Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, unfortunately I am not on that committee. I am giving this speech because I am very pro accessibility and I approve of Bill C-81. I like the way that it is written. Of course, there is always room for improvement. Therefore, I am hoping that we can accept some input

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, obviously the Government of Canada is limited in what it is able to do at all levels to completely change the way things work in Canada. However, this is a great first step to improving accessibility and removing barriers for people with disabilities. Having worked

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, once again, it is really important to make sure that they are involved at all levels of the process. It would obviously be somewhat of a conflict of interest if they were involved in actually implementing it. The people who are making the decisions cannot necessarily

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, groups of women across the country are not just calling for gender equality. They are also providing essential services and working to make changes for women in their communities every day. However, these organizations need resources to continue their essential work.

Women's History Month  Mr. Speaker, this October, we celebrate Women's History Month. It is a time to honour the women and girls who have made a lasting impact as pioneers paving the way for future generations of trailblazers, leaders and innovators. Although it is important to recognize the success s

Oxi Day  Mr. Speaker, on October 28, Hellenic communities across Canada and around the world will come together to celebrate Oxi Day. On the night of October 28, 1940, the then prime minister of Greece, Ioannis Metaxas, was given an ultimatum by Benito Mussolini: give Italy free passage

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, Sunday was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. November 25 also marked the beginning of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. Statistics show that women and girls are more likely to suffer many forms of gender-based

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, one of the first things our government did after it was elected was announce the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. In its interim report, the national inquiry highlighted the need to fund commemoration activities to help honour t

Bullying  Mr. Speaker, bullying is a serious problem in our schools and workplaces, as well as at home and online. As a teacher, I have seen the effects of bullying first-hand. While one might think that for most kids recess and lunch are their favourite times of the day, kids who are bul

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, every 17 minutes today, CALACS francophone d'Ottawa is sharing sexual assault survivors' stories as a reminder that a woman is sexually assaulted every 17 minutes in Canada. The strength and resilience of survivors have led to a renewed commitment to end gender-base

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, this being my first time speaking in the House in the 43rd Parliament, I want to thank my constituents in Saint-Laurent for trusting me to represent them in the House for a second term. I thank all my constituents in Saint-Laurent, all the volunteers who helped with

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, it is an honour for me to rise in the House today to speak to the Speech from the Throne. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I will be splitting my time with the member for Scarborough Centre. I spent the past five months in the beautiful riding of Saint-L

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, we have already committed to investing $40 billion for the national housing strategy. That money will begin to be available as of January 2020. We are extremely excited that money will finally be going into this program in order to start building affordable housing

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, yes, we know that a lot more needs to be done in order to tackle the opioid crisis and that not enough has been done up until now, but we have invested millions of dollars to help with this crisis. We made help available in some of the big city centres, and with ph

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, I am willing to work alongside the member for Vancouver East in order to look for strategies to help improve these issues in society. I will also be speaking to the ministers who are responsible for these files in order to try to push this along and help.