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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 237

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 23, 2023 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 237 - Oct/23/23
Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to address the House this evening with respect to my private member's bill, Bill C-350. This is the combatting torture and terrorism act, which is part of a now five-year journey I have been on, working with Canada's brave, heroic and patriotic Iranian community as its members struggle for freedom for the people of Iran and call on the Canadian government to do more to support that struggle. Five years ago, there was a Conservative opposition motion that called on the government to recognize that Iran's IRGC is a terrorist organization in Canada and to completely shut down its operations in Canada. That was a motion we put forward five years ago. Incredibly, it passed. It passed because at the time, there was a Liberal majority government, which voted with us in the opposition for that motion to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization. One would think, after the Liberals voted to recognize the IRGC as a terrorist organization and to shut down its operations in Canada, that they would have followed through on that motion. They did not, and over the last five years, we have seen all kinds of horrific acts by the Iranian regime: the shooting down of flight PS752, the murder of Mahsa Amini, support for Hamas and Hezbollah, including support for Hamas through the horrific terrorist attack we have seen against Israel. There are so many more crimes targeting people throughout the Middle East, targeting Canadians and targeting people around the world that the IRGC, the Iranian regime's perpetrator of terror, is responsible for. The Iranian community has been calling on the government to take action to recognize that the IRGC is a terrorist organization and to shut down its operations in Canada. Five years after that motion passed the House and five years after the Liberal government did nothing, I put forward in the House Bill C-350, the combatting torture and terrorism act. This is a bill that would list the IRGC as a terrorist organization. The bill was seconded by our leader, the member for Carleton. This bill would recognize IRGC as a terrorist organization and shut down its operations in Canada, but it would do more to combat torture and terrorism. It would, for instance, allow victims of torture and extrajudicial killing to sue state sponsors of terror in Canadian court. It would allow a parliamentary committee to nominate a state to be added to the list of state sponsors of terror or an organization to be added to the terrorist list, and it would require governments to respond to that recommendation. Finally, it would provide protection for individuals who were involuntarily conscripted into the IRGC. Many of the people who want the IRGC to be listed as a terrorist organization are also calling for some mechanism of protection for those who were conscripted against their will, provided that they were not involved in any atrocities. My bill also contains that mechanism and would solve that problem for those who were conscripted. We put Bill C-350, the combatting torture and terrorism act, forward with the support of the community and as a result of the advocacy done by so many people. In recent days, we tried to expedite the bill. Our Conservative staff sent a note to all parties asking for support to expedite Bill C-350, recognizing the urgency of the situation, the lack of action over the last five years and all the advocacy that has been done. When I put forward the request to expedite Bill C-350, it was blocked. It was shut down by Liberal members. They were not willing to allow Bill C-350 to go forward. We will continue this work. We will continue fighting and advocating for Bill C-350, the combatting torture and terrorism act, and calling on the government to shut down IRGC operations in Canada. If Liberals persist in blocking these efforts, then it will take a new Parliament, a new government, to ensure this vital work finally gets done and that we protect Canada, Canadians and the world from the terror of the IRGC.
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