Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has quoted His Highness the Aga Khan, someone for whom I have great admiration. His Highness spoke here in Parliament. Let me read another quotation from when he was here. He said: Again, Canada has responded in notable ways, including the establishment [...] of the Office of Religious Freedom.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the member referenced consultation with other stakeholders. He knows that the World Sikh Organization, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and leaders within the Ahmadiyya Muslim community sent a letter to the government that was very specific. It was not just about these rights notionally, but it was about renewing the mandate of the Office of Religious Freedom.

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, atheists in Canada are very concerned about the growing persecution of non-believers in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. Religious freedom includes the right to not believe. While some atheists were initially skeptical about the Office of Religious Freedom, they are now represented on its external advisory board.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I ask the member about the issue of the indivisibility of rights, because I think all of us agree that rights are in some sense indivisible, but of course we have things like Status of Women Canada and the Minister of Status of Women singling out a specific area of rights.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I really appreciated hearing the member's own story. It is curious, because I find myself agreeing with the Liberals' high praise of the office, yet they go on to say that the office should be eliminated after praising its good work. The government is like someone who buys a new house and then rips out one of the walls, saying not to worry, that they will hold up the roof another way.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his remarks. He made a couple of points that I think are true. He said there are ongoing human rights issues, that there are other human rights issues that need attention. He mentioned there being the need for attention to certain domestic human rights issues.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I have a brief comment on Rights & Democracy, which of course is another debate. However, structurally Rights & Democracy was quite different. It was an external agency of government operating at arm's length. The Office of Religious Freedom is not an external agency; it is within the department of Global Affairs.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I wish this were not a partisan issue. I really wish that the government would simply agree to allow the office to continue to do its good work. I thank the hon. member for his speech, and I know he has a lot of experience in this place and has contributed a great deal to our country, but I have to ask, listening to the way he described the Office of Religious Freedom, if he has actually been fully briefed on how it operates.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, clearly, this is not about the money. The office costs one-quarter of the cost of the recent increase to members' office budgets, or 1/180th of the cost of the change to public sector sick leave. Clearly, this is not about the money. Therefore, what is it about? Clearly, as the member suggested, getting rid of this office would send a very negative message.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, it is good to mention human rights, but it is also important to be specific. If there were no mention of gender equality, and the government just said that human rights is included, clearly that would be insufficient because people want to see the specific mention of areas of focus.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I am not willing to guarantee at all that this debate is merely about the means. The mandate letter that the Minister of Foreign Affairs was given made absolutely no mention of religious freedom. We hear more verbal support for the idea of religious freedom after our party continually has raised this issue in the House.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, it is an excellent point by the member. I want to salute the good work she is doing in the areas she has discussed. Of course, we know that discrimination against women is interconnected with other kinds of challenges and prejudices that may exist. It may have a relationship to issues of poverty in certain cases, or issues of racial and cultural prejudice as well.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I have to say that the approach of the government in this respect is quite curious. It seems, from the questions, that the Liberals do not intend to support the renewal of this office, and yet they wish to profess that they believe in the underlying objectives. May I say that we have this office that is already clearly doing a great job advancing and protecting religious freedom.

Business of Supply  moved That the House (a) recognize the good work being done by Canada’s Office of Religious Freedom, in particular its work within the Department of Global Affairs to build the Department's capacity to address threats to religious freedom, and to directly promote peace, freedom, tolerance, and communal harmony; and, as a consequence, (b) call on the government to renew the current mandate of the Office, since the continuation of its vital work is needed now more than ever.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, on May 16, 1919, Molly Pinto was born in Karachi, Pakistan, then part of greater India. Her family was originally from Goa, a Portuguese colony on the west coast of India, which had and continues to have a large Catholic population. She grew up in a Goan Catholic colony in Karachi.