Maria Mourani

[Housing, November 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of State for Social Development misled the House by suggesting that housing co-operatives will be able to provide long-term subsidies after their agreement expires. However, that is not the case.

What is more, according to the minister, funds were supposedly transferred to the provinces to maintain funding for affordable housing after the agreements expire. The housing co-operatives do not know what the minister is talking about.

Can she tell us how much money was transferred to save affordable, co-operative housing?

[Housing, November 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, a group of people and social leaders from Ahuntsic are calling for 1,000 affordable housing units to be created in the next 10 years, and rightly so.

Many of the current affordable housing units are in jeopardy because agreements with the federal government are coming to an end. By 2016, 100,000 housing units in Canada will lose their financial support, and that includes many in Ahuntsic.

Does the government understand that it needs to reverse its decision and renew these agreements?

[International Development, November 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, at the October 28 Berlin conference on regional instability caused by the conflict in Syria, 40 participating nations, including Canada, recognized the importance of increasing humanitarian support inside Syria.

Lebanon, which has close to four million inhabitants, is currently playing host to over one million displaced Syrians.

In the spirit of the Berlin communiqué, will Canada soon increase its humanitarian aid inside Syria in keeping with resolutions 2139 and 2165? When the time comes, will Canada support efforts to resettle those who have been displaced?

[Public Safety, November 19th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, following the attack in Parliament and the events that took place in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, which resulted in the death of two soldiers, the RCMP clearly stated that it needs resources to do its work.

The government has to stop hiding behind the RCMP by saying that it is already doing prevention. The RCMP is doing excellent work, but it is not necessarily its job to do prevention. The RCMP can do prevention, but it does repression.

There are organizations dedicated to prevention, but they do not have the means to do their work. The government invested in prevention to address street gang activity, and now it has to invest specifically in a prevention agenda for youth. Now is the time to do that. The government must not wait until other youth become radicalized.

[Public Safety, November 19th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising during this adjournment debate to talk about a question I asked the Minister of Public Safety regarding the violent radicalization of young Canadians to Islam and regarding what he could do in terms of prevention. I told him that a specific budget was needed to address this phenomenon, which is becoming increasingly common in our society.

According to a very recent 2014 report from the Department of Public Safety, the government knew that there were 130 individuals with Canadian connections who were abroad and who were suspected of terrorism-related activities. Syria is unfortunately the main destination of extremist travellers, as they are called. The report estimated that there were more than 6,000 of these people in Syria, including nearly 30 individuals who were apparently from Canada. Those are conservative figures. These individuals can also be found in Somalia, Algeria and, particularly, in Iraq. The government apparently knew that about 93 people had returned to Canada after travelling abroad for various terrorism-related reasons. This situation is very worrisome.

The government introduced a bill about terrorism. We have also seen government policies and bills on dual citizenship. I would like to talk about a young person whose mother I have been speaking to. I have had a number of conversations with her, and I will likely have more. This mother, a good person, a Canadian, had a son named Damian Clairmont, 22, who was born in Nova Scotia into a francophone Catholic family of Acadian heritage. His family moved to Calgary when he was seven. He had anxiety and identity problems and converted to Islam. At the beginning, everything was normal. He was very comfortable in the faith. Then he became radicalized. He went to Syria and was reportedly killed while fighting in Aleppo. This young man is an example, a tragedy. We are seeing this more and more. For example, there are the Gordon brothers and many other young people. What is tragic is that the bills being introduced will not do anything to change the situation. Damian Clairmont is Acadian. He does not even have dual citizenship. This kind of bill will not change his mother's life. What victims want, what the families of these young people want, are prevention programs. This woman is fighting for programs that will help other families and other young people. That is what I am asking of the government: a program with a budget so that we can work on prevention with families and young people.

[Rail Transportation, October 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, today the Minister of Transport announced new safety measures for rail transportation. There was nothing about creating a minimum distance between railways and the construction of new buildings.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities recognizes the problem and made recommendations in 2013, but it does not have the authority to establish mandatory standards.

What is the government waiting for to take action and to establish a standard for a minimum distance between the construction of new buildings and railway tracks in Canada?

[Health, October 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, more and more Canadians are concerned about radio frequency emissions. The fact that Canada, like the United States, has the lowest safety standards of the industrialized countries is worrisome.

Why does the government not follow Switzerland's example and adopt stricter radio frequency standards just to be on the safe side?

[Public Safety, October 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Safety claimed in the House that the RCMP had hundreds—yes, hundreds—of programs to prevent violent radicalization.

In fact, there are programs to prevent people from joining street gangs, but not to prevent violent radicalization.

Can the government commit to creating and providing a budget for programs to prevent violent radicalization, which will make it possible to take appropriate action when young people are flagged?

[Youth Prevention, October 23rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the recent attacks on soldiers and the attack on Parliament yesterday raise many questions.

Investigations are under way, of course. However, we already know that the perpetrators were known to the authorities. Their passports had even been taken away to prevent them from fighting abroad with jihadist groups.

While our intelligence agencies and our police forces are equipped to deal with well-organized terrorist groups, they cannot deal with this kind of terrorism alone. Evil is striking our country and the western world: youths with no direction who are being brainwashed by jihadist propaganda every day. This kind of terrorism attacks the conscience of vulnerable young people.

We must therefore put in place prevention programs, with specific budgets, that address the violent radicalization of young people and make it possible to intervene when tips on those young people are received.

[Ministerial Statements, October 23rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking all my colleagues for giving me the opportunity to speak for a few minutes.

One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night. Those are the words of poet Kahlil Gibran. Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and Corporal Nathan Cirillo were murdered, and let us not forget that a third soldier was wounded. They embody one of our institutions dedicated to defending our freedom and democracy. Our thoughts are with their families. They will not be forgotten.

Our eternal gratitude also goes out to the women and men who kept everyone in the House of Commons safe. A man tasked with providing that security told me one day that his role was to protect us all even at the risk of his own life. Yesterday, Mr. Vickers, you and your team were true to your word. Thank you.

Evil is striking our country and its vulnerable youth, whose minds are being poisoned daily by jihadist ideologues who blithely prey on our young people on the Internet. This type of terrorism assails the conscience of vulnerable youth that have lost their way. We must combat this with love and prevention and by defending the right to freedom, democracy, and individual rights. We must not lose our way and attack individual freedoms out of fear and turning inward.

Today, I see that we can rise above our challenges when we want to. Let us all work together with this same solidarity and love that I am feeling in the House today. Let us work together to help these young people resist the pull of these groups, to help our youth and our country.