Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to take an opportunity in this round first to thank Mr. Bergeron for raising this issue as an important issue to deal with and also to make it very clear that the Liberal caucus members of this committee support doing this study. It's very important for us.
The nature of the study is to understand the humanitarian issues and perhaps crisis—I'm not prejudging anything—that is taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh at the present time and the plight of the people of that region. That is our goal today: to understand the nature of the humanitarian situation, to understand the nature of the blockade and to understand, on the ground, what is going on. That is the nature of what we're trying to do.
We recognize that it is within a long, protracted conflict that has gone on for a few decades and has gone through different periods of war, including most recently two and a half years ago. We recognize that it is an ongoing situation, and Canada supports a comprehensive negotiated political solution to that conflict over that disputed territory between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We want peace. That's our first goal.
We also are a country of the rule of law, and we follow an international rules-based order. As such, when it's clearly stated that Canada supports all UN Security Council resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh, I very much want to reiterate that Canada respects Azerbaijan's territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and its sovereignty. I recognize that some of our witnesses will not agree with that, but Canada's position is that we have accepted and we agree with the UN's resolutions on the situation, and we understand the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and its sovereignty. As such, Canada does not recognize other entities within those borders as a political entity. It shares that position with every other member state of the United Nations.
At the same time, we want peace. At the same time, we want to promote the non-use of force, territorial integrity and self-determination in resolving the conflict through a negotiated political solution. We want a continuation of dialogue outside this current humanitarian issue that we are studying today. We want all parties to continue to engage in meaningful dialogue and to have a positive constructive engagement over the process. That may happen through the OSCE process. It may happen through a Russian process. We are pleased to see that conversations are taking place between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, and Armenia and other countries, as a way ahead.
I wanted to get that on the record. Today we are dealing with a crisis that is real. We have been hearing enough evidence. We are trying to dig down more deeply to understand the exact nature of that, the options for it, the causes behind it, what is happening on that road, what supplies are getting through and what supplies are not getting through. Those could be food supplies, medical supplies, transport of ill people back to Armenia, and the electricity and power that may be coming through the corridor or other opportunities for power to get to the people.
With that being said.... I'm taking the bulk of my time to make that statement. I don't usually like doing those statements because this is question time. However, I do want to make sure that—even though they will probably disagree with me—the witnesses have a chance to respond to my statement.