Garnett Genuis

[Foreign Affairs, March 21st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, atheists in Canada are very concerned about the growing persecution of non-believers in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. Religious freedom includes the right to not believe. While some atheists were initially skeptical about the Office of Religious Freedom, they are now represented on its external advisory board. Atheists remain skeptical, of course, but not about the work of this office.

Will the current government finally give atheists some hope for the future, some assurance of things yet unseen, and support our motion to renew the Office of Religious Freedom?

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I ask the member about the issue of the indivisibility of rights, because I think all of us agree that rights are in some sense indivisible, but of course we have things like Status of Women Canada and the Minister of Status of Women singling out a specific area of rights.

Of course, we recognize the interconnections of all rights, but does it not make sense to have centres of excellence focusing on specific areas of rights, recognizing the interconnectedness, but also bringing a specific focus and helping to ensure that that aspect of rights is also part of the wider picture?

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I really appreciated hearing the member's own story.

It is curious, because I find myself agreeing with the Liberals' high praise of the office, yet they go on to say that the office should be eliminated after praising its good work. The government is like someone who buys a new house and then rips out one of the walls, saying not to worry, that they will hold up the roof another way. Why do we not maintain the system we have in place, which is working so well? The Liberals are not expanding it. They are not building on it. They are levelling it first and then maybe they will figure something else out after that.

We have 10 days to go until this office runs out. Build on it by all means, but why do the Liberals at least start by renewing the good work that has already happened?

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his remarks. He made a couple of points that I think are true. He said there are ongoing human rights issues, that there are other human rights issues that need attention. He mentioned there being the need for attention to certain domestic human rights issues. He also said that $5 million cannot help everyone. These things are fundamentally true.

However, let us acknowledge, as well, that there are specific programs in the Office of Religious Freedom that are doing a lot of good, that are helping people who need the help, that are addressing underlying tensions, that are bringing community leaders together, and the government has acknowledged the success, indeed, the effectiveness, of those programs. I talked about a program in Ukraine and a program in Nigeria during my speech, again, as acknowledged successes.

Would the hon. member, while acknowledging that there is other work to be done in other areas, also agree that these vital programs at the Office of Religious Freedom need to be allowed to continue?

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I have a brief comment on Rights & Democracy, which of course is another debate. However, structurally Rights & Democracy was quite different. It was an external agency of government operating at arm's length. The Office of Religious Freedom is not an external agency; it is within the Department of Global Affairs. Therefore, it is much more in line with the indivisibility approach because it is right within the department.

The member talked about some analysis of emphasis on different groups. Is she aware that a substantial percentage of the projects of the Office of Religious Freedom is not public because it operates in very sensitive areas where those who are helped cannot make elements of it public. Surely, the member should acknowledge that when she tries to do a comparison.

Also, is the member not aware of the incredible abuse of basic rights and freedoms, including of religious freedom in Russian-occupied areas in Crimea and eastern Ukraine? I was absolutely incredulous that the member was talking about Ukraine as if there were no religious-freedom issues there whatsoever. Is her party not aware of the disastrous situation with respect to freedom of religion in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine?

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I wish this were not a partisan issue. I really wish that the government would simply agree to allow the office to continue to do its good work.

I thank the hon. member for his speech, and I know he has a lot of experience in this place and has contributed a great deal to our country, but I have to ask, listening to the way he described the Office of Religious Freedom, if he has actually been fully briefed on how it operates.

He talks about the need to have a network. He talks about the need to work with the ambassadors. He does not seem to be aware that these things are already happening, that we have an office that is not separate or siloed, but is directly within Global Affairs Canada. It is working to build the capacity of the department. It provides training to our staff throughout that department to be effective in addressing these issues. It is not siloed or independent. It is the kind of model that exactly fits the indivisibility he talks about.

There is no disagreement about the indivisibility of rights, but this office plays a central role within the Department of Foreign Affairs. Why will the Liberals not simply allow it to continue to do the good work it is doing? If they will not let it continue to do its work, if they will not even acknowledge that genocide against Yazidis and Christians is happening, then we would be wrong not to ask, what is behind this if the member is unwilling to take human rights and religious freedom in this serious way by allowing the work of the office to continue?

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2016]

Madam Speaker, it is good to mention human rights, but it is also important to be specific. If there were no mention of gender equality, and the government just said that human rights is included, clearly that would be insufficient because people want to see the specific mention of areas of focus.

When the government makes no mention of religious freedom whatsoever, it is transparently clear that this is not a priority for the government.

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2016]

Madam Speaker, clearly, this is not about the money. The office costs one-quarter of the cost of the recent increase to members' office budgets, or 1/180th of the cost of the change to public sector sick leave. Clearly, this is not about the money. Therefore, what is it about?

Clearly, as the member suggested, getting rid of this office would send a very negative message. It would send a message that Canada is no longer making this issue a priority; and it should be. This issue is of critical importance to so many people all around the world, people who are victims of discrimination and religious violence, people who are looking to Canada and want Canada to play a positive role in this.

It is disappointing. It sends a bad message in terms of the optics of it, but it also makes it very difficult for those who are working on specific projects in this area, which need our involvement. What is going to happen to these projects if the government intends on killing the office? What about the good work being done by the Aga Khan Foundation in Bangladesh; what about the good work being done in Nigeria, Ukraine, and other places?

This is not some theoretical debate. These are real people's lives that are affected by this office. These are real suffering people who need the benefit of this work that, over the long term, is helping to build pluralism. The government talks a good game about diversity and pluralism, so why will it not put its money where its mouth is on this motion? It just does not make any sense.

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I have to say that the approach of the government in this respect is quite curious. It seems, from the questions, that the Liberals do not intend to support the renewal of this office, and yet they wish to profess that they believe in the underlying objectives.

May I say that we have this office that is already clearly doing a great job advancing and protecting religious freedom. We have statements from the various parliamentary secretaries and other members affirming the good work this office is doing. If there is a clear recognition that this office is working well to advance certain objectives, then why in the world would they blow it up and try something different?

If the Liberals really care about the underlying objectives, does it not make basic sense that, if it is not broken, they should not fix it? If it is working well now, why put all those who are involved in this area through the process of tearing it down and experimenting with some different structure? We should just let the office continue doing the good work it is doing. If the government is not willing to do that, if it is not willing to simply allow the office to continue doing its work, if it is not willing to avoid reinventing the wheel when there is clearly no need to do so, then we have to ask about what its underlying reasoning is.

There is no mention of religious freedom in the mandate letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. We do not hear government members talk about religious freedom, except when they are asked about it in question period and in motions like this. Therefore, it is just not clear to me why the government is not supporting the renewal of an office that, again, is doing work that is working very well.

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2016]

Madam Speaker, it is an excellent point by the member. I want to salute the good work she is doing in the areas she has discussed.

Of course, we know that discrimination against women is interconnected with other kinds of challenges and prejudices that may exist. It may have a relationship to issues of poverty in certain cases, or issues of racial and cultural prejudice as well. However, that does not mean we do not focus on discrimination against women as a distinct area, recognizing those interconnections, but we still need a focus on it as part of the broader picture.

The same point goes for freedom of religion. Of course there is an interconnection among different kinds of threats to fundamental human rights. That is certainly the case, but actually having the expertise and the capacity within the Department of Global Affairs to understand the role that religious persecution plays is as well of great importance.