Hélène Laverdière

Emergency debate on the situation in Syria - May 8th 2013

Debate on the Centre for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility, April 15 2013

Ms. Hélène Laverdière (Laurier-Sainte-Marie, NDP):

In December of last year I asked the Minister of International
Cooperation why the government had cut funding to the Centre for Excellence
in Corporate Social Responsibility, one of the pillars of the government's
Corporate Social Responsibility strategy launched in 2009.

The response from the minister at the time was that Canadians can be
proud of the results that their tax dollars are achieving abroad. What is funny
is that the minister made no reference to the Centre for Excellence in his
response. The term "corporate social responsibility" seems to have been banished
from the Conservatives' vocabulary.

Since I asked this question, we have learned that five civil society
organizations—Amnesty International, KAIROS, Mennonite Central Committee Canada,
MiningWatch and the United Steelworkers—have left the centre's executive
committee due to the government's refusal to fund the centre.

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Speech on the situation in Mali - February 5 2013

C-15, Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act

Ms. Hélène Laverdière (Laurier-Sainte-Marie, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives really have trouble with happy mediums and balanced approaches. One place where this is obvious is in the area of foreign policy, but we also see it in legislation. Just this week, we have again been presented with a mammoth bill that covers pretty much everything but the kitchen sink. And
yet on a subject as important as military justice and the rights of the men and women who defend our country, the Conservatives have brought forth a mouse. I think there is room, somewhere between the mammoth and the mouse, for legislation that is a little more worthwhile.

In 2003, as we know, Justice Lamer submitted his report on the independent review of the National Defence Act. He made 88 recommendations relating to military justice, the Complaints Commission, the grievance procedure and the Canadian Forces provost marshal. We are talking about 88 recommendations. And here we are with a bill that covers only 28 of those recommendations. Once again, this is the approach the Conservatives always take: to pick and choose only the things and the testimony that suit them.

A lot of things are missing in this bill and I will not address them all, since that would take too long. However, I am going to focus on one aspect in particular where the bill does not go far enough: summary trials and the mark they leave on the lives of soldiers, in the form of a criminal record, even after they return to civilian life.

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Hélène Laverdière - Debate on Rights & Democracy

May 30, 2012

Hélène Laverdière on C-43

October 4, 2012