A petition organized by Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis to gather support for his future motion calling for an emergency debate in the House of Commons about the situation in Venezuela is gaining strength with each passing day.
"Compared with other campaigns this one has been very successful," said Karygiannis, who has received over 6,000 signatures on his website petition in the last week.
Karygiannis said that for a petition like this he usually receives around 1,000 signatures.
To date Karygiannis has received over 3,500 signatures from Canada, 2,500 from Venezuela and over 300 from other countries.
However, Karyagiannis is looking to collect more signatures to support his personal motion asking parliament to "unanimously "approve an emergency debate over the situation in Venezuela.
"People are very happy we brought this," said Karyagiannis, who has also got hundreds of emails supporting his initiative, adding he's been reading the emails "with concern."
Many people have wrote Karyagiannis with "fear" from inside Venezuela denouncing there is "no rule of law and democracy," among other "serious problems."
"People are describing personal issues that are horrible."
Karyagiannis said the general public in Canada have yet to understand what is happening inside Venezuela, or the "complexities and difficulties" of the problems he read about in the emails.
"We have to look and check if democracy is being respected," said Karyagiannis. "There is the need for a discussion and people need to be heard."
In addition, Karyagiannis has received around 20 emails from people participating in a campaign from the international group Hands of Venezuela asking him to stop his motion.
Karyagiannis answered all of them with a thank you email telling them that their points will be taken into consideration.
However, Karyagiannis said that if he got 3,500 emails from inside Canada saying that raising awareness of the situation in Venezuela is good "there must be something bad happening down there."
So far, the MP hasn't been approached by Venezuelan authorities and if they approach him, he will say "thank you for calling and have a good day,"
"I'm not a member of the parliament of Venezuela and I'm not playing to the tune of the Venezuelan government," said Karyagiannis.
"I was approach by constituents and by the Venezuelan diaspora and I'm working with them."
The MP who has become for the Venezuelan community in Canada a "Champion of democracy."
Karyagiannis is right now a "champion" for the Venezuelans that "defend democracy, the sovereignty, and the constitution," said Maite Marcia, a Venezuelan international analyst living in Ottawa.
"Jim is a very courageous person because he raised his small voice," said Marcia. "Now he has another 6,000 voices with him and we wait that many others will join too.
"We look forward to other political parties to join Jim's proposal," said Marcia. "Especially those who say they defend democracy."
"It is something very important, very remarkable," said Leonardo Reyes, a Venezuelan physiotherapist living in Toronto.
For Reyes, Karyagiannis is going to take the problem in Venezuela "to a higher level," into the international community.
Venezuelans in Canada feel that the international community doesn't care about "democracy in Venezuela" and Karyagiannis "is going to change that," said Josue Ramirez, a Venezuelan living in Calgary and member of the organization Venezuelans Around the World.
Everyone must know what is happening in Venezuela because there is a "violation of democracy," said Ramirez. "Jim is doing important work for democracy in Venezuela."
Karyagiannis' proposal is very important also for Canada because it will make the country the "first in the world to take action over the problem in Venezuela," said Ramirez
Karyagiannis feels says he feels humbles to be receiving the tittle of 'champion' from Venezuelans living in Canada. "I'm only doing a little bit to help to return democracy to Venezuela"
"I'm very humbled that people see me in that way and I will work with them until the end of the road," said Karyagiannis.
This kind of action should be more prevalent in countries that say they "defend democracy," especially those in the Americas that say they "protect the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Marcia.
"We have to defend the democracies of the XXI twentieth century against the autocracies of the XXI twentieth century hidden behind supposed democracies."
In Venezuela people are beginning to wonder if Hugo Chavez will ever recover to fulfill his duties as President.
With 45 days since his last public appearance, when he announced he would go trough a 4th surgery to treat his cancer in Cuba, many are beginning to wonder who is running the government and if he will ever return.
To read or sign Karyagiannis's proposal click here. To read or participate in Hands Of Venezuela campaign click here