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Decentralized Democracy

Matthew Green

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • NDP
  • Hamilton Centre
  • Ontario
  • Voting Attendance: 66%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $131,250.15

  • Government Page
  • Feb/16/23 2:16:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we gather in our communities to celebrate Black History Month, I proudly rise today, as a past recipient and past co-chair, to recognize the current board members, volunteers and community sponsors of the John C. Holland Awards, hosted annually by the Hamilton Black History Council. Co-founded in 1996 by Marlene Thomas and Evelyn Myrie, and hosted alongside various community groups and local sponsors, this celebration is named in the spirit of Reverend J.C. Holland, who was the first African Canadian to be named “citizen of the year” in any community in Canada. A special thanks goes to this year's council members: Marlene Thomas, Doreen Johnson, Jeff Holland, Sajah Stiller, Cherie Warner-Richard, Michael Highgate, Nicole Virgin, Michelle Schivbarran, and Terri Bedminster, the J.C. Holland Awards event chair. I congratulate all of this year's incredible John C. Holland Awards nominees and selected winners, and I thank them for their contribution to our community, the city of Hamilton and indeed all of Canada.
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  • Jun/9/22 11:11:45 a.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-5 
Madam Speaker, I rise today to echo the calls from the Black Legal Action Centre, the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund. We know that there have been some incremental steps that are, by and large, due to some of the good amendments that we were able to put forward as New Democrats. In the Liberals' submission to the committee, they called for the removal of mandatory minimums that were deemed to be unconstitutional, the removal of the band of conditional sentencing for offences that had mandatory minimum penalties, and the fulfillment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's call to action 32 to allow a trial judge, upon giving reasons, to depart from the mandatory minimum sentence. Finally, there are lots of conversations about these disproportional impacts on Canadians of African descent, yet the government still has not addressed an amendment to subsection 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code so that sentencing judges can have the information required to pass appropriate sentences on Black defendants. When will the government finally get around to listening to communities and taking substantive steps, rather than incremental steps, toward justice within this country?
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