Thank you, Madam Chair.
I have a few questions that came to mind right away when this motion was dropped by my Conservative colleagues. The first thought was why we would want to avoid having this important conversation that this committee has been studying. For me and my community members in Calgary Skyview, right now this is the most important issue affecting them, their families, their lives, their safety and their well-being.
I find it quite insulting after we heard the testimony the other day at this committee, which I had the opportunity to sub in on. We heard Mr. Moninder Singh's really impactful testimony. We also heard from Balpreet Singh from the World Sikh Organization. They both provided testimony that members of this committee should take to heart.
I'm glad Mr. MacGregor brought in the amendment to clarify what I think the Conservatives were trying to do to get away from studying foreign interference in our elections. Even the study today, in which Mr. Pugliese talked about the impact on him of the disinformation or the attempts to discredit his work to bring accountability and transparency to the Canadian public, was an important conversation on the impact of Russian disinformation.
However, to just skip over, in this motion, prior to the amendment the Conservatives brought forward, and not include India.... In the study that the public safety committee is doing on the electoral interference and criminal activities in Canada by the agents of the Government of India, it's my understanding we've only had two of six meetings. For Conservative members to avoid studying that important issue is quite insulting to Indo Canadians, South Asians of Indian descent or those from the South Asian subcontinent who have experienced foreign interference not just over the last number of weeks but for decades.
Conservative members must know that we, as members of the Sikh community, faced a Sikh genocide that occurred 40 years ago. This was an important conversation that we had last evening about men being murdered and women being raped, killed and burned alive. Our community lived these horrific actions that took place 40 years ago, which are still something members of the community are asking to get justice for.
I was at an event last night with Mr. Singh, the leader of the NDP, who very clearly stated how he intends to bring this forward to the House of Commons. Personally, as a member of the Sikh community, I stated that I think this is something that should be brought forward and that members of our Parliament should consider supporting, and I hope they unanimously do support it once we see the motion he brings forward in the House of Commons.
However, the intent of it is extremely important and it directly ties into the study we are conducting on electoral interference and criminal activities in Canada by the agents of the Government of India. At the last committee meeting I sat in on, I was astonished that Conservative members could not even utter those words and that they focused on duties to warn of potentially dangerous situations. That is what I heard. They did not talk about the impact on communities—on South Asian communities—here in Canada, and they did not utter one question to any of our witnesses about the impact of that foreign interference on them.
I'm proud to say my colleagues from all other parties, the Bloc, the NDP and the Liberal Party, did ask those tough questions and did hear the testimony provided.
I heard last night that Mr. Genuis stated at the World Sikh Organization event how the Conservative Party is taking this issue very seriously. If folks were there, they would have seen the crowd and its response to those comments.
Members of the community are asking why the Conservative leader, Mr. Poilievre, will not get a security clearance. Why has he avoided getting a security clearance? The Conservative member said publicly last night that they take the issue of Indian interference in Canada seriously, and today we see the complete opposite. We see Conservative members trying to find a clever way, which wasn't very clever in my opinion, of trying to avoid studying one of the most important studies, I would say, that this committee is studying.
I say “one of” because of the study on auto theft, which I think we're in the process of concluding. I know that this is a very important study for the folks in the GTA. I know that members in the GTA want that study completed so the report can be brought back to the House. It is an issue that I hear about from many friends and family members who live in the GTA, in terms of the importance of how to deal with auto theft.
Also, then, the issue we've seen this committee study as to Russian election interference and disinformation is also a very important study. For me personally, we need to take election interference seriously, foreign interference in our elections. If members of the Conservative Party want to avoid it, they need to be clear on why they want to avoid studying foreign interference in Canadian elections. Is it what was stated last meeting? For members from the Conservative Party who weren't here on that day, our witnesses clearly said that they have concerns about interference in the nomination races of the Conservative Party of Canada and in the leadership campaign. Those are the words of the witnesses who attended and provided important testimony at our last meeting.
The impact on community members and communities was also raised at the last meeting. The suspension of security agreements was a concern brought forward. I think we really need to dive a bit deeper at this committee on how information is shared between our government and other governments. One of the members at the last meeting mentioned that they want a public inquiry into the assassination of Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar. For folks who don't know, that was the president of the Surrey gurdwara who was assassinated on the gurdwara premises last year.
Recently, the RCMP brought forward information showing that they've arrested a number of individuals, but also showing that the Government of India has had interference and has targeted many other Canadians, one being the witness who came to testify at this committee the other day. Why do Conservative members not want to have a conversation and not hear from witnesses who will shed light on what's happening here in Canada on how Canadians are being targeted? This targeting is not something that has just started happening over the last few weeks or in the last year or the last few years. This has been going on for decades.
This is very important. One of the members there, Mr. Balpreet Singh did mention this, and Mr. Moninder Singh mentioned this as well: anti-Sikh hate and what's occurring in Canada today with members of the Sikh community being targeted or labelled as terrorists.
A Conservative MP called me a terrorist because I'm from the Sikh community. Maybe it was because I support Calgarians who are asking for justice when their families are being killed in Gaza. Yes, I support those family members and those communities; of course I do, but to target an individual...that's me as a member of Parliament who's being targeted by Mr. Majumdar. I find that shocking. Is that individual targeting other members of communities as well and calling them terrorists? That is promoting disinformation and misinformation, but that's also promoting hate toward members of our community. As a member of the Sikh community, I find that quite offensive.
The issue of anti-Sikh hate is one example I can share from my own perspective, but when community members are threatened over going to their place of worship, as we've seen over the last number of days, whether you're from the Sikh community or the Hindu community, there is fear within those communities.
For Conservative members to try to cover this up by not doing the study is shameful. I would love to hear from the leader of the Conservative Party about why he has asked members of this committee to cover this up and why he won't get his security clearance. Why does he want to cover up this study that's being done here at this committee? It's the job of this committee to bring forward studies, and this study was agreed upon to study the impacts, as this committee has done, of electoral interference and criminal activities in Canada by the agents of the Government of India.
Mr. Balpreet Singh left me some important information from the event I attended. I want to go into the importance of why the World Sikh Organization is one advocacy organization that has wanted to have a further conversation and provide information at this committee. I'm lucky that I have this information leaflet that really goes into detail about their advocacy efforts and why this disinformation campaign and the promotion by foreign governments of anti-Sikh rhetoric and hate is something we have to combat. Canadians, and I think maybe even with our study that we're having right now, should really seriously look into the impact on the members of the Sikh community.
There are a number of issues that come to mind. I could look in here and bring forward the RCMP case of the freedom to wear a dastar. Many of you may not know what a dastar is. It's a turban. My colleague Mr. Iqwinder Gaheer, who is next to me, proudly wears his dastar. In the 1990s, the first member of the RCMP to wear a dastar was Baltej Singh Dhillon.
Let me tell you, at that time, there was a big debate across this country on whether Mr. Dhillon should be allowed to wear his dastar in the RCMP. I can tell you who was trying to make sure he could not wear his dastar: members of the Conservative Party and the Reform movement. They brought forward petitions to ensure the member could not wear a turban in the RCMP.
I think, for committee members, it's important to know that our former prime minister, Mr. Harper, wrote a letter asking Canadians that—