News & Views

Alerted to the Government's failure to pass Bill C-291 which would have led to the creation of a Refugee Appeal Division, I sent the following email to my MP, Dan McTeague (who voted in favour) with copies to Judy Sgro, Joe Volpe, and the Speaker of the House, Peter Milliken.  The Bill had reached its third and final reading in the house and, at the conclusion of the vote, the Speaker voted against it to break a tie.  Apparently, this is only the 12th time a speaker has had to break a tie in parliamentary history.

Please feel free to copy any portions of this text and forward a letter to your own MP about this deeply disappointing action on the part of those who had expressed support for this important bill.

Hi Dan,

I was absolutely stunned to read this morning that two liberals who were in the House yesterday, Judy Sgro and Joe Volpe, abstained from voting on the RAD Bill C-291 thereby allowing it to be defeated on its third reading.  It is unconscionable that the Government of Canada continues to deny refugees access to an appeal process, the absence of which has undoubtedly cost lives. I thought your party was aware of that and were taking action to ensure that the injustice was eradicated.  I am deeply saddened to see that it meant little to these politicians.

Mr. Milliken, as Speaker, may have taken the opportunity to vote according to conscience and not fashion, the rarity with which the Speaker must cast a vote serving to underscore the feebleness of the position he chose to take. Indeed, his words, "In this case", made very clear his recognition that he was making a choice rather than leaning on tradition.

Does the fact that this vote took place in a House reeling with accusations
of detainees being handed over to torture in Afghanistan not make it even
more incredible that it is now, willfully, refusing to offer asylum to thousands of others whose claims are denied by a single, overworked, bureaucrat and who have no optoin for appeal?  Should we not consider those who voted against or who abstained from this vote complicit in every "disappearance", torture, or death that happens to someone turned
away by our inadequate refugee process?  Are we not returning them to the exact fate we so loudly protest?  Where were Sgro's and Volpe's voices in this challenge?  Why did Sgro, Volpe remain silent? Why did Milliken choose not to exercise his right with conscience?

That the Speaker paused before the conclusion of the vote to offer holiday wishes is simply unbelievable.  I recognize the desire for merriment at this time of the year; however, that the Speaker's wishes were bracketed with a grave injustice is a symbolism that can't be overlooked.  Is nothing that happens in the world -- blight, death, rape, child labour, destruction of habitat, infant mortality, commodification of resources, the return of innocent men, women, and children to torture and potentially death --is none of this is more than an insignificant blip in the midst of which we must remember to keep ourselves merry?  Perhaps Sgro and Volpe were making their Christmas lists up instead of paying attention to the House' proceedings. 
 
I cannot express the depth of my dismay and horror at the indifference Sgro, Volpe, and the Speaker showed to the lives of so many who are at risk, and with the Speaker's particularly insensitive timing.  I am simply shocked and appalled.

 gretta