Yes.
Evidence of meeting #28 for Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was daesh.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #28 for Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was daesh.
A video is available from Parliament.
1:50 p.m.
Director, Gulf States Relations Division, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
The answer is quite simple: we don't. We collaborate with the Iraqi government.
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Excellent.
I have about 30 seconds left, and I just want to ask about this discussion about the definition of genocide. I know we had a sort of back and forth in the House and questions about it.
Does the department have its own objective definition of genocide which you can then use to advise the minister, that, yes, this is genocide based on the facts, and this isn't, or is it a political decision ultimately whether or not to call a thing genocide?
1:50 p.m.
Director, Gulf States Relations Division, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
No, the convention on genocide has a definition that is clear, which is the one that we use.
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Thank you very much, Chair.
I thank you both for being here today.
My first question is this. Is Canada engaged in negotiations to prepare for a post-Daesh? For example, if we look at a neighbouring country to the west, Lebanon, we see it has a governmental system where the president is a Maronite Christian, the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim, and then the speaker is a Shia Muslim.
What I'm trying to get at is, if we see a post-Daesh, do we see Canada helping to work to stabilize the region with a stable government? For Lebanon, it's a government that's stable right now, but it's very fragile.
My question is, post-Daesh, is Canada engaging with the international community to have a stable central government?
1:50 p.m.
Director, Gulf States Relations Division, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
The current government in Iraq started its mandate just before Daesh started to take over some of the territories in the north in spring 2014. It's been, if not stable, remarkably resilient, given the situation it's facing with a financial crisis, a major security crisis, as we know, with an insurgency, and a difficult situation with respect to sectarian tensions. The current government's mandate is normally until 2018, so there will be elections somewhere in that time frame.
In terms of preparing for a more stable government, I think, certainly, we're considering governance programming. I explained a little of what was already happening in terms of support to a decentralization.
You made the comparison with Lebanon, and I think it's important to say that we have something a bit similar in Iraq, where the president traditionally is Kurdish, the prime minister is traditionally Shia, and the speaker of the House is traditionally Sunni, but that does not necessarily foster stability.
1:55 p.m.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Yes, and that's what I'm trying to say. Can we move away from those distinctions?
1:55 p.m.
Director, Gulf States Relations Division, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
The answer is not necessarily with us. There will have to be some political reconciliation within the community so that all politicians, especially at the highest levels, represent the whole country and not necessarily just their communities.
I would not say that at the moment the people at the top in the countries are only representing their constituencies, but certainly they're vulnerable to pressure from these communities. What can Canada do? Canada can support with our programming, but at the end of the day, the solution is political, and it will have to be Iraqi-led.
1:55 p.m.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
In the meantime, right now, is Canada helping to develop any kinds of safe zones for ethnic minorities?
1:55 p.m.
Director, Gulf States Relations Division, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Not at the moment, but we are aware of the statements that were made by Chancellor Merkel to that effect.
The idea of safe zones can take different meanings. I think the way it's understood in the context of Iraq is territory that would be governed where security would be controlled by a specific group. It certainly raises several questions, including duties, and safe zones become more vulnerable to attacks from people who would want to specifically target those communities.
We're reached out, through our embassy in Berlin, to Germany to hear more about their ideas and find out if they have any specific plans on this, but so far we haven't heard anything.
1:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
We're right on time. That brings us to the end of our time for this afternoon. Once again, I want to thank Ms. Lamoureux and Ms. Natale for coming in and really getting the ball rolling on what's going to be an important and insightful study over the next number of weeks. Thank you to you both.
1:55 p.m.
Director, Gulf States Relations Division, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Thank you.