Senator Omidvar: Honourable senators, the Wagner Group is well known to all of you by reputation. It is a killing machine for hire made up of lawless mercenaries wreaking havoc in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Mali and now in Ukraine — all to further, purportedly, the foreign policy objectives of President Putin.

If the government acts on this motion, the Wagner Group will not be allowed to enter Canada. Their assets will likely be frozen — they could be seized and repurposed to the victims, which could be justice of its own kind. But the first step in the process is to deem them a terrorist entity, and only the government can do that. Last night in the House of Commons, a unanimous motion with the same wording was adopted.

Let’s join our voices to theirs so that both houses of government can bring their collective voice and influence the government to do the right thing.

This group is a stain on civilization and a stain on our collective humanity. Thank you.

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Please, if he will accept one.

The Hon. the Speaker: I’m sorry, Senator Richards’ time has expired. Do you want to ask a question, Senator Omidvar?

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-5(j), I move:

That, given reports of human rights abuses and attacks on civilians in Ukraine and other parts of the world by the Russian-supported Wagner Group, the Senate call upon the government to immediately designate the Wagner Group as a terrorist entity.

Hon. Scott Tannas: Honourable senators, I want to thank Senator Omidvar for bringing this motion forward. It is timely and widely supported, I’m certain, including by me. I want to thank her for the advance notice of her intention to ask for leave, which then allowed us all to discuss it in our respective groups and understand it.

I want to say, on behalf of our group, that we would like to register a concern: It is the rising practice in the House of Commons of bringing unanimous consent motions — especially on issues that are emotionally charged and sometimes on issues that are politically charged — where denying unanimous consent would make those who might want to better consider or study the motion vulnerable to ridicule or disrespect.

So I would ask — not in this case; this is a very worthy case — that we not tread the path that the other place is treading by using unanimous consent motions for things that are other than extremely urgent and time bound and not designed to force somebody to sit uncomfortably in their chair. Thank you.

Senator Omidvar: Thank you, Senator Richards. As someone who is desperately trying to write a book, I look to you as a role model and as someone I admire a great deal.

On this particular question, you said that talent shines regardless of the walls that are put around it, and to some extent it is true. But I want to tell you about my very good friend Deepa Mehta, who is a renowned filmmaker who has brought Oscar privileges and light to our country through her filmmaking. She would never have been discovered if it had not been for the institutional support that surrounded her, gave her grants through Telefilm and promoted her films.

Are you suggesting that someone like her, and there are many other examples of what I would call “new Canada” — I think you hark back to “old Canada” — but do you not think that there are talented people who deserve to be discovered and that in this bill and other efforts the government does precisely that?

The Hon. the Speaker: I’m sorry, Senator Richards’ time has expired. Do you want to ask a question, Senator Omidvar?