Borys Wrzesnewskyj

[Questions on the Order Paper, January 31st, 2011]

With regard to Export Development Canada, what grants and contributions under $25,000 did it award from January 1, 2009, to the present?

[Questions on the Order Paper, January 31st, 2011]

With regard to the Canadian Development Investment Corporation, what grants and contributions under $25,000 did it award from January 1, 2009, to the present?

[Petitions, December 16th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I am saddened to table a petition collected in my riding of Etobicoke Centre and by Saint Leopold Mandic Croatian Church in Ottawa related to Boris Cikovic, a teenager who was gunned down in my riding by thugs trying to rob him.

This is a difficult time of year for Boris' parents and his many friends, and for the Bosnian Croatian community in Etobicoke where he lived and where his promising young life was snuffed out by a bullet that terrible day on October 3, 2008.

Including these 70 petitioners, over 1,200 petitioners in my riding have urged the government to pass my private member's Bill C-537. This bill would make offences involving firearms automatically tried by a Superior Court. It would also make bail conditions tougher by forcing those accused of crimes involving firearms to have to demonstrate in court why they should not be detained in custody before trial.

The individual charged with the murder of my constituent allegedly refuses to co-operate by naming his two accomplices and is out on bail. Boris' parents, Vesna and Davorin, struggle daily knowing they may actually be passing their son's murderer in their own neighbourhood.

[Petitions, December 10th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I am saddened to present a petition collected in my riding of Etobicoke Centre in memory of Boris Cikovic, a teenager who was gunned down by thugs trying to rob him.

This time of year is very hard for Boris' parents and his many friends in the neighbourhood where he lived and where his promising young life was snuffed out by a bullet that terrible day, October 3, 2008.

This second petition, signed by over 500 constituents, comes on the heels of a 700-person petition last week.

The petitioners urge the government to get tough on crime by passing my private member's bill, Bill C-537. This bill would ensure that offences involving firearms are automatically tried by a superior court. It would also toughen bail conditions by forcing those accused of crimes involving firearms to have to demonstrate in court why they should not be detained in custody before trial.

The individual charged with the murder of Boris allegedly refuses to co-operate by naming his two accomplices and is out on bail.

Boris' parents, Vesna and Davorin, struggle daily knowing they may actually be passing their son's murderer in their own neighbourhood.

[Human Rights, December 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, in the past, this House has hosted legendary figures who have distinguished themselves in the battle for human rights. Today, Mustafa Dzemiliev is here in Ottawa.

At the age of six months, he and his family and the entire 200,000 Crimean Tatar people were ethnically cleansed from their ancestral land and deported en masse to central Asia by Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin. Forty per cent of their population died.

As a young man speaking out for the rights of his people to preserve their culture and language and their right to return to their ancestral home, Mr. Dzemiliev spent 18 brutal years in the Soviet gulag. In the 1990s, he led the return of his people to Crimea and today is chairman of the Mejlis parliament of the Crimean Tatar people.

His harrowing personal story and that of the Crimean Tatars is to be inspired by the triumph of human spirit over evil.

On behalf of the House of Commons, I welcome Mr. Dzemiliev to Canada to share with us his vision of peace for his people and for the Crimean peninsula.

[Petitions, December 2nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am also pleased to present another petition that was signed by over 800 constituents in my riding in support of Iryna Ivaniv and her four children who are forced to live separated from their husband and father, Volodymyr Kokhanovskyy.

The petitioners believe that Mr. Kokhanovskyy was unfairly denied permanent residence status and therefore the ability to properly provide support for his wife and children.

Furthermore, the petitioners are appalled by the prejudiced views expressed by the case officer in the notes in this file, which were received through access to information.

The petitioners urge the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, the Immigration and Refugee Board Immigration Appeal Division and minister's counsel, hearings and appeals, to grant authorization to permit Mr. Kokhanovskyy to return to Canada and obtain permanent residence status.

[Petitions, December 2nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I am saddened to present a petition that was collected in my riding in memory of Boris Cikovic, a teenager who was gunned down by thugs trying to rob him.

Collected by Boris' parents and friends in the neighbourhood where he lived and where his promising young life was snuffed out by a bullet on October 3, 2008, the petition was signed by over 600 constituents.

The petitioners urge the government to pass my private members Bill C-537 and make offences involving firearms be automatically tried by a superior court. The bill would also toughen bail conditions by requiring those accused of crimes involving firearms to have to demonstrate in court why they should not be detained in custody before trial.

The man charged with Boris' murder is out on bail. At the same time, Mr. and Mrs. Cikovic are forced to struggle with the knowledge that they may be passing their son's murderer on the very streets of their own neighbourhood where Boris was killed.

[National Holodomor Awareness Week, November 22nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, during this National Holodomor Awareness Week, throughout Canada we pause to reflect on the 1932-33 famine genocide executed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin against the Ukrainian people.

In Kyiv, the Holodomor memorial is a statue of a small starving girl holding three sheaves of wheat. Stalin decreed food illegal for Ukrainian peasants. Having as little as three sheaves of wheat was a crime and the penalty was death.

Wherever Ukrainian peasants lived, armed Communist red brigades enforced this decree. Peasant farmers suffered the slow pain of death by starvation and the excruciating pain of watching their children and spouses slowly starve to death with them. In the very breadbasket of Europe, one by one, millions lay their starving bodies onto Ukraine's fertile black soil to die.

Seventy years later, on our watch, a similar genocide by attrition took place in Darfur. During National Holodomor Awareness Week, let us pledge that “never again” will finally mean never again.

[Canadian Heritage, November 4th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the City of Edmonton, the Province of Alberta, Ukrainian Canadian organizations and many individual Canadians have come forward with generous donations totalling almost $8 million for the Ukrainian Canadian Archives and Museum.

There is just one missing partner, the federal Conservative government.

Will the Prime Minister commit to giving this museum national museum status, respecting the deep historical imprint of Ukrainian Canadians upon Canada, and provide the full $8 million of matching funding the community has requested?

[Sustaining Canada's Economic Recovery Act, November 3rd, 2010]

Madam Speaker, we just heard that it has taken more than 600 days for the minister to respond. My goodness, for our seniors who have contributed so much to building this great country, in the twilight of their years when we should make sure that they live in comfort, we are condemning and the minister's inaction is condemning them to live those final days, in many cases, in poverty.

How many seniors has the member heard from who are in those last days of their lives unfortunately having to live in poverty while the government continues not acting on this file?