44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 24, 2022 11:00AM
Mr. Speaker, today we are talking about making it easier to reunite families in Canada. After almost three years of families across the world being unable to travel to visit each other, there seems to be no better time than right now to be having this debate. Families have missed weddings, funerals, births and so many important life events that build the fabric of a family and a community. As Canada moves forward post-COVID, we are and will be addressing the most challenging physical and mental health crises of our lifetime. Having family around is a core component of a happy, healthy recovery.
Women have carried a disproportionate burden through COVID-19 because they make up the majority of health care, education and child care workers. They have also borne the burden of additional non-paid work, invisible work, by taking on a disproportionate amount of home schooling, family care, elder care and volunteering. They need the support that comes with family reunification now more than ever.
Invisible work is an integral part of the economy, and it is time to acknowledge the size of this invisible workforce and its value. In Canada, invisible work equates to $350 billion per year. That is 16% of the country's GDP. The people who take on invisible work are invaluable. As a government, we must recognize it in our words, measure it in our economy and adopt policies to value it. This bill is a step toward addressing that.
Before I go further, I want to take a moment to recognize that gender equality—
264 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/24/22 2:33:02 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I think we should deal in facts. Most of the G7 countries have higher inflation rates than Canada does, and that opposition supported almost all of the COVID supports they are speaking to.
As I said, more than 80% of Canadian families get more money back than they pay in the price on pollution. We are investing a quarter of a billion dollars to help families reduce their heating costs, through the implementation of things such as heat pumps, and address the climate crisis we face concurrently.
It is important to know that one has to have a plan, both for affordability and the economy, but one also needs a plan to fight climate change.
117 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/24/22 4:13:10 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, the next petition is from Canadians from coast to coast who are concerned about the government's overreach during the times of COVID. They are asking for an end to all COVID-19 mandates, for everyone who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 mandates to be reinstated in their jobs and a return to prepandemic life.
59 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/24/22 8:26:30 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I hope I am audible with the microphones here. I know my voice is gone. I do not have COVID. I tested negative, but I am here to speak to the motion the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan brought forth.
This is an important debate and, I would suggest, a preview of what we will be seeing on Wednesday and in December when we will be discussing my own motion, which is Motion No. 62. It relates to resettlement and calls upon the Government of Canada to resettle 10,000 Uighur here in our country to provide safe refuge as of 2024.
My motion calls for us as a country to welcome 10,000 from third countries, not from within China but Uighur people and other Turkic minorities who are living in, for example, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and many different countries around the world. Why? It is for the exact reason we in this House have said: They are suffering a genocide. Not only are we saying this today, but we said it in this House on February 22, 2021. We were unanimous in saying so. We spoke with one voice, and I would like us again to speak with one voice, not only here today and now but also this coming Wednesday and again when we speak in December on this exact same thing.
We are all from different political families, and we posture, position and angle in different ways in order to get our sound bite, our headline in the newspaper and our quotes, but this issue is an issue of grave importance. It is one in which we should be united, moving together in one direction. It is an issue of genocide, not only the political rhetoric of genocide but the legal definition of genocide. This has been the opinion of legal scholars and of a people's tribunal, and this is the opinion of this House.
The genocide convention of 1951 was brought into force after World War II, after the Holocaust when there was an attempt to wipe out a people. We, as an international community said never again and that we would not allow this kind of behaviour to exist on the face of our earth, but it is happening right now.
Legally, what does genocide mean? It means that there is an “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. They do not have to do it, but they have to intend to do it. There are five enumerated aspects of this legal definition. It includes killing members of the group. It includes causing serious bodily harm. It includes inflicting conditions on a group calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, such as imposing measures to prevent births and forcibly transferring children of the group out of their group to another group.
Jurists have said that what is happening to the Uighur people meets all five aspects of the genocide convention. The people's tribunal, though, said specifically that, while it did not determine on all five aspects, the forced sterilizations were genocidal in intent. We heard from other members previously who talked about forced sterilizations. We heard their impact on the reduction of births in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region.
Thus, it is incumbent upon us in this House to speak with one voice. I would ask that members put aside the partisan angling and the jockeying, and move with one force. It is important for us as a country to have a single thrust on this issue. If we are able to do that, we can and we will, hopefully, resettle at least 10,000, if not more, Uighurs.
However, if we are going to posture and position while we are having these important debates, then we will find that our energy is not focused in one direction. Instead of fighting to save people, we are fighting ourselves. There is no dignity or respect in that. There is no honour in that. It is something that we should be ashamed of. This is a moment for us to save lives. Let us do it. Let us speak with one voice. Let us encourage each other to do it.
As we are going to enter this debate on Wednesday, I ask that people reflect on this. If we actually want to have strength as a country in terms of resettling people here, we are not dealing with a small opponent or a small country that is committing genocide. We are dealing with a juggernaut of a nation. If we hope to put a dent in that genocide, then we must move together as a single hand and not as open digits.
Where are we at right now? We are at a time of reflection. We have two days to see how we will create our next speeches, what positions we will take and how we will debate the motion that I bring forth on Wednesday. I hope, expect and believe that we will move together as one.
There are so many human rights cases on the face of this earth, which is not to say that we should not speak to them openly and publicly, but we have an opportunity right now to make an impact. Sometimes we have to focus to get success, and that is what we are doing on Wednesday. We are going to focus. I ask us to focus so that we can get success and bring this thing home. If we do speak with one voice, our government will listen. It will make it more likely for our government to listen if we do speak with one clear voice.
We heard about Michelle Bachelet's report, which said that the allegations of the Uighur people were well founded and that they may amount to international crimes, including crimes against humanity. We know that our country's responsibility to protect is engaged not only when we have established that crimes against humanity are occurring, but when there is the possibility of crimes against humanity occurring. This is what Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, actually said: that there may be crimes against humanity. Therefore, our responsibility to protect is engaged. This motion allows us to fulfill that responsibility in part, not in whole but in part.
To conclude, let us move together as one force so that we can have success in this. For those who are listening, I ask them to bring this to their colleagues to reflect on it personally and to come back on Wednesday with some gusto and a united front.
1120 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
