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House Hansard - 12

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 7, 2021 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 12 - Dec/7/21
Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)
  • Dec/7/21 1:49:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, one issue that I worked on, and I know other members have been working on it as well, for the last six years is with respect to the creation of a special program to help the religious minority communities that face severe persecution in Afghanistan. We have been calling for that for six years. Sadly, the government did not act and, in many respects, it is now too late for many of those people. It is very disappointing. I wonder if the member can comment specifically on the situation of those minority communities that could have been helped, but were not helped.
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Context: House Hansard - 12 - Dec/7/21
Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)
  • Dec/7/21 2:02:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the House, I have worked extensively on international human rights issues, but nowadays, I see many stories from Canada suggesting that we are a country in need of intervention. One recent story that got my attention was from Timothy Que, a 16-year-old who attends Eric Hamber Secondary School in Vancouver. Timothy tried to start a Catholic club, a voluntary association of students who get together to discuss Catholic ideas, but administrators forbade him from sharing Catholic teaching at the club, even with students who chose to attend the meetings. This is a shameful violation of freedom of association, but it is one small drop in a growing sea. Religious services have faced pandemic-related restrictions that have not been applied to casinos. Government is proposing criminal charges for people who express certain personal or religious views in private conversations. The Liberal platform promised another ideological values test imposed on charities. Dozens of churches were destroyed or vandalized this summer with virtually no comment from political leaders. If these events were happening in another country, I know that Canada would not be silent. I hope more members of Parliament resist the populist pressure to clamp down on minority opinions and instead defend freedom of speech, association and religion as they are protected in our charter.
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