- Member of Parliament
- Member of the Subcommittee on Review of Parliament’s involvement with associations and recognized Interparliamentary groups
Deputy House leader of the New Democratic Party
- NDP
- London—Fanshawe
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $131,911.16
- Government Page
- Oct/16/23 10:33:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I too want to thank my hon. colleague for the strength she brings to this debate. Knowing her background as a Jewish Canadian, I cannot even imagine this, so I appreciate that.
She spoke a lot about the local impact. I come from London, where we are still dealing with a lot of the impacts of what happened to our London family. To move forward, I have been asking about concrete actions we can take in this place and that the government can take to continue to support all of our communities when we are dealing with such tragedy and acts of violence and hatred.
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- Oct/16/23 9:50:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague spoke about Canadians hurting. She spoke about the people in her own community, the fear they have and ensuring that we are protecting them. In my community, it was just reported that there was a sign in an apartment building for everyone to see that said “Kill all Muslims”. What do we need to do today to ensure that anti-Palestinian and anti-Semitic messages are really addressed here in this place?
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- Sep/19/23 9:48:58 p.m.
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Madam Chair, earlier today in the debate, it was mentioned that there are those in this place who are putting trade policy before human rights. I would like to hear my hon. colleague's reaction to that and thoughts on it.
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- Sep/19/23 9:27:48 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I know a lot of us, and I mentioned this before, have probably been reaching out to those in our community who are greatly impacted by this, members of the Sikh community.
I was having a conversation tonight, and one of the community members asked me, “What will it take for us to be considered as first-class citizens in this country?” It really just broke my heart, and I did not know what to say to him. I said it is about solidarity. It is about that non-partisan coming together and speaking out against what we know is wrong.
As a member of the government, could she speak to my constituents as well on how we are all working together, for the most part, to do just that and to make their lives safer and better, as much as we can?
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- Sep/19/23 8:33:59 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank the hon. member for her speech and commitment tonight to this take-note debate. As so many of us have, I am sure, I have been trying to reach out to folks in our own communities, our own ridings, from the Sikh community.
I had a really moving conversation with one fellow who was very specific, and he spoke to the fact that he has felt threatened. He tries to brush it off and say that it is not about him, that it is about a bigger community. Throughout my community in London, the London Sikh Society gurdwara works so hard and contributes so positively to the community. He does so as well, but he said he feels threatened.
Some of the things that we are calling for are additional supports and protections from the RCMP going forward for those community members who also feel threatened. Could she talk about that and whether the government will support that?
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- Oct/20/22 10:17:52 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am always so grateful for my colleague's incredible advocacy on housing. She is also our critic in our caucus for immigration.
One of the things I am constantly hit with in my riding are folks who are dealing with mental health issues and who are desperately trying to turn to family who may live in another country. Unfortunately, because of a lot of the problems we are seeing in our own immigration system, they cannot have family visits and they cannot go and visit. It is soul crushing. I find it cruel to keep families apart.
Could the member briefly describe some of the fixes that we have been putting forward and some of the things she has seen in the relation to that, and how that impacts the mental health crisis that we are talking about today?
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- Oct/20/22 9:09:27 p.m.
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Madam Chair, one of the things I was surprised about, and I was approached by a constituent about this, was that counsellors, therapists and psychotherapists have to charge GST and taxes on their services, whereas other mental health professionals do not. This is actually a classification from CRA. It is a very simple change the government can make.
It is a drop in the bucket of what is necessary, but it would help those who are struggling to pay for some of these services. Until they are made far more available and without the idea of having to pay for them, which is also my goal, it is something that the government could do very quickly.
I have a private member's bill on that. It is Bill C-218. Would the member be open to supporting that bill?
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- Oct/20/22 8:29:30 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I appreciate my hon. colleague's impassioned speech. I know the member knows about my colleague from Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke's bill on changing the National Defence Act and some of the wording in regard to members of the armed forces who commit self-harm. It goes back to some archaic language and, ultimately, when there was conscription. It was to prevent soldiers from harming themselves so they did not have to go to war.
We know now, in this present modern context, that it holds a much bigger mental health issue. The army, the navy and the air force all treat it in a way that is punishable, so we are looking to change that. The New Democrats have a bill. I would like the member's opinion on that bill and to know if she will be supporting it.
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- Jan/31/22 10:53:46 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would also like to ask the question in French, but I do not know if I would communicate as effectively, especially at this late hour, so I am going to stick to English. Forgive me; I will work on it.
One of the questions that I asked my Conservative colleague on the defence committee earlier in the debate is one I would like to ask my hon. colleague in the Bloc, and I do appreciate her work on the defence committee as well. Working together has been good so far.
Ultimately, there has been a huge lack of Liberal leadership when it comes to the men and women who are serving in the armed forces. There is a lot of doubt about whether it is safe. Women who have served are giving up their entire careers because they cannot go forward. We have talked about that retention and recruitment problem. An additional stress is put on the women as we expand and amplify the Operation Unifier mission.
I would like to hear her comments and her thoughts on what we need to do from our end to better support the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces and to ensure that the Liberal Party and the Liberal government do the same.
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- Jan/31/22 10:03:16 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we have talked a lot in the House about the failure of the Liberal government to provide leadership especially for women, but for both men and women, in the armed forces, and the toll this has taken on retention and recruitment in the armed forces. We talked about the additional stress of expanding Operation Unifier, which I agree with entirely.
Could the member maybe address the additional stresses this is going to put on the men and women in our armed forces?
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- Jan/31/22 9:12:34 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, New Democrats have called for and support many of the actions that are being taken by the government. One of the things we have called for is the use of Magnitsky sanctions. This has not been used by the government since 2018. It is a clear and strong tool that Canada could use against human rights violators.
Why is the government not going forward with this reaction?
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- Jan/31/22 8:31:15 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I have quite a strong community in London from the diaspora, the Ukrainian folks there. Daria, the president of the London chapter of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, brought her concerns directly to me.
Considering the member has such a diverse community, I would like to hear some of the concerns he is hearing directly from his community members as to what is ultimately going on and the government's response to it.
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- Jan/31/22 8:21:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as New Democrats, we support the extension of Operation Unifier, but we remain concerned about reports of extremism within small parts of the Ukraine military and problems in our own military. We feel that our own forces should not train or support any far-right extremist groups. Does the member agree that we should assist the Ukrainian military to become more democratic and accountable, and how are we doing that currently?
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- Jan/31/22 7:50:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while New Democrats support the non-combat military training, we do not support the provision of arms or lethal military gear, as my colleague so adequately put forward.
I noticed the member across the way reacted quite well, so could he expand on his thoughts to the pushing from Conservative members on that provision of lethal military gear and what the consequences of that are.
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