Hon. Leo Housakos: Honourable senators, late this month, from May 21 to 30, the Seventy-sixth World Health Assembly will convene, and, once again, it will do so without the participation of Taiwan.

Once again, I’m appealing to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly and her government to call for the inclusion of Taiwan in this international forum.

Time and time again, Taiwan has shown its commitment to global public humanitarianism. Days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Taiwan sent 27 tonnes of medical supplies to Poland for Ukrainian refugees, followed by another 650 tonnes of additional supplies shortly thereafter. Taiwan medical professionals have reached out to disadvantaged communities around the world to fight health inequities. Since the 1950s, they’ve provided medical aid and technical services to various African countries to help maintain maternal and child health. In 2022, participating hospitals saw newborn deaths drop from 234 to 189.

Taiwan continues to show its commitment to global public health. Over the past 20 years, the Taiwan International Healthcare Training Center has provided continuing education to more than 2,000 health care professionals from 77 countries. During the worst global health crisis of our lifetime, Taiwan stood at the ready to contribute wherever and whenever possible. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan was one of the first countries to send valuable life-saving personal protective equipment to Canada. We must not forget that.

Unfortunately, Taiwan continues to be excluded from participation in the World Health Assembly, or WHA, and other fora and mechanisms of the World Health Organization. This exclusion is to the detriment of the international community as we are not taking into consideration Taiwan’s success in responding to COVID-19.

It is also to the detriment of the 23.5 million people living in Taiwan, whose welfare must also be taken into consideration. Furthermore, as a like-minded democracy, Canada has every reason to support Taiwan’s inclusion in future WHA functions where Taiwan can be a valuable partner to jointly help improve global health.

Taiwan has proven itself to be an indispensable member of the international community and brings immeasurable value to vitally important global efforts such as the fight against COVID-19.

Canada has before us an opportunity to show moral and meaningful leadership on the global stage. We must act now to close gaps in the international system that jeopardize health, safety, security, prosperity and sustainability created by Taiwan’s exclusion from international fora like the WHA76.

Thank you, colleagues.

Hon. Leo Housakos: Honourable senators, my question is for Senator Gold, the Leader of the Government in the Senate. My question is a simple one. Senator Gold, can you tell us what the Trudeau government’s position is on issuing visas to Taiwanese officials who are travelling to or through Canada?

Senator Housakos: Senator Gold, with all due respect, we have heard our government constantly say that we are all in this crisis together. The truth of the matter is Taiwan has walked the talk. They have stepped up and helped the international community with PPE and other health care support.

At the end of the day, I think we have an obligation to work closely with countries that are such a model and are aligned with us when it comes to the defence of human rights and the defence of the rule of law and all the rest of it. We should not be listening to regimes that don’t align with us on human rights and our belief in democracy and all the rest of it.

If we are genuine about aligning ourselves with strong allies who serve as models, why is the government not taking a strong stance and insisting Taiwan be included in the World Health Assembly which is going to be taking place in three weeks?