Lise St-Denis

[Employment Insurance, November 26th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Mattawin adventure centre located in Trois-Rives, in the Mauricie region, is asking us whether qualified seasonal employees will be required to leave the centre to accept other jobs now that Bill C-38 has passed. We are still waiting for answers to give to these tourism stakeholders.

Can the minister responsible rise today and reassure the seasonal employers targeted by this change to employment insurance?

[Children and Poverty, November 23rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, this week we commemorated the UN's adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. The fact is that many children in this country still do not have access to the resources they require for their physical and intellectual development.

Canada has virtually unlimited material resources, and yet it struggles to provide children in our communities with the tools they need for their education and their well-being. Our country is very fortunate, and we therefore have a moral obligation to, at the very least, provide our children with what they need for their personal development.

The lack of water, food, clothing and housing in some communities is unjustifiable in light of our means, and we in this House must find solutions. We speak on behalf of the thousands of Canadian children who live below the—

[Bullying, November 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, bullying in schools has become a cause for concern to all Canadians. Many examples of violence against children have made newspaper headlines in recent years. We are experiencing a profound change in social codes associated with new technologies and modern means of communication. We can no longer put our heads in the sand and claim ignorance of these violent incidents affecting most of our communities.

We no longer live in isolation, but rather in an open world receptive to ideas, fashions and trends from around the world. This globalization of our relationships has sometimes happy, sometimes disastrous consequences for citizens, particularly children. We offer our children a world full of promise, but we have so little control over the flow of information conveyed through all the social media that have now become our standard means of expression.

Having been a teacher for three decades, I can attest to the tremendous transformation that has occurred in social relations among students at educational institutions since the early 1960s. Our world has changed at a dizzying pace, and we have not had time to reflect on the kinds of relations we maintain among ourselves. Young people are often placed in unavoidable situations at school since school is a fertile ground for experimentation of all kinds.

In recent years, we have made room for all these social communication networks, which have gradually broken down social structures and forms of communication, even at our educational institutions. Our duty today is to consider the various forms that bullying can take and the dangers stalking youth who are in constant contact with new information technologies. Even as adults we are not immune to abuse. One need only read the social media every day to agree that defamation, verbal abuse and insults abound in these 21st century forums.

I was particularly shocked to see that violence against young girls, in the form of bullying, is on the rise and that its consequences are disastrous to say the least. Verbal abuse, physical abuse, threats, extortion, defamatory remarks and racial and sexual insults are part of the everyday lives of thousands of young Canadians. How can we stem the flow of these reprehensible acts in educational institutions without creating repressive, sectarian "reform" schools?

This debate has reached all levels of society and has left no one indifferent. Children have too often been forgotten in our society, and since we must look for solutions to address this insidious violence spreading through our schools, we must have the courage to consider the sources of that violence.

I am one of those people who believes in education, having worked in that field for decades. When I taught, I always tried to put my students above all other concerns so they could be the centre of my educational activity. They were my purpose. In facing the threat that bullying represents, we must join forces and set our political stripes aside. We must raise the debate above our usual partisan politics so that we can understand the sources and causes of all this violence. We must make children the Canadian government's priority. Together we must look for solutions to the violence undermining our societies.

Violence is committed against children on aboriginal reserves, in French-Canadian villages, in Ontario, in British Columbia and across Canada.

Bullying is one form of violence against children, but make no mistake: violence has a thousand other faces and expressions.

The fact that we lack the courage to help children who suffer from hunger or a lack of education or who do not have access to decent housing is reflected, among other things, in this deterioration in relations among young people.

Our actions will be an utter waste of time if we are incapable of examining the origin of all this violence. We have abandoned our children. We had a world full of promise. We rethought our education system. We rebuilt our infrastructure. We redesigned Canada but forgot the most disadvantaged among us, those who have no voice.

Our duty is to address the issue of bullying so that today's children can know a world where there is no violence in their schoolyard, their classroom or their now-global village.

In this deterioration in relations among young people, I beg my colleagues to see the truth about the place we give the children of our country. We have ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, believing in humanist principles that abhor violence and asserting fundamental rights such as the right to education and to protection.

We have belonged to all the forums that have asserted children's right to dignity and respect. We have been at the forefront in standing up for the rights of the most disadvantaged around the world, but have we failed in that task in our own communities?

Development inevitably depends on respect for fundamental rights. These principles, which are entrenched in Canada's charter, must guide us in developing policies on children's rights.

We have unfortunately gone back to square one for thousands of children in Canada who experience violence every day in the form of bullying, but also in the form of hunger and too often in a lack of decent housing or educational resources. The right to life, health and education can only be expressed through our common will to include our children in our social and economic development actions.

We are at the dawn of other major social changes, and Canada must remain an example of respect for human rights. Every form of violence finds its source in imbalance, whatever it may be. Our desire to succeed must not make us forget our primary responsibility toward our children.

While violence today is made manifest through modern technology, it still finds its source in the individual injuries of these children who are forgotten, mistreated, dispossessed and destitute. It is up to us to make room for children.

Today my colleague is moving a motion to strike a special House committee responsible for developing a national bullying prevention strategy.

The Liberal Party supports that motion.

[Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, November 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like my colleague to explain why supporting free trade is regressive.

[Forestry Industry, November 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, today, Resolute Forest Products announced that it is shutting down paper machine No. 10 and thereby cutting 111 jobs at its plant in Grand-Mère and hundreds of indirect jobs in Mauricie.

This announcement once again shows the federal government's lack of commitment to Canada's forestry industry.

When will we see investments to help revitalize the forestry industry?

[Ethics, October 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the most recent revelations about the member from Labrador's election campaign irregularities have undermined the confidence of Canadians in our institutions. Today we are asking the leader of the current government to comment on the probity of amounts that were not disclosed to Elections Canada during this campaign.

We want to know if the government plans on relieving the member of his ministerial duties, given his statements about this matter.

[Petitions, October 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, today I wish to present five petitions signed by Canadians from several provinces who are calling on the government to reverse its decision to close down the Experimental Lakes Area, in order to protect aquatic ecosystems.

Need I add that that program has allowed scientists to gather data after monitoring fresh water in Canada and that the research conducted in the Experimental Lakes Area has earned international recognition?

[Job and Growth Act, 2012, October 25th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague said that our waters are clear and that our country's rivers are among the cleanest in the world.

Does my colleague agree that if that is the case and that is what we have achieved, perhaps it is because we had strong environmental regulations and we enforced them?

[Petitions, October 25th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present a petition initiated by Mouvement action-chômage in the Les Chenaux RCM in my riding, Saint-Maurice—Champlain.

This certified petition, addressed to the Government of Canada, expresses the petitioners' objection to the notion of “suitable employment” defined in Bill C-38, regarding employment insurance.

[Public Transit, October 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is now easier for people in need in Shawinigan to access public transit services.

Transport solidaire, an initiative of Shawinigan's community development corporation and food security committee, gives underprivileged individuals free access to public transit in the city. The founding organizations of Transport solidaire provide bus passes to those in need, to help these people access to the things they need, such as food, health care or employment agencies. Transport solidaire tries to help the poorest members of society participate more fully in society by offering free transportation so they can go about their everyday activities.

I would like to celebrate the initiative of the people of Shawinigan who are working tirelessly to eradicate social disparities.