Mr. Speaker, I must commend my colleague from London North Centre. I cannot think of a better speech to give as a first speech in this House of Parliament. My congratulations to him.
Today, we as parliamentarians are speaking as one voice across our nation. There are many people and NGOs across this country, such as the International Justice Mission under Jamie MacIntosh, the Salvation Army under Major Kester Trim, Irena Soltys from Help us Help the Children, Irene Sushko from Ukrainian Canadian Congress, and many others who have put a lot of time and heart into stopping human trafficking.
Trafficking of women and children is the most heinous of crimes. It is all about the drug trade. It is all about making money off the backs of innocent victims.
The status of women committee has been studying the human trafficking issue. All members on the committee have benefited greatly. Early next week we will be tabling a very important and comprehensive report in the House of Commons. We in the House of Commons, as Canadians, as parliamentarians, are shouting out that human trafficking around the globe must be stopped.
I want to speak for a moment about our Canadians, our children, our Canada.
Human trafficking here in Canada unfortunately is alive and well. The RCMP knows this, NGOs know this, and Canadian citizens know this.The average Canadian citizen is just beginning to learn about it because it has been lurking under the public radar screen. It has been under the public radar screen because of the lack of resources and the lack of support for NGOs and for our police forces to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Today I am calling on all parliamentarians to support Motion No. 153. I am calling on all parliamentarians to look into their hearts and to continue on with this issue throughout the year so we in this House of Parliament can say that in the year 2007 we stopped human trafficking, that we worked as one voice across Canada.
There is no place for partisanship on this issue. We need to listen to the cries of the children, to the cries of the women. We need to speak for those innocent victims who are unable to speak for themselves. We are here to give hope to the lost, hope to the people who have suffered from the heinous crimes of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
This is a very moving day for me. In Winnipeg last week hundreds of children were talked about in a public provincial inquiry, about how they too were lost on the streets and how they too were subjected to terrible sexual exploitation.
It all has to do with the protection of innocent victims. These people are victims. They are not criminals. They need to be protected. They need to be sheltered. They need to be fed. They need to be shown that we as Canadians stand for the true north strong and free. We stand for having a country where people can come and build a new life and be safe on our streets.
Today, I must thank the House for the opportunity to present this very important motion. I call on all members to support this motion wholeheartedly and to move forward to protect these innocent victims.