Mr. Speaker, I would like to split my time with my hon. colleague from Scarborough Centre.
A lot of the members today came here with prepared speeches. A lot of the members came here today pretending that they know the history of Bosnia. Well, to my hon. colleagues who pretend that they know the history of Bosnia, to my hon. colleagues who have travelled to Yugoslavia and to Kosovo and who say they know the Balkan history, I say to them that they have another think coming.
That part of the world has been in turmoil not for the last 50 years and not for the last 100 years, but we should say for the last millennium. Since history has been recorded, that part of the world has had atrocities done on both sides by all kinds of people. The atrocities happening there have been by both sides. It is not something new.
I can quote text and verse from 50 years ago, from 100 years ago, from 200 years ago, the history of what has happened in that part of the world. It was the Ottoman empire. Before that there was the Byzantine empire. Before that was the Roman empire.
For my hon. colleagues who say that they know about Balkan history because they have visited Bosnia, I say go read the history and do not be ignorant.
I want to share a couple of e-mails I received from people who are in the midst of this turmoil.
A lady from Kitchener wrote “If we, Canada, send in ground troops to attack Yugoslavia, does that mean we are going to declare war on Yugoslavia? If yes, are the Canadian born Serbs and Serb immigrants going to be arrested as enemies and threats to Canadian security? I am asking this because this happened to Germans and Japanese during World War I and World War II”.
A lot of the people whom I have met from that part of the world say if they walk down the street and say that they are Serbian, people throw bad remarks at them.
Somebody from Quebec wrote “I believe that Canada should build a safe world, creating world peace, security and a prosperous world for our children and to secure international order, to protect international law and the role of the UN”.
Somebody from New York City wrote to me. He said “Since missiles do not choose their victims, children, young and old people have been killed”. A civilian train was bombed off its rails today. Last night there was the killing of nine and injuring of 17.
I will continue with another individual who wrote to say that both sides have refugees. It is not only on one side, but there are also the refugees from Yugoslavia who are in Hungary right now. He quotes “She came to Budapest with her children about 12 days ago. She was paying for their shelter, as many other Yugoslavs”.
I want to continue with a letter I received from a constituent who told me he came from Russia and that he was proud to be a Canadian. He wrote that the day he became a Canadian citizen was one of the most remembered days in his life. He said he could not recall a single occasion, prior to this event, when his answer, “I am from Canada”, would not bring a friendly smile on the face of any airport clerk or fellow traveller through all eastern and western Europe. He said his feeling of becoming a Canadian citizen, a full member of a peaceful, tolerant and wise society respected all around the world, was overwhelming.
He closed his letter by saying “In the name of our future, the future of Canada and the future of the world, I beg you to stop this madness”.
I will continue on with an E-mail I received from another constituent. He tells me that as a Serbian Canadian he is deeply concerned over the recent action of the government against Yugoslavia. He feels that not only was this action taken in contravention of international law thereby setting a dangerous precedent with far-reaching consequences of international relations, but it is also in deep contradiction with Canada's allotted role as a peace loving and peacekeeping nation.
I have a letter from another constituent who says that we do not need anybody's human losses. She wants us to help the refugees, the Serbians and Albanians, and to bring peace politically.
That part of the world is in turmoil. NATO acted because NATO thought it had to act. I am not going to sit here and say NATO did good or NATO did bad. The one thing, however, is that it chose to act this time. NATO disrespected acting in previous times. NATO did not act when the island of Cyprus was invaded. NATO did nothing. It sat on its chair when genocide was happening in Rwanda. It does nothing today in Kurdistan, in that eastern part of Turkey where people are being prosecuted just as badly.
I have about 6,000 Tamils in my riding. They sent me a copy of a letter that went to the Minister of Foreign Affairs from the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils. They write in the letter that the civil war in Sri Lanka not only predates the Kosovo conflict by more than a decade, but also has claimed many more lives, more than 75,000. They say that just like the Albanians fleeing the Serbian onslaught, over 700 Tamils fled when the Sinhalese army, after a bloody military campaign, occupied the Jaffna peninsula.
They close their letter by saying that they are not asking the hon. minister to bomb or use military force against the Sri Lankan racist government as in the case of Yugoslavia. They are simply asking the hon. minister to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government to withdraw the Sinhalese armed forces from the Tamil homeland and seek a political solution to the ethnic conflict.
Both groups on both sides are making comments. Both groups on both sides believe they are right. It does not matter where the conflict is in the world, whether it be the conflict between my home country of Greece and Turkey, or Cyprus and the invading armies, whether they are Serbians or Rwandans, whether the conflict is here in Canada or it in America about 140 years ago, the fact of the matter is that NATO has chosen to go in.
We are supposedly bombing military targets, but there is overwhelming evidence that this is not the case. One has to ask why we are there. Are we there because we have a particular interest or are we there because we are the world policemen? If we are the world policemen, will we continue tomorrow, or is this a one time event? Will we go on from here? Will we go into Sri Lanka? Will we ask the government of Turkey to stop oppressing the people of Kurdistan, its own province? Will we ask all oppressing governments to do this or did we just choose to go to Yugoslavia because of different reasons?
Last week I had the opportunity of meeting with people.
Last week I received 15,000 signatures on a petition from a community in Toronto. The petition was addressed to the House of Commons and party assembled. It reads, “We the undersigned residents of Canada draw to the attention of the House the following: that the Canadian government is blindly following the careless and dangerous U.S.-NATO policy of bombing the sovereign country of Yugoslavia and the Serbian people; that such policy sets dangerous precedents and could only open the door for foreign intervention in internal affairs of nations of minorities; and, that violence will not resolve the Kosovar problem but rather it facilitates the further entrenchment of the forces on both sides. We do not want to see the residents of Kosovo live in peace and harmony”.
I am not saying that the policy of bombing military installations is right or wrong. I am supportive of our troops over there. However, when we get reports that civilians have been hurt it brings to mind a view that yes, we might be at war but are we doing the right thing. The children of the world must live in peace. It does not matter if they are Kosovars, Serbians, Cypriots, Tamils, or Sinhalese.
I will support whatever action is needed in order to bring peace to the world. I will support whatever action is needed to make sure that our children, and God bless us all, live in peace.
To those men and women who are serving over there, as the Government of Canada has asked them to do, I applaud and support them. I say to them, “when you do you work, please make sure you do not kill innocent people”.