Elizabeth May
Saanich—Gulf Islands, British Columbia · Green Party · Canada
“It is easy to roll out solar panels, except that our provincial utilities get in the way. In any case, the cheapest source of electricity, reducing the cost for everyone, would come from focusing on renewable electricity. I do think there is some promise, although it needs a lot of work.”
“We are the only party in the House that does not receive a penny of support from the parliamentary budget, being both unrecognized and unfavoured. I am glad my colleagues from the NDP received funding to make up for what they lost when they ceased to be a recognized party. I have less money, but I am here, and I am not alone.”
“When it became clear that children were dying of Reye syndrome in New Brunswick because of forest aerial spraying by the forest industry. He stated, “I don't like to see people dying. This is one of the things I really wouldn't like to see.”
“That is not the only thing I want to concentrate on, although I will take most of the time, and I am grateful for the chance to speak to this bill now, finally, in this place. Regarding the removal of the excise tax, I have asked before about this in question period.”
“There is not even a link in the language used within the spring economic statement, the budget itself or Bill C-30, but it clearly, by inference, rests on this assumption: More pesticides are going to reduce food prices and help the economy. That is a leap. Let us say that is wrong, based on the evidence, in two ways.”
“Mr. Speaker, the hon. parliamentary secretary is a friend, so when I say a friend, it is not just rhetoric, but I am disappointed. When Bill C-30 was first tabled, I asked the hon.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,092 lines we hold for Elizabeth May, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 16 of 22.
“Madam Speaker, it is so rare to have this opportunity. The leader of the official opposition gave a sufficiently long speech that the questions got around to me. I want to thank him for that from the bottom of my heart. I do want to say that I will probably be voting the same way that he will be on the budget unless changes are made. I wanted to ask a question, because I know that he is a reader and he thinks about issues. I am fascinated by the fact that the Prime Minister appears to be taking his main policy advice from a book called Abundance . I am sure he has heard of it. It is big bestseller by Ezra Klein, New York Times columnist. His thesis, and the entire book Abundance , comes to this, which sounds like a Conservative speech in Canada but for one thing. The whole book is about the United States.”
“As a community, we understand and accept the petitioners' concerns, but there is growing push-back on basic human rights toward this community. This federal House is asked by these petitioners to stop this practice and protect Canadian rights.”
“Madam Speaker, I am rising to present an e-petition that has garnered over 1,424 signatures from concerned Canadians. The petitioners are asking this House to look to our obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, consider the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the context of the rights and freedoms of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and consider that the targeting of this group is a form of genocide. In addition, the targeting and removal of federal rights and freedoms from the 2SLGBTQIA+ group constitutes a practice that must be declared illegal and not allowed to take place within Canada. They are asking that Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ federal human rights be protected from being diminished or revoked with the use of the federal notwithstanding clause.”
“Mr. Speaker, a lot of Canadians do not seem to know that between the day a budget is tabled and when it is voted on, the government can make changes to it. I desperately hope the answer will be “yes” to this question: Are the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance prepared to be flexible, work in the spirit of the national interest and be prepared to make changes to the budget before it comes to a vote?”
“Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise virtually today to present a petition of deep concern to constituents who are looking at the health of Canada's watersheds, waterways and wetlands. They are asking that the House examine our antiquated laws relating to protecting our waters and watersheds to ensure that they meet the challenges of the 21st century. They ask that the government review, update, revise and enhance protection for Canada's waterways to protect the health of Canadians.”
“Madam Speaker, I wonder if Canadians realize how much many of us as MPs want to be team Canada. We want to be united. We know we need to put Canada first, but the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act requires that we ignore whether Canada is put first when it decides where billions of dollars of our pensions are invested. Will the government update the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act to make sure Canada comes first?”
“Mr. Speaker, I am saying this from the bottom of my non-partisan heart: The last exchange was unfortunate. I have been in Bill C-14 debates; the hon. Minister of Justice spoke yesterday, and there have been some really respectful exchanges. I want to mention something said yesterday by the hon. member for Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations , himself a criminal prosecutor with lots of experience. He said that he was enjoying the fact that the Minister of Justice is open to change, and they are having good exchanges and an openness to try to find consensus. Therefore, I would ask the hon. parliamentary secretary if he thinks it is a good idea to pretend that we do not actually have reasons to work together in this place and just attack the Conservatives for rhyming. I hate the rhyming too, by the way.”
“Madam Speaker, I have long been troubled by the fact that sureties, and the member raised this issue, do not have to put forward the money themselves, and people do not go after them. It happens that my stepson is a criminal prosecutor for the Province of British Columbia. One thing that is maddening is that, if someone got their mother to put up the bail money, she could lose her house because, although he is the one who broke the bail conditions, she is responsible. I do not know that we can fix this in federal legislation. I am asking the member quite honestly if managing bail is a provincial matter. How is it that sureties do not necessarily have to put up the money, and that we do not go after it if bail conditions are broken?”
“Madam Speaker, the hon. member asked me to repeat the last line, which was to ask my colleague if he had indications, as I feel I have, that the government will consider helpful amendments that would allow us to support the bill. I know that he has criticisms, and I have criticisms. Maybe we can compromise and get a better bill.”
“Madam Speaker, the member's take on the legislation is fascinating. I know how hard he has worked in this area. I would be very grateful to share ideas for reasonable amendments. My sense from the minister is that he and the government are open to amendments. My question to my hon. colleague is this: Has he also been asking to see how open the Liberals are to improve the bill through amendments?”
“Madam Speaker, I note that at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the director of the criminal justice program has pointed out that three successive ministers of justice have noted that we do not have any standardized approach to collecting data about how many people who apply for bail get it. The vast majority do not, and without standardized data, we are making reforms without necessarily having the evidence base we need. I wonder if the hon. Minister of Justice has any comments on the question of whether we have a data and evidence base that is not driven as much by the very painful anecdotes but by evidence.”
“Therefore, to summarize, the petitioners ask the Government of Canada to resume the intake of private sponsorship refugee applications as soon as possible, before the current pause ends on December 31, and to expedite the processing of already approved privately sponsored refugees, prioritizing timely interviews at the embassy in Ankara.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to present petition e-6563, which more than 1,160 Canadians have signed. It speaks to the issue of private sponsorship refugee applications, which were paused until December 31 of this year, but many approved privately sponsored refugee applicants are experiencing significant delays, some waiting for over a year for interviews at the Canadian embassy in Ankara, Turkey. The petitioners go on to state that these delays are leaving individuals very vulnerable in precarious situations, particularly those who are faced with threats as part of an LGBT community, as well as others dealing with local political instability. The private sponsors across Canada are prepared and committed to support these refugees on their arrival.”
“Mr. Speaker, I want to share with Canadians how much respect and affection I have for the hon. parliamentary secretary, who, as a medical doctor, was the public health officer for Yukon during COVID. That is no small thing, and now he serves as a member of Parliament. The fact that I think he may have picked the wrong party does not really make any difference at this point. We are in a common discussion, which happens too rarely in this country. We are an Arctic nation, but we mostly live in southern Canada. I sometimes say to people, knowing about Brazil, that the people of Brazil living in Rio know as much about the Amazon as the people of Canada living in Ottawa or Toronto know about the Arctic. The challenges of Arctic sovereignty are challenges of national security. The challenges of losing permafrost are a threat to global survival.”
“We can imagine for a moment that we decide that we want to invest more in the Arctic Council, the only multilateral body to which Canada belongs and probably the only multilateral body in the world with a permanent seat for the Inuit peoples and the Inuit Circumpolar Council. In pursuing this tonight, and I am very grateful that a parliamentary secretary is here to take this up with me, I ask this: Why can we not do more to assert Arctic sovereignty through solidarity with the Inuit peoples?”
“Recent articles have appeared in the Nunavut press about the need for roads and airstrips, which are disappearing or at least very bumpy because of permafrost melt. In terms of the investment in the Arctic, and the hon. member for Nunavut here in this place speaks so eloquently to this issue frequently, we need to pay attention to our north. The argument advanced by Professor Griffiths would be a very good place for our federal cabinet to spend some time, think about it, mull it around. We can imagine for a moment that the leader of the ITK, Natan Obed, who is an extraordinary leader, was engaged more fully in the decisions that are made by Canada about how we protect our sovereignty. We can imagine actually investing in fighting the climate crisis so that the permafrost of the north stays frozen.”
“I asked whether the Prime Minister might not think that it was a good idea to follow the line of argument that Professor Griffiths advances, which is that we have a much stronger claim to Arctic sovereignty by virtue of the fact that, through the negotiations of Nunavut, through the conveyance of vast territories of our Arctic and through the Inuit people to Canada in the claim of Nunavut, our legal status is much stronger in recognizing that indigenous sovereignty is Canadian sovereignty. That is a lock on Canadian sovereignty. Obviously, we need to invest more in our Arctic. We need to invest more in the infrastructure of ports. We have to deal with the fact that, due to the climate crisis, winter ice roads are disappearing.”
“Of course, it is the storied Northwest Passage of Stan Rogers. It is the storied Northwest Passage of Canadian imagination. However, it rests on the fragile legal claim that it is the internal waters of Canada. What Professor Franklyn Griffiths raised, and I asked this question at the time of the hon. Minister of Northern Affairs , was this: If we were to see the U.S. president launch a naval vessel through the Northwest Passage from the United States, how would we assert our claim of sovereignty?”
“Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise this evening in Adjournment Proceedings to pursue a matter I raised on October 8. It is an unusual question I want to pursue tonight because it is not a “gotcha” moment. It is not about how I wish the government had done this but failed to. I was very impressed and, I must say, inspired by a piece written in The Globe and Mail on October 3 by a Canadian professor, Franklyn Griffiths, who is an expert on Arctic affairs, among other things. For a long time, I have been concerned about how we establish our sovereignty in this current climate and with particular people who live in the White House. We know there have been claims that Canada should be a 51st state. Our sovereignty is important to us. One of the places where our sovereignty can be seen as vulnerable is in our claim to the Northwest Passage.”
“Madam Speaker, this is really a question of privilege, because what the hon. member just said leaves on the record something that could affect my ability to do my job. I do not give anyone here direction, not even Green Party members when I have some with me. Because I respect enormously the hon. member for Lanark—Frontenac , I just wanted him to be properly acknowledged in this place as the member who brought up the point the hon. deputy House leader wanted to reference. I apologize.”
“The concerned citizens who have signed this petition are calling on the government to immediately put thermal coal on the priority substances list of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and, as soon as possible, regulate it to ensure that it is not exported from Canadian ports.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in this place, as always, representing the people of Saanich—Gulf Islands from the traditional territory of the W_SÁNEC nation. Hych’ka Siam . The petitioners are concerned about the export of thermal coal from Canadian ports. This coal generally comes up from the United States, is shipped to the port of Vancouver and leaves from our port. Colleagues might ask why it does not leave from the U.S. ports. It is because the export of thermal coal down the west coast to the United States has been halted due to the concern of those governments over the climate crisis. The Liberals promised to end the export of thermal coal in the 2021 election. There were measures that were about to be passed in Bill C-33 , which died on the Order Paper.”
“Mr. Speaker, tomorrow is the 80th anniversary of the creation of the United Nations. Canada has an enviable reputation, but it is from long ago, when we were leaders in fighting for human rights and leaders in peacekeeping. I would like to ask the hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs if Canada is rethinking our current position. Will we continue to ignore the work of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or will we again make efforts to be a country known for peacekeeping and ending the threat of nuclear war?”
“Mr. Speaker, it is a small matter, but just so the technical people know and the Speaker's office knows, an erroneous message was sent to all members that we were going to have a vote and that the bells were ringing. I know that the IT people do a spectacular job for us in this place, but I wanted to make sure that it was noted, so that the problem could be corrected.”
“Petitioners call upon the Minister of Veterans Affairs to remove any statutory limits on back pay eligibility for the disability allowance, to work with individual veterans to achieve a just and due compensation for disability allowance and to do so in a timely manner.”
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition that is timely as we approach Remembrance Day, on behalf of constituents in Saanich—Gulf Islands, Canadian Forces members and veterans who are looking at the compensation act and some implicit unfairness in the compensation act that requires veterans who have suffered injuries to remain inadequately compensated. They point out that Veterans Affairs Canada evaluates disability benefits claims without reasonable time frames for viewing their injuries. They ask that the minister 's mandate letter list a dedication to the “one veteran, one standard” approach.”
“The Mass Casualty Commission recommended a three-year course to ensure that RCMP officers are adequately trained to do the very challenging job they have in front of them.”
“Mr. Speaker, yes, we certainly support the CBSA. We have felt for some time that to the extent that our border was in any way porous, it was not because of the risk of fentanyl coming from Canada into the U.S., as Mr. Trump seems to believe, but rather the opposite. In particular, it is because of other drugs, precursors of other drugs and illegal weapons coming from the U.S. into Canada. CBSA officers need to be able to take the time they need and be fully resourced to inspect things as they come to our border. However, I will express concern briefly about the RCMP officers we are hiring. We need to look at the Mass Casualty Commission report, which recommended that our RCMP officers need more training, because" 26 weeks is not enough.”
“Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Kamloops, who practises law there. Parenthetically, I think we could use more lawyers in this place. We could use people who understand how to read legislation and can say, “Ah, this seems to have something funny about it. We don't want warrantless access to our private information.” I agree with my friend from Kamloops that it is concerning that the government has not given up on the idea of further invasions of our privacy.”
“Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of concerns for the residents of northern Manitoba. They face many issues, and we should certainly pay attention to the Port of Churchill. There are many things that need to be done, but no one needs to open our mail to protect us from fentanyl. I have talked to the Minister of Justice about this. Many accommodations could be made. Mail, unlike many other objects that may contain illegal drugs, is addressed to the person who is going to receive it. As such, one could ask the post office to set it aside, contact the recipient and ask if they mind having their letter opened or if they would like to be present when their letter is opened. The government has just said on the record that it has not given up on Bill C-2 . Mark that well.”
“The Liberals have caved to what the Conservatives demanded in this place, and I thank those on the Conservatives benches who demanded it, but they are not demanding enough. Both bills should be withdrawn immediately. Bill C-2 had egregious sections regarding the post office and the Internet, but Bill C-12 is still unacceptable. It has provisions that invade privacy and hurt refugees, with innocent people caught in the gears of what is now an increasingly Trumpian world. We do not have to accept that. We can make laws that work for Canadians and for those who legitimately need our protection. Canadians will always want to say “elbows up”, but with arms outstretched to the world.”
“He was awfully glad we had immediate help for refugees and did not require that they cross at the proper border. Sometimes, a person crosses where they can, with the clothes on their back. This is why I am proud I was a practising member of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers. It is also absolutely opposed to what is being proposed here in Bill C-12 , and remain so. Going back to the fact that it is an omnibus bill, this means it is not going to go to the immigration committee for proper study with enough witnesses and experts brought to bear to say, “This is what is wrong with this bill, and this is how we might fix it.” The Green Party still maintains that these issues are not fixable and that both Bill C-2 and Bill C-12 should be withdrawn immediately. In the meantime, the greater likelihood is that they will not be.”
“I was a lawyer in Halifax, and in those days, the refugees I helped were mostly ship-jumpers. With nothing more than the clothes on their back, they escaped from eastern bloc and Warsaw Pact countries, like Romania, came to Halifax Harbour and found themselves a lawyer. Generally, that was me. I was so grateful for this. It has been mentioned a few times in debates that Canadians would hate the idea that we provided hotel rooms, which we did. I will never forget the brilliant young man who called me, probably four decades later, after I got elected, and wanted me to know how he had done in Canada once I helped him get a hotel room in Halifax and start his refugee claim. He started and ran a small construction company and had a number of sons, who are still running his construction company.”
“On Friday last week, we had a cross-border forum and invited into Saanich—Gulf Islands representatives from local governments, indigenous governments, NGOs and civil society groups, and we all agreed that we are still neighbours and friends. We do not like Trump's tariffs and we do not want to kowtow to him, but we want to deepen the relationships that exist between us. We would really like to get our ferry service back, by the way, between Anacortes, Washington, and Sidney, British Columbia. We can deepen relationships, but given the strong border language and the rhetoric around this, I have to agree with the comment from OpenMedia. The language in Bill C-2 and Bill C-12 is all about pleasing Donald Trump. What gets offended in the process? I used to practise refugee law.”
“The Gulf Islands referenced in the title of my riding, Saanich—Gulf Islands, are close relatives, one might say, to the San Juan Islands. They have the same ecosystem. The same endangered whales go through both waters of the Salish Sea, and whales and salmon do not carry passports. The indigenous people of Washington state, the Lummi Nation, are relatives to the Saanich people I am honoured to represent here in this place. They are intrinsically linked, and our borders are strong in that we respect each other's nationalities. I have to say, there are certain strains when the Mariners are playing the Jays, but never mind. Let us set that aside. In my riding, we cheer for the Jays. This is clear.”
“Bill C-2, as I mentioned, is still on the Order Paper. More than that, though, removing the parts that were in Bill C-2 from Bill C-12 does not make Bill C-12 acceptable. I am going to quote Matt Hatfield, the executive director of OpenMedia, one of the many civil society organizations concerned about this bill. This is his position on privacy rights and other aspects of the way in which Bill C-12 is still offensive. He said, “The story of this legislative package is the same today as it was on day one of Bill C-2’s introduction; it’s about pleasing President Trump”. (1255) Like the preceding speaker from Niagara, my riding is also a border riding. Saanich—Gulf Islands is on the Salish Sea, which is an ecological region shared with Washington state.”
“It attracted concern from civil liberties organizations, refugee protection groups and migrant protection organizations. I can mention some of the groups by name. Specifically, over 300 organizations called for Bill C-2 to be withdrawn, including the Canadian Labour Congress, the United Church of Canada, the Migrant Rights Network, the Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International, OpenMedia, Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, Climate Action Network Canada, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association. They all called for a full withdrawal of Bill C-2. I have not read all of the groups' names into the record. Now we have Bill C-12 . Have these groups said the government has heard their concerns and, obviously, Bill C-2 is going to be withdrawn? No.”
“It would change the Customs Act, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Oceans Act, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Act, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. I have not read all of them into the record. Omnibus bills are a problem, because when we deal with subjects that may be somewhat related but are sufficiently different, they should be studied separately. They should not be put together and called an omnibus bill. In this case, omnibus Bill C-2 attracted omnibus opposition. A broad coalition of over 200 civil society organizations put together a demand to Parliament before we resumed in September, as the original Bill C-2 was tabled in the spring.”
“Conservative colleagues have already noted, the parts that have been removed are those that were the most obviously egregious. The idea that the Canada Post Corporation Act has to be changed is in Bill C-2, but not in Bill C-12. It would allow people to open our mail in case there might be controlled substances. There are also the parts that would allow information from our Internet accounts to be accessed and shared. This is a source of real concern for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Bill C-2 is an omnibus bill touching on 10 different bills. I think Bill C-12 is down to touching on eight different bills now.”
“As I read the rules, I think the government is within its rights to have two bills that have the same title and are substantially the same, but at the moment that it chooses one to put forward for a vote, we will know that the other one is withdrawn, because we cannot vote on two bills that are the same in the same session. As a member of Parliament, I wonder what kind of game the government is playing with this. These are both government bills. Why is Bill C-2 still in the order of precedence, and why are we getting nonsense statements from Liberal members, who have said Bill C-12 builds on Bill C-2? That is clearly not what is happening here. Bill C-2 is an omnibus bill whose title is about stronger borders, and it references many other pieces of legislation within it. Bill C-12 does the same. As some of my hon.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to speak to Bill C-12 , which is what is listed today under Government Orders. We have a very strange situation at the moment in that the bill is substantially similar, with the same title and almost all the same sections, to Bill C-2 , which remains on the Order Paper. I draw attention to that as I go over the rules only because this is, to me, an unprecedented experience. I have not been in this place forever, only since 2011, but I have never seen the government introduce two bills that are substantially the same. Sometimes, there is a private member's bill and we look at the order of precedence.”
“Mr. Speaker, I welcome my hon. colleague to the House. This is the first chance I have had to address the new member for Bow River. I will miss his predecessor. We always had a good time in this place. I just want to correct one aspect of my hon. colleague's speech. This is certainly not a point of order; it is debate, but he did say that only the Conservative Party will stand up. I just want to make it very clear that the Green Party also vigorously opposes Bill C-2 , which is still on the Order Paper, and Bill C-12 . Somehow, the Liberal members of this place have claimed they built on Bill C-2 to come up with Bill C-12. They subtracted some parts of Bill C-2 that were offensive, but not all parts that are offensive, and the legislation is substantially the same. I double-checked our parliamentary procedure, but I wonder if the hon.”
“Mr. Speaker, I wonder if my hon. colleague for Hamilton Centre could provide any insight. I have asked previous Liberals speaking to Bill C-12 whether Bill C-2 is going to be withdrawn. On the Order Paper, we now have two bills that are nearly identical. Both are unacceptable. Are there plans to withdraw Bill C-2 ?”
“Mr. Speaker, petitioners have asked me to speak on their behalf as constituents of Saanich—Gulf Islands concerned about a new and emerging industry, believe it or not, of cephalopod farming. That is, in fact, octopus and squid farming. The animals are bred in captivity, slaughtered for human consumption. Canada currently has no legislation to regulate or govern this emerging potential industry, and certainly, in the wild, cephalopods are solitary, wild animals that are ill-suited to be raised in captivity and recognized as sentient beings. Therefore, the petitioners ask that the Government of Canada act in response to this threat, ban the importation of farmed cephalopod products and prohibit the breeding and raising of cephalopods in captivity in Canada.”
“Will they have their rights to ensure that testimony is actually required and that we can investigate properly and call our institutions to account?”
“Mr. Speaker, I am hoping no one in the government benches is surprised that I am very disappointed by this. To point to modern legislation and to say we are against slavery, forced labour and child labour is hardly to say that Canada is in the lead. Yes, the same member of Parliament I mentioned before, John McKay, was very involved in bringing forward the legislation against forced labour. So was a member from the other place, because there were a lot of very active senators on this point. I have 30 seconds left to say this: Please answer my question. Will this government commit to continuing the Canadian ombudsperson for responsible enterprise? Will that position be filled, and will that office be given the tools required to investigate complaints, such as those of the Xinca people?”
“However, we now know that there is a Canadian national contact point for people to make complaints about the failure of Canadian enterprises to follow responsible, sustainable business practices or respect international norms to protect human rights. The Xinka people who came to Canada complained that the Canadian silver mine Escobal, in Guatemala, was violating their rights. Where do they go with these complaints? The World Bank created an inspection panel many decades ago to hold to account those who took funds, investments and loans from the World Bank so that there was a way to track whether these dollars were being used responsibly and whether human rights were being respected. I want to ask the hon. member questions that I initially put to the Minister of International Trade . Where are we on these multiple challenges?”
“There has been a lot of criticism, ever since it was created after all this effort, that the ombudsperson really has no useful tools to investigate complaints. The idea was that if Canadian activity of different kinds by Canadian corporations was occurring in places around the world where we were complicit in human rights violations and environmental damage, there would be a way for Canada to intervene to improve the situation and put pressure on Canadian corporations to do the right thing. In any case, we never gave the Office of the Canadian ombudsperson for responsible enterprise any tools to do the job. Now there is no one in that position to do the job. We now have something called the national contact point, which is somewhat lacking and is not very descriptive.”
“John McKay, have worked really hard to try to get legislation through to hold mining companies to account. In any case, when I met with the women from the Xinka community of Guatemala, I raised their issues here in the House and asked if there was at that point any action on something that was created some time ago in response to the pressure coming from many sides, including from civil society and, as I said, from people within the House of Commons, with legislation that almost passed at different times. Something was created with some fanfare: the Canadian ombudsperson for responsible enterprise. The current position of the ombudsperson is vacant, and I asked at the time, in question period, whether there would be a person appointed to this position.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in Adjournment Proceedings this evening. I am pursuing a question that I initially asked on September 26, not that long ago. I raised in the House in question period a really extraordinary experience I had earlier in the week while meeting with very brave Guatemalan indigenous women who had come to Canada to ask for our help in dealing with a Canadian mining company. It is not an unfamiliar story. We know that Canadian mining companies have, unfortunately, a record. It is not all of them; it is not a broad brush, but certainly Canadian mining companies have been associated in the global south with human rights abuses and abuse of the environment. In response to this, over the years, many people, particularly the former member of Parliament for Guildwood, the Hon.”