A private member’s bill to strengthen Canada’s defence of human rights at home and abroad received unanimous support in the House of Commons and will proceed to the Senate.
The International Human Rights Act (Bill C-281), sponsored by Conservative MP Philip Lawrence, completed its third reading on June 7.
“I am proud to announce that my Private Member’s Bill ... has passed through the House of Commons with unanimous support!” Lawrence said on Twitter after the House vote was passed 322-0.
The bill seeks to amend four separate pieces of legislation, touching on a wide range of issues pertaining to human rights, from curtailing state propaganda to reducing the use of cluster munitions.
Bill C-281 prescribes that the minister of foreign affairs is required to publish an annual report on Canada’s actions to improve human rights abroad.
The minister will also be required to publish details about the prisoners of conscience the government is attempting to secure for release, including their names, the detaining authority, and efforts made by Canada to secure their release.
Other Impacts
The bill also seeks to amend the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, also known as the Sergei Magnitsky Law, which allows the government to sanction foreign officials involved in violations of human rights.If adopted, a House or Senate committee would be able to recommend to the government that sanctions be imposed on an individual, with the foreign affairs minister having to justify its response.
C-281 will also amend the Broadcasting Act to prevent states involved in acts of genocide recognized by Parliament to hold a broadcasting licence in Canada.
Lawrence says the pulling of Russia Today’s licence by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission after Russia invaded Ukraine had been done through a “hodgepodge” process which his bill seeks to amend.
He said the absence of a formal process is an oversight because the “idea of a genocidal state broadcasting their hatred, their propaganda, their promotion of genocide on our airwaves, is completely and utterly unacceptable.”
NDP MP Heather MacPherson spoke in support of the bill but deplored the Liberals voting against an amendment proposed by her party to have Canada implement a human rights strategy.
Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk spoke of his father being arrested in Poland in 1981 by the communist secret police for his membership in the Solidarity movement. He said it was critical at the time for his family’s morale to receive international support.
Kusmierczyk asked Lawrence how the bill “may help to mobilize global support for prisoners of conscience and also their families as well, as they’re going through such trials.”
Lawrence said that the bill would have the effect of indicating Canada’s support for human rights advocates and prisoners of conscience.
“Thank you to your father for fighting for the cause of freedom,” he said, speaking to Kusmierczyk. “We would not be where we are in this country and around the world and many of the liberal democracies we now enjoy without the great service and sacrifice of people like your father.”
