House of Commons Hansard #84 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was nigeria.

Topics

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

10:45 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

Order, please. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

10:45 p.m.

Conservative

Erin O'Toole Conservative Durham, ON

Mr. Speaker, certainly as someone who served in the Canadian Forces, the initial reaction as a father and a former military person is to send in special forces, send in JTF2. We need to get these girls back. That is the gut reaction.

We have to work with Nigeria to see how Canada can offer our assistance best, recognizing the sovereign territory of that country and trying to work with them and our partners in the U.S. and the United Kingdom on giving them the tools that would best help them root out these terrorists and provide security within their own country. We believe in the early stages that surveillance to localize Boko Haram is the first step, but perhaps training and additional resources, if called for, alongside our allies would be the next step.

Certainly I think our government has a number of programs, including the one he mentioned that we support on a global basis, whether through the United Nations or on a bilateral basis with countries to promote education, because really, the terror here is not just the physical threat that groups like Boko Haram provide; they are actually trying to keep repressed by taking education from them, especially young girls, and that is particularly abhorrent.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

10:45 p.m.

Liberal

Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

Mr. Speaker, I hope my hon. colleague will let the grade 7 and 8 children know how much we appreciate their caring.

There have been reports that some of the girls have been forced into marriage with their abductors who have paid the nominal bride price of $12, we hear, and that some may have been carried across the borders into Cameroon and Chad.

I am wondering if the member can confirm whether these reports are correct or not, and what the consequences for any rescue operation might be, particularly as multiple jurisdictions are involved.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

10:50 p.m.

Conservative

Erin O'Toole Conservative Durham, ON

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her passionate remarks here tonight and for the question.

As I have mentioned, and my colleague from Newmarket—Aurora also mentioned, Canada has strong leadership in our support for funding to end child and early forced marriage. That relates in one way to what is going on here. Really, it is the terror of the kidnapping and the coercion involved in this case that needs to end, and really, the perversion of a faith in the process that I tried to also address in my remarks and how Canada can bring our respected approach to diversity and pluralism as we go forward and talk about these important subjects.

The challenge for this region and the challenge for civilized countries trying to address global terror networks, whether it is al Qaeda or Boko Haram, which is an al Qaeda affiliate, but is probably centred mainly in Nigeria, but is in Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. We have to have a global response working with our allies, but also working with countries in the Maghreb in Africa to make sure there is a coordination and to make sure that they just do not go on to a failed state and regroup. We really have to have a coordinated global response.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

10:50 p.m.

NDP

Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the hon. member for Jeanne-Le Ber.

Ramenez nos filles”. “Bring back our girls”. I and all my colleagues in the House join our voices to those of the mothers and families who are experiencing the sheer agony of knowing their girls were kidnapped. We are pleased that the House is holding this debate, at the request of the hon. member for Ottawa Centre.

I would also like to take this opportunity to draw the government's attention to the crisis that has been unfolding in Nigeria and the measures that should be taken to help find a solution that is in keeping with Canada's humanitarian tradition. The kidnapping of 267 innocent young girls last month by Boko Haram has devastated us all. It is outrageous.

Our first duty as parliamentarians is to remember a truth that is often forgotten. While we may not know these young girls or their families, and we are thousands of kilometres from Nigeria, we are all closely linked by an inextricable connection. Our humanity links each of us to each of them. Turning a blind eye to their plight is akin to turning a blind eye to the ties that bind us together. It is unacceptable to use such actions, which belong in another era, to advance a cause.

As parliamentarians, we must share that simple truth with the whole world. The great Ernest Hemingway, in his time, reignited the light of universal consciousness with the words he borrowed from philosopher John Donne. Please listen closely to his words and ponder them carefully so that we may understand the full scope of our actions here in the House tonight.

No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea...Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.

Those few sentences set our course of action. We cannot turn a blind eye to the tragic events in Nigeria without losing some of our humanity. However, that alone will not protect these young girls from the madmen who haven taken them hostage. To rescue them, we must understand the situation and work together on finding ways to deal with it so that Canada can contribute to the release of these girls and to stabilizing this region.

There is no room for partisan language here. The opposition is not trying to fault the government. The government does not have to defend its record. We must work together to find a common solution. We are providing constructive and positive criticism of the government's action on this file. We are speaking with one voice, that of Canada. That is why I commend the initiative by the hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs to bring Nigeria's partners together, including the United States, Great Britain and France, in order to provide the necessary surveillance equipment to find the 223 kidnapped young girls.

I hope this aid is deployed as soon as possible, and I am calling on the government to provide the opposition with regular updates in a spirit of straightforward and honest co-operation. This approach seems to be the only possible option for concerted action on the ground in the face of a situation that becomes more alarming with each day.

On April 14, a bombing claimed 75 victims in Abuja. The next day, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of 276 young girls. Then, on May 5, there was an attack on the city of Gamboru Ngala, which reportedly killed 300 people. The same day, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, announced that he was preparing to sell the kidnapped girls as slaves. This shows the growing and worrisome inability of local authorities to regain control of northern Nigeria in particular.

The accounts of the atrocities committed in Nigeria are horrifying. As we saw during the civil war that ravaged the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in conflicts of this nature, it has become commonplace for women to be systematically targeted. Terrorists deliberately attack these innocent victims in the most despicable ways, leaving terror and destruction in their wake.

Restoring order is an indispensable prerequisite for any long-term stabilization solution.

Terrorists, no matter where they are, must understand that their actions will not go unpunished. Not only do they discredit the cause they claim to defend, but they will be prosecuted and judged for their actions.

That is why Canada must actively help Nigeria in its fight against terrorism by taking concrete action, such as establishing police co-operation between the two countries, for example. There can be no viable political agreement unless the security situation improves.

The next step will be to create the conditions for true long-term regional stabilization. Repression cannot be the only means to achieve that end.

Insecurity, exclusion, poverty and the lack of real democracy and a just society are key factors that allow terrorist groups to recruit militants.

An international force whose only purpose is to crack down on terrorist acts would not consider these factors. Thus, any solution would only be temporary because the embers would continue to burn under the ashes.

Some other countries in the region, such as Mali, are also affected by political crises and civil wars that are seriously compromising regional stability. For that reason, the crisis requires a political solution at the local and regional levels.

Canada has a crucial role to play, locally and regionally, in bringing this crisis to an end. In addition to immediate assistance, we can also provide research and surveillance assistance. Canada must also get involved in the economic development of western African countries in order to address the endemic root causes of terrorism. To that end, the government must ensure that Canadian investments in the region allow for a fair distribution of profits to the local people.

We in the NDP are calling on Canada to sign the arms trade treaty in order to prevent conventional weapons from fuelling conflicts.

Let me remind hon. members that in the conflict that affected the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the combatants did not use any heavy weapons or weapons of mass destruction. However, the civil war that ravaged that country between 1998 and 2002 killed more than 3 million people. It is the deadliest conflict since World War II.

It is therefore imperative to take every possible measure to put an end to small arms trade and trafficking. If we do not make an effort to do so, conditions will continue to exist so that political crises in African countries are marked by indiscriminate violence time and time again.

Those are the main actions that Canada should take to immediately alleviate the crisis in Nigeria and stabilize the region in the longer term.

I urge the government to take these simple measures. They will send a strong message of support to the people of Nigeria and help mitigate the overall factors that lead to crises in Africa in the long term.

The gravity of the situation, our country's history and our humanist values require us to act.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11 p.m.

Newmarket—Aurora Ontario

Conservative

Lois Brown ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development

Mr. Speaker, in Nigeria about 8%, maybe a bit less, of the parliamentarians are female. I reflect on the number of female parliamentarians that I have met in many African countries. I was in Mozambique in December for the conference on the African Minerals Development Centre. Minister Bias, the minister of mines in Mozambique, is the chair of that centre. I reflect on the number of women who have significant positions in African parliaments.

Knowing that women are going to influence the next generation of young girls, does my colleague have any thoughts on how we as female parliamentarians might be able to communicate with our female parliamentarian colleagues in Africa? Is there any influence that we could bring to bear on some of these issues that Africa faces?

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11 p.m.

NDP

Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question.

What she is talking about is the importance of women and girls and the crucial part they play in the development of their country. Female parliamentarians make a very honourable and constructive contribution to government institutions in African countries that results in a completely different dynamic. They help raise awareness and encourage people to take into account the very nature of these countries and their development.

My colleague suggested that we might be able to arrange meetings at the international level with these other women and organize forums and opportunities for exchange. I think those are some very good ideas that would enable us to learn more about what these female parliamentarians are doing, to better understand their work. At the same time, we would be able to talk about a vision that women from all walks of life and all over the world have in common.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11 p.m.

Liberal

Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

Mr. Speaker, Nigeria has 10 million children out of school, the highest number in the world. Almost one of three primary children is out of school and roughly one in four junior secondary aged children is out of school. Nearly 6.3 million or 60% of the 10 million Nigerian children out of school live in the northern part of the country. Globally, 57 million primary school aged children remain out of school. Half of these children live in conflict affected areas and disaster zones. The Global Partnership for Education replenishment meeting is coming up on June 26 in Brussels with the request of $120 million from Canada.

Does the hon. member think Canada should contribute and if so, how much?

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11 p.m.

NDP

Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her excellent question.

This evening, many members have highlighted the importance of education for women and girls and people in general. As a country, we will certainly have to provide substantial aid. I cannot point to a figure here, but I think we really need to focus—even more than we already do—on financial assistance for the development of and access to education for as many African and Nigerian children as possible. I sincerely believe that education is the way for people to become aware of what they need to do for their country. Education opens doors to all kinds of development options. Yes, Canada must find a way to invest as much as possible in developing education again and again.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:05 p.m.

NDP

Tyrone Benskin NDP Jeanne-Le Ber, QC

Mr. Speaker, I think I speak for everyone in this House tonight who has given of their time and their sleep to speak on this subject. We are all seized with this event and are horrified and concerned.

I woke this morning and turned on the TV, as I am apt to do, to scan the news on CBC and CTV and to catch up on what had happened overnight to prepare myself for the day to some extent. I was shocked and horrified by the images of some of these young girls who reportedly were forced to convert to Islam.

I was struck by a banner I saw on CTV this morning about one of the young girls who managed to escape, which said that she was afraid to go to school. These are the words of one of the handful of young women who managed to escape her captors. This young woman, with the blessing of her parents and her family, chose to learn about herself and the world around her.

These young women chose to take advantage of the opportunities, limited though they may be, to build a better life for themselves. This opportunity was stolen from them. As these young girls sat in their class to learn, they experienced a lesson in brutality. They experienced a lesson in the evil men do.

They were taken from that place where they felt safe. They were taken from their families. The men that stole them call themselves the faithful. They call themselves warriors of Islam. However, I would like to stress that this act of thuggery, this act of cowardice, has nothing to do with Islam, as I have come to learn and as it has been expressed to me by members of the Muslim community in my riding that I have had the pleasure of meeting with.

This, in no uncertain terms, was an act of war. It is an act that brings a heightened reality to the changing face of war, where young girls, women, and communities are targeted with the sole purpose of destroying that which the community holds dear.

We see this type of warfare perpetrated in many parts of the world. We saw it, for example, in the attempted assassination of a young schoolgirl named Malala Yousafzai. Why? It was because she wanted to go to school.

According to UNESCO's website, apparently two-thirds of the out-of-school children in Pakistan are girls, which results in women being two-thirds of the illiterate in their communities.

Women and children are being targeted as strategic targets in conflict areas, in conflicts that hide behind false faith and manipulative ideologies. Neither Nigerians nor the international community are prepared. We are not prepared to deal with the stealing of children from their schools, and we need to be.

We need to be able to act pre-emptively to protect those who would be targeted by men who give themselves names such as Boko Haram, and educating young girls to become leaders in their communities is part of that response.

There has to be a commitment from within Nigeria to protect the schools and the young souls that inhabit them.

We must also be prepared for the aftermath. The international community must develop, in concert with the communities, a support system for these young girls, their families and their communities. It should be a support system that allows for the healthy reintegration of these young girls when they are returned. No matter what faith any of us practice in the House or around the world, we all pray that each and every one of these young girls is returned to her family safely.

By sharing collective expertise, Nigeria and other countries that face similar acts of violence can develop the means to protect those who would be targeted and to respond to these needs. These acts are not new. The international community response, however, needs to change. We need to stop thinking of acts of this nature, of violence against women and the kidnapping of young girls, as offshoots of war. We need to start thinking of them as actual choices and as targeted actions.

The international community must refocus its efforts in capacity building. Canada must re-engage with the African continent, and it must do its part in helping to slow the flow of small arms into the African continent.

Canada and the international community must be vigilant and be seen to be vigilant in order to send a clear message that the kidnapping of young girls is a crime. We will work with Nigeria and the international community in responding to this crime.

Malala, the young Pakistani girl, spoke simply but precisely when she said, “...if we remain silent then this will spread, this will happen more and more and more”.

It is important that Canada does what it must to ensure that no young girl in Nigeria or any other part of the world has to say “I am afraid to go to school”.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:10 p.m.

Liberal

Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague and friend for his caring and for his speech tonight.

On Sunday, one of the more than fifty teenagers who escaped from Boko Haram said the kidnapping was “too terrifying for words”. She said that more of the girls could have escaped, but they were frightened by their captors' threats to shoot them. She also said, “Now I cry each time I come across their parents and see how they weep when they see me”.

The teenager said that the thought of going back to school, as my colleague pointed out, either the burned out ruins of her own school or any other school, was terrifying.

What does my hon. colleague think Canada should do to help protect children from violence, restore faith in Nigeria's local security system, and protect the rights of girls to education?

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:10 p.m.

NDP

Tyrone Benskin NDP Jeanne-Le Ber, QC

Mr. Speaker, that is a tall order for a young guy like me, but I will start with the last question first.

Over the years, we have developed an expertise in dealing with young children who have gone through abusive situations in our own country. We have developed the expertise to deal with the psychological wounds that this type of experience inflicts. We can lend that expertise.

Yes, we have to tailor it and ensure that it balances with the community and the culture itself, but there is learning that can be done right across the board in how the community welcomes back those young girls and how those young girls can begin to look at themselves again, not feel things like survivor guilt or that they themselves have done something wrong, and get to a point where they are not afraid anymore to go to school.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:15 p.m.

Newmarket—Aurora Ontario

Conservative

Lois Brown ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is one of the members of the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association executive. We have had some visits to countries in Africa. We have visited some of the schools that are in need of assistance.

Canada was one of the contributors to the global partnership for education fund. We put forward $45 million in the last replenishment conference. I know that this money has helped put 19 million children in school. It has helped build some 300,000 classrooms.

One of the problems we have seen, though, is in capacity building for teachers. I wonder if my colleague has any thoughts on how Canada might help with that capacity building that is so urgently needed in instruction.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:15 p.m.

NDP

Tyrone Benskin NDP Jeanne-Le Ber, QC

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. friend for the question and also for her participation in Canada-Africa. As she said, we have made a number of trips together as part of a delegation to the continent.

I will answer using the raison d'être of Canada-Africa. It is to begin to develop discussions on the parliamentary level. As our chairperson says very often, we have a connection leader to leader, executive to executive, and we have the connections of NGO to NGO. However, that middle connection, that decision-making connection, parliamentarian to parliamentarian, is missing.

I think the member will agree that one of the things we have found that many countries have in common is best practices we could share on how to set up the education system and protect it, especially in areas where young girls are at risk. How can we set up a system where that money goes not only to educating but to making sure that those who are being educated, those who choose to be educated, are protected?

I think Canada can help by sharing best practices, along with the funding we give.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:15 p.m.

Liberal

Irwin Cotler Liberal Mount Royal, QC

Mr. Speaker, I rise to join with my colleagues this evening with a profound sense of concern, a profound sense of shared feeling with the victims of Boko Haram, and a sense of apprehension because of the history of Boko Haram, a group that has emerged as a prototype of hostis humani generis, of enemies of humanity and of the litany and pattern of its atrocity crimes.

And so, I join my fellow parliamentarians from all sides of the House, not only in condemning the Boko Haram kidnapping of 300 schoolgirls and its threat to sell them into slavery and acts of forced conversion, but to express our solidarity with the people of Nigeria, with those affected by this act, and extend our sympathies to the families who seek nothing more than the return of their loved ones safe and sound.

Let there be no mistake about it. This is not the first criminal assault by Boko Haram and unless we effectively combat its criminality, its crimes against humanity, this terror will not end and this will not be its last terrorist assault.

I note that yesterday was Mother's Day, a time to celebrate and reflect upon the contribution of women in all our lives. I cannot help but feel terribly saddened to think of the mothers and fathers of these abducted women and those who were killed or harmed in earlier assaults by this same Boko Haram cruelty. I cannot help but feel saddened to think of what these families must be thinking in this moment of despair. Indeed, we must think not only of the schoolgirls, but of their families and their communities, and even other schoolgirls who, because of this, may be even more afraid to attend school and receive an education.

As my colleague, the member for Etobicoke North, said it so eloquently this evening in her compelling remarks, “Enough is enough, these abductions must stop”.

As she put it and reminded us, let us not forget that Nigeria has 10 million schoolchildren who are out of school, more than any other country in Africa, more than any other country in the world, a backdrop to that which we are discussing this evening.

Indeed, it is important to stress that those kidnapped were young girls. Boko Haram, whose name means roughly, and it has been mentioned this evening, “western education is a sin”, is really a manifestation of its extremist Islamist ideology. I concur with my colleague, the member for Jeanne-Le Ber, as he put it, this is not an expression of Islam; it is in fact a repudiation of it.

I was pleased to note Muslim leaders have spoken out in repudiation of the Boko Haram because this is a group that thrives on the marginalization, on the exclusion, on the oppression of young women and girls.

As Nicholas Kristof put it recently in the New York Times:

Why are fanatics so terrified of girls’ education? Because there’s no force more powerful to transform a society. The greatest threat to extremism isn’t drones firing missiles, but girls reading books.

That is why we must seek to empower women and girls to provide them the knowledge, the skills, the resources, and the protection which they need to succeed and to fight back against oppression, against punitive patriarchy, against early forced marriage, against enslavement and sexual violence, against forced conversion, against all these manifestations of terrorism that have been visited upon them, and to make their own choices without fear.

Canada's most recent honorary citizen, Malala Yousafzai, who has been quoted this evening, and appropriately so, and I will quote her again, supports that which has been said by my colleague. As she put it:

Education is education. We should learn everything and then choose which path to follow.

Education is neither Eastern nor Western, it is human.

As should be evident, empowering women and girls is a question of fundamental human rights, of the promotion and protection of human dignity, in the most profound sense of the word. As I have often said in this House, but it does bear repeating again, women's rights are human rights, and there are no human rights which do not include the rights of women.

We must see the fight for women's rights as the fight for the rights of us all, beginning with the most vulnerable of the vulnerable, defenceless children abducted from what should have been a protected space, a school dorm, and regrettably with an attendant sense of impunity, nurtured by the inaction of both the Nigerian government and the indifference of the international community. This did not just begin now. It has been going on for years, and the tormented have only their victimization to bear witness.

This sentiment about the importance of promoting the dignity and the well-being of young girls and women was echoed by the First Lady Michelle Obama, who this week declared:

These girls embody the best hope for the future of our world...and we are committed to standing up for them not just in times of tragedy or crisis, but for the long haul.

We are committed to giving them the opportunities they deserve to fulfill every last bit of their God-given potential.

I emphasize her words “for the long haul”. It is a tragedy and shame that far too often for women and girls that inherent God-given potential is stifled, and far too often by lack of access to education.

As Malala Yousafzai writes so movingly in her book I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban:

Let us pick up our books and our pens.... They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. [...]

To sit down on a chair and read my books with all my friends at school is my right. To see each and every human being with a smile of happiness is my wish.

I do not wish to recount the terrifying details of this terrorist act of kidnapping that forms the subject of tonight's debate, as I believe colleagues have recounted the situation in detail and have expressed quite eloquently the need for action. Indeed, it was the absence of action, and this bears mentioning again, the absence of outrage, not just at this latest Boko Haram profanity, but at the earlier assaults and profanity, over all of these years, which has nurtured an attendant sense of impunity that led to the pattern of criminality.

My colleague from Ottawa—Vanier has contrasted the sustained preoccupation of the international community with the missing Malaysian airline. We need and still need to be concerned by what happened, but there has been sustained CNN 24/7 preoccupation, to the exclusion of everything else, including the exclusion of what has been happening through the assault by Boko Haram, whose atrocities have gone unaddressed, let alone unredressed.

As I prepared my remarks today, the latest development indicated that the leader of the Boko Haram terrorists announced that he would release more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by his forces in exchange for prisoners held by the Nigerian authorities.

It is this issue I wish to address by recounting a story I have yet to tell in the Commons these 14 years that I have been here, though I wrote about it earlier this year. It is the story of my niece, Hagit Zabitsky.

I like to remember Hagit as a thoughtful 22-year-old, both shy and introspective. Born in Jerusalem into a family of five children, she travelled abroad and spent the 1996-1997 winter with my family in Montreal. We had many conversations that winter, including conversations about her future plans when she would return home in the spring of 1997. She planned to attend university, study humanities, work with the disadvantaged, and eventually become an artist reflective of her artistic sensibility. Tragically, she never had the chance.

Hagit lived in Kafr Adumim, a community in the Judean desert outside Jerusalem. A nature lover, Hagit loved to hike and explore nature in the Judean hills outside her backyard. She was hiking with a friend in the hills when she was abducted and bludgeoned to death. As was later established, her attacker was a terrorist who set out to kill a Jew, any Jew. My niece was not personally targeted; she was simply a Jew on the nature trail. Today there is an annual hike in Hagit's memory, where friends and family gather by a plaque in her honour not far from her home.

I am remembering this because I could not help but think of Hagit and her family when I thought about the abducted Nigerian girls. I think not only of the suffering of these young Nigerian girls but how they may be forever changed, and their families transformed as well. I think of how my family would have done anything to have Hagit return safe and sound if only they could have had that chance. The murderer of my niece is now in jail, but that does not bring her back. It does not stop the suffering that the family endures to this day. Indeed, my family tells me that they remain fearful that her killer may yet be released as part of a terrorist prisoner release to further Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

There is a certain universality of terrorism in its murderous assault, as in the terrorist Boko Haram killing and enslaving of these young girls or in its murderous slaughter of innocents over the years or in the many innocents killed and injured and lives destroyed, in the pain of victims and their families, in the impact on their communities and beyond.

Again, and let there be no mistake about it, Boko Haram views these young girls, those that they have abducted and others, as prospective sex slaves, as human beings to be trafficked as if they were cattle to be bartered, as recruits for child soldiers, the whole as yet another link in the chain of assaults on young women, be it through early forced marriage or violence against women in conflict zones.

Once one is touched by this kind of assault, it is impossible to return to normal. As one of the escaped Nigerian girls told CNN, while her school remains closed after the attack, even if it were open, she would not go back. The fear is too great.

We are reminded, as I said earlier when quoting my colleague, that there are 10 million young Nigerians out of school. Fear is there among the targeted and their families and, as we know, people on every continent can be targeted simply for their gender, race, religion, beliefs, and the like. Indeed, as in the case of the abducted young Nigerian girls, they were targeted simply for being who they were.

There is, of course—and one must never forget this—the counter to fear, namely courage. Here I think of the heroic young escapees who fled their abductors to be reunited with their families and who, as we meet this evening, have been bearing witness to these calumnies. I know I speak for everyone in the House when I say we hope that all these schoolgirls will have the same chance to reunite with their families, to live and attend school in peace, to be free from any violence or threat of violence.

All this leads to the question of combatting terrorism, of protecting women and children, and what can and ought to be done.

Let me be clear on this. I view the acts of which we are speaking today as acts of terrorism, as patterned acts of terrorism over a period of time. They are acts of wanton terrorist criminality designed to intimidate those girls who seek an education in addition to afflicting harm upon those abducted. However, that does not mean that our addressing the situation must come only in the ways that one typically, albeit necessarily, associates with the combatting of terrorism rather than through a more comprehensive and inclusive set of principles and policies.

As Nicholas Kristof put it recently in the The New York Times:

To fight militancy, we invest overwhelmingly in the military toolbox but not so much in the education toolbox that has a far better record at defeating militancy.

He goes on:

Educating girls and empowering women are also tasks that are, by global standards, relatively doable. We spend billions of dollars on intelligence collection, counterterrorism and military interventions, even though they have quite a mixed record. By comparison, educating girls is an underfunded cause even though it's more straightforward.

As well, it would reap untold benefits.

This must be our lessons learned, our action to be taken. While we hope and pray these young women are returned, we must redouble our commitment to the protection and education of women and girls regardless. We must seek a principled foreign policy that will ensure that aid goes toward programs and initiatives that seek to empower women and provide them with the knowledge and skills they need for life. We must help in the development of the rule of law in civil society abroad, in countries such as Nigeria, to help others benefit from Canadian expertise and experience in these matters while at the same time furthering the cause of human rights for all. We must continue to combat early and forced marriages, trafficking in persons, and sexual violence in armed conflict, as has been mentioned this evening.

We must always appreciate that with respect to developing a principled set of policies, there are three foundational principles and policies we must bear in mind.

First, we must reaffirm the responsibility to protect principle, which, regrettably, the government from time to time neglects or marginalizes, though it is our international admission card in the family of nations. That is because what this principle, unanimously adopted by 192 nations in 2005, says simply but clearly is that if there is ever a situation of war crimes or crimes against humanity or ethnic cleansing or, God forbid, genocide in any country, and that country is unable or unwilling to do anything about it, then there is a responsibility on the part of the international community to protect.

That does not mean military intervention. It means a whole range of protective initiatives that can be taken. Reference has been made to them this evening. There was reference to an investment in the Global Fund for Education, to humanitarian assistance, to empowering young women and girls with the necessary resources and making sure that education is the crucial bedrock for what we do in that regard.

Second, we must make the protection of the vulnerable and the protection of children a priority. I have often quoted in the House that my daughter taught me the most important lesson I have ever learned. It is that if we want to know how to protect children and protect human rights, we should always ask ourselves at any time, in any situation, in any part of the world, such as what is happening in Nigeria, “Is it good for children?” That should inform our foreign policy, just as the protection of women must inform our foreign policy.

Therefore, as I draw to a close, I would like to quote a passage from the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in the Suresh case, which I quote as follows:

One the one hand stands the manifest evil of terrorism and the random and arbitrary taking of innocent lives, rippling out in an ever-widening spiral of loss and fear. Governments, expressing the will of the governed, need the legal tools to effectively meet this challenge.

The court goes on to talk about the importance of that, and I will not cite it, for reasons of time.

I will close on this point. We have to see terrorism as being fundamentally an assault on the security of democracies like Canada or Nigeria and a fundamental assault, as we have seen with regard to the young girls, on the right to the life, liberty, and security of their inhabitants.

Therefore, anti-terrorism law and policy is the promotion and protection of the security of a democracy and of the human rights of its inhabitants in the most foundational sense, but always in accordance with the rule of law--

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

Order. Questions and comments. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:40 p.m.

Newmarket—Aurora Ontario

Conservative

Lois Brown ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development

Mr. Speaker, our thoughts and prayers go out to my colleague's family on their loss. I cannot imagine how they are reconciling all their feelings about what has happened in their family. My colleague understands that deep pain and must sympathize with the families of these missing girls.

Nigeria has enormous potential. In my comments, I referred to its GDP of $510 billion. It has enormous resources, yet that country is not investing in its own youth.

My colleague from Ottawa—Vanier talked about the tremendous disparity we saw in Abuja between rich and poor. We saw the palatial homes in Abuja, yet right outside the city was poverty at its worst.

My colleague has invested much of his life in education. I wonder if he has any thoughts on how Canada might work with the Nigerian government to help that country establish an education system for the future that would give its young people hope and opportunity.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:40 p.m.

Liberal

Irwin Cotler Liberal Mount Royal, QC

Mr. Speaker, we have had a number of take-note debates in the House. Very recently we had a take-note debate on South Sudan. We had a take-note debate on the Central African Republic. We have been dominated by lessons on the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. There are other countries we have not mentioned that bear involvement, such as Eritrea and Ethiopia and the like.

I mention this because there are two things about Africa. One is the enormous potential that resides in the people. Having been in Africa, I have witnessed the enormous sense of resilience and commitment and hope of the people. On the other hand, they have too often been victimized by their governments. We therefore have to make the question of Africa a priority in our foreign policy as a whole. We have to make within that policy the question of education in Africa a fundamental tenet of our foreign policy. We have to make the responsibility to protect it in all its configurations, including global investment in education, a priority as a matter of principle and policy.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:40 p.m.

NDP

Djaouida Sellah NDP Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC

Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech. I always enjoy listening to him speak because we always get a sense of his humanism.

I must say that I am very pleased that we are having this debate in the House, at our request. We know that the entire international community is rallying to find these hundreds of innocent young girls who were taken away by this terrorist group. Even though the group claims to be Islamist, I can tell you that this goes against the teachings of Islam. This group is becoming an international public enemy. We know that the group is trying to destabilize an already fragile country. It is also undermining societal life and an entire region.

Does my colleague think that it would be appropriate to ask the government to sign and ratify the UN arms trade treaty in order to prevent light weapons from fuelling armed conflicts, like the one currently taking place in northern Nigeria?

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:40 p.m.

Liberal

Irwin Cotler Liberal Mount Royal, QC

Mr. Speaker, I would like commend the NDP for this initiative that has given us the opportunity to have this debate this evening. My colleague from Etobicoke North also lobbied for this debate.

As far as the treaty is concerned, I want to reiterate that it must be ratified.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:45 p.m.

Liberal

Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague and friend. It is a privilege to listen to him every time he speaks in the House. He is world renowned in human rights and I want to say my profound condolences to his family.

Last fall, the government condemned the practice in certain countries of forcing young girls into marriage long before they are mentally, physically, and emotionally prepared to carry a child. I am wondering whether we should be having a discussion at the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. Should the government mobilize partnerships with the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, and women's groups? Should it take a leadership position and back up its words with investment and make an aid commitment? Should there be complementary investments in girls' education? I would like to hear what else the member would recommend.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:45 p.m.

Liberal

Irwin Cotler Liberal Mount Royal, QC

Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my appreciation to my colleague and others from other parties who have expressed their condolences regarding my niece. I never spoke about this in the close to 15 years I have been here. It was the events in Nigeria that somehow brought back the recall this evening.

To the question from my colleague, I believe that we need to engage in this at the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. We are engaged in this somewhat at the Foreign Affairs subcommittee. I happened to attend the United Nations when the Conservative government was dealing, among other things, with the issue of forced marriage and there was an important debate in that regard that was actually chaired by Canada at the United Nations session.

We need to bring together all the resources, domestic and international. Whether it be at parliamentary committees such as the Status of Women or the Foreign Affairs subcommittee, or whether it be within the international arena, this must be a priority in our domestic and foreign policy: the promotion and protection of the human dignity, the safety, and the security of young girls and women.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:45 p.m.

NDP

Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to pass on my thoughts to my colleague who shared with us a very deep personal story. I thank him for bringing that to the debate because it is personal stories and individual situations that really compel people to speak out and to be heard. I thank him for sharing that with us because I know that probably is not an easy thing to do.

On the R2P file, many countries have appointed focal points. We have seen the centre for R2P out of the United States pushing this. It might be a way to help coordinate these issues. Clearly it did not prevent what happened in Nigeria, but getting to the idea of preventing these things from happening again and the whole idea that the member has put on the floor of an R2P approach that one thing Canada could very practically do is to appoint a focal point on that issue in particular, the responsibility to protect.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

May 12th, 2014 / 11:45 p.m.

Liberal

Irwin Cotler Liberal Mount Royal, QC

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I believe we do need a focal point. I would like to recommend that it be an all-party focal point. We do not have differences on this issue. It is not a partisan matter. I would also like to recommend that within that framework that we establish, as the United States has done, an atrocities prevention board that can be an inter-agency framework in that regard, and that we make the question the prevention of mass atrocities. I want to thank my colleague for introducing the motion. We just had a national day of commemoration with respect to remembrance and action in the matter of mass atrocities. We can do no worse and we can do all that needs to be done to begin with if we establish that focal point and if we establish in conjunction with it a mass atrocities prevention board and if we make R2P in all its configurations a priority in our foreign policy.

Kidnapping of Girls in NigeriaEmergency Debate

11:45 p.m.

NDP

Anne-Marie Day NDP Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC

Mr. Speaker, first of all, my thoughts are with the parents of the young girls who have been kidnapped. If they can listen to us through the Internet, they should know that we hope their daughters will be returned to them and that we fully share their sorrow.

I also cannot imagine the situation of these young women who were used to living in their village or city surrounded by their families and friends and who are now held by terrorists. Perhaps these girls were studying. I believe that they were in high school. I cannot imagine what they are going through, lost in a new environment that must seem strange and surreal. It must be a never-ending nightmare for them.

We are here, very far from Nigeria, and our reality is very different than theirs. Here, most of our girls go to university, if they want to, and can study without fear of being kidnapped or murdered. There have been some unfortunate events in our history. Nevertheless, that is nothing compared to what is happening in that country right now.

The education of a people, especially girls, is of the utmost importance. Next summer, at the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, which includes many African nations, we are going to study the education of young women and girls in primary, middle and secondary school. Our study will look at whether the global situation is stable or taking steps backwards.

Education is essential for both men and women so that they learn to take action and to respect the opposite sex as human beings with equal rights. We have the right to live and to be born, no matter our sex, colour, language or religion, and we all have the right to take our place in society. However, we are very far from that.

Nigeria committed to educating Nigerian girls. We can certainly help the country with this plan, but the current situation is more than urgent. More than anything, we need to help find these girls. We can talk about education, but in this crisis, 276 young women were kidnapped or went missing. They could be sacrificed or sold, in some way or another, into the sex trade for prostitution or marriage, without any consideration for their right to live, to be happy, to grow up and to be mothers in a normal situation. We need to help them help themselves, but we also need to support the parents of these girls.

I thank the member for Ottawa Centre for proposing this emergency debate and I thank Parliament for agreeing to hold it. New Democrats, like all Canadians, are appalled and horrified by the abduction of these young girls in northern Nigeria.

On April 14, one month ago already, 276 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped. Their parents have been without their daughters and these young women have been away from their families for one month. They were kidnapped in a community in Borno. The Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram took responsibility for the attack—which is nothing remarkable or honourable for this group—in which these young Christian and Muslim girls were kidnapped.

In a statement made last week, the group's leader said that the girls would be sold on the market. Some were allegedly kidnapped to be sold into marriage to militants.

How can these terrorists do such things to young women who have absolutely nothing to do with the political situation the terrorists have put them in? What further crime against humanity has just been committed?

The UN Security Council just passed a resolution reiterating its commitment to involving women in peace-building efforts.

What is Canada doing to promote gender equality as it works with the Nigerian government to build a future that is free from terrorism and conflict?

Perhaps some hon. members have read historical novels about the Sabine women who were kidnapped by Romulus, one of the founders of Rome, and his followers. The women were to become their wives and help populate Rome. Unfortunately, history is repeating itself. Sometimes it seems that humanity has not evolved at all.

The Nigerian government has specifically asked for Canada's help in ensuring that the girls are safely returned to their families. The Canadian government has offered technical equipment and support personnel.

This is yet another crime against women. We keep asking the Conservatives to sign and ratify the UN arms trade treaty in order to prevent small arms and light weapons from fuelling armed conflicts like the one currently taking place in northern Nigeria.

The United Nations celebrated the first anniversary of the arms trade treaty, which was adopted last year by the United Nations General Assembly and which Canada has yet to sign and ratify, for fear of upsetting gun enthusiasts.

The objective of the arms trade treaty is to establish the highest possible common international standards for regulating or improving the regulation of the international trade in conventional arms. It is also meant to prevent and eradicate the illicit trade in conventional arms and prevent their diversion.

On May 7, the United States announced that it was sending a dozen members of the military to Nigeria as part of the Americans' efforts to find these girls kidnapped by the extremist Islamist group Boko Haram.

The United Kingdom is sending a senior officer and advisors who will join liaison officers from the British special forces already based in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. France has sent 3,000 soldiers to the neighbouring region of the Sahel to carry out anti-terrorism activities. China has offered surveillance and intelligence support. Spain has also offered the assistance of a specialized police team.

What people are saying is that enough is enough. The international community is taking action because we do not want to see such gratuitous actions taken against innocent people. We are sick of all the violence that is once again being perpetrated against women and girls.

The march in Lagos was organized by Nigerian women—some of them the mothers of those girls—who declared:

We women will not give up on this movement. We will continue to deliver our message and put pressure on military and political authorities to do everything in their power to free these girls.

Since their rally in front of the national assembly in Abuja on Wednesday, dozens of women have organized daily four-hour sit-ins in front of the Unity Fountain in Abuja. They have said:

We feel that there has been little or no effort so far on the part of the military or the government to save the abducted girls, who are somewhere in a remote forest.

As I said, some of these women are the mothers of these girls.

Canadians want this crime to be condemned. The government has already come forward to condemn it. That is good, and we are satisfied. Now we want faster action to force the Nigerian government to do more to find these women.