Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister waiting for to exercise the powers he has under the Immigration Act and grant permanent resident status, for hamanitarian reasons, to this group of individuals?
Lost his last election, in 1997, with 33% of the vote.
Immigration March 10th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister waiting for to exercise the powers he has under the Immigration Act and grant permanent resident status, for hamanitarian reasons, to this group of individuals?
Immigration March 10th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. On January 26, I asked a question to the Minister regarding the deportation of a group of about fifty Salvadorian refugees from Montreal. The Minister has not dealt with the problem yet.
Today, this group of Salvadorians travelled to Ottawa, and several are here in the gallery, to demand just and equitable treatment from the Minister, given that the political situation in El Salvador has significantly deteriorated recently.
Supply March 8th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, on International Women's Day, I want to offer my best wishes to all women in Quebec and Canada, and also to the millions of women throughout the world, and particularly in Latin America.
I especially want to pay tribute to women who are union activists, who are immigrant in Quebec, and to the women in my riding of Bourassa, in the north of Montreal, who are very involved at all levels of the political, economic, cultural and community fields.
Last week, I visited several community organizations headed by women, including the Centre d'action bénévole de Montréal-Nord, which just celebrated its tenth anniversary. I feel honoured to have been asked to preside the ceremonies as honourary president and I want to congratulate the director of that centre, Mrs. Josée Aubertin, for her excellent work.
I also met Mrs. Lise St-Jean and other officials representing Halte-femmes in the north of Montreal, an organization helping women who have been or who are victims of domestic violence. Halte-femmes offers these women various activities and services such as a hot line and meetings to discuss issues, escorts to court or to visit professionals, awareness workshops on violence against women, information meetings, a documentation centre, outings, special activities for immigrant women, etc.
I also want to salute the members of the Montréal-Nord chamber of commerce who had the wisdom to elect Mrs. Micheline Gervais as their president, thus benefitting from her initiative and great skills.
Allow me to mention two more organizations which are doing a remarkable job in my riding: first the Association Entre-Parents, a support group for parents in the north of Montreal, which has set up a day care centre and a community kitchen, under the co-ordination of Mrs. Louise Cossette, and second, the Impulsion-Travail Group, which under the direction of Mrs. Johanne Joly, tries to help women with work-related problems to find a job or return to the labour market.
I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the FTQ, its labour councils and affiliated unions, as well as its status of women service. Last December, the FTQ held its biannual convention in Montreal, where I had the opportunity to speak to more than a thousand delegates.
During this convention, the FTQ approved a policy statement on violence against women, in which it mentions that, as the central labour body in Quebec, it is very concerned about the increase of violence in today's society. More and more tragedies, like the one which occured at the University of Montreal's École Polytechnique, have forced us to realize that we have to take action.
As opposition critic for citizenship and immigration, I would like to mention the significant contribution of immigrant women to the Quebec and the Canadian societies, especially those women faced with three times the challenge since they are women, workers and immigrants.
It is a well-known fact that, on average, women earn much less than men. What is not so well known is that immigrant women earn 80 per cent of the average wages paid to women in our society.
There are about 20 millions refugees in the world and 80 per cent of them are women and children. Recently, the whole world was horrified to learn that rape had become a general practice in Bosnia.
I want to take this opportunity to send a message of solidarity and, inasmuch as I can, a message of hope to those women. Today, I ask the Canadian government to be more compassionate towards the women of Bosnia who are persecuted and create special assistance programs in order to help them.
More specifically I ask the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to accept a greater number of refugees from the former Yugoslavia and to give special consideration to women who were raped.
I would also like to bring to your attention the special problem of women who request refugee status because they fear persecution based on their gender. Unfortunately, in the Geneva convention of 1951, gender is not mentioned as a specific reason for fear of persecution justifying the granting of refugee status. But in certain countries, women are in fact being harassed simply because they transgressed some rule, regulation or religious custom which is discriminatory towards women.
The religious precepts, social traditions or cultural standards women are accused of not respecting vary greatly.
Canada must do more to guarantee better protection and hospitality to those women, particularly women from countries where such dramatic situations occur. I want to emphasize that this effort should be inspired by the fact that the UN declared 1994 the International Year of the Family.
Finally, I would like to raise a very serious question concerning the mutilation of women's genital organs. I strongly support the request of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women urging the federal government to show leadership in ensuring that female genital mutilation does not happen in Canada and to ensure assistance is available here to women who suffer the long-term health effects of such a practice.
Such violence against young girls and women must be vigorously denounced. It is clearly a violation of their fundamental right to physical integrity.
Several countries, including Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Great Britain and certain American States, have already taken steps to that effect, adopting policies to stop female genital mutilation and passing legislation banning the practice on their territory.
Between 1986 and 1991, nearly 40,000 people from East and West Africa settled in Canada. In view of the fact that female genital mutilation is widespread in these areas, the risk that this cultural practice is being brought into Canada is very high.
On this issue, the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women made several recommendations which I want to repeat here, the most important of which is that the federal government introduce a specific law banning female genital mutilation in Canada.
As you can see, a lot remains to be done to redress injustices against women. Therefore, I salute the courage and tenacity of the women who are fighting this battle in Quebec and Canada and I assure them of my support and solidarity.
The Budget February 24th, 1994
What does the Minister of Human Resources Development think of the unions' unanimous opposition to this government's budget, to its cuts to unemployment insurance and social programs?
The Budget February 24th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I listened with attention to the very aggressive speech by the Minister of Human Resources Development. He launched several attacks on the Bloc Quebecois. He occasionally uses progressive terms to outline conservative, sometimes right-wing policies.
Instead of tackling unemployment, the budget goes after the unemployed themselves. The Bloc Quebecois worries about the most disadvantaged in our society: unemployed workers and welfare recipients. I come from the union movement, Mr. Speaker, and we are not alone in our fight against the minister's budget and his cuts to unemployment insurance. I had feedback from three Quebec unions, namely the FTQ, the CEQ and the CNTU. I also heard from the Canadian Labour Congress. Over two million Canadians are very concerned about the govern-
ment's budget. The president of the FTQ, Clément Godbout, said, "To effectively tackle the debt and deficit problem, we must put people back to work by creating jobs. However, this concern does not appear in the budget". For the FTQ, this is incomprehensible. Not only does the government not do anything to create jobs, but it is hitting the unemployed very hard by taking $6 billion over the next three years from the unemployment insurance fund.
Immigration February 22nd, 1994
It is not the same card. Immigrants did not ask for it.
Considering the threat to privacy such a card constitutes, will the government agree to have a genuine debate before making a decision that restricts people's right to privacy?
Immigration February 22nd, 1994
Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.
Yesterday morning we heard that starting this fall, the minister would begin replacing the landing record immigrants currently receive with an identification card. The card would contain information such as the immigrant's name, date of birth, nationality and photograph.
Does the minister realize he is creating two classes of Canadians: those who have to carry this ID card and those who do not?
Business Of Supply February 16th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, in my riding, Bourassa, in Montreal North, the housing situation is tragic: 42 per cent of tenants spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing; 73 per cent of the 90,000 residents of Montreal North are tenants. Of these 90,000 residents, 22 per cent are women who spend more than half of their income on housing. This is the highest percentage in all of Quebec. The situation is alarming.
Yesterday, the Organisation populaire des droits sociaux de Montréal-Nord and the Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain gave a press conference. During the election campaign, I visited many co-operatives. The people were very worried following the subsidy cuts in funding made when the Conservative government was in power. There are also many minorities in my riding.
I would like to ask my hon. friend if special measures are planned to protect the right to housing of minorities, particularly of visible minorities.
Chile February 15th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, as you know, I am a Quebecer born in Chile, a country I love with all my heart, and which lived under a long military dictatorship until 1989, when Patricio Aylwin was democratically elected president.
His mandate will end on March 11 when he will be replaced by Eduardo Frei, who was elected last December.
Every nation in the world has been invited to send a delegation to the ceremonies marking this handing over of office. More than 20 heads of state have already confirmed that they will attend this major event.
Chile is particularly important for Quebec and Canada.
It is therefore desirable for Canada to send a ministerial delegation to represent our country on March 11. I strongly urge the government to do so.
Prince Edward Island Fixed Link February 15th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the amendment to the Constitution and the building of that bridge. I think it will promote tourism considerably. I have had the opportunity to visit Prince Edward Island; it is one of the
most beautiful islands in the world, and I have seen a good many countries.
But I question the job creation aspect of that project. In the medium term, it will certainly create jobs, but in the long term, there will job losses considering that each year some 400 persons work on the ferry and in five years those 400 jobs will be reduced to about 50. Did he study that aspect of the issue? What alternative does he propose? Did he consult the unions?