Charlie Angus

[Indigenous Affairs, February 22nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, damning media investigations have revealed that the government consistently green-lights water projects on first nations reserves to companies with bad track records and that the minister's insistence on the lowest bid has resulted in cost overruns, corners being cut and the ongoing denial of safe service, and yet the minister continues to stick to his three-point plan which is, number one, show concern; number two, act surprised; and number three, do nothing.

Why is the minister continuing to perpetuate this policy of incompetence, negligence and the basic denial of human rights to first nations people across this country?

[News Media Industry, February 18th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, Facebook's attempt to block news media in Australia is a direct attack on every nation's sovereignty.

When the government says that it stands with Australia, I say, “Well, God help the poor Australians.” When Facebook was found guilty of breaking Canadian law, the Liberals did nothing. When Facebook needs staff, it just calls into the minister's department. Facebook Canada is run by a former Liberal operative, for crying out loud.

Canadians deserve a government that will hold this rogue company accountable. Instead, it has one that holds its hand.

Will the minister insist that Facebook pay what it owes in Canada now? That would be solidarity with the Australians.

[Business of Supply, February 18th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my hon. colleague. What I find really, really concerning right now is the actions of China holding Canadian citizens hostage, which is well beyond the rule of law.

The attack against democracy in Hong Kong, to me, is a line-in-the-sand moment that is very, very concerning, in addition to what is happening with the genocide of the Uighurs. We also have another issue with the Olympics coming up.

How can we work internationally with our allies to actually put limits on this ongoing abuse of human rights and democracy by the regime in China?

[Business of Supply, February 18th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, certainly if people did not have the chance to see my face I am very concerned. However, I am also very concerned that my colleague thinks this is an attempt to be hidden from a discussion that I think is very important.

In the interests of being fair, if you would allow me to ask that entire question again and restart the clock, I think that might be a fair solution, if we could get unanimous consent for it.

[Business of Supply, February 18th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech.

I am very concerned about the Chinese government's position. Its attacks on human rights are unacceptable. Attacking Hong Kong's democracy is very serious. In particular, there is the issue of the Uighur genocide.

In my opinion, it is clear that Canada can play a key role together with its allies. We will have to work with the international community to implement a plan in response to the attacks on human rights.

Does my colleague believe that Canada must work with Europe, the United States and other countries to support the human rights of Chinese minorities?

[Business of Supply, February 18th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, what is very concerning right now in the situation with China is that we see the horrific human rights abuses faced by the Uighurs. We see the attack on democratic rights in Hong Kong. We see the arbitrary detention of Canadians who are being held hostage in order to intimidate Canada. However, I do not see a coherent strategy at the international level of how we actually hold China to account.

I listened very closely to my hon. colleague as he laid out some of the issues and the problems, whether it is trade sanctions or the Olympics. Being the 21st century, how can Canada as a middle power play a stronger role of holding the Chinese regime accountable for the abuses that are taking place under its jurisdiction?

[Business of Supply, February 18th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, it is very important for us to discuss human rights in this chamber. When I heard the minister talk about Canada's commitment to human rights and to keeping Canadians safe, I was thinking of the people of Eabametoong First Nation this morning, who are living in tents. It has been -45 degrees and they are living in shacks and homes overrun with mould and bugs. They have gone 20 years without access to safe water. I am sure the hon. minister knows that under the United Nations commitments Canada made, access to water is a human right, as is access to safe housing.

Given the fact that people are going to die in Eabametoong/Fort Hope if we do not get emergency housing in there, why has the Liberal government done nothing to help this community?

[Fisheries Act, February 18th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. You asked the former speaker numerous times to stay on the issue at hand. I find it deplorable that on a Thursday morning when we are trying to get to important issues, he continued, even to the end, to turn this into a circus. I ask you to reflect on that and ask him to reflect on his actions.

[Points of Order, February 18th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

I have extraordinary respect for the Speaker, and I just wanted to clarify that this whole issue is over the fact that the member for Don Valley West made all of Canada know that he was not in the chamber. I think he might have done this in a more subtle manner, so that he was not drawing attention to the fact that he was not in the chamber.

[Committees of the House, February 16th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I have been in Parliament for 17 years and I have never been as shocked and moved as I was by the testimony of Serena Fleites, who, at age 13, attempted to get a Canadian company to take down abusive non-consensual child pornography of her. She pretended that she was her own mother because she did not want her family to know. Her life was destroyed. Her testimony was incredibly powerful.

What I found most shocking was that when Pornhub-MindGeek executives came to committee and we asked them about her case, they said that they did not have any recollection. This young woman blew their business model apart, forced them to take down 80% of their videos and caused them massive economic damage, yet they came to a parliamentary committee and said that they could not remember any details of her numerous attempts to beg Pornhub-MindGeek to take the videos down.

I would like to know my hon. colleague's thoughts on this. Is it possible that maybe they were just gaslighting her and trying to diminish her value as a survivor or are we looking at a company that was so indifferent to allegations and issues of child pornography on their site that they did not even bother to go back and track the story of what happened to this young woman?