Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to speak on this very special day on a special bill which will produce an act to implement the convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and on their destruction.
The bill relates to the implementation of Canada's obligations under the international treaty on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and on their destruction. This binds Canada to co-operate in a number of ways so as to facilitate the implementation of the treaty and to ensure that persons refrain from engaging in activities prohibited under the treaty.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to split my time with the hon. member for Kitchener—Waterloo.
Each nation under the treaty undertakes to destroy or ensure the destruction of all stockpiled anti-personnel mines it owns or possesses or that are under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible but no later than four years after entry into force of the treaty.
This is the act which is a necessary step to allow us to lead the world in signing a treaty which will ban land mines worldwide.
Once again in the tradition of Mike Pearson in this House, Canada is leading the world in true peacekeeping. It has been a long road to get to this point and there is still a way to go. But today I must confess I am much more optimistic than I was only a couple of years ago. I am not a pessimistic person by nature. I know there is a more or less effective world ban on chemical and biological weapons but my hopes for a land mines ban were not high only a couple of years ago.
As recently as April 1996 as a part of Canada's delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union which was led by Senator Peter Bosa, we were unable to have this issue accepted as the principal agenda item, although we were able to speak to it and move it up for future agendas of IPU meetings.
In that same year I recall a meeting on Parliament Hill sponsored by Mines Action Canada, the Canadian Red Cross and Bruce Coburn, under the auspices of the member for Brant, now Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs. Despite Bruce Coburn's presence, attendance was sparse. In my pessimism I underestimated the influence of the grassroots here in Canada and around the world.
Ever since I was elected, I have received a steady flow of calls and letters about land mines. Whenever I visit schools, high schools or elementary, I get questions about land mines. Various groups in Peterborough have taken a continuing interest in this matter. Only yesterday in church, people were discussing the massive task of demining which is still ahead of us. For example, one person suggested planting trees as areas are cleared of mines. The grassroots interest has been there and is still there.
This groundswell of interest was Peterborough's share of what our Minister of Foreign Affairs described in his speech in the conference in Oslo. He described the worldwide interest among ordinary people as “a coalition of civil society and committed governments coalescing around the movement to ban anti-personnel land mines, a coalition that has had the power to change the dynamics and direction of the international agenda”.
In that same speech our Minister of Foreign Affairs paid special attention to the role of non-governmental organizations, NGOs, in the process. I have mentioned Mines Action Canada and our own Red Cross. He mentioned as examples the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines and the international committee of the Red Cross. He went on to say, and again I quote from the speech in Oslo: “Clearly, now no one can relegate NGOs back to a simple advisory or advocacy role in this process. They are now part of the way decisions have to be made. They have been the voice saying that governments belong to the people and must respond to the people's hopes, demands and ideals”.
This is a change in itself, a recognition of the proper relationship between people and their governments. The role of the people and their NGOs is an ongoing one in this land mines ban. It does not stop here. Again, I quote the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Oslo: “There is a question of the watch dog role for civil society”—that is to say the grassroots—“in evaluating the compliance of states to the obligations they have signed. Canada, the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, and the international committee of the Red Cross and several of our core partners have consistently argued that a humanitarian treaty without traditional forms of arms control verification can be an effective response to the anti-personnel mines crisis. This implies that civil society”—the grassroots—“can and will play an effective role in deterring and detecting wilful non-compliance”.
This change in people to government relationships goes even beyond this important anti-mines treaty. In my view, it gives us hope for moving the nations of the world toward lasting peace.
My last quotation from the speech of our Minister of Foreign Affairs in Oslo is that we need to ask ourselves whether we can maintain and build upon the close and constructive working relationship that has developed between governments and civil society through the Ottawa process, this process of producing this treaty which we are proud to call the Ottawa process.
He goes on and asks whether we can maintain and build upon the incredible sense of political momentum that this unique relationship helped to create, offering hope to millions that an integrated and effective international response to the global land mines crisis is years and not decades away.
Can we demonstrate that the Ottawa process offers an effective lasting model as a response to the changing nature of international conflict?
I would say that the only answer to all of those questions is yes, we can and must build on this wonderful example of grassroots action.
In conclusion, like my colleagues and all members of the House, I congratulate and sincerely thank all those who have brought us to this day. I pledge my support for this bill, for the treaty and for all the follow-up activity that is required.