Jim Karygiannis

[Privilege, October 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my colleague across the way. I have to agree with her that we need to use vigilance and proceed with caution. As we embark on the new legislation in response to what happened on September 11, we have to make sure that the legislation is balanced and reflects what we want to do. We have to make sure that the legislation does not encroach upon civil liberties and our rights.

However I do want to remind the hon. member that it was the government of the day that brought the charter of rights home. It was the Liberal government under our Prime Minister, then the justice minister, that made sure we are now all treated equally and we all respect each other.

I want to ask my colleague if her party will be participating with positive legislation and amendments to the bill if needed versus using party rhetoric, like we have heard from other parties, to make sure that the rights of all citizens are protected.

[Privilege, October 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I have heard all day from the opposition that this is bad, that is bad, this terrorist and that terrorist. They never gave an example of good individuals, people who came to Canada, made an effort and after five or six years were successful. Two of those individuals live in my riding. One is Mr. Anthony Sellarajah who owns Lincare Ltd. and employs 100 people. He came to Canada as a refugee. The other one is Mr. Davood Farouzyan who owns Land Construction and employs about 150 people.

Could my colleague from London West share some positive examples of people coming into Canada?

[Privilege, October 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. Leader of the Opposition referred to FACT. The unfortunate part is he does not know what FACT is made of. He has not visited the offices of FACT or even spoke to the people at FACT.

I would like to lay on the table a couple of facts regarding FACT. I notice the member sitting beside him is also sharing his leader's vision. FACT is a coalition of Canadian citizens. It is located in my riding. The turmoil that the party in opposition put my constituents through last year, especially my Tamil constituents, is a shame.

During its war on FACT as well as its broader war on the community, I had children going to school who were ashamed to say they were Tamils. I had children who were coming home asking if they could change their skin colour. This is what the war of the opposition party created in my riding.

There are four words I am sure that leader and his party will certainly embrace today. Those words are celebrate, accept, respect and embrace. We celebrate our differences in Canada. We accept our neighbours as equals. We respect the people who are coming into our country and most of all we embrace them.

The unfortunate fact is that opposition party did not use those words. It certainly did not demonstrate that when its leader came to the community and put a lot of my constituents' children at risk with its rhetoric last year and the way it is continuing. I am ashamed to hear the same rhetoric today.

My question is for the Leader of the Opposition. When was the last time he first and foremost went to speak to the individuals at FACT? When was the last time he visited the offices of FACT? When was the last time he spoke to the Tamils in my constituency after what their children were put through because of his party's rhetoric?

I am ashamed of the way the opposition is going. Does the hon. Leader of the Opposition really care about those children? Does he accept, celebrate, respect and embrace those children? Certainly not.

[International Actions Against Terrorism, October 15th, 2001]

Mr. Chairman, September 11 was a horrific day that shook the world as we knew it. On that day we all became victims of acts of horrific cruelty aimed at creating upheaval in public order and in all of humanity. The world of today is a world that is totally different from the one we lived in before September 11. The acts of that day were the acts of cowards, acts of cowardice against an unarmed populace.

There are over 5,000 people dead or missing in New York, ground zero. Many countries lost citizens that day. Mothers lost their sons. Fathers lost their daughters. Wives lost their husbands, husbands their wives and children their parents. Hundreds of firemen and police officers responding to the call also lost their lives.

We ask who is at fault. The evidence with which we are presented points to a handful of individuals led by Osama bin Laden and his network of al-Qaeda. Requests to hand over bin Laden were made to the Afghani regime, the Taliban, a regime that oppresses all human rights. It constantly refused to do so. The United Nations has constantly asked for Osama bin Laden to be handed over to face justice and the Taliban regime has constantly refused. Unfortunately, the rest of the world has no option but to exercise other means in order to bring this terrorist to justice.

This is not a struggle of the west versus the east. This is not a fight against Islam. This is a struggle of democracy against terrorism, of freedom against oppression. This is a struggle of all who cherish and respect a life of peace, justice, equality and freedom, against a regime of oppression.

It was not long ago that the Taliban was forcing non-Muslims to wear distinctive clothes in Afghanistan, just like Hitler forced the Jews to wear the Star of David in 1940. The Taliban blew up statues of Buddha that were many centuries old. This outraged the rest of the Muslim world. A few of us spoke up against these acts. However, many stood by and watched.

The struggle is one that requires us to move cautiously in order to have a positive outcome. All of us in the world will have to work together to bring justice to these terrorists. However, we also need vigilance here at home. We need to make sure that our nation stands together, strong and ready to defy these terrorists and their way of thinking. We have to stand shoulder to shoulder, irrespective of sex, religion, colour or creed, to make sure we do not let these terrorists overcome our way of life.

I will at this point examine what the government has done in response to this emergency. I could go on and on. We launched Operation Apollo, deploying 2,000 courageous men and women in the Canadian navy and armed forces in that part of the world. We have Canadian humanitarian aid to the Afghanistan people. We have legal initiatives such as the bill the minister proposed today.

However, I want to speak not about that but about something else. In our country there are those who say that this mess was created by the people, by “immigrants who brought this with them”. At this point, as a member of parliament for one of the most ethnically diverse ridings in Canada, I would like to examine four very simple words: accept, embrace, celebrate and respect. We have to accept each other as Canadians. We have to accept our neighbours, the people down the street, regardless of what country they come from, what language they speak and what they wear. We have to accept them and walk beside them. We have to embrace our fellow Canadians, irrespective of the colour of their skin, what religion they belong to and what church, mosque or gurdwara they attend. We have to celebrate our differences.

Canadians come from different parts of the world. We are all different. In Toronto 57% of the GTA are people who have arrived in the last 50 years. In Toronto 57% of the population consists of distinctive national minorities. We celebrate each other. Walking from one street to another a person can have a Chinese dinner and then top it off with a Greek coffee, or have Hindu food at the Bombay Palace and then have a Turkish coffee up the street.

We must respect each other. It is wrong to simply tolerate people. We must respect each other and ensure that we Canadians live shoulder to shoulder.

There are those who hear these words and understand them and there are those who do not. If they cannot accept the four simple words embrace, celebrate, respect and accept, then they have absolutely no place in our Canadian family. This Canadian family of ours that was built by wave after wave after wave of immigrants does not tolerate people who say it is those coming into Canada who bring terrorism with them. I for one cannot accept that and I will not be a party to it.

I will close with two thoughts from two of my constituents who are of south Asian descent. One is Nuriya Hashimi, who wrote to me:

I hate the bombing that went on in the U. S. of A. I am very upset that so many people suffered in New York.

I hate the Taliban regime and bin Laden. They are using Islam as a reason to oppress people and kill them. Islamic people are not murderers.

I wish to thank U.S.A. and other countries that are trying to help the innocent Afghani people in Afghanistan and in Karachi, in Pakistan.

Another of my constituents, Mrs. Pamela Soodeen, wrote to me:

I strongly believe this important issue must be debated in Parliament. First and foremost Canadians are peacekeepers--we don't go out and make war. Our role in this fight against terrorism should be considered thoughtfully and carefully. I am very concerned about the reports that this fight might go on for decades. What are we letting ourselves in for?

In closing, I want to reiterate those four simple words that I want my colleagues to take with them to their constituents: accept, embrace, celebrate and respect. If we do not have that, we will have what happened in Hamilton, as my colleague said, the burning of a Hindu temple. We cannot afford that. We must accept, embrace, celebrate and respect all Canadians from all walks of life whether they came here yesterday or one or two centuries ago.

Canada, this great country of ours, has four pillars: the two founding nations, French and English; the most ever respected founding nation, the native Indians; and the last and most important pillar which is the engine that keeps our country going today, the immigrants who have come to our country in the last 50 years. They are the people that make Toronto great, the people that make up 57% of the GTA in Toronto, the people of ethnic minorities who have arrived on our shores in the last 50 years.

Those are the people we need to make feel welcome. Those are the people, especially those coming from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Islamic nations, whom we have to reach out to and say that this is not a war against Islam. This is a war against terrorism. We are all in this together. We are fighting terrorism. There are no differences between the two ethnicities or cultures and/or religions.

[Supply, October 2nd, 2001]

Madam Speaker, we live in a country where, as the Prime Minister said, 50% of our population is made up of people who have come here in the last 50 years.

There are four pillars in our community: the founding fathers, the French and the English; the native Canadians; and the pillar in our community which has blossomed over the last 50 years, the people from ethnic minorities, people of visible minorities. These people right now are reaching out to us and saying they are feeling a bit of heat in the comments made toward them. An individual called me today to say he was sent a racist remark by e-mail. He sent it to me. I read it and I was really saddened and mad that somebody had sent this e-mail to my friend.

I am going to ask my friend from the other side of Toronto, my colleague from Mississauga, if he can give us a vision of what he thinks Canada is. Can he give us a vision of what his community is telling him?

In my community, which is one of the most ethnically diverse ridings in Canada, people are telling me that they are here and they are Canadian. They are ready to fight for Canada. They stand united for Canada. It does not matter if they are from Afghanistan, from Pakistan, if they are Christian, Jewish, Hebrew, or Hindu. They are all united in saying that we need to defend Canada and exterminate terrorism.

Could my good friend from the other side of Toronto express what his constituents are telling him?

[Supply, October 2nd, 2001]

Madam Speaker, I listened very carefully to my colleague from across the way and I am a little concerned. He is attempting to portray that certain factions within the Islamic world are very radical.

Having travelled to Pakistan to meet with Pakistani officials as well as the people there, I have to convey to my hon. colleague that a certain element in Pakistan is radical but the majority of the people are as peace loving as most people in the Islamic world.

There is a certain element within the Islamic world that sees itself very fundamentally. I would say less than one percentile of the Islamic world, if it is that high, has a hatred toward the western world and specifically toward our neighbours, the United States of America.

Does the hon. member believe that everyone in Afghanistan and even within the Taliban regime support bin Laden? Does he believe all people in Afghanistan are harbouring bin Laden? Is he of the opinion that we should take revenge on everyone in Afghanistan?

[Supply, September 18th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I commend this side of the House for saying that we want to study this because there are a lot of ramifications. Unfortunately, our friends across the way are using a knee-jerk reaction and bringing forth six points in their motion that need to be studied further.

I came to this country 30 years ago fleeing tyranny. At that time what was happening in my country of origin was seen to be right. It was unfortunate that later on the prime minister of that country, who was in this country as an educator at York University, was also labelled a terrorist. He later became the prime minister of the country. I say to my friends across the way that we should act in caution. We should not try to brand everyone that way.

I have a large Tamil community in my riding. If anyone were to read these points they could say that the whole Tamil community could be linked to terrorism in some form. I say that we must act with due caution.

[Supply, September 18th, 2001]

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The sixth paragraph reads “the detention and deportation to their country of origin of any people illegally in Canada or failed refugee claimants”. My riding of Scarborough--Agincourt has seen wave after wave of immigrants. A lot of the people are here illegally or are in Canada seeking refuge. I have worked with the people as a member of parliament for the last 18 years and have seen them come into Canada as refugees. Today they are prominent Canadians. They are people with businesses. They are people who have what it takes to be Canadian and are taxpaying citizens.

I believe that we must give calm and reasoned thought to what Canada's action should be and even greater thought as to the long term outcome of our actions. The phrase act in haste and repent at leisure is one that we must heed.

The evil perpetrators of the horror represent no community or religion. They stand for evil, nothing less. My colleague made comments about his family and sister in the United States. I too have friends in the United States and share his views. However, in regard to some of the things that are put forward in the motion, I have to ask my colleague through you, Mr. Speaker, how can he stand and support it in view of what his other colleagues are saying?

[Supply, September 18th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague across the way is saying terrorists, and I have to tell you that even if the charges are capital offences, they do not know how to write. Someone has written this down wrong.

[Supply, September 18th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague because his comments were eloquently put and I have to agree with many things that he said. However, I was a little bit disturbed by the previous speaker who was speaking of those of us in North America. I envisioned a wall around North America, but I am wondering about the rest of the people.

I read the motion that has been brought here today. The fifth point mentions “the prompt extradition of foreign nationals charged with acts of terrorism, even if the charges are capital offences”.

I can relate stories of families that came to this country when their children were two or three years old and that, for whatever reason, perhaps ignorance, did not take out citizenship for the children. These children have grown to the ages of 30 or 40 and are committing capital offences. Therefore what we are doing today is exporting these people to the countries they came from even though these kids were raised and educated in Canada.