Karina Gould
Burlington, Ontario · Liberal · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, I would just like to salute my colleague. It has been a pleasure working with him over the past few years, and I want to extend my best wishes to him. I wish him all the best for the future. We will miss him, even though we have differences of opinion about our country.”
“Mr. Speaker, Saturday marked 20 years since the death of OPP sergeant Greg Stobbart, a beloved Burlington resident who was killed by a careless motorist while on a training ride on his bike. He was a dedicated officer with 25 years of experience, a committed athlete and a deeply loved family man and friend.”
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to present two petitions. The first petition is from constituents in Burlington who want to reaffirm their support for the Canada-wide early learning and child care system. The petitioners request that all future budgets include adequate funding that keeps up with inflation and allows for the growth of the program.”
“Mr. Speaker, the second is an e-petition, in which petitioners note that in January 2026, widespread human rights protests in Iran were met with state violence, including arrests, torture, enforced disappearances and the killing of 30,000-plus civilians.”
“They demand the immediate restoration of Internet access and telecoms to ensure governmental transparency and civilian safety, the cessation of lethal force against Iranian dissidents, and the release of all political prisoners and detainees.”
“Mr. Speaker, between 1945 and the 1970s, hundreds of thousands of unmarried mothers in Canada were coerced into surrendering their babies for adoption. This occurred under intense pressure from religious organizations, social workers and the medical community, particularly in maternity homes and hospitals.”
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“Mr. Speaker, I want to add my gratitude to the hon. member for Burnaby North—Seymour for bringing the bill forward. In his speech he said that he knew this was not going to change the world, but that it would make a world of difference for the affected families. I could not agree more. For those 1,600 families who tragically experience this every year, he is making their lives a bit easier. I just want to thank him for that. I am also a former minister of Service Canada, and my colleague is as well; we do not often get two previous ministers of Service Canada sitting beside each other. I wonder if he can talk about what this means from a service delivery point of view, why this is not only good policy that is compassionate and does the right thing but also better at delivering services.”
“The fact that there are judges who have decided that, when they hear a child mention potential abuse, their first instinct is to reverse custody, to take a child away from a parent and put them towards another one, is actually quite mind-boggling. What we want is to have confidence in the courts. The bill would enable that. The bill would give us the confidence to know that the decisions being made about the now and the future of our children in situations beyond their control are being made in their best interest and that they have a voice and a vote in their future. I thank my colleague from Hamilton Mountain for bringing forward this important legislation.”
“If we think about a child being sent across a border to be in some stranger's apartment and to receive some unprofessional therapy about what they think has happened and what the therapist is telling them has actually happened, we can imagine what that does to them. We can imagine the fear, uncertainty and loneliness they feel. I am asking the House to support the legislation. I think that what all of us want and what we care about is the well-being of the child. That is what we put front and centre here. My colleague spoke about the fact that there is a cottage industry that is building up, a cottage industry that is preying on vulnerable children.”
“What we should be focused on in the House, and I implore and I encourage members from all parties in this, is that when we are studying the bill, we should always think about what the objective is. I hope the bill makes it to committee. The objective is to ensure the rights and the well-being of the children, who find themselves in a place that was not their decision and in a situation that was not of their making but that has a huge ramification and impact on their now and on their future. When we speak to children who have gone through and who have been survivors of reunification therapy, as my colleague said, we find that some of it is fine, but some of it is really worrying.”
“It would prevent judges from issuing orders that restrict parenting time with the parent to whom the child is bonded in order to improve the child's relationship with the other parent, and it would prohibit courts from forcing a child to attend reunification therapy. As my colleague, the hon. member of Parliament for Hamilton Mountain , said, it is not opposed to rebuilding relationships with parents. That is not what the bill is about. It is about ensuring that a child can make active decisions in what is going to happen to them and to their future. That is what we should be focused on in the bill. I understand that the government has a number of amendments it wants to make.”
“The bill is trying to centre the rights of children in what is often a really awful situation for them, to give them a voice, to give them agency and to protect their well-being. What the bill would do is exactly that. It would clarify that there is no presumption of shared parenting, with each decision based on the best interests of the child. It would prevent the courts from blaming women who are victims of domestic violence for not actively working to improve their children's relationship with their abuser. It would stop the practice of disregarding children's views and preferences under the pretense that they have been manipulated or alienated by a parent.”
“They told me stories like the one that the member for Hamilton Mountain shared of children being taken across the border to receive reunification therapy, that they had no idea where their children were because they were not allowed to have contact with them and how desperate, alone and abandoned they felt by the system that was supposed to be there to protect them. (1720) The bill would provide important measures to ensure that the rights of the child, the agency of the child and the well-being of the child are placed at the centre of divorce proceedings. That is something I think all of us, as parents, hope would be the case. I listened to my Conservative colleague's speech. The bill has nothing that is against the institution of marriage.”
“When we spoke about this, she said that she was not alone, and that she could get a call together of women across the country for whom this was happening. A couple of weeks later, I sat in on a Zoom call with over 50 women across the country who shared their stories with me. They talked about how their children had been taken from them by police, how their children were scared, how they were not able to have the kind of protection and support that they thought they were entitled to and they thought they would receive, and that they were in utter disbelief that this was happening.”
“When the spectre of intimate partner violence was raised, the judge interrupted and said it was parental alienation. What ended up happening was that she lost, entirely, the custody of her children. What is really important here is recognizing that this is a phenomenon that is growing in Canada. When I spoke to my constituent about this, I was shocked because I thought the courts were there to protect people from these kinds of things. If someone is a survivor of domestic violence with the courage to leave, to speak up and to try to protect themselves and their children, the system is supposed to be there to support them. She thought the same thing. That is why she shared her story. That is why she was trying to leave and protect her children. Instead, she was punished for that.”
“Jennifer Kagan, her mother, believes strongly that if the judge had learned and understood about intimate partner violence, had learned and understood about coercive control, Keira, who was four years old at the time, would still be alive today. I want to thank someone else, Pam Damoff, who is no longer here in the House but who served as a former colleague. She really spearheaded this work and made sure that Keira's law became reality and that Keira's legacy would live on. The member for Hamilton Mountain is taking another step. I first became aware of this when a constituent of mine approached me to ask if we could have a meeting to talk about her situation. She shared with me that her children had recently been taken from her while she was going through divorce proceedings with a former abuser.”
“It was also the courage of our members, from all parties, who began the study on coercive control and learned about the issue of parental alienation. I want to take that a step back even, because this builds on important measures that the House has passed over the last years, notably the changes to the Divorce Act in Bill C-78 and then, more recently, Keira's law. For those colleagues who do not know about Keira's law, it was the first time that judges would be required to study and understand intimate partner violence and coercive control. Keira's law came about because of a little girl in my community who died tragically while on a hike with her estranged father.”
“Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin my remarks this evening by really thanking the member of Parliament for Hamilton Mountain . She has taken on this important private member's bill and taken on this important issue to protect children, to protect families and to protect parents. I cannot express my gratitude enough to her, but I think what is telling is that there are 300 women's organizations across this country that lend their support to this private member's bill. That is an indication of just how important this piece of legislation is to protect children in our country. I want to share those thanks a bit broader because, as my Bloc colleague raised earlier, this began with a study at FEWO, at the status of women committee.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am wondering if you could speak a little more about what this would mean for children, their agency and their well-being. I know you have heard from many survivors of this reunification therapy. I wonder if you could expand on that. I think that what you are doing is going to protect so many children from future abuse and that it is going to have a really meaningful impact on their lives.”
“In 2023, the RCMP reported more than 2,600 threats, which is double what was reported the year before. Campaigns like Elect Respect matter because they call on all of us to set a better tone for our colleagues, for our constituents and for the next generation of leaders. I encourage all members of the House to join me in taking—”
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Burlington's mayor, Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, and the Halton elected representatives group, which I am honoured to be part of, for launching the Elect Respect campaign. This initiative began as a conversation among women elected at all levels of government in Burlington, in which we recognized a shared reality of harassment and threats. From those conversations came a commitment to create a safer, more respectful culture in public life. Elect Respect calls on both elected officials and citizens to pledge respectful and inclusive participation in our democracy. It reminds us that debate should be about ideas, not personal attacks, and that integrity and respect must guide our discourse. Sadly, harassment of elected officials has been on the rise.”
“This small change would mean that families would be able to focus on healing from their loss rather than navigating bureaucratic processes. As we observe Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, let us create space for the voices of families who have experienced the heartbreaking loss of an infant.”
“Mr. Speaker, October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. The month encourages open dialogue to help break the silence surrounding a difficult experience faced by over 1,600 grieving families in Canada each year. I am proud of my colleague from Burnaby North—Seymour for introducing Evan's law, a long-overdue measure to support grieving parents while on parental leave. Evan's law was inspired by the experience of a constituent of mine, whose personal grief can inspire lasting change. When passed, Evan's law would amend the Employment Insurance Act and the Canada Labour Code, ensuring that families would no longer experience additional trauma caused by having to notify Service Canada and file a new claim to continue receiving their benefits.”
“He also served as Canada's first special envoy on combatting anti-Semitism. Irwin is today, as he has always been, a powerful advocate for the marginalized and a champion of progress and justice. I speak for all Canadians when I thank Mr. Cotler for his incredible and ongoing service.”
“Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to celebrate the Hon. Irwin Cotler, who is in Ottawa to be honoured by the Pearson Centre tonight for his lifetime of service to Canada and his work on human rights and justice. He is a former member of Parliament and cabinet minister, an emeritus professor of law at McGill and an international human rights lawyer, and I am very proud to call him a friend. As minister of justice and attorney general, Irwin enacted same-sex marriage equality laws, appointed two women to the Supreme Court, tackled wrongful convictions and launched anti-racism initiatives. In his so-called retirement, he founded and now actively chairs the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, which advocates for political prisoners, human rights, justice and democracy.”
“Mr. Speaker, as it is the first time I rise in the House in this Parliament, let me begin by thanking the good people of Burlington for electing me to a fourth consecutive term. It is a real privilege to be their voice and stand for them in this place. Speaking of the good people of Burlington, it brings me tremendous pride to highlight Keerthana Srinivasan, a grade 12 student at Aldershot School. Keerthana won first place in Samsung Canada's Solve for Tomorrow contest. Her system analysis and reporting for advanced hardware is an innovative algorithm designed to detect and locate faults in large-scale solar farms, significantly reducing downtime and improving the efficiency of renewable energy systems. Her project is a powerful example of how youth are using their creativity and skills to build a better future for us all.”