June 20, 1984 (32nd Parliament, 2nd Session)

Mr. Bob Ogle (Saskatoon East):

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to bring to the attention of the House the fact that Amnesty International has declared that Wilson Ferreira and his son, Juan Raul Ferreira, are detained in custody in the country of Uruguay. This man was the Leader of the opposition Party which is known as the Blancos. He was attempting to return to Uruguay to participate in the election which is scheduled for October. During the 11 years that he has been in exile he has protested against the human rights violations which have taken place in his own country. Members of this House in all three Parties who served on the Latin American sub-committee know about this situation from personal experience. Ferreira has attempted to bring this reality to the whole world.
At this time I call upon the Government of Canada to protest vehemently against what has happened to Mr. Ferreira, a fellow parliamentarian, if it has not done so already. I call upon the Minister of External Affairs to ensure that our embassy in Buenos Aires, which looks after Uruguay, approaches the Government of that country to see that these two people are released immediately from prison.