Elizabeth May's Week in Review - June 22, 2018

Week in Review: June 18 – 22

Welcome to Elizabeth May’s parliamentary week in review! This weekly e-newsletter recaps her work in Parliament when the House is in session. Using the links below, you can watch videos of Elizabeth’s interventions in the House, keep up with her media releases, and read articles she has written.

This week, Elizabeth spoke on national security, gun control, abandoned vessels, and the right of provinces to conduct thorough environmental reviews. She held a press conference to reflect on the 2017-2018 parliamentary session, and joined MPs from across all parties to demand that the Senate pass a series of bills to protect animals.

The House has now entered its summer recess and will resume business in the fall. Stay tuned for the next Week in Review in mid-September!

* If you are having trouble viewing this email, please view online at: https://elizabethmaymp.ca/category/news/week-in-review/

Key Moments in the House

Press Conference

Elizabeth’s end of session review of the House of Commons

Press Conference: Media Q & A period

Debate

Bill C-59: An Act respecting national security matters

Bill C-64: An Act respecting wrecks, abandoned, dilapidated or hazardous vessels and salvage operations

Derelict vessels present real risks to life and limb

Bill C-71: An Act to amend certain Acts and Regulations in relation to firearms

Bill C-392: An Act to amend the Aeronautics Act, the Fishing and Recreation Harbours Act and other Acts

We must protect the provinces’ right to conduct appropriate environmental assessments

Current Events: Families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border

The reports this week of children ripped from their mothers’ arms and interred in cages at the U.S.-Mexico border have been horrifying. Undoubtedly the public outcry forced the Trump administration to sign an executive order on Wednesday, June 20, to keep families together in detention, after endless evasions and denials of responsibility for making this crisis in the first place. But we cannot yet breathe a sigh of relief. Canada and the international community must sustain pressure on the U.S. until all families are reunited, asylum claims are heard, and immigration reformed sensibly and humanely.

The executive order does not prevent the Department of Homeland Security from holding families indefinitely. We must all be concerned that there is no clear pathway for reunification and that already some parents have been deported while their children remain in U.S. custody. More often than not, children and parents do not know each other’s whereabouts and communication has been impossible. There are no plans to repair the untold mental and physical damage inflicted on the more than 2500 children torn away from their parents. It does not even begin to tackle the situation for unaccompanied minors in U.S. custody, where abuse is widespread.

In light of these and many earlier atrocities that have attracted less attention, Elizabeth advocates for suspending of the Safe Third Country (STC) agreement. Under the STC, Canadian border agents can deport asylum seekers who have passed through the United States without first hearing their refugee claims, premised on the idea that the U.S. asylum system is safe and comparable to our own. Recent events have underscored how faulty this premise is, particularly since the Trump administration took office. As the Minister of Immigration, the Hon. Ahmed Hussen, reasses the U.S. asylum system, Elizabeth encourages Canadians to write to the Minister, the Prime Minister, and their MPs to show support for suspending this ill-conceived agreement.

But this is also a moment to reflect on our own domestic practices. Last year, 162 minors were detained in Canadian holding centres, albeit with their families. 28 migrant teens were jailed between 2010 and 2015 without having committed any crimes. More Indigenous children are in foster care than were in the residential schools at their height. We should do everything in our power to ensure these numbers reach zero as expeditiously as possible, otherwise we cast stones in a glass house.

Families detained at the border still need people to advocate for them, especially as legal counsel in the courts. This article contains many ideas for those keen to help. It will also be critical to monitor the companies that have been profiting from child detention centres, as they may soon shift business to families. While public backlash and organized actions outmatched a feckless administration this time, much work remains to be done.

Statements & Press Releases

In the News

“U.S. migration policy fuels calls for Canada to end Safe Third Country Agreement”
(Cormac MacSweeney and Lasia Kretzel, News 1130, June 19)
“Animal Justice, HSI/Canada & MPs call on Senate to pass animal bills”

(Press conference, June 19)
“All-party group calls for an end to ‘Senate games’ on three animal rights bills”

(John Paul Tasker, CBC News, June 19)
“Bill that would ban cosmetic animal testing clears the Senate”

(Holly Lake, iPolitics, June 19)
“Extreme partisanship to blame for sustained spike in time allocation, ex-MPs say”
(Samantha Wright Allen, The Hill Times, June 20)
“Elizabeth May explains what’s next”
(Interview with the National Observer, June 20)
“House of Commons rises for the summer”
(Rachel Aiello, CTV News, June 20)
“Liberal senators fuming after backroom deal strands whale captivity bill”
(Holly Lake, iPolitics, June 20)
“Pardons, impairment, provincial approvals linger in new pot regime”
(Cindy E. Harnett and Katie DeRosa, Times Colonist, June 20)

Petitions

This week, Elizabeth presented two petitions supporting the following:

Pass Bill C-350 and Bill S-240 quickly so that we can protect people in foreign countries from the risks of nonconsensual organ harvesting

She also presented two petitions from the students of Salt Spring Elementary School:

Reconsider spending $7.4 billion on an expanded pipeline and instead invest in renewable energy

Take urgent action to protect southern resident killer whales from physical and acoustic disturbance

Elizabeth cheered on Kennedy Stewart (MP for Burnaby South) as he delivered his final petition in the House of Commons. He used the opportunity to call on the government to stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline purchase. On that note, Elizabeth’s e-petition to halt the purchase of Kinder Morgan will continue to circulate over the summer. Help us reach 25 000 signatures by September! Be sure to visit the website regularly for updates on the government’s purchase.

Note:

Elizabeth presents petitions once the deadline for signatures has passed. After presentation in the House, the government has 45 calendar days to table a response.

You may read the governments’ responses to petitions Elizabeth has introduced here.

View and sign open e-petitions currently sponsored by Elizabeth here.

Learn about the e-petition process or create one of your own here.

Community Newsletter

April 2018 Newsletter – Children

Committees, Briefs and Responses

Submission to the Consultations on an Amendment to Aquaculture Regulation

Submission to the Transport Canada Parliamentary Consultation

Submission to the Consultations on the federal Carbon Pricing System

Submission to the Consultations on the Federal Leaders’ Debates

Submission to the Consultations on Health Canada’s Proposed Approach to the Regulation of Cannabis

Submission to the Consultations on the Proposed Excise Duty Framework for Cannabis Products

Submission to the Canada-Pacific Trade Consultations

Brief Submitted to the NAFTA Renegotiation Consultation

Brief Submitted to the Minister of Food and Agriculture Canada for “A Food Policy for Canada”

Response Submitted to the Consultations on Tax Planning Using Private Corporations

Private Members’ Bills

Elizabeth May has introduced the following bills:

Bill C-401: This bill will lower the voting age to 16.

Bill C-387: This bill will establish a legislative framework for a national passenger rail service.

Bill C-269: This bill will abolish mandatory minimum sentences for all crimes except murder and treason.

Bill C-258: This “Think Small First” bill would require that every new bill introduced in the House undergo an assessment to determine how the bill would impact Canadian small businesses.

Bill C-259: The Open Science Act would require all federal departments to make all publicly funded scientific research available to Canadians on their websites.

For a list of private members’ bills Elizabeth May has seconded, please visit elizabethmaymp.ca.

Recent Events

Tuesday, May 29