Mike Morrice

[Petitions, March 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise and present a petition that notes that, whereas the petitioners are Mennonites, Anabaptists and other peace-seeking Christians whose shared values compel them to follow Jesus Christ's model of active peacemaking, they were shocked and horrified by Hamas's brutal attack against Israeli civilians on October 7 and whereas they are heartbroken and horrified by Israel's continuing attacks on Palestinian civilians that have resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, including thousands of children, the petitioners, Mennonites, Anabaptists and Christian citizens or residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to, one, immediately help broker a substantial, permanent, sustained ceasefire; two, help negotiate the release of all hostages; three, halt arms sales to Israel and work with partners to end illegal arms transfers to Hamas; and, four, advocate for diplomacy and a political solution that ends the occupation of Palestine and builds towards dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians.

[Business of Supply, March 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, at a time when the number of people facing catastrophic hunger in the Gaza Strip is now 1.1 million, and at a time when the International Court of Justice has already ruled for the State of Israel to take six immediate steps to avoid acts of genocide, today's motion from the NDP is a critical one to compel the government to align its actions with its so-called calls for a ceasefire. It is why Greens have long supported the calls in today's motion.

I applaud the member for Edmonton Strathcona for her courage in bringing it to the floor of the House. I wonder if she could further comment on how important it is that we move in this critical moment to have Canada take steps to align its calls with that which the ICJ and others around the world have already called for.

[Foreign Affairs, February 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, we are learning that Palestinians in Gaza have been shot and killed while waiting for aid, at a time when the UN reports that at least a quarter of those in Gaza are one step from famine.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International reports that Israel has failed to comply with the ICJ ruling requiring it to take immediate steps to prevent genocide, including allowing humanitarian aid in.

In light of this, when will the government reinstate UNRWA funding, which millions of Palestinians rely on for food, and call on Israel to follow the ICJ ruling?

[Housing, February 28th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is another day and another renoviction in my community. This time it is folks at 250 Frederick Street in Kitchener who are being made to fear that they will be on the street if they do not vacate their unit by May 31. Folks who pay around $1,000 a month in rent can go online and see fake pictures of units in their own building being posted for rents starting at $1,800, while others are being pressured into signing new leases at the higher amounts. Bad faith landlords are taking advantage of people across the country because there is no where else for them to go.

After three decades of underinvestment, social housing stock is down to 3%. The federal government must show that it is prepared to at least double social housing across the country.

In the meantime, I send my thanks to ACORN Canada and the Social Development Centre Waterloo Region for organizing folks at 250 Frederick Street. By sticking together, they can stand up to their landlord and fight to keep their housing. Local organizations are doing their part. It is past the time for the federal government to do its part.

[Foreign Affairs, February 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, all parliamentarians of the House have been calling for hostages to be released since October 7. It took the government months to even say the word “ceasefire”. Now, when it is finally able to, it is not understanding that it is not time to play politics and that it needs to align its actions with its calls for a ceasefire.

I will ask it again: If the government is serious about a ceasefire, when will it get serious about re-funding UNRWA, about calling for Israel to follow the decision of the ICJ, and about not being complicit but ending all military exports destined for Israel?

[Foreign Affairs, February 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, as a humanitarian catastrophe continues to unfold in Gaza, I rise tonight to follow up on the many times I have called for the government to advocate for a ceasefire, beginning on October 8 and repeating numerous times in the House in the weeks after.

After months of pressure from Arab, Muslim and Palestinian Canadians across the country, the government's position on a ceasefire changed at the UN just before the holidays. Then, various ministers and the Prime Minister began to finally say the word “ceasefire” in recent months. This pressure included protests, sit-ins, meetings with MPs, Muslim donors revoking their financial support and the National Council of Canadian Muslims turning down a scheduled in-person meeting with the Prime Minister last month. While it never should have taken months to simply call for a ceasefire, the government's changed position made it clear that people power has an impact.

In the meantime, it is worsening. Since October 7, almost 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including at least 10,000 children. What makes no sense at all is how the government claims to support a ceasefire, but is not taking positions that would align with that call. The government must, at the very least, align its actions with its call for a ceasefire. With the limited time I have tonight, I would like to give three examples.

First, it must refund the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA for short. Last week, the Minister of International Development was at the Rafah gates calling for a ceasefire with a supposed concern about aid not getting into Gaza, yet he is the minister responsible for defunding UNRWA. Two million people in Gaza rely on UNRWA for life-saving humanitarian aid, including food, water and medicine. This was cut after 12 employees out of 13,000 were alleged to be associated with Hamas. All 12 of them have been fired, and the CBC has reported that these claims were made by Israel without any supporting evidence. If the government is serious about a ceasefire, UNRWA must be re-funded.

Second, if it is serious about a ceasefire, it must also call for Israel to follow the International Court of Justice ruling calling for six steps to be taken to prevent genocide. Now that it has been over a month since the ruling, Amnesty International has made it clear that Israel has failed to take even the bare minimum steps to comply with the ruling. Canada is a signatory to the genocide convention, so we are bound by this ICJ decision. In other jurisdictions around the world, Ukraine for example, Canada is vocal in calling for a rules-based order to be followed. Why is it not doing so when it comes to what may be a genocide in Gaza?

Finally, if it is serious about a ceasefire, the government must end the permitting of military equipment destined for Israel. Global Affairs has revealed that the government has authorized at least $28.5 million of new permits for military exports to Israel since October 7. A coalition of legal advocates has warned that it is ready to bring a legal challenge against the federal government if it has failed to halt military sales to Israel. A coalition of civil society organizations, including Human Rights Watch, KAIROS and the Mennonite Central Committee Canada, have called for the same.

My question for the parliamentary secretary is this: If the government claims to finally be in support of a ceasefire, why is it not taking actions that would align with that, such as re-funding UNRWA, calling for Israel to follow the ICJ decision and ending all military exports destined for Israel?

[Petitions, February 26th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise to present a petition on behalf of folks across Waterloo Region, who are calling upon the House of Commons to demand an immediate ceasefire in what they call the Israel-Palestine conflict. They also call for Israel to lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip and authorize the creation of a humanitarian corridor and emergency humanitarian intervention. They want the House to call for Israel to meet its commitments under the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law. They want the House to call for all measures necessary to protect civilian life, both Israeli and Palestinian, and to help foster a climate conducive to building a lasting peace.

[Government Business No. 35—Extension of Sitting Hours and Conduct of Extended Proceedings, February 26th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Greens, like the members of the NDP, are certainly here to work. We are happy to stay late to move forward with the business of Canadians and their priorities.

I would like to put to the government House leader two examples of those.

First, the member knows, as do all members, that Canadians with disabilities across the country continue to live in legislated poverty. The government has committed to the Canada disability benefit for many years. With this extra time, does that mean we are going to see the Canada disability benefit funded with expediency?

Second, as the member spoke about protecting our environment from the catastrophic effects of climate change, he likely knows that a climate no-brainer starting point is to give folks an incentive to retrofit their homes. There is a program that has been in place for 20 years in Ontario, called the greener homes grant. Ontarians are no longer eligible to apply for it right now.

As a result of the extra time we are going to have here, will we be moving forward with significant measures to address the climate crisis, with the replenishment and expansion of the greener homes grant being an example of that?

[Foreign Affairs, February 14th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as the parliamentary secretary knows, there is no agreed-upon definition of the term “non-lethal equipment”. However, I can share what Global Affairs shared with The Maple on its ATIP request during the first two months of the war in Gaza. GAC issued permits worth a total of $18.4 million that covered military items categorized as electronic equipment, $9.2 million more for aircraft, lighter-than-air aircraft. The list goes on and on.

If we can have a reasonable conversation to be clear that these are the permits that GAC has made clear have been issued, if that is the case, and it is the case, in light of the ICJ decision, in light of our own Export and Import Permits Act, when will the Liberal government, along with other important calls that it has made, as has been shared this evening, end all permits for military equipment to the State of Israel?

[Foreign Affairs, February 14th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago I rose to press the Prime Minister on placing an embargo on military exports to Israel, and tonight I rise again, as the situation has only become more dire.

Let me restate where we are. Since October 7, over 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including at least 10,000 children. As the siege has continued, back in January the International Court of Justice published a decision calling on the state of Israel to take six steps to prevent genocide in its siege on Gaza. Canada is a signatory to the genocide convention, so we are bound by this ICJ decision. In the meantime, Canada has continued to export military equipment to the state of Israel.

When I first asked the question, I shared that in the most recent year we have records for, 2022, Canada permitted sales of more than $20 million of military equipment to Israel, which followed a record high of $26 million in 2021. In the time since, an access to information and privacy request by The Maple to Global Affairs has revealed that the government authorized at least $28.5 million of new permits for military exports to Israel during the first two months of this siege on Gaza.

Various ministers have denied in the media that this is the case, so I wonder if it might be the wording they are speaking about. As an example, Israel has used F-35 fighter jets in its bombing of Gaza, and Project Ploughshares, on January 18, warned that some Canadian-made military components, including those found in F-35s, are first shipped to the U.S. and then ultimately supplied to the Israeli military. They are destined for Israel all the same, even if it is through other countries.

Now, we have our own laws that forbid these permits. Section 7.3 of our own Export and Import Permits Act forbids these sales if there is a substantial risk they could be used to violate international humanitarian or human rights law, or for serious acts of violence against women and children.

In light of this, last month a coalition of legal advocates warned that it may bring a legal challenge against the federal government if it fails to halt military sales to Israel. Last week, a coalition of civil society organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Independent Jewish Voices Canada, Mennonite Central Committee Canada and The United Church of Canada, called on the government to stop military exports to Israel, warning, “There is substantial concern that some of these weapons could be enabling Israel’s operation in Gaza.”

As we speak tonight, Netanyahu has vowed an offensive in Rafah, the last refuge for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza. A WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank said an assault on Rafah would be “an unfathomable catastrophe…and would even further expand the humanitarian disaster beyond imagination”.

In the midst of all this, Canada must be clear. Greens have called for the government to unequivocally call for a lasting ceasefire, for a release of all hostages, for funding to be renewed to UNRWA and for an end to all permitting of military equipment destined for Israel.

I ask again tonight, at a time when we know Canada has permitted more than $28 million of military equipment destined for Israel in recent months, when the ICJ has ordered Israel to take steps to prevent genocide and when our own laws forbids these sales if the equipment could be used to break international law, will the government put in place an embargo on military exports destined for Israel?