Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. According to a damning report by the Auditor General of Canada, in 2020, the Canada Border Services Agency lost track of 35,000 illegal immigrants who were supposed to be deported, including 3,000 criminals. The report stated the following:

[The agency] issued immigration warrants for their [foreign nationals’] arrest but seldom completed the . . . investigations to locate those with criminality.

Last December, the CBSA disclosed a similar figure for 2022. It has lost track of 29,719 illegal immigrants, but only 469 of them are criminals, not 3,000. That is a difference of 2,531.

Can you tell me the exact number of illegal criminals whose whereabouts are unknown to the CBSA? Can you provide the list of the 2,500 criminals who were deported?

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Honourable senators, I am honoured to rise today to speak to you in memory of my dear mother Monique. My mother had 10 children, taught for 35 years and died at the age of 92. To me, she was a shining example of motherhood and of an emancipated, courageous family woman.

In 1927, when my mother was only seven years old, five women that are now known as the Famous Five launched a legal challenge that marked a turning point in the fight for rights and freedoms in Canada. Ms. Murphy, Ms. McClung, Ms. McKinney, Ms. Muir Edwards and Ms. Parlby, five women activists from Alberta, asked the Supreme Court of Canada to determine whether the term “persons” in section 24 of the British North America Act included women.

After five weeks of deliberations, the Supreme Court ruled that the term “persons” did not include women. Outraged by this decision, the Famous Five refused to give up the fight. They took their case before the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council in London, the highest court of appeal in Canada at the time. On October 18, 1929, the ruling was announced by Lord Sankey, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. It read as follows:

The exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours. And to those who would ask why the word “persons” should include females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?

Persons Day represents a particular moment in Canadian history. It commemorates that day in 1929 when the legal definition of the term “person” was changed to include women. The decision in the Persons Case was a decisive moment in the quest for equal rights in Canada by giving women the right to be appointed to the Senate, paving the way for women to become more involved in public and political life in Canada.

Over the years, statues of the Famous Five have been erected throughout Canada, namely in Winnipeg, Calgary and here in Ottawa, near the entrance to the Senate.

October is Women’s History Month in Canada. This is a time to celebrate the brave women of our past and present who contribute to making Canada a better country. This better Canada must also and above all demand that we protect the women who no longer accept being trapped by domestic violence. In my eyes, they are today’s brave women.

In 1992, the Government of Canada designated October Women’s History Month, thereby kick-starting an annual celebration of the exceptional accomplishments of women and girls throughout Canada’s history.

Yesterday, we marked the thirtieth anniversary of Women’s History Month, and this occasion reminds us that we must protect women. Thank you.

Senator Boisvenu: I have a supplementary question. It is true, Senator Gold, that this is a troubling issue for public safety, so you must get back to us quickly with some numbers, especially since we’re talking about offenders who have very serious criminal records, including crimes like homicide and sexual assault, and who are now walking our streets.

Will the Department of Public Safety show some transparency and compel the agency to disclose the real numbers, which so far it has refused to make public?