Mr. Speaker, I want to ask a question of the hon. member for Scarborough-Rouge River. I also want to ask the same question of my colleague from the Bloc Quebecois. It is with regard to what is taught in school regarding the history of genocide and the holocaust.
Before I do that, I want to make a statement. Since 1965, or 31 years, I have been involved with this issue. This is the first time we have had seven hours debate and the word "alleged" has not been used. I give credit to this House and members of Parliament for not using the word "alleged" in the discussions we have had so for.
I want to make the point that nobody has ever denied the fact that 1.5 million innocent people perished in 1915 during the first world war as the first genocide of the century.
I am quite sure that Armenians in this country and all over the world are prepared to do as the Jewish people did after the holocaust. Once this issue is addressed by the Turkish government they are prepared to forgive what happened but never to forget what happened. Once you forget it will be repeated again. I hope this debate will focus attention on the fact that the victims these days are prepared to forgive if they are asked but they will not forget. Once we forget we repeat it again in the future.
I go back to the first point I made. Would the hon. member encourage including the subject of genocide, or crimes against humanity, or however it is described, a tragic event, massacres, as part of the school curriculum so the younger generations can be taught in the high schools what happened? Awareness is the key. Once they are aware of what happened in history hopefully they will not repeat it because that is where the problem is. Once it happens it repeats itself over and over again.