On January 31, 2017, Jenny stood to ask this question:
Jenny Kwan (NDP) Vancouver East, BC
"Mr. Speaker, let me first congratulate the minister for his appointment. I am looking forward to working with him on the issues he has raised.
Tonight's debate is about the ban that has been brought forward by the Trump administration. This is an emergency debate. This is a discriminatory ban that is targeting people based on their race, based on their religion, and based on their place of birth. To that end, I have received many letters and phone calls on this. I know the minister has as well. In an open letter from over 200 Canadian law professors, they wrote:
We condemn these actions and statements in the strongest possible terms. They reflect the very bigotry, xenophobia and nativist fear-mongering that the international refugee regime was designed to counteract. We also note that they are inconsistent with the 1951 Refugee Convention, the Convention Against Torture, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and many other international human rights instruments.
Can the minister explain why he disagrees with this assessment and refuses to take the simple step of using article 10 of the agreement to immediately suspend it?"
Message to Mark Carney and other party leaders, calling on a renewed vision for immigration and in the face of deepening public concern for Canada's economic security. Now is a critical time to highlight the reciprocal relationship between immigration and a strong economy, and trends in anti-immigrant sentiment, driven by disinformation, must be addressed.
No 51 US State! Message to US President Donald Trump.
