Thanks very much for having me at this committee. I appreciate your testimony.
Regina's St. James Anglican Church is in the middle of my riding, and it has been involved in sponsoring two families of Iraqi Christian refugees. I've attended some fundraisers in support of that project, so I have met Christians who speak Arabic and I appreciated the point that you made.
I should perhaps clarify that the congregation was quite open to sponsoring refugees of any faith, but the initial family was Christian, and I think that family played a role in identifying another related family to bring over.
On this theme of the persecution of Christians, I did want to just touch on the Open Doors World Watch List. The top violators of the religious freedom of Christians seem to be countries that have dictatorial governments and a history of conflict.
Could you speak a little bit about the relationship between conflict and religious persecution?