Publication of Petition E-3274 In the Journals of the House of Commons

On June 23, 2021, petition e-3274 was presented to the House of Commons of the Parliament of Canada, the core of the Canadian democratic system. Tom Kmiec, the Member of Parliament for Calgary-Shepard who is the Conservative National Caucus Chair. The petition embraced the demands of a politically engaged Cuban community in Canada that calls upon the House of Commons and the Government of Canada to speak up and rise to this historic moment and support the new generation of human rights defenders, artists, independent journalists, and members of civil society in the island in their peaceful demands for freedom, democracy, and inclusion. 

A total of 1,254 signatures from Canadians in all regions of Canada signed the petition. It gathered more than 500 signatures during its first 48 hours of publication on the House of Commons’ website. This is the minimum number of signatures required for presentation in the House of Commons. Following today’s presentation in the Journals of House, the Government of Canada is required in accordance with the “Standing Orders (the rules governing the House of Commons) to respond within 45 days to every petition presented.” 

The petition calls upon MPs to “1. Make a public statement in solidarity with the San Isidro Movement, the Patriotic Union of Cuba and all civil society groups leading the peaceful struggle for human rights in the island; 2. Unequivocally condemn the arbitrary detentions and intimidation of activists in Cuba, as has been done in the cases of Venezuela, Belarus and other nations; 3. Urge the Canadian government to join Amnesty International and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and demand the release of Cuban political prisoners Aymara Nieto Muñoz, Melkis Faure Hechevarría and Edilberto Arzuaga Alcalá, as well as hundreds of others arbitrarily imprisoned by the Cuban regime for political reasons; and 4. Exhort the Canadian government to invite human rights activists to its embassy in Havana and listen to their accounts of repression in Cuba.”

Petition e-3274 was initiated by Michael Lima, a researcher, human rights activist and director of Democratic Spaces, a civil initiative in Canada to encourage solidarity with human rights activists and artists leading the peaceful struggle for democracy and freedom in Cuba. The petition is the first of its kind in recent years to call upon Members of Parliament and the Government of Canada to publicly support human rights activists in Cuba and condemn repression on the island. 

The demands raised in this petition served to foster civil and political activism among the freedom-loving Cuban community in Canada and connect with Canadians from diverse backgrounds across the country who showed a willingness to stand up in support for the cause of democracy and human rights in Cuba. Cubans, Venezuelans, and many other communities throughout Canada rallied in support of the petition and expressed their solidarity with the cause of democracy in Cuba. The petition has captured the hopes and aspirations of many Cuban Canadians who stand up for freedom and democracy in Cuba. It has inspired them to become agents of change, promoting the petition in their respective communities and, in the process, raising awareness about the peaceful struggle for democracy in Cuba. 

In a democracy such as Canada, a petition is one of many ways in which citizens make proposals and seek accountability from the government. The government in a rule-of-law system is in turn required by law to respond to petitions when a certain number of signatures are gathered. In Canada, raising a voice of protest and holding the government accountable for its actions is not a crime, it is a right endorsed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In Cuba, on the other hand, a regime that tramples on human rights responds to critical petitions by arresting petitioners and subjecting them to police sieges and systematic harassment from authorities. As recent as February 4, 2021, art historian Carolina Barrero was arbitrarily arrested in Havana for simply handing a petition to the National Assembly in which 1,252 activists, artists, and intellectuals demanded the dismissal of the Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso for his violent actions against an independent journalist on January 27, 2021. 

Canada is ranked as the 5th leading democracy in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2020. Its democratic system is a moral reference for democratic governance, pluralism, transparency, inclusion, social justice and rule of law around the world. Therefore, if the current government chose to be on the right side of history, it could —among other initiatives — lead an international coalition (as it has done in the case of Venezuela) that might bring democratic change to Cuba. As the history of 62 years of misery and oppression show, the future ahead in Cuba must not be a continuity of the current system. The humanitarian crisis in the island will not end until Cubans can freely choose their political, economic, and social system through free, fair and multiple party elections, 

In recent months, Cubans around the world have pressured democratic governments to change their foreign policy towards the regime in Cuba by prioritizing the topic of human rights. Early this year, initiatives such as “Path Toward Change” have called upon governments in the United States, the Americas and Europe to condemn repression in Cuba. One key result of this effort was a recent resolution by the European Union titled “Human rights and political situation in Cuba,” which was passed on June 10, 2021. The resolution constitutes a historic milestone that should be echoed by democratic parliaments in Canada and around the world. In point 1 of the resolution, the European Union:

“Strongly condemns the existence of political prisoners, the persistent and permanent political persecution, acts of harassment and arbitrary detentions of dissidents in Cuba; also condemns the current attacks against artists of the San Isidro Movement, peaceful dissidents, independent journalists, human rights defenders and members of the political opposition; calls for an immediate end to these actions and urges the Cuban authorities immediately to release all political prisoners and those arbitrarily detained solely on the grounds of exercising their freedom of expression and assembly; strongly condemns the arbitrary detention of Aymara Nieto Muñoz, Mitzael Díaz Paseiro, Iván Amaro Hidalgo, Edilberto Ronal Arzuaga Alcalá, Yandier García Labrada, Denis Solís González, Luis Robles Elizástegui and the 77 prisoners of conscience; expresses solidarity with the members of the San Isidro Movement and all activists and human rights defenders in their efforts to advance freedom of expression in Cuba."