44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 7, 2022 02:00PM
- Dec/7/22 3:13:08 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, last week new charges were laid in the murders of four more indigenous women.
Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than other women and girls across the country. This is an ongoing genocide, and we need urgent action from all levels of government to keep indigenous women safe.
Will the minister commit to doing what the member for Winnipeg Centre and other indigenous leaders have called for, and provide immediate funds and resources to end this cycle of violence?
90 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, it is indeed an honour to rise today to speak to Bill S-223, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to stop the trafficking in human organs. I want to thank Senator Salma Ataullahjan, who brought this bill forward in the Senate, where it passed all three readings. It is now being considered here in the House of Commons, sponsored by my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.
This bill would amend the Criminal Code to create some indictable offences for those who are engaged in illegal organ harvesting. It would also allow the Minister of Immigration and Citizenship to intercede. If it is believed that someone is in Canada as a permanent resident or here as a foreign national, they can be deemed inadmissible to Canada if they have participated, in one way or another, in the harvesting of human organs.
I have been advocating for this for quite some time. We brought forward the Sergei Magnitsky law, which passed this place unanimously in 2018. The government has failed to use it since that time, other than for the first tranche of people who were sanctioned. It was to make sure that those individuals who are committing gross human rights violations around the world were held to account and that they were not allowed to use Canada as a safe haven.
We know there has been a systematic organ harvesting program going on in China, led by the Communist regime in Beijing. They have used it on political dissidents and ethnic and religious minorities, like the Falun Gong practitioners, like the Uighurs, like Christians and others. They have gone out after them, arrested them and then forcibly removed their organs to profit from them.
We talk about gross human rights violations. It is disgusting that someone would actually take people who are being persecuted because they are a minority group or someone who does not agree with the regime in Beijing, or other countries for that matter, and arrest them, detain them and then literally rip them apart and market their organs around the world.
Bill S-223 would make sure that those individuals, if they ever came to Canada, would face our criminal justice system. They would not just be facing sanctions and be banned from Canada or have their assets frozen here in Canada, but they would face criminal prosecution here in Canada.
Let us consider someone who needed an organ transplant and knowingly used an organ that was harvested in this manner from a political dissident, from a Falun Gong practitioner or Uighurs. Right now, the Uighurs are being persecuted to the highest level. Essentially a genocide is being carried out by the Communist regime in Beijing against the Uighurs. If somebody wanted to buy one of these organs, they could be facing criminal prosecution here in Canada.
We know that this market exists. Estimates suggest that illegal organ trafficking generates $1 billion to $2 billion Canadian every year. That is sourced from 12,000 illegal transplants, predominantly coming from mainland China. That is 12,000 transplants a year. We have to put an end to this.
I had the privilege of working with the Falun Dafa Association here in Canada. It represents Falun Gong practitioners. Many of them have fled mainland China to make sure they had the ability here in Canada to have the things that we take for granted, such as freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of conscience. All of that is denied by the Communist regime in China.
They put together some great research over the years. A former colleague has put together a rather large report with the assistance of David Matas. When I say a former colleague, I mean David Kilgour, who was a long-time MP here, who always championed human rights.
They had a list of over 150 individuals who were profiting from the sale of illegally obtained organs that were harvested from Falun Gong practitioners. Last spring, I presented a petition that called on the government to look at this. It said that in the last 21 years, Communist Party officials had orchestrated the torture and killing of a large number of people who practised Falun Gong and that it was being done on a mass scale so their vital organs could fuel the communist regime's organ transplant trade. There were 14 names to sanction under the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, the Sergei Magnitsky Law, and the government responded but never sanctioned any of the individuals named.
In October 2021, I sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs congratulating her on her new appointment and asking her to take action on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners. I asked her to look at the entire list of individuals, which said who they were, what position they held in mainland China and what operations they were involved in with regard to persecuting and arresting Falun Gong practitioners, harvesting their organs and ultimately trading those organs around the world. I first sent the 150 names to her predecessor at the time and then to her. Again, we got a response but no action was taken.
I know the bill is getting support from all sides of the House and from every corner of the chamber, but we need to make sure we step up and sanction those individuals to ensure they are not coming to Canada. We can sanction them using the Sergei Magnitsky Law. They are hiding their wealth, taking advantage of our strong banking system, taking advantage of our fairly robust real estate market and capitalizing on the illicit gains they have been able to achieve because of this illegal trade in organs.
There are Canadians who need organ transplants. We have to encourage more and more people to donate organs in Canada so that we can extend the life of those who need transplants. That way, we can also deter this illicit trade in illegally harvested human organs and make sure it does not spread to other jurisdictions. We always like to concentrate on the communist regime in China, but we know this is happening in other places in the world. There are stories of African nations, and it is not just governments doing this, but gangs and the people out there in human trafficking who are resorting to this as a way to generate illicit revenues.
We need to continue to stand on the side of the individuals who cannot stand up for themselves. We have to make sure Canada continues to be a leader on the issue of human rights.
We need to make sure that those committing these crimes can be held to account. I know Bill S-223 would go a long way in ensuring that they would not be allowed to work in Canada and would be arrested if they did, and would not be allowed to travel to Canada or they would be arrested and face charges. We also need to make sure that those who know they are purchasing organs through this gross human rights violation of illegal organ harvesting face the full cost and full force of law here in Canada.
I again want to congratulate Senator Ataullahjan for bringing this bill forward. It is something she has been working on for a number of years. It has died on the Order Paper in the past, and this is our opportunity to make sure it comes into force as quickly as possible.
1267 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 7:23:17 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, families have been calling for a moratorium on the continued use of the Prairie Green Landfill. This seems like the bare minimum of dignity and respect for the women who were killed and also for their families and their loved ones. Does the member support this?
Could she also clarify her comments? She mentioned there is a debate around whether this is genocide. The member for Winnipeg Centre passed a motion in the House acknowledging that what is happening to indigenous people is genocide, not just cultural genocide but genocide, full stop. I would like the member to respond if she agrees with that statement.
107 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 7:24:02 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, it is strange, because when I was on my way to the House, I was listening to the news and heard about the landfill.
No matter who we are, it is an undignified way to honour people who have died and the end of a person's life. It is outrageous. I do not even understand how we are asking this question. I do not want to get into the details because this makes no sense to me. A life should not end in a landfill. That is absolutely absurd. This was actually being discussed on the news when I was on my way here.
As for cultural genocide, there is no doubt about that. They tried to kill the Indian in the child. In Quebec, they took indigenous children and tried to turn them into good white Catholics. That is what they tried to do to them, and that is absolutely preposterous. They were responsible for heartbreaking stories and collective trauma. Families were separated. As a new mother, I cannot even imagine having my daughter taken away from me. I will repeat that that is what was done to indigenous people because they wanted to kill the Indian in the child. That is absolutely unacceptable.
208 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 7:52:15 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Winnipeg North.
In our country, there is a genocide against indigenous women that has happened and continues to happen. We have a government that continues to fail to do anything about it. That is the reality.
I just spoke with an indigenous woman who works with the National Association of Friendship Centres. She said that as an indigenous woman she is afraid to walk the streets. She is a young woman. She is a president. She carries a strong role in her community and a strong role with that association. She just wants to walk in her community without fear. That is what we want.
The fact that indigenous women do not have the ability to walk freely without fear in our communities is a shame on this country. The fact that, knowing how serious this is, the government continues to fail to act is a greater shame.
Indigenous leaders have laid out a clear path. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and two-spirit people, laid out a clear path with calls for justice that would save lives. Every single day that these calls for justice are not put in place, are not acted on and are not implemented means more lives are lost.
Indigenous people should not have to beg or plead to be able to live with dignity and respect. They should not have to beg or plead with elected officials or with police to do their work. However, that is what is happening. Indigenous people have to beg the police to do what they are supposed to, which is to do their jobs. They have to beg elected officials to take their lives seriously. That is the reality of what we are up against.
I want to acknowledge the recent horrific events coming out of Winnipeg. I want us to realize that when we talk about these horrific incidents, we sometimes dehumanize the lives. We lose track that these are real people. These are daughters. These are sisters. These are loved ones who have been stripped of their lives.
Let us remember their names: Morgan Harris, 39 years old; Marcedes Myran, 26 years old; Rebecca Contois, 24 years old; and Buffalo Woman.
These are lives that were ended. These are lives that were lost. Government inaction continues to put lives at risk.
I want to acknowledge the incredible courage and strength of our colleague, friend and champion for people, the member for Winnipeg Centre. She has, in the face of a very difficult time, shown incredible courage, and I want to acknowledge that. She wants it not to be about her but to be about the families who are here today, the families across the country who are reeling from the violence against their loved ones and the families who are living in fear.
I want to acknowledge that the member for Winnipeg Centre called for an emergency debate, because this is an emergency. This should be deemed a national emergency. The fact that lives are being stolen from us this way is a national emergency. The purpose of having an emergency debate is to shape our response to it, to put some urgency into the fact that we need to see action and that the federal government has a responsibility to act.
One specific point that the member for Winnipeg Centre continues to raise is that hundreds of millions of dollars remain unspent. That is money that should be going toward protecting and providing safe spaces for indigenous women and girls. The member for Winnipeg Centre has raised the fact, multiple times now, that the Liberal government has not spent money on building new shelters. No additional funding was announced in this last budget, and this is wrong.
We need concrete action. We need to acknowledge the pain. We need to move beyond that acknowledgement to actually doing something about it. We have the power to do something today.
It is undeniable that there is a genocide of indigenous women in our country and we must take action. Every day that the federal government does not act, the lives of more indigenous women are in jeopardy.
We must implement measures to protect the community. We must address this genocide. It is our duty and our responsibility.
New Democrats are using our power and using our voices to stand in solidarity with indigenous communities, doing whatever we can to stand with them in the fight against violence against women.
760 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 8:00:49 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, as a white woman who has raised indigenous children and has indigenous grandchildren, I always think about the day one has to tell their children and grandchildren how to be safe in a world that really wants to destroy them. I think that is a hard part of the reality of indigenous communities. They have to make those decisions.
When their granddaughters go to bigger cities, they have to make sure that all the aunties and uncles are watching them to keep them safe because they are that afraid. Then we get that call and we know what that means, not only for our own family but for our whole community in a country that continues to perpetrate genocide upon these beautiful precious bodies that we need home with us.
I think of my cousin Jeannine and her good friend Carla, who bring indigenous women together, and they bead. They bead earrings and monuments for indigenous women. They are called the Lil' Red Dress group. Do the members know what they do? They sell all of those so that they can put up signs when indigenous women and girls go missing. They fundraise to save the lives and to call for help because no one else will do it.
I am wondering if the leader could talk to us about how wrong it is to have indigenous people fundraising to save their families when the government does nothing.
240 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 8:02:24 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the powerful words.
I think it is abhorrent. It is horrific. It is such a failure of leadership that indigenous communities, indigenous women, need to fundraise to save their own lives and protect their own communities. That is an example, an indictment, of the government's failure to do what is necessary and what is right to protect indigenous people, to follow through on the calls for justice and to act immediately to tackle and to end the genocide against indigenous women.
89 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 8:25:14 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, settler colonialism, land displacement, genocide, missing and murdered indigenous women and the ongoing processes of resource extraction are all along a continuum. They are all linked. I think that the hon. member for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake raised the connection between her proximity to “man camps” and the frequency of violence against indigenous women.
I want to give the hon. member the opportunity to reflect on ways in which we can reduce this gender-based violence, this ongoing genocide, against indigenous women and the ways in which it remains inextricably linked to resource extraction in the country.
102 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 9:54:21 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I want to acknowledge that we are all here under very sombre circumstances. We are honouring the lives of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Rebecca Contois, and a fourth loved one who has yet to be found.
We are also here demanding action from the federal government. The hon. minister knows this national tragedy so well through the work she did to support an inquiry. As was clearly said, what we do not need is for the 231 calls for justice to sit on a shelf. What families and communities are asking for is federal action now, not just in the case of supporting the search in the landfill, but also as was so powerfully shared by Cambria Harris, which was to put an end to the genocide that indigenous women are facing.
What concrete action is the federal government going to take now to put an end to the genocide that indigenous women face in our country?
160 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 10:01:43 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I really appreciate my friend's speech and I appreciate her. She knows full well that I live in Nuu-chah-nulth territory. I represent the Tla-o-qui-aht people here in Parliament and I bring their voice here. I am grateful that she talked about the late Chantel Moore. The fact of the matter is that there was an independent investigating officer team that came in from Quebec, with no indigenous representation, to investigate her death when she was shot by police.
Lisa Marie Young, a Tla-o-qui-aht member in Nanaimo, is still missing after 20 years.
“Creating a national task force to review and re-investigate unresolved files of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people” is actually a commitment in the national action plan, but there is no timeline and no money. The government has not acted on it.
Can my colleague speak about the importance of an action plan, not just for these two unresolved files but for the women from Winnipeg who were just stolen through this genocide that is taking place in this country?
189 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 10:06:14 p.m.
- Watch
Uqaqtittiji, I will be splitting my time with the member for Vancouver East.
I stand today in solidarity with Chief Kyra Wilson of Long Plain First Nation and Cambria and Kera, the daughters of Morgan Harris, who was murdered and whose body was found at a landfill, in seeking justice for indigenous families. I call on the government to finally start to end the genocide by implementing the MMIWG calls for justice and the demands made by those I stand with today, including helping to search for Morgan Harris so her daughters may have the closure they seek.
I am concerned with some of the questions that have been asked in the House tonight. As much as I have appreciated MPs' interventions, the words are distant and, while empathetic, make it clear to me that violence against indigenous women is clearly not understood.
As an Inuk, I have experienced violence and have seen violence. I grew up with violence in my life. Here is what violence feels like. There is so much physical pain that it is unbearable to breathe, it is unbearable to cry and it is unbearable to ask for help. There is so much misguided love and trust that keeping the unhealthy relationship going feels like the only way. When there is finally courage to leave that violent relationship, women are put into other violence situations.
Cambria and Kera have asked us to help them end the genocide. I frequently have asked tonight how we can do this. How can we in the House guide the federal government to end Canada's genocide against indigenous peoples?
The federal government must create policies and programs and provide better resources. The federal government must help lift up indigenous peoples and their sense of cultural identity.
It must ensure that systemic racism is addressed by improving law enforcement and policing for the overincarceration, overpolicing, underenforcement and underpolicing of indigenous peoples. It must lift up indigenous families that still suffer the effects of intergenerational trauma and ensure they are encouraging each other to rely on each other the way they used to before colonialism. It must help indigenous families find the remains of their loved ones. Victims of genocide are targeted because they belong to a certain group. As such, targeted resources must immediately be released to protect indigenous girls, women and two-spirit people. Last and certainly not least, it should implement fully, not incrementally, UNDRIP, the TRC's calls to action and the MMIWG calls for justice. These instruments provide the framework to end genocide.
I note the words of Chief Kyra Wilson, who said, “We have 231 calls to justice, we need searches, we need support and it needs to start now.” I will end with what the beautiful, amazing and courageous Cambria Harris said at the presser yesterday: “Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and...Buffalo Woman. Remember these names. Shout them from the roof of your lungs and bring the justice that these women deserve.”
503 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 10:13:26 p.m.
- Watch
Uqaqtittiji, I also enjoy working with the member on the indigenous and northern affairs committee.
I have changed my speech a lot tonight. One of the things I wanted to remind the House of is this. There were many questions about what women can do, and I kept thinking that this is not just a women's issue. This is not just a government issue. This is not just an indigenous issue. This is something that we all must do and we all must work together on: men, women, indigenous and non-indigenous. We all need to be working together to make sure we are part of a system that can say we are the ones who ended genocide in our time.
122 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/22 10:25:19 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I have to say that there is no question in my mind that it is colonialism that is the root cause of this. There is no question that governments and the successive governments allow for the genocide to continue, which is also the ongoing problem of the situation.
When everybody in the House got up to say that they hear the families, they see them and hear them, well then, I ask them to take action. Words are cheap, but lives are not cheap, and the lives of these indigenous women and girls and two-spirited people matter.
They matter very much, and we need to honour them. We need to honour them from this perspective as well: They are the very first people who were the owners of this land, and we are their guests on their land. We need to honour them and respect them and take action. We do not need more words.
158 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
