Joyce Murray

[Justice, December 16th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, children in Canada are just not safe online. Our government wants to join the many countries that have now adopted online safety regulations, yet the Conservatives are preventing our online harms act from moving forward. Shockingly, they are blocking our efforts to remove child sex abuse material from the Internet. How disgusting.

Can the justice minister please describe the importance of Bill C-63 to parents and children, and explain why Canadians so urgently need this law now?

[Committees of the House, October 8th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Winnipeg North for his commitment to the riverways, not just the St. Lawrence but also the Red River, the Fraser River and rivers across the country. An additional issue of concern, from my perspective, regarding commercial and recreational vehicle traffic is the issue of noise and its impact on the marine ecosystem. Our government has taken a lot of measures and made a lot of investment through the ocean protection plans, but I believe more needs to be done to study the impact of noise on the marine environment.

Not just whales are at risk, like southern resident killer whales on the west coast in the Salish Sea and whales elsewhere; fish and plant life that those fish depend on are also impacted by noise. Therefore, what are the member's thoughts about the commercial benefit of Canada being a leader in changing the vessel engine and propeller design to reduce noise to help our ecosystems right across the country?

[Post-Secondary Education, October 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, this fall, thousands of young Canadians are starting their post-secondary journey, including those at UBC in my riding in Vancouver Quadra.

These students are our future, and our government recognizes that we have a role to play in helping them with the cost of living. They should not be stressed out about paying tuition and rent, but rather they should be able to focus on their classes.

Will the Minister of Employment and Workforce Development please tell the House just what our government is doing to support students right across the country?

[Carbon Pricing, September 26th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise on behalf of Vancouver Quadra constituents to defend carbon pricing. Canadians understand the urgency of reducing carbon emissions to limit their costly, or even lethal, impacts, such as wildfires and floods, on lands, people and property.

Twenty years ago, as B.C.'s environment minister, I laid the groundwork for B.C.'s comprehensive climate action plan, which fosters innovation, economic development and emission reductions through carbon pricing. Equally, Canada's national carbon pricing is a fair, efficient way to reduce emissions, and it works, just as British Columbia's does. What is more, under our pricing system, eight out of every 10 Canadians get more money back than they pay out.

Sadly, Conservative and now NDP leaders reject carbon pricing. I say shame on them for working to make carbon pollution free again. We must price it to reduce it.

[Business of Supply, September 24th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, my question for the NDP leader relates to the Conservative leader apparently having #incel on his YouTube sites for a number of years. I will quote what that means. According to Wikipedia, it means “involuntary celibate”. It is “a term associated with an online subculture of people (mostly white, male, and heterosexual)”. It blames, objectifies and denigrates women and girls as a result of someone being involuntarily celibate.

I would like the views of the NDP leader on why the Conservative leader put that hashtag, #incel, on his YouTube channel. What was the result he was trying to achieve?

[Public Complaints and Review Commission Act, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the question because it gives me an opportunity to confirm my appreciation for all the work the member does in the chamber and to state our government's absolute commitment to reconciliation. We have shown that through laws reflecting UNDRIP and in how we operate as a government. As a society, we are still on the voyage to fully acknowledging and correcting historic injustices. That is what reconciliation is all about.

The fact that this was identified as a weakness in this bill and was corrected shows the very process that is under way in so many aspects of our society and our parliamentary affairs. I am happy that this was caught and improved, and we will continue to do our best to do better.

[Public Complaints and Review Commission Act, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, to be honest, I was not on the committee and I am not aware of all the discussions that took place in committee. I can say that Canada is a bilingual country; the work of Parliament must be done in both official languages, and federal organizations that serve the public must be able to serve people in both official languages.

[Public Complaints and Review Commission Act, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the excellent work of the various parties in this Parliament to bring their ideas forward, to discuss and debate them and to finally come forward with a consensus on this bill, as it is at present, is exactly what Parliament is all about. The committee has also done its work to bring people together to explore challenges and make improvements to the bill, so I am pleased to see it here today.

[Public Complaints and Review Commission Act, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

Still before us we have Bill C‑20, an act establishing the public complaints and review commission. As my hon. colleagues know, this bill is of the utmost importance to Canadians. It establishes an independent review body for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, and for the Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA.

Members of the public, including members of indigenous and racialized communities, can turn to this body, the public complaints and review commission, if they have comments or complaints about their dealings with the RCMP or the CBSA. A robust civilian review system for both the RCMP and the CBSA is vital to ensure balance in our system between security and equity.

Bill C-20 has been extensively discussed, and relevant recommendations have been made. The government has taken these recommendations into consideration and is grateful for them. Since it was introduced in the House, the bill and the proposed new commission have been considerably improved.

I want to commend the work of my colleagues at the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. In preparing this bill and adopting the changes contained in the version that is before us, the government and the committee have taken note of the opinions from indigenous organizations, civil liberties associations, police and customs unions, as well as universities.

Although the partners and stakeholders presented different viewpoints in committee, they were united in their desire to strengthen the accountability regime. I thank them all for taking the time to contribute to these important discussions and legislative provisions. Their points of view allowed the committee to build on the solid civilian review and complaints system that Bill C‑20 will create.

The committee adopted 46 amendments to the bill, based on what the committee heard from these stakeholders. These amendments addressed some key priorities for our government, such as diversity and inclusion, accountability, common sense and practical considerations.

Specifically, the committee made changes that respond to the recommendations made in the committee's report on systemic racism in policing. In particular, I would like to point out an amendment adopted to expand the commission's ability to collect demographic and race-based data on complainants so that the commission, and Parliament, more broadly, can identify incidents of systemic racism.

Although the bill already proposed that the commission be authorized to collect race-based data, the committee expanded on this proposal by ensuring that other demographic data would also be collected. This recognizes that the nature of systemic issues can be complex and change over time, and that it can be linked to a wide range of social, cultural and other factors. By gathering additional information on complainants, we will have a more complete picture of any potential systemic issues arising from the public's interaction with the RCMP or the CBSA.

This new power will also enable the commission to identify systemic problems in the application of the act and develop recommendations to respond to them. What is more, one amendment specifies that third parties can file a complaint with the commission on behalf of someone else. Bill C-20 already provided for the possibility of third parties filing complaints with the commission, but additional clarifications were made to eliminate any confusion about the possibility of filing a complaint on behalf of someone else.

This provision will also make it possible to ensure that complainants know that they can get help from people they trust when they have concerns. The RCMP and the CBSA often interact with vulnerable people, particularly people from indigenous or racialized communities, asylum seekers, people with disabilities and 2SLGBTQIA+ people. For reasons that include language barriers and distrust of law enforcement agencies, many of these individuals may be reluctant to file a complaint. In some cases, they may even be unable to proceed with the complaint process. In other words, with the additional clarifications, someone who is reluctant to file a complaint or who encounters problems that prevent them from following through with the process can have a third person file the complaint on their behalf.

Another change to the bill is that stakeholders can now ask the PCRC to conduct a specified activity review, or SAR. Also called systemic investigations, SARs are a second type of activity that the PCRC will undertake as part of its mandate. SARs will allow the PCRC to determine whether RCMP and CBSA policies, procedures and guidelines are adequate and appropriate. They can also help determine whether the agencies are operating in accordance with the legislation or ministerial directions. These reviews are essential because they help address systemic problems within the organization and help make positive changes by contributing to fair and equitable treatment for all.

By specifying that third parties can request SARs from the PCRC, the bill guarantees that the PCRC will be aware of their concerns about systemic problems in law enforcement. The government's goal is always to provide exemplary law enforcement services and border services. It expects all misconduct to be reviewed and handled appropriately by an independent civilian authority in a timely manner.

To sum up, Canada must offer uniform, fair and equitable treatment as well as an effective accountability mechanism, if applicable, for people who interact with the RCMP and the CBSA.

I encourage the House to move this bill through quickly. People need this treatment.

[Justice, May 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, our government stands proudly on the side of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, if elected, the official opposition could become the first federal government to create laws that would knowingly violate the rights of Canadians. It would do this by invoking the notwithstanding clause, trampling on our charter rights. As a parliamentarian, but even more as a Canadian, I find this simply chilling.

Will the Minister of Justice please elaborate on the importance of protecting the charter rights of Canadians?