- Member of Parliament
- Member of the Joint Interparliamentary Council
Whip of the New Democratic Party
Member of the panel of chairs for the legislative committees
- NDP
- Edmonton Strathcona
- Alberta
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $141,604.97
- Government Page
- Dec/12/23 2:31:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal position is appalling, not responsible. For two months, this government sat and watched while 18,000 innocent civilians lost their lives, and it has refused to call for a ceasefire. We need a ceasefire. We need the hostages removed.
Last week, it was reported that Liberal donors were withholding support because of the moral failure of the Liberals. Today, there is an important vote at the United Nations. The Liberals have failed to listen to the Palestinian people and to Canadian Palestinians. Will they at least listen to their fundraisers and vote for a ceasefire today?
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- Dec/1/23 2:05:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Thornhill for introducing Bill C-353. At a time when Canadians and people around the world are concerned about cases of hostage-taking and arbitrary detention, we are all desperate to see action in having people returned who have been taken hostage.
The member for Thornhill spoke about the brutal, horrific hostage-taking by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7. Everyone in the House felt the brutality and horror of that. The stories we have heard from that have rocked all of us. We have all been disgusted, and our humanity has been tested.
As a mother, I cannot even imagine what some of these families have gone through. I watched a mother reuniting with her teenage daughter recently on social media. I tried to imagine what this mother and her daughter had to go through. She hugged her daughter; I thought if it were my daughter, I would never be able to let go. It really touched me because I have a teenage daughter.
Of course, New Democrats want Canadians who have been taken hostage or arbitrarily detained to be safely repatriated and for those responsible to be held accountable, which is why we are happy that this legislation came forward. Obviously, it is unacceptable that Canadians who work, live or have family members abroad should worry about whether their loved ones will have access to the correct consular services if they are needed.
New Democrats have worked at the committee level, and we feel strongly that there is a better response to situations of hostage-taking and arbitrary detention. Previous studies, including the 2018 study by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development on consular assistance, as the member for Thornhill mentioned, have shown that consular services have failed to protect Canadians who were detained overseas in the past.
When the member for Thornhill introduced this bill in the House, she stated, “It would strengthen Canada's ability to deter, minimize and resolve instances of hostage-taking by increasing governmental power to levy sanctions, by establishing a family liaison office and by providing incentives for foreign co-operation.” While we think these are commendable objectives, New Democrats are very concerned with the methods by which Bill C-353 seeks to achieve these ends. That is why we will be supporting this bill at second reading, but we need some serious study to be undertaken before we can support it at third reading.
I am going to talk about some of the concerns that New Democrats have. First of all, in terms of increasing governmental power to levy sanctions, Bill C-353 aims to impose restrictive measures, such as seizing property and assets, to deter individuals and entities from dealing directly or indirectly with those responsible for hostage-taking or the arbitrary detention of Canadians. However, the bill does not clarify for me what that “indirect dealing” is. Is this merely something that the Governor in Council has discretion to decide? Which individuals or entities are deemed responsible for complicity? For me, that is not clear enough, and without that detailed clarification, there is a risk of ambiguity and subjectivity that could leave a grey area. Innocent Canadians who provide financial support to charitable or relief organizations or directly to family members overseas might find themselves targeted by the bill, so we have to be very cautious that there is not unintentional harm being caused.
When it comes to the idea of helping the families of victims, this bill could do more. I feel that it is inadequate in terms of helping with the needs of families. First, the member said that this bill would establish a family liaison officer, yet nowhere in the bill does it mention this officer or even provide a framework for it. Second, the bill would not guarantee much-needed mental health supports to families of victims, and I think that is where Canada can do more. Third, this bill would do nothing to decriminalize private ransom payments, a mechanism that is essential for many families to resolve such cases. This is something that we could look at again.
I also want to highlight something, going back to the question I asked earlier of the member. In terms of providing incentives for foreign co-operation in locating and repatriating victims, this bill would do two things.
First of all, it would amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to enable the MFA to provide PR status to foreign nationals who would otherwise be inadmissible or fail to meet the requirements of the IRPA. They could be free from any applicable criteria, obligations, payments or fees so long as they provide information that leads to the release and repatriation of a Canadian national or eligible protected person. The second thing the bill would do is give the MFA the ability to pay monetary rewards to informants who provide information that leads to the release of victims.
Obviously, one of the concerns I have is that handing out free PR and monetary rewards to individuals in exchange for information opens a pretty dangerous precedent and a pretty dangerous avenue for exploitation that we would be very concerned about. For example, who is to say these potential informants would not be co-operating with criminals? How do we know? It is not much of a leap to think some nefarious individuals would use these conditions to their advantage. I am not sure if this bill addresses that adequately, so I have some serious concerns with that.
Despite these concerns, New Democrats still feel this bill is good. It just needs a lot of work and more study so that in the future, victims and their families are better protected and supported abroad and at home.
We have a few recommendations that we will be bringing forward. Some of these recommendations seek to improve the resolution of instances of hostage-taking and arbitrary detention, and to truly support the families of the victims.
We would like to see, for example, that mental health supports are provided to families of victims and that they are guaranteed access to mental health support. We would like to establish a framework to track the extent to which consular services meet service standards and produce post hoc review reports to assess consular personnel performance. Being able to measure is part of how we make sure we are doing what we can to support families. We should also establish a framework for a family liaison office to meaningfully improve communications with families and should work toward decriminalizing the private payment of ransom in a foreign context.
Those are some of the supports we will be bringing forward at committee as we work to strengthen this piece of legislation. New Democrats feel, as I think all members of this House feel, that Canadians and their families deserve to be cared for. They deserve to be supported during the terrible, extremely painful and extremely dangerous situations where one of their loved ones is being held hostage or arbitrarily detained.
We will be supporting this bill at second reading, and we will do what we can to work with all parties and the member for Thornhill to make sure this legislation is as strong as it possibly can be. Let us protect Canadians and do everything we can to bring hostages home.
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- Oct/16/23 10:48:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have heard that there are about 150 Canadians in Gaza right now. We also know that the hostages who have been seized by the terrorist organization Hamas are in Gaza right now. We also know that 50% of the population in Gaza are children, who have had nothing whatsoever to do with the horrific crimes committed by Hamas. Does this member believe that those people, those Canadian citizens, those people who have been held hostage against their will by the Hamas terrorist organization and those children deserve to receive punishment?
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- Oct/16/23 8:42:41 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the leader of the New Democratic Party for the love he has shown for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Right now, we know that the hostages who have been taken by the terrorist organization Hamas are likely in Gaza. We know there are 150 Canadians, at least, who are in Gaza. We know that more than 50% of the population in Gaza is in fact children. The New Democrats have called for a ceasefire.
Why does he think the other parties in this House think it is all right to be bombing the hostages, to be bombing children and to be bombing Canadian citizens who are in Gaza right now? Is a ceasefire not a better solution right now as we try to get those hostages out?
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- Oct/16/23 2:33:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are all shocked by the brutality, the kidnappings and the targeting of civilians, including the elderly and children, by Hamas militants.
Now the region is spiralling. Thousands of innocent Palestinians and Israelis have been killed in a conflict that they are not responsible for. Today, we learned that a fifth Canadian was murdered, and we know more Canadians are among the captives.
What is the government doing to ensure the hostages are protected and returned to safety?
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