri people, to implement UN resolutions which include an impartial plebiscite under UN control whereby the Kashmiris can freely choose their own destiny, and finally, the Canadian government is called on to bring economic sanctions and an arms embargo against India until the above two objectives have been achieved.

[Petitions, June 13th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I present a petition on behalf of a number of constituents of Parkdale-High Park.

The petitioners humbly pray and call upon the Government of Canada to intervene immediately in the decade old national ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The petitioners report that basic human rights of the Tamil people are violated by Sri Lankan security forces and that economic sanctions imposed on the

northern province of Sri Lanka for the last three and half years have led to severe shortages of essential items such as food, medicine and fuel.

The petitioners therefore urge the Government of Canada to bring about an unconditional ceasefire in Sri Lanka through the good offices of the United Nations; second, to further bring the parties to the conflict to the negotiating table; third, to suspend forthwith all foreign aid to the Sri Lankan government and if necessary impose sanctions until there is a cessation of hostilities and human rights violations.

[Bankruptcy Act, June 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, no formal decision has been made concerning Canadian participation in an expanded United Nations assistance mission in Rwanda.

The UN has informally asked us to provide communication specialists and if we decide to participate in the expanded mission we are considering sending some 300 such specialists.

Countries have started to answer positively to the UN request for personnel and equipment. At the close of a recent regional summit the president of Zimbabwe stated that 14 African countries were prepared to respond affirmatively to a UN request for material and troops.

Since the outbreak of violence in April CIDA has contributed $4 million and pledged another $7.6 million in emergency aid to Canadian NGOs, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Red Cross.

A Canadian military aircraft based in Nairobi is the only link between Kigali and the outside world. As a result of a new attack on the airport on June 5, humanitarian flights have been suspended until a new truce is negotiated.

General Dallaire together with 10 other Canadians continues to play a key role in leading the United Nations missions, serving as intermediary between the warring parties and participating in humanitarian operations.

The Canadian general is doing his utmost to obtain a ceasefire but the Rwandan patriotic front, the RPF, seems more determined than ever to take power by force before deployment of the UN force. They took the Kigali airport on May 22 and continue to progress. Many members of the government left Gitamara for Kibaye near Zaire on May 28.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Rwandan ambassador to encourage his government to negotiate in good faith and put an end to the killing and has sent a similar message to the Rwandan patriotic front.

I wish to thank the hon. member for Vancouver Quadra for all his representations in helping to bring this dispute hopefully to a peaceful resolution as he recommends using chapter 6 of the United Nations charter.

[Arms Sales, June 8th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, in the absence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs I am pleased to notify the hon. member that these helicopters are certified as civil by Transport Canada. They are not certified as military helicopters.

This was raised in our foreign affairs review policy by some witnesses. It came out that some of these helicopters will be used to fight the drug trade which is affecting our society in Canada. The hon. member also knows the country has just gone through an earthquake so these helicopters will come in handy for rescue and humanitarian relief.