Mr. Chair, I'll start by apologizing to the translators.
As Ms. Dancho correctly points out, this is an exceedingly emotional time. Again, I apologize for speaking loudly, not with the emotion, but for the loudness—absolutely.
That being said, I find it absolutely appalling that we're going to sit here in this committee today and talk about the he-said-she-said when we could actually solve this issue.
We can talk about whether Ms. Damoff thinks somebody said this, or Ms. Dancho said that somebody said this, or I think somebody said this, or heaven forbid, Mr. Chair, you think somebody said this.
We can have them here. There's a simple solution. They can come in front of this committee and they can explain themselves. It's as simple as that.
I call on my colleagues across the aisle—I understand that some of them have experience in the police force—to understand the importance of not hearing what they wrote in a public statement or what they said to the media, or even reading the transcripts. Let's have them here. I was a family doctor for 26 years. Do we have people write in their concerns to me? No. What do we do? We sit down in front of people. We actually sit with them and we talk to them.
My good colleague here was a police officer for many years. What do they do? They interview people. They don't have them write their statements and think “I wonder what he meant there.”
My good colleague across the aisle is another former police officer. It's the same thing. They actually have people sit in front of them. They don't get to hide. You don't get to say whatever you want to the media and go on and on and on. When new evidence comes, you reinterview people. It's as simple as that.
For my colleagues across the aisle to scoff at the idea that we don't have the time in Parliament to help atone for the misery that 22 lives were taken and an unborn baby—that we don't have the time to do that—is unconscionable. There's no other word for it. It's unconscionable. It behooves us as parliamentarians...that's why we're here.
I can't even believe that we have to have a debate about this, that my colleagues across the aisle suggest they are going to vote down having these two witnesses back again. Am I living in an altered universe that we don't have time for these families?
I'm beyond words, Mr. Chair. I have no other words, other than to implore my colleagues that they need to have due process here. Have these witnesses back, have them questioned once again for what they said, what the transcripts show and what others said. Have them have their say.