Good evening, colleagues and Mr. Chair.
I just want to take a moment and thank you, also, Mr. Clark, for your sacrifice to serve our country, and just for being here as a valuable witness to all of us on this important study.
While we are here in committee we just need to acknowledge that there is a war taking place on the other side of the world. President Putin's war in Ukraine is a war on freedom, on democracy and on the rights of Ukrainians and all people. We continue to stand with Ukraine, its people and the Ukrainian Canadian community here in Canada.
Mr. Clark, I agree with your opening remarks. As a society and as an individual we all have a responsibility to protect the sanctity of memorials and to preserve the memory of the fallen. The reason this motion was put forward was so that we do our part as a committee so that the disrespectful behaviour is not repeated.
Mr. Clark, can you describe what you feel when our memorials and monuments are desecrated, and particularly the ones in the most recent example that you saw last month?