Mr. Speaker, the path of destruction of the repulsive Daesh, or ISIL, needs no introduction. We have been very graphic in describing it here today.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported in 2015 that the following atrocities were perpetuated by ISIL against the Yazidi community: the rape and abduction of women and girls as young as six and boys as young as eight forced into war as soldiers. These actions were directly targeted at the Yazidi people. As well, we all know very well the ISIL crimes that have also targeted Christians, Shia Muslims, and LGBTQ individuals.

For all intents and purposes, this is genocide. We have heard today how we are compelled to use this word in moral persuasion. I am doing so, and yet I remind my colleagues that this is a term that does, indeed, have its roots in legalese.

From my experience on the Subcommittee on International Human Rights, I have gained a deeper understanding that Canada has an imperative role as a leader in shaping international policy. Canada can count on its own allies among those who have called this genocide a genocide. Beyond this label, Canada has a distinct responsibility to act where clear evidence has presented itself. Therefore, please allow me to express my practical reservations about this motion.

First, I do not want to legitimize this group's actions on behalf of its demented imaginary state any further, but, at the same time, I wish to legitimize the persecution of targeted groups of humanity who have faced atrocities. I admit, I hope, there is some immeasurable value in these communities knowing that Canada recognizes their suffering and pledges to meaningful action.

Simply labelling this a genocide will not be enough. I comprehend that this is where our differences in the House must have consensus built around them in order for us to move forward. Canada wields great influence in the world, but our influence is most useful in complement with international co-operation. We should do more than to label this a genocide. We should focus our attention on the responsible way forward and refer this issue to the UN Security Council, maximizing Canada's ability to use its influence to assist those persecuted by ISIL. This must be our priority.

Additionally, I am disappointed the Conservative motion focuses only on the atrocious actions of ISIL. We in the NDP believe it is important to recognize all atrocities committed in the region, not just by ISIL but by Syrian President Assad's forces and opposition militias. We cannot forget that there are multiple actors committing war crimes in the region and the focus on ISIL is part of a complex regional issue of dysfunction and despair.

New Democrats believe that Canada has an important role to play in addressing the threat that ISIS poses to the global community and in alleviating the suffering of civilians caught in the conflict.

We have long argued that more stress needs to be put on crucial areas that perpetuate ISIL. Canada should focus on stopping the flow of arms, funds, and foreign fighters, including improving anti-radicalization efforts. It is imperative to move now to boost humanitarian aid in areas where there would be immediate life-saving impact. We will address radicalization by building winterized camps for refugees, with water, sanitation, hygiene, health, and education for the displaced. Support in areas of Canadian expertise is where we can do so much more work, combatting sexual violence, support for survivors, protecting minorities, and providing assistance to investigate and prosecute these alleged war crimes.

Canada should be providing considerable help to vulnerable populations in Iraq and Syria. This includes basic humanitarian support, but also long-term support for recovery such as the psychosocial support that has been mentioned earlier today, to help these groups return to their communities and rebuild. Along with the international community, Canada should assist in the development of long-term reconstruction for Iraq and Syria. It will take decades to rebuild.

Canada should be asking the UN Security Council to mandate international independent investigations and refer the issue to the proper court. Canada should provide immediate financing for these investigations and gathering of evidence. We need to maximize this area of our expertise. If using the terminology “genocide” is going to hold any weight in the future for something legalese, then we have to make sure that we have this evidence collected professionally and properly because that is what the International Criminal Court requires.

Naomi Kikoler is the deputy director for the Centre for the Prevention of Genocide and she stated at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum last November that there has been virtually no effort to systematically document the crimes that have been perpetrated, to preserve evidence, to secure and preserve forensic evidence, and to ensure that mass graves are being protected so that we can have successful prosecutions in the future.

This is one area where Canada can play a crucial role in supporting financially and intellectually with our expertise in sending experts to areas that have been liberated from the Islamic State. This is very crucial if we are to take seriously the term of genocide.

Also, in keeping with the emphasis of the Prime Minister's government on humanitarian assistance, there is a great deal more that can be done to help survivors of Islamic State crimes. Most notably, the women, children, and men who have been kidnapped and subsequently freed are released from Islamic State. They need considerable help when it comes to providing that psychosocial support to help them return to their communities and rebuild their own well-being.

One unresolved matter in which Canada can actively assist those persecuted by ISIS concerns the Yazidi young women who have been referenced here several times today. I recently met with Reverend Majed el-Shafie, who is the president of One Free World International, a human rights organization that advocates for religious minorities. One Free World International has put together a proposal that includes private sponsorships in order for young Yazidi women, 400 of them, to come with their families to Canada to flourish and to be that next generation of decision-makers and policy developers who will lead with a sense of power that comes from a sense of contentment in community and compassion, not fear and might.

We need to be able to not just care for these young people and foster and nurture their development so that they can take on the roles that we as esteemed members have in their place in the world, we have to recognize how imperative it is to do this now. Let us do it.

The NDP wholeheartedly supports this proposal and I was extremely disappointed to learn that it has been sitting on the Minister of Immigration's desk for months. There is a level of frustration here when we know that there is a real tangible impact we can have right now directly related to these atrocities that we are calling genocide now.

While opposition motions such as this carry the weight of a decision in the House of Commons, they have no binding effect on the executive branch. The recognition of genocide by the executive branch has in the past come through statements by the Prime Minister or the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

We know that in the legalese we have been talking about, genocide has been defined. I have heard it described here as the definition already in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Canada is a signatory to that genocide convention.

If the government were to recognize the actions of a sovereign state as genocide, then the consequences would and could include sanctions, which are really hard for us to apply to non-state actors, even though they consider themselves a state. This is where it is really problematic.

However, in the future, it will not be problematic for us to press for an International Criminal Court treatment of these same actors if we were to make sure that our expertise is used now to collect that evidence. This is because, as impactful and emotional as the anecdotal evidence is on YouTube with the beheadings, and some of the reporting that we have heard in the news, we cannot deny that there is an International Criminal Court.

Earlier today, I heard one of my colleagues on the other side call the United Nations Security Council and the International Criminal Court dysfunctional and impotent. I have to say that if that really is the case, then we all need to think about the voluntary mechanism that is our United Nations, our world government. It is only going to be as strong and impactful as we, the member nations, let it be.

We are the sovereign state here. Let us not forget that. ISIL is not a sovereign state. There are actions that we can take so that we are making it impotent in the future, and not our own international body that we are trying to bring forward, a global community that sees security and peace for all. In order for us to be able to do that, we are going to have to recognize and face that this is only going to be as strong as we let it be.

Canada should be providing considerable help to vulnerable populations in Iraq and Syria as well. We know that basic humanitarian support not only helps communities flourish and develop strong sovereign states, but it is also what helps to alleviate and eliminate radicalization.

As a country, if we are going to use the word “genocide”, I embrace that. New Democrats continue to urge the government to boost humanitarian aid, and to prosecute alleged war crimes. In order to do that, we do have to accept our role in the international community. If all it takes to get the momentum going on very important initiatives for humanity is to install the use of the word “genocide”, I do not want to stand in the way of that.

Let us answer to the urgency of those affected by this genocide, and let us do it now.

Cheryl Hardcastle

Transcript

Government Orders

Discussions (0)