Hong Kong Watch Youth Initiative Program candidate shares parliamentary experience at HongKonger Community Centre in Toronto
On 25 March, Hong Kong Watch held a roundtable discussion at the HongKonger Community Centre (HKCC) in Toronto and invited Donald Cheng, a candidate of the Youth Initiative Program, to share his experience working as an intern in the Canadian House of Commons.
Donald, who came from a background in social work, arrived in Canada through the Open Work Permit and was accepted as a Parliamentary intern through the Youth Initiative Program. He is currently working as an assistant to Garnett Genuis MP on human rights and advocacy work.
At the roundtable, Donald introduced the activities of the Parliamentary internship, such as conducting research for Parliament proceedings and note-taking during sessions of the House. He also shared details of the eight workshop sessions of the Youth Initiative Program, which introduced the Canadian political environment, political parties, and how Hong Kongers could participate in Canada’s political affairs.
During the event, Donald was joined by co-founder and Trustee of Hong Kong Watch Aileen Calverley and collected signatures for a Parliament petition calling for the release of Tonyee Chow Hang-tung, the former Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. They successfully collected enough signatures on the day. Donald has also submitted the petition sponsored by Garnett Genuis MP to the Clerk of Petitions of the House of Commons. It is now scheduled to be processed, and will be presented to the House of Commons by Garnett Genuis MP.
香港監察「青年倡議計劃」學員分享國會實習經歷 協助推動香港人權議題
加拿大香港監察上週六在多倫多香港人社區中心的活動中設置圓桌，經「青年倡議計劃」成為國會議員助理實習生的學員Donald Cheng到場分享國會實習經歷。
社會工作出身的Donald透過加拿大開放式工作簽證赴加發展，後經香港監察「青年倡議計劃」獲得國會實習面試機會並成功獲取錄，現擔任加拿大國會議員Garnett Genuis MP的助理，協助展開人權倡議工作。
Donald在活動中介紹了國會實習內容，例如協助MP Genuis就會議主題蒐集資料，並在會議期間記下重點。他亦分享了「青年倡議計劃」8節工作坊內容，包括了解加拿大政治環境及政黨資料，以及在加港人如何參與政治事務。
活動期間，Donald聯同香港監察共同創辦人兼信託人Aileen Calverley收集國會聯署簽名，要求加拿大政府敦促香港政府釋放前支聯會副主席鄒幸彤。他們成功收集足夠簽名，Donald亦已將獲MP Genuis支持的聯署呈交加拿大眾議院聯署辦事處。聯署現正排期處理，屆時MP Genuis將在國會上提出相關議題。