Senator Miville-Dechêne: Honestly, no, I wasn’t aware of that. That was in one of the briefs submitted to Quebec’s commission on end-of-life care. They discuss the situation in Belgium and in the Netherlands. It’s a bit different. All right, then, I’ll take you at your word.

But there is certainly more than one expert who’s uncertain about the irremediability of psychiatric disorders. It’s a difficult debate. You mention evidence and the fact that it’s beyond dispute, but I think that the Council of Canadian Academies, a respected scientific organization, also reached similar findings on the issue of irremediability. These are professionals, but not physicians only. From what I understand, they are also scientists from various backgrounds. That, too, is not insignificant. It is a social debate. Yes, physicians are very important, but I think the debate is broader than that.

[English]

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Senator Gold, in 2022, the number of Canadians who were authorized to receive medical assistance in dying, or MAID, increased by 31%. In Quebec, there was a 46% increase. In a Globe and Mail editorial published last week, we learned that Quebec, sadly, is the MAID world champion. Unsurprisingly, the chair of Quebec’s commission on end-of-life care is worried about borderline or non-compliant cases.

In that context, expanding MAID to include mental illness raises many questions. In its editorial, The Globe and Mail wondered if, considering the statistics and justifications, some requests for MAID were granted only because the applicants were old.

Senator Gold, is the government aware of the problem? Will it tighten some of the criteria, which are much too vague?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Last Thursday, Quebec experienced a media disaster when TVA Group announced that it was laying off 547 employees, which is roughly a third of its workforce. TVA is the most popular channel back home, even more popular than Radio-Canada.

This is a hardship for all those who are losing their jobs, but it also means the loss of a lot of regional news in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, the Eastern Townships, the Mauricie region, the Lower St. Lawrence area, the Gaspé and the North Shore.

TVA says that it wants to protect regional news and will do so by keeping three or four journalists in Saguenay, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke and Rimouski. That will also enable TVA to meet the CRTC’s minimum requirements concerning regional news.

The TVA stations in each of these four cities, which had at least 30 employees each, will disappear. The evening news for these regions will be produced in Quebec City, and will thus become a watered down broadcast without any local colour. It is hard to imagine how three journalists will be able to cover an area as big as the North Shore, the Lower St. Lawrence and the Gaspé combined.

This is a direct affront to democracy because many people watched these news broadcasts. The first to complain were elected officials themselves. Municipal councillors, mayors and reeves may not always like journalists, but they recognize that journalists do essential work and that city councils work better when their decisions are scrutinized by the press.

These elected representatives also underscore that each of their regions is facing economic or social issues that get little or no exposure on national news broadcasts out of Montreal. How will this information get out and reach the public if the necessary means no longer exist?

We know that traditional news media are facing a crisis in all regions of the country. For TVA, it is too late. The group was counting on Bill C-18 to come into force quickly so that it could replenish its coffers, but Meta has already jumped ship and Google offered no guarantees. It is a major loss.

[English]

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Senator Gold, Quebec is currently experiencing an explosion in asylum applications. We welcomed 49,000 of the country’s 90,000 asylum seekers between November 2022 and June 2023, or 55% of the Canadian total.

I visited The Refugee Centre in Montreal last Wednesday. The organization offers various types of assistance and integration supports for people waiting for their status to be determined. The place was packed. Clients were sitting on the floor in the hallway. According to this centre, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is paying for thousands of hotel rooms to house asylum seekers when they arrive, but this non-profit organization, which helps them find a real home and deal with all kinds of formalities, is not eligible for federal funding.

Can you tell me whether the current legislation effectively prevents Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada from funding these services offered to asylum seekers by non-profit organizations?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Let me see if I can coax a little more information out of you anyway. Maybe, maybe not. This man is a Canadian citizen, a graduate of the Université de Montréal and the University of Ottawa. He married a Quebecer. He has a 4-year-old daughter. I understand the need for discretion, but my request today is simple. Can you assure us that the government will not ignore this case, that it will not be forgotten?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Honourable senators, I want to pay tribute to my guests, all of whom have helped fight sexual exploitation in Quebec. The All Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, which I co-chair, organized a riveting panel on this issue today at noon in Parliament.

First of all, I want to pay tribute to Marie-Michelle Desmeules, a survivor who lived through this hell. For 10 years, she endured unspeakable violence at the hands of a pimp. She estimates that she was raped 25,000 times and she now suffers from post‑traumatic stress disorder. We thank you for testifying, Ms. Desmeules.

The Government of Quebec has amended its policy since 2016. Prostitution is now considered sexual exploitation in most cases.

Geneviève Albert, director of the award-winning film Noémie Says Yes, does a brilliant job of explaining that. Contrary to what some people might think, just saying yes is not giving consent. We cannot condone prostitution by hiding behind the misleading argument of consent. Only a very small minority of those who sell sexual services come out unscathed.

Unfortunately, there is no public information campaign to drive home the point that the purchase of sexual services is exploitation, and so the mentality around this issue is not really changing.

Former Quebec minister Christine St-Pierre sat on the Select Committee on the Sexual Exploitation of Minors. Yes, the exercise gave a bit more money to the police and support groups, but that is still not nearly enough to deal with the urgent needs and the normalization of this phenomenon, which has been exacerbated by social media.

Obviously there is consensus to denounce child pornography. However, what happens when these girls, who are entrapped, turn 18? This is when all the contradictions in how we view prostitution crystalize, because the exploitation continues, in many cases, in a context of manipulation and financial, psychological or physical coercion.

Victims such as Marie-Michelle Desmeules inspired criminologist and former federal independent MP Maria Mourani to legislate and to add human trafficking to the list of offences to which the forfeiture of proceeds of crime applies. This was a very long battle, in which she was championed in the Senate by none other than Senator Boisvenu.

The new promising initiatives in Quebec include courts specializing in sexual violence to better support victims and a kind of school for the clients of prostitutes, or “John School.”

Officer Ghyslain Vallières, from the Longueuil police service, got involved in a pilot project designed to change the behaviour of men arrested for paying for sexual services. These clients pay a fine and avoid court on the condition that they agree to take part in a day of awareness raising and survivor testimonials.

In closing, I want to paraphrase our filmmaker: It does not have to be this way; prostitution has a solution and it is a political one. Thank you.

[English]

Senator Miville-Dechêne: There are some very reputable doctors in Quebec who say that these studies were poorly done and that doctors can continue to advise their patients to drink two glasses of wine. The interesting thing is that between leading experts on these issues, there seems to be a great deal of opposition.

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Ever since we began debating this bill, I’ve been wondering about that fact that there are still some doctors in Quebec, including at the Institut de cardiologie, who say that having two glasses of wine a day is excellent for the heart. As a doctor, what do you think of this debate that seems to pit some doctors against others?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. The Journal de Montréal has just published a whole section that characterizes the federal government’s immigration goal as a trap for Quebec and an existential threat to the survival of French in America.

I personally reject this perspective, which fuels xenophobia and the fear of immigration in Quebec. That said, I don’t believe that the federal government can simply ignore these alarmist scenarios. Ottawa has the responsibility to rebut these arguments and explain its objectives to reassure people. Senator Gold, what does the federal government intend to do to explain its policies, demonstrate the benefits of immigration and reassure people?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: I rise today to commend my guests from Quebec, Pierre Beauregard and Azfar Adib, for their dedication.

Mr. Adib is a PhD candidate in computer engineering at Concordia University. His research focuses on online age‑verification technology in order to ensure both the right to privacy and the safety of users, particularly children.

As for Pierre Beauregard, he’s the person who’s been the most involved in my efforts to advance Bill S-210, which seeks to protect children from exposure to pornography. The trials he has faced in his own life are what made him realize how great a risk these free, easily accessible platforms pose to children.

In 2017, well before I met him, Mr. Beauregard presented a petition to the Quebec National Assembly calling on the Government of Quebec to impose age verification. He has made more and more contacts around the world during the course of his research and activities.

For the past three years, he’s been writing me to keep me informed of all of the developments in the area. In my past career, we would have described Mr. Beauregard as a great source. Today, he’s a valuable ally. Thank you, Pierre. The support of citizens, parents and health professionals has been invaluable to me.

As Bill S-210 begins its journey through the House of Commons, there has been a lot of good news.

In Germany, the courts recently ruled in favour of the government and against MindGeek, the owner of Pornhub, to force it to comply with German law, which requires age verification for all users in that country. The fact that MindGeek houses its servers in Cyprus doesn’t mean it can sidestep German law, which aims to protect its children from serious danger.

In the United Kingdom, a sweeping online safety bill, which mandates age verification for access to pornography and other harmful content, will be passed by July.

In the United States, Louisiana recently became the first state to mandate age verification for online pornography. An additional 26 states, including California, New York and Massachusetts, have passed or are considering passing laws to control minors’ access to harmful online content.

The fight is not over, however. In our country and elsewhere, some people continue to resist and oppose common-sense rules whose drawbacks are minor compared to the importance of the objectives pursued.

Finding the right balance isn’t easy. We need to protect minors, but also protect people’s privacy. We need to protect the innocence of our children, but allow what is legal. We need to regulate pornographic content, but promote modern sex education.

In my view, these challenges are no reason to give up.

Thank you.

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Mr. LeBlanc, you are the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities and therefore Quebec City’s third link project concerns you directly.

The Government of Quebec has just announced that it is abandoning the idea of a road link in favour of a tunnel for public transit only. We still know little about this project: We don’t know the route, the mode of transportation, the volume of traffic or the cost estimates. To be frank, we don’t even know if Coalition avenir Québec is going to move forward on this.

I know it is impossible for you to say whether the federal government will finance this hypothetical project, but could you indicate what criteria will be used by your government? Specifically, how will the issue of social licence be evaluated?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Your amendment is set out in two parts. I want to begin with the second part. You want to get rid of the clause that says that original French-language shows have to be part of what platforms and broadcasters promote. You want to delete that part of the legislation. I imagine that means that you think original French-language shows aren’t important enough to be entitled to some protection. As you know, and you explained it in your presentation, French is still a minority language in Canada and in North America, even though it is the majority language in Quebec.

Generally, when I see you trying to weaken the scope of discoverability — a concept that still needs to be defined — I come back to the comparison that you always make between the private sector and the public sector, as though culture were just another commodity. I absolutely agree with you that private companies can do all sorts of extraordinary things in product development based on what consumers are looking for. However, for very obvious reasons, culture has never been perceived as a commodity to others. That’s why governments have taken it upon themselves to ensure a certain common good.

Are you dropping original French-language shows because they don’t interest you? Do your really believe that culture is just another commodity?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Honourable colleagues, last week I used this time as an opportunity to bring some levity to the chamber and share the story of some Quebec cows in search of freedom.

However, today I have a much more serious message. I want to talk about human beings in search of freedom, for they are trapped in forced labour and child labour around the world. This Friday, December 2, is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. It is estimated that 50 million people are victims of modern slavery. This is 10 million more than in 2016. However, it is worth noting that Canada is making progress.

Yesterday, after years of stalling, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development completed its clause-by-clause consideration of Bill S-211, An Act to enact the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act. It should pass third reading shortly. This will be the culmination of nearly four years of work, in close collaboration with MP John McKay and the All Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.

I’d also like to salute someone who’s with us in the Senate today, Stephen Pike, a lawyer and expert on governance issues who helped me examine Bill S-211. The Senate voted unanimously to ensure that companies operating in Canada do their part and are transparent about the risk that their supply chains have a captive labour force. That is a starting point.

Modern slavery is a complex problem. These violations of human rights originate in the poverty and vulnerability of one side, and the wealth and power of the other. As Senator Jaffer stated, a current example is the construction and renovation of eight soccer stadiums in Qatar, where fans are currently watching World Cup matches.

Over the pasts 12 years, hundreds of thousands of Nepali went to work at these construction sites. Known as good, cheap workers, they were assigned the most dangerous jobs according to an investigation by the newspaper Le Monde.

Many of these workers had to borrow large sums at exorbitant rates to obtain the necessary papers. They’re mostly working to repay the debt incurred to be able to work. It is the vicious circle of forced labour. Many Nepalese returned home injured or in caskets. Without any compensation, they have left their debts to their families.

In 2020, under pressure from the International Labour Organization, Qatar imposed the adoption of a minimum wage and allowed migrants to change jobs. These reforms were more than necessary.

All these stories were disturbing, of course, but not enough for a boycott. When the lights are up and the matches start, all that is forgotten. Unfortunately, and despite our legislative progress, these migrations of desperate humans, looking to feed their family, could be on the rise because of climate change and the conflicts it fuels.

For wealthy countries like Canada, we need to look reality in the face and show some integrity. I hope we will make the right choice. Thank you.

Senator Miville-Dechêne: I didn’t quite understand the last part of your answer, but I will expand on my question. There is every indication that the marked increase in child labour is the result of the labour shortage affecting various economic sectors in Quebec and elsewhere. As the article in Le Monde pointed out, we don’t want to “. . . see young Quebecers sacrificed on the altar of economic necessity.” I’m sure you agree with that sentiment, Senator Gold.

Can you tell me what the Government of Canada is considering doing to solve the problem of the dire labour shortage and prevent 14- and 15-year-olds from having to fill this void?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: My question is for Senator Gold. On Sunday, June 12, Canada will mark World Day Against Child Labour. You would expect Canada to be a leader in this area, but in the last few months, several media reports, coming out of Quebec in particular, have revealed alarming statistics on minors as young as 11 working.

An article published today in Le Monde explains that there is no minimum working age in Quebec. I know, of course, that these rules are under provincial jurisdiction, but could you tell me if the Government of Canada has had any discussions with the provinces, including Quebec, about this alarming situation?