Honourable senators, on this Human Rights Day, we are reminded that the struggle for human dignity is neither theoretical nor distant. It is unfolding in real time in the lives of men, women and children who face tyranny, terror and persecution every single day.

Beyond our borders, the list of human right abusers remains tragically long: in Iran, where courageous women and men continue to demand their basic freedoms; in China, where the mass internment of Uighurs, the crushing of civil society in Hong Kong and the persecution of dissidents persist without consequences; in Cuba and Venezuela, where authoritarian regimes starve and imprison their own citizens, while democratic voices are kept silent; and in Sudan, where one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes is unfolding in near silence.

Colleagues, this brings us to a hard truth: These abuses persist, in part, because the world’s democracies have grown too comfortable, too quiet and too willing to look away. Too often Western governments, including our own right here in Canada, are tempted to trade principles for short-term political convenience or economic gain. They soften their voices when dealing with Beijing, even as China imprisons dissidents and threatens almost every neighbour. Here at home, Prime Minister Carney is keen to deepen trade ties with this very regime, as if human rights were an afterthought rather than a precondition.

It is precisely this pattern of appeasement that leads to even more dangerous precedents. When democratic nations reward violent actors with premature recognition, as our Prime Minister did by recognizing a non-existent Palestinian state, it not only rewards terrorism; it reinforces the very dynamic that has used the Palestinian people as shields and led to their suffering for generations, because that suffering is tied directly to this broader pattern of Western appeasement — this long-standing reluctance to make the hard decisions on how to confront bad actors like Hamas.

We have seen the consequences of that moral drift right here at home. They are felt in our own streets right here in Canada, whether it is the targeting of Jewish Canadians or the intimidation of Canadian citizens by foreign agents on our own soil. This is what happens when democracies fail to draw firm lines or when moral clarity is replaced by moral relativism.

Honourable senators, Human Rights Day should not be a ritual observance; it should be a reminder, a warning, even, that silence is costly and that Canada’s obligation, along with those of other democratic states around the world, is not to make excuses for oppressors but, rather, to resist — and resist them loudly, unapologetically and without compromise.

Thank you.