I’m putting forth this petition in the Legislature today on behalf of Nicole Crellin, who happens to be a dear friend of Peter Tabuns, the member for Toronto–Danforth.

Speaker, there are about 40 people in the audience today who have come to hear this petition.

Here in Ontario, we are a diverse, multicultural, multi-ethnic community, and at our best, we value equity and inclusion and human rights for all; not just for a select few.

Toronto, as we all know, is the most diverse city in the world. Our differences, when respected, are our superpower.

The United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 as the first international recognition that all human beings are entitled to fundamental rights and freedoms which must be respected and protected by all nations of the world. It is crucial that all Ontarians are aware of the fundamental human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; too many are not.

For those who are watching, the government changed the rules on petitions, so we can’t read the petitions. So I can’t read the actual words on these petitions that have been signed by 2,252 people.

The petition calls for the Ontario government to implement consistent and robust mandatory human rights education through events, campaigns, publications and other methods, so every Ontarian knows the universal declaration and can be deeply rooted and invested in our collective pursuit for freedom, justice and peace in this province.

It’s rather an ironic day, but I will affix my signature on this petition, and I am handing it to Lise for tabling.

And I would be remiss, Speaker, if I did not say hello to Rosemary Sadlier, literally one of our icons in the province of Ontario, if not our country, and someone who initiated much of the work done around Emancipation Day, recognized in this province, and Emancipation Month, recognized in this province, and most certainly Black History Month, as well.

Welcome to your House.

This petition is calling for the Ontario government to do everything in its power to support victims of sexual violence. Women who have been raped, women who have experienced gender-based violence do not need to be retraumatized, reviolated by a “justice system” that is grossly underfunded, under-resourced, understaffed, to the point where there were 1,326 cases of sexual assault in 2022 withdrawn or stayed before trial. That means the perpetrators walked.

I stand in full support of this petition to adopt recommendations 1 and 3 of the Auditor General’s 2019 annual report, to make the ILA program more accessible for survivors, and to review the Victim Quick Response Program to ensure it’s meeting its mandate.

There are several of us in this room, in this Legislature, who are women—across party lines. We should be absolutely ashamed of this government’s lack of treatment when it comes to women and survivors of gender-based violence.

I happily affix my signature to this petition—probably more angrily—and I table it with Alexander.

I’m glad to stand on behalf of the residents and community members of Toronto–St. Paul’s, my home riding, to talk about the government’s Working for Workers Act.

There are many ACTRA workers in my community. There are TVO workers in my community. There are health care workers, PSWs and nurses in my community. And none of them feel like this government is working for workers. Today, we had thousands of health care professionals and allies at Queen’s Park fighting a government that wants to privatize health care.

So my question to this Conservative government is, how is the Working for Workers Act helping public sector workers? How is it helping TVO workers? How is it helping ACTRA workers? How is it helping migrant farmers who are being bullied by bad employers? And does the Working for Workers Act include a repeal of Bill 124—because that would really be working for workers.