I condemn the violence and repression inflicted on the Iranian people by the authoritarian regime governing Iran. Thousands of Iranian civilians have been murdered while bravely taking to the streets demanding basic economic security, social dignity, and political freedom. My heart is with every single person waiting for news about their loved one's safety amid deliberate internet blackouts imposed by the regime to conceal horrific state violence.

Many of those protesting and facing violence are the loved ones of Canadians. And many Iranian Canadians have been unable to return home because of the despotism, corruption, abuse, and horrors unleashed by the kleptocracy running Iran.​ 

Canada’s NDP has repeatedly urged the Canadian government to do more to safeguard and support the human rights of the Iranian people. For years, the NDP has pressed this government for real, meaningful action against those connected to the regime. The Carney government can and must do more: it could crack down on money laundering and meaningfully constrain bad actors with connections to Canada. Canada must also ensure accountability if regime actors attempt to settle in Canada.​

The people of Iran deserve both self-determination and principled support from the international community. A free and democratic Iran must be shaped and led by its own people. A free Iran will not emerge from outside powers imposing their will to gain access to Iran’s oil resources. History has shown the dangers of foreign interference: Iran’s last truly democratic government was overthrown due to self-interested intervention from the United Kingdom and the United States. Canada must stand firmly against selfish and illegal interventions that risk sowing future oppression.

A democratic future for Iran requires strong social movements, and not restored monarchs or foreign powers pursuing profit at the expense of ordinary Iranians. Canada must use the tools of diplomacy, not war, to support a free and democratic Iran. 

​

NDP releases 121 recommendations to end Ontario’s IPV epidemic

QUEEN’S PARK — The Ontario NDP has released 121 recommendations charting a path to end Ontario’s intimate partner violence (IPV) epidemic. These recommendations are part of their dissenting report, following the government’s IPV report.  

“Survivors and experts are tired of study after study with no government action, accountability, or even a timetable for implementation,” said MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam (Toronto Centre). “We have put forward a plan to end IPV, one that honestly reflects the voices of survivors who appeared at the Committee. The Ford government must now act to stop the rise of femicide that has happened on their watch.” 

The report follows a lengthy committee study process created and controlled by the Ford government in response to the NDP’s Bill 173, the Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, 2024, reintroduced this year as Bill 55. The NDP committee members cooperated with the three-phase process while advocating that the government enact the recommendations of countless high-quality reports. 

“It is outrageous that this government continues to waste the time of survivors, experts in the field, and frontline workers by gaslighting them about their own calls for change,” said MPP Lisa Gretzky (Windsor West). “While sharing their deeply personal traumatic experiences, survivors and victims' families told this government to declare IPV an epidemic, but the Conservatives are twisting their words in an attempt to convince them that the status quo is acceptable.” 

When the government report — written by one government member in a highly irregular manner — was presented to the committee, NDP MPPs tried to work within the process once again, before being forced to make the difficult decision to withdraw from a process that failed to respect survivors or subject-matter experts. 

Major AI detection tools like GPTZero also flagged the government’s report as likely being largely AI-generated, and multiple sources cited did not exist upon closer inspection. 

“To fully respect those survivor and expert voices, our dissenting report includes overlooked voices, 121 recommendations, and a clear executive summary, all in a digestible format,” said MPP Alexa Gilmour (Parkdale – High Park). “We urge the government to adopt these recommendations, starting with declaring IPV an epidemic as called for by the Renfrew County Inquest and recognized by 106 municipalities across Ontario.”  

Read the Official Opposition Dissenting Report.

Read the Executive Summary of the Official Opposition Dissenting Report.

The Government report cites articles and studies that do not exist and fit the pattern of AI-originated hallucinations.

Selected examples include: 

While the Official Opposition did not have the time to check every citation, this pattern of significant errors and the citation of articles and reports that do not exist, were published elsewhere, by a different author, or at a different time, is likely indicative of the fact that care was not taken to ensure correct citations. 

Additionally, the pattern of citing news companies (cbc.ca, globeandmail.ca) without providing exact dates or URLs that specifically link to the article referenced is not in keeping with Canadian Legal Citations in the style of the McGill Guide, which the government report uses. 

The government report additionally misstates that the inquest into the death of Lori Dupont occurred in 2002. The inquest, in fact, took place in 2007 after Ms. Dupont was murdered in 2005.

NDP Commemorates World AIDS Day

QUEEN’S PARK – MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam, 2SLGBTQI+ Issues critic, released the following statement to mark World AIDS Day:

This World AIDS Day’s theme is “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response”. For decades, I have stood in solidarity with those living with HIV/AIDS, and those who fight to eradicate it. Today, solidarity demands blunt honesty. I know of no better way to honour a movement whose rallying cry has been Silence = Death. 

To friends, families and allies working to end HIV/AIDS: the global response to combat HIV/AIDS is moving in the wrong direction. Our governments are losing the political will to save lives. HIV/AIDS never went away, and recent decisions will be an accelerant to its spread. 

It is too easy to blame the Trump administration’s high-profile cuts to PEPFAR and USAID. Domestic funding by federal and provincial governments for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment has not kept pace with inflation for decades. The Carney budget’s $2.7 billion cut to foreign aid will fall uniquely hard on global HIV/AIDS services that were already struggling to absorb Trump’s devastating defunding. Canada should be stepping up to fill the void created by America’s abandonment of global public health leadership, not joining President Trump in turning off the taps. 

Sexually transmitted infections do not respect borders. The combined failure of wealthy countries to fund HIV/AIDS prevention and the flat-lining (at best) of services in Canada and Ontario here will expose everyone to more preventable infections. 

Both federal and provincial governments have attacked HIV/AIDS prevention over the last year, through their combined assault on overdose prevention. The province’s forced closure of supervised consumption sites will worsen the spread of HIV/AIDS. The Carney government’s cut to the Substance Use and Addictions Program is the misguided abandonment of one of the only policies that can credibly combat the overdose crisis and the spread of HIV through unsafe needles. This capitulation to Conservatives by the Carney government is nothing short of a decision Pierre Poilievre could be proud of. 

This World AIDS Day is also different because of the earlier announcement by the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) that after 42 years of community service, they will permanently close their doors on March 31 next year. This announcement must be a wake-up call to all levels of government that AIDS organizations are facing a financial crisis that has been decades in the making. 

This year, I do not want to simply thank everyone working in the HIV/AIDS sector. I want to offer the Ontario NDP’s partnership in fighting for the transformation of political leadership that communities living with HIV/AIDS deserve. I invite you to Queen’s Park in the weeks ahead to ensure that your voices are heard loud and clear by a government that has, by and large, ignored you. I will also repeat my call on the Ford government to show serious commitment on this World AIDS Day by passing my motion to extend coverage of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). 

This summer, I again participated in the Friends for Life Bike Rally, a six-day cycling fundraiser from Toronto to Montreal for the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation.  PWA Toronto is one of the many organizations I keep in mind today as you work to support people living with HIV/AIDS and keep a spotlight pointed to the work ahead. To everyone working in HIV/AIDS prevention, support, services, and harm reduction: thank you. This has been a brutally difficult year, and your work is more important than ever. I especially want to thank everyone at ACT for your decades of service to our City.

Thirty years ago, 1995 was one of the most challenging years in fighting the HIV/AIDs crisis. Deaths hit all-time highs in Canada and Ontario. But women, men, and gender-diverse people, people from Indigenous communities, Black communities, South-Asian communities, East-Asian communities, Middle-Eastern communities, Caribbean communities, African communities, and Latinx communities were organizing too. Their community organizing transformed our response and has saved lives today. Our history shows us that we can face horrifying odds and transform our government’s response. We must do so again.