International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also would like to thank the members of the committee for having invited us to address them this morning. On behalf of the 3 million members of the Canadian Labour Congress, I want to thank the committee for the opportunity to present our views on the im

Canadian Heritage committee  First of all, I think that if you look at the constitutions and policies of any union affiliated with the CLC, you'll see that we all have very clear statements.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't think there is any union meeting held at which we don't read the statement right up front. We have a statement on harassment and discrimination, such that if anyone experiences it in any form, within the union there is a process for them to bring that forward, along with

Canadian Heritage committee  We do too.

Canadian Heritage committee  The word is quite simple. It's respect. As long as it's respectful, you can have those debates and those criticisms.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think we should stay away from talking about definitions. Islamophobia is a very simple term. The Greek part is “phobia”. It means fear. Islam...I think everybody gets that. Anything that is against Islam, that is anti-Islam, is Islamophobia. If anybody's using that to justify

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, I don't think we should really get into that kind of a debate, because who does it profit to say we're going to simply throw it out because it says everything?

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, then, I repeat, you're saying “this definition”. Someone tried to define it, and that's where you're getting into the problem. Stop trying to define what it is, because then you get into a debate in which all of a sudden some people can say it's nothing. If anyone who is

Canadian Heritage committee  Let me talk about harassment and discrimination. One of the fundamental notions of harassment is this: it is not the person who is doing the harassing, but the person who has been impacted by the harassment. If someone says it's Islamophobia and they feel they have been discrim

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to the standing committee for your invitation. The Canadian Labour Congress is the largest labour organization in Canada, with 56 affiliated Canadian and international unions, provincial federations of labour, and regional labour councils. The