House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 41% of the vote.
Petitions May 18th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions, both of which are signed mostly by my residents in Mount Royal. The first petition calls upon parliament to enact an immediate moratorium on the cosmetic use of chemical pesticides until such time as their use has been scientifically proven to be safe and the long term consequences of their application are known.
Human Rights May 18th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, the military leaders of Burma are acknowledged to be among the world's cruellest violators of human rights. The junta has tortured and executed political opponents, exploited forced labour, denied fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly association and movement, and condoned the growing traffic in heroin and amphetamines.
Several months ago there was hopeful speculation that the pervasive repression would be eased; that the country's courageous pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, would be liberated from house arrest; that her party, the National League for Democracy which won more than three-quarters of the seats in the 1990 election, would be permitted to resume its activity; and that political prisoners would be released. That hope now appears to be a mirage.
Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest. Some 1,700 political prisoners, many of whom are students and including 35 people elected to parliament in 1990, remain in detention. The repression of the National League for Democracy has even intensified.
What is needed now and what is still missing is an internationally co-ordinated and coherent political and economic strategy in which Canada can play—
Olympic Games May 17th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, Canadians were pleased to learn that Toronto, along with Paris and Beijing, is one of three cities in the running to host the 2008 Olympic games. However it is regrettable that the decision to award the Olympic games appears unrelated to issues of human rights.
For this decision to come at a time when China is engaged in the most persistent and pervasive assault on human rights since Tiananmen Square sends the wrong message to those anywhere concerned with the protection of peace and human dignity, an objective of the Olympic charter itself.
In a word, awarding the Olympic games to China turns the struggle for human rights on its head. It not only does not hold China accountable for the most egregious human rights violations but it even confers retrospective legitimacy upon it. It sends the disturbing signal that not only can human rights be violated with impunity but countries can even be rewarded for it. Such a decision can only breed cynicism in a world that has too much indifference and not enough moral courage.
Beijing might be a good place, but not now, not until it comports with the basic principles of the Olympic charter regarding the protection of human security. For 2008, Toronto would be the better choice.
Oslo Accords May 4th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, we are approaching the seventh anniversary of the Oslo accords, the historic Israeli-Palestinian agreement that heralded the hope of an end to war, and the beginning of a process that would culminate in an enduring peace.
Seven to eight years later, many Palestinians and Israelis see the Oslo accords as a failure or worse and pronounce them dead and buried. Accordingly, it is important that we reaffirm the basic principles, pillars of these accords, which are no less valid today and even more compelling than ever before.
These include: mutual respect for, and acknowledgement of, the legitimacy of the Jewish and Palestinian peoples' right to self-determination; renunciation of all acts of terrorism and violence; direct negotiations in good faith to resolve all outstanding issues between the parties; and, respect for human rights, the rule of law and the general principles of law recognized by the community of nations.
Israel April 26th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, today we commemorate the 53rd anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel, which comes one week after the commemoration of the 56th anniversary of the Holocaust.
Indeed we are sometimes told that if there had not been a Holocaust there would not be a state of Israel, as if the establishment of a state can ever compensate for the murder of six million Jews. The reality is the other way around: if there had been an Israel there might well not have been a Holocaust or the horrors of Jewish history.
In a word, Israel at its core is the embodiment of Jewish survival and self-determination, the reconstitution of an ancient people in its ancestral and aboriginal homeland. May I conclude with the age old Hebrew prayer for peace:
[Editor's Note: Member spoke in Hebrew as follows:]
Oseh Shalom Bimromov, Who Yaaseh Shalom Alenu V'al Kol Israel, V'imeru, Amen.
May God Who Establishes Peace on High, Grant Peace for Us All, Amen.
May this 53rd anniversary herald the end of violence, the protection of human security and a real, just and lasting peace for all peoples of the Middle East.
Falun Gong April 25th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, the recent witness testimony and documentary evidence, both national and international, demonstrates that the violations of human rights in China continue unabated, particularly with regard to violations of the rights of the Falun Gong.
These include, first, the criminalization of Falun Gong itself for nothing other than espousing the values of truth, compassion and tolerance, thereby violating their fundamental rights to freedom of conscience and beliefs, freedom of assembly and association, and freedom of expression and information.
Second, the arrest, detention, torture and imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioners for nothing other than exercising their rights as guaranteed under Chinese and international law.
Third, the abuse of psychiatry for political purposes on a scale unseen since the dark days of the Soviet Gulag.
Accordingly, I would like to join my voice with parliamentarians in this country and around the world who have called upon China to rescind the criminal ban on the Falun Gong, release political prisoners, such as ShenLi Lin, husband of Canadian citizen Jinyu Li, and cease and desist from the abuse of psychiatry for political purposes.
Children's Miracle Network April 4th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to welcome to Parliament Hill today representatives of the Children's Miracle Network, a network of 170 non-profit children's hospitals, one of the more compelling and dramatic of humanitarian and health care initiatives anywhere today.
In a word, the Children's Miracle Network treats 14 million children a year suffering from cancer, heart defects, diabetes, kidney disease and accident trauma, to name a few. It provides more than $2.5 billion a year in charitable care and 100% of every dollar remains within the community that raises it. Every community and every region in Canada is a beneficiary of this incredible effort to save and improve the lives of our children.
I am delighted to welcome to Parliament Hill today one of my own constituents, Christopher Sherlaw, who has undergone multiple hospitalizations and surgeries, yet through it all this teen has exhibited the courage and fortitude that defines him and others here today whose lives have been transformed by the Children's Miracle Network.
Colombia March 16th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, although Colombia is one of the oldest democracies in Latin America, and until two years ago had the strongest economic record on the continent, its history of chronic political violence, accompanied by massive human rights violations, has never been worse.
Witness the following: there were 5,000 deaths and 3,000 reported kidnappings in the year 2000 alone; Colombia has one of the highest homicide rates in the world; over 1,000 Colombians have been displaced in the last five years; and massacres of civilians by both paramilitary and guerrilla forces continue.
This week, representatives of the Invisible Popular Struggles Tour in Colombia brought their witness testimony to Canada and to parliament, putting a tragic human face on this horrific situation, including the following: the number of human rights defenders, trade unionists, journalists and other representatives of civil society targeted for assassinations and disappearance is increasing; most of the victims of the political violence are unarmed black, indigenous, Campesino, women, labour and other popular leaders and civilians; and worst of all, there is total impunity for political violence.
I trust that the forthcoming summit—
Foreign Affairs March 14th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, if human security is an organizing principle of Canadian foreign policy, then it is human insecurity which is the most serious dimension of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today including the fear and fact of terrorism and violence, the demonizing of the other, and the harm to children caught in vortex of conflict. Each side sees itself as victim and the other as victimizer.
Accordingly what is required now is a parallel set of confidence building measures by each party for the Israelis to lift the closure, permit normalization of life and adhere to the strictures of the Oslo accord and the Sharm El Sheikh agreements; for the Palestinian authority to cease acts of incitement and violence, combat the terrorist infrastructure, and similarly adhere to the Oslo and Sharm El Sheikh agreements.
In a word, if there is one thing that both Israelis and Palestinians require today, and to which Canada can contribute, it is the restoration of a sense of human security as a prelude, if not condition, to a negotiated peace.
Sri Lanka February 23rd, 2001
Mr. Speaker, Sri Lanka is not only one of the worst of contemporary killing fields, but one of the most tragic in terms of humanitarian consequence.
The indicators are chilling. Over one million internally displaced people with UNHCR have a limited mandate for protection. There are over 12,000 unresolved cases of disappeared persons, second only to Iraq. Both government and LTTE forces have been implicated in a variety of humanitarian abuses, with civilians as target and victim. The UN special rapporteur on violence, who is herself Sri Lankan, has emphasized government complicity by security personnel in sexual violence. UNICEF has expressed concern for child victims of war and denounced the LTTE's use of child soldiers.
Given the above, we should therefore be encouraged by two lesser known developments. First, we are in the second month of an agreed upon and long awaited ceasefire in Sri Lanka and, second, a Quebec coalition for peace in Sri Lanka has been founded by one of my own constituents, which ought to augur well for an enhanced humanitarian sensibility within Quebec and Canada to developments in Sri Lanka.