44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 10, 2023 02:00PM
Mr. Speaker, as someone who strongly supports women's rights, including a woman's right to choose, I was thrilled that our government invested $4.1 million to support organizations that help women receive reproductive health services, and that budget 2023 has carved out $36 million over three years to renew the sexual and reproductive health fund to make abortions and other sexual and reproductive health care information and services available and accessible to more Canadians.
In contrast, the Conservatives are hell-bent on restricting access to safe and legal abortion, under every false legislative pretext they can imagine. The Conservatives have shown us, time and again, that they think reproductive rights are negotiable. The latest example of this is Bill C-311. This bill is a transparent attempt to reopen the abortion debate in Canada.
On this side of the House, we will always stand up for women's fundamental rights, even as the Conservatives try to turn back the clock.
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- May/10/23 2:54:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as a federal government, we are moving forward on legislating the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which includes free, prior and informed consent. This is an important and historic step for the government that we are taking hand in hand with indigenous peoples. Unfortunately, only some provinces are moving forward in that way.
We will continue to engage on these issues, but we also recognize the responsibility and the control that the provinces have over their natural resources. We encourage everyone, however, to walk the path of reconciliation together.
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- May/10/23 2:57:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Humber River—Black Creek for her tireless work on so many files.
Our government is unapologetically feminist and pro-choice. Since 2020, we have provided almost half a billion dollars to support women's sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world. That includes funding for abortion health care, which previous Conservative governments recklessly refused to support.
We know that the fight for women's and girls' rights around the world is far from—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- May/10/23 3:19:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Hamilton Mountain for her continued advocacy on women's rights.
Let me be clear: Abortion is health care in Canada. A woman's right to choose is hers, and hers alone. We will always stand with Canadian women and the vast majority of Canadians on this, which is why it is so disappointing to see yet another thinly veiled attempt by the Conservative Party of Canada to restrict a woman's right to choose.
The Conservatives are busy getting ready to march tomorrow in an anti-choice protest. We will be busy standing up for fundamental rights, including a woman's right to choose.
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Mr. Speaker, the member brought up hospitals. I can say that I fully supported the efforts of Gisèle Lalonde, who recently passed away. She was the leading figure in the fight to maintain all services at Montfort Hospital, and she was able to use the court challenges program to lead that fight.
I want francophones outside Quebec to have their institutions. It is thanks to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that they can have their schools. It is thanks to my colleague, the member from Nova Scotia, that the census will now include a question on rights holders. Obviously, this includes francophone rights holders outside Quebec.
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- May/10/23 5:35:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I too would like to recognize and thank my colleague from Edmonton—Wetaskiwin.
It is to his credit that he has moved this important motion. As the member said, although the motion is not binding, it does give meaning to our action, and particularly to the action that Canada needs to take with respect to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Canada signed in 2007 and ratified in 2010.
Part of the motion reads as follows:
Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities...states that signatories “shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning directed to enabling persons with disabilities to participate effectively in a free society”.
The convention is a human rights treaty that aims to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities, to ensure they are treated without discrimination and on an equal basis with others. This convention has three key principles. The first is equality and non-discrimination. The second is accessibility, and the third key principle is participation and inclusion.
As my colleague pointed out, according to a 2021 UNICEF report on children with disabilities, there are nearly 240 million children around the world with disabilities. These children may seem to be at a disadvantage compared to children without disabilities when it comes to education because they are 49% more likely to have never attended school.
Of course, the Bloc Québécois is in favour of the motion. We are also in favour of the full and equitable inclusion of people with disabilities in Quebec and Canada. We are aware of the challenges that people with disabilities face and we stand in solidarity with them, whatever their disability may be. People with disabilities are not a homogenous group. All types of disabilities must be considered. I think that we need to put targeted solutions in place for each of them.
Everyone must have access to a quality education under the principle of equality of opportunity in our societies. An inclusive education system takes into consideration not only accessibility but also the need to provide reasonable accommodation and individual support.
Although this was already mentioned, I want to remind members that, in Canada, elementary and secondary education fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces and that Ottawa should only intervene in areas under its own jurisdiction. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities falls under its jurisdiction.
I would also like to remind members that non-visible disabilities are often identified by health care professionals and social services workers. That is invaluable, actually. There too, the government could play a role. It takes dedicated and professional personnel to support these persons with disabilities.
I will talk about our schools. Ideally, these young people, these students with disabilities would be included in regular classrooms as much as possible because diversity in school is an asset for education. We also have special schools and classes, but support is required, as is the capacity to make the right diagnosis to get some follow-up. Health care professionals and psychologists play a major role. On that, we take issue with the federal underfunding of health through the Canada health transfer to the provinces and Quebec. This is a serious problem.
That being said, internationally, the government has the full authority and legitimacy to impose standards and conditions on international aid.
We recognize that a greater global effort must be made to better integrate people with disabilities into education systems around the world, in line with the UNESCO and UNICEF findings in this regard.
Global efforts in favour of inclusive education are consistent with advocating for the rights of other groups, such as the rights of women and girls in general and the right of girls and women with disabilities to education, specifically. According to a UNESCO study, there are approximately 130 million girls between the ages of six and 17 who are not in school.
The government needs to recognize this motion—it is good that it has been fully welcomed—and come up with a concrete plan to ensure that the money it distributes internationally will help improve education around the world, particularly in poorer or low-income countries.
Compared to Canada's international aid to improve women's rights, according to a report by the Auditor General, this is pretty significant. The 2023 report was lackluster with respect to Canada's international feminist strategy.
The audit sought to determine whether Global Affairs Canada had implemented Canada's feminist international assistance policy by funding projects that supported gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in low- and middle-income countries and by demonstrating that the projects were producing the intended results.
Unfortunately, although objectives were set for Canada's feminist international assistance policy, it did not yield tangible results. Global Affairs Canada was unable to show how the policy contributed to improving gender equality in the country.
If we want Canada to pay special attention to the new criteria for helping children with disabilities access education, then Global Affairs Canada must absolutely come up with new processes and new ways of working to achieve measurable results.
We have an obligation to ensure that education is a reality both in fact and in law for all children with disabilities, whatever that disability may be, and their loved ones.
We know that some countries in the world need this assistance. In that sense, the last part of the motion, which invites Canada to do more, is consistent with the convention that was signed. We think that is important.
Once again, I thank my colleague for this motion.
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