Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to conclude the debate on Bill S-232, the Canadian Jewish heritage month act.

It has been an honour to sponsor the bill in this House, and I would like to thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle for their strong support. I also want to thank Senator Frum, who co-sponsored this bill with me and guided it through the other place.

Since its introduction in December 2016, this initiative has been welcomed by members of the Jewish community from across the country. None of this would be possible, though, without the groundwork laid by the former member for Mount Royal, the hon. Irwin Cotler, who originally introduced the substance of this bill in 2015.

I have thanked Professor Cotler each and every time I have spoken to this bill, and I have dedicated my efforts in his name. I do not do it just because he is my dear friend and mentor, but because he is an inspirational leader who exemplifies the very best of what it means to be a Canadian and a member of the Canadian Jewish community. I would like to spend my time remaining honouring and paying tribute to this exemplary man.

Professor Cotler is one of the world's pre-eminent international legal minds and human rights advocates. For 26 years, he was a law professor at McGill University and the director of its human rights program. During that time, he served as counsel to prisoners of conscience from around the world, including Natan Sharansky, Nelson Mandela, and Jacobo Timerman. He was a member of the international legal team for Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, and he serves as international legal counsel to imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi and Venezuelan political prisoner Leopoldo López.

Irwin has been described as “counsel for the oppressed” and “freedom's counsel”. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

In 1999, when lesser persons would have begun thinking of retirement after an esteemed legal career, Professor Cotler ran for office. For 16 years, he served Canadians as the Liberal member of Parliament for Mount Royal. He brought his insatiable appetite for justice and human rights work to his work in government. During that time, we were privileged to have him as our minister of justice and attorney general.

Among many accomplishments, he initiated the first ever comprehensive reform of the Supreme Court appointment process; crafted the Civil Marriage Act, the first ever legislation to grant marriage equality to LGBTQ Canadians; and quashed more wrongful convictions in a single year than any prior minister.

He did not slow down in opposition or lose his drive to advance Canada as a beacon of justice and human rights. He advocated and oversaw the creation of the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights, which I am now privileged to chair. He chaired the Inter-Parliamentary Group for Human Rights in Iran and the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Inter-Parliamentary Group, and I should add that he was a driving force behind Canada's adoption of a Magnitsky act.

As colleagues in the House who worked with Irwin well know, he was less a politician than a parliamentarian scholar. He was among the most very respected members of this House, and his legacy is felt across party lines to this day.

Now, despite his supposed retirement in 2015, it turns out that Irwin's political career was more of a sabbatical from his real job: the defence of human rights around the world. Without pause, at 75 years of age, he returned to the struggle for international justice as the founder and chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. He now travels and works just as hard as he ever did as a member of Parliament.

Last September, he was appointed to the OAS independent panel of international experts on possible crimes against humanity in Venezuela, and he has not stopped or slowed his unmatched advocacy for prisoners of conscience around the globe.

Why does his story matter? It is because for over a half century, Professor Cotler has been bringing great pride and honour to the Canadian Jewish community. On a personal note, I am constantly inspired by the example he has set. My own journey as an MP, including my work on human rights and this bill, are entirely due to his ongoing legacy. Let my closing words on this bill be a thanks to Irwin for all of his contributions and to the great pride he brings to the Canadian Jewish community each and every day.

I am thankful for the opportunity to close the debate on Bill S-232. I look forward to this May being the inaugural Canadian Jewish heritage month, when we can all celebrate together.

Michael Levitt

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