44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 24, 2022 11:00AM
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of this government's work and the announcement last Friday that, for the first time, a national handgun freeze is being introduced. This is a very good thing and a significant step in the right direction.
I want to thank my colleague for her co‑operation on Bill C-21. As for borders, we will continue to invest in adding resources to stop illegal weapons trafficking.
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- Oct/24/22 2:38:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government itself says that handguns were the most common type of weapon used in violent crimes between 2009 and 2020. It is right, except that the handguns that were used in the crimes they are talking about are illegal guns. Those guns were obtained on the black market, not purchased at the hardware store.
We support the government's freeze on legal weapons. Now, when will it step up its fight against the trafficking of illegal weapons, the ones that have been most used in violent crimes since 2009?
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- Oct/24/22 4:01:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure working with my colleague from Peace River—Westlock. I know the issues around forced labour and human trafficking are ones that he has worked on for as long as he has been in this place as well.
This is an issue that has been going on for decades. There was a detailed report done on it by David Matas and the late David Kilgour, two Canadians revealing the prevalence of forced organ harvesting in particular, as part of a system set up, sadly, by the Chinese Communist Party. Other countries have responded to this information by adopting legislation to combat organ harvesting and trafficking, yet Canada, even though it was Canadians who revealed this, has been behind in adopting such legislation.
Let us recognize the legacy of these Canadians who unveiled this information and finally adopt legislation to move forward in playing our part in combatting forced organ harvesting and trafficking.
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- Oct/24/22 4:06:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have the honour to table a petition about Bill S‑223, a bill that seeks to combat trafficking in human organs.
This bill has appeared in various forms in the House of Commons over the past 15 years at least, and I think we need to pass it. This petition urges us to pass Bill S‑223 as quickly as possible.
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- Oct/24/22 4:08:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am tabling this petition in support of Bill S‑223, which seeks to combat trafficking in human organs. This bill has been debated in the House for almost 15 years now in various forms. The petitioners would like us to debate and pass Bill S‑223 as quickly as possible.
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Madam Speaker, I will table my last petition on forced organ harvesting and trafficking in support of Bill S-223. This bill would make it a criminal offence for persons to go abroad and receive an organ taken without consent.
It has been before the House in various forms for 15 years and petitioners are hopeful this Parliament will be the one that gets it done.
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- Oct/24/22 7:41:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Jonquière for his speech. I would like to make a comment rather than ask a question.
This evening's debate brings two things to mind. I am a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. Of course, the committee talked about the Uighurs. The fact that this group of people is being subjected to modern slavery in this day and age disturbs me.
As the status of women critic, I will end on a much more personal note. As my colleague said, when women are being subjected to forced sterilization, that is a sure sign of a desire to annihilate a group of people. When things get to that point, economic considerations stop mattering and humanitarian considerations take over. That is our role as parliamentarians. It is our duty, as a member of the international community, to take action rather than merely express good intentions. It is time to take action.
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- Oct/24/22 9:09:16 p.m.
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Oh boy, do I ever, Mr. Speaker. I think I would need a whole other speech just to address that.
What I would point out is that there is currently a bill in front of the foreign affairs committee, Bill S-211, that deals with supply chain reporting. It deals with big companies that operate in the west or in Canada. In particular, they would have to do a report on the impacts of their companies on human trafficking and forced labour. That is for sure a bill I would like to get passed.
The other thing is what the Americans are doing. They are identifying the province of Xinjiang as a place where forced labour is a problem, so for any products that are coming out of that area, there is a reverse onus and companies must prove that forced labour is not being used in their products. That is another initiative that I could get behind, and I look forward to the government moving on that.
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- Oct/24/22 9:10:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Peace River—Westlock for the work he does on human trafficking. He did not talk a lot about how perhaps the Uighurs have been subjected to that. He talked a lot about organ harvesting, and we know about that through the work of David Kilgour. We know it is happening and how atrocious it is.
I wonder if the member could expand a bit on any elements of human trafficking that there may be with the Uighurs in China.
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- Oct/24/22 9:10:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for highlighting the work I do in combatting human trafficking both here in Canada and around the world.
Human trafficking for the Uighur population mostly looks like forced labour. It is a big challenge for Canada to identify who is being trafficked and forced into labour in some instances. In some places, it is not at all.
In some instances, people who have worked for a company for 20 years got their job all on their own and they are of the Uighur ethnicity or religion but have moved into the city and now work there. Sometimes we struggle or grapple with how to identify a person who took that job on their own and another person who has been trafficked into it, but it is definitely the case that it happens.
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