Mr. Speaker, on October 15, 1999, I asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs how he explained Canada's slowness in defending the Timorese, 78% of whom had voted in favour of their independence on August 30.
Canada, which sits on the security council, let the Indonesian militia and paramilitary plunge this poor region into a bloodbath. This is a region where a small people had been suffering from a permanent intrusion by Indonesia since 1975, when it was abandoned by Portugal.
What is of concern about Canada's slowness to act was that the minister knew since February, because a group of NGOs, including the Council of Churches, had met with him and told him that the Indonesian police and army were the accomplices of the militia and that intimidation tactics were beginning to be used.
The minister knew that the two leaders of the community, Ramos Horta and Xanana Gusmao, had called on the international community for help, because they knew that violence was about to erupt.
In fact, during the summer the international community was alerted because an intimidation campaign was going on to prevent the Timorese from voting for their independence. Opposing forces said “If you vote for independence, there will be a bloodbath”. Indeed, on September 4, when the results of the referendum were released, the carnage began.
Need I point out that Indonesia had, for over 20 years, occupied this country, that the UN organized the referendum and that it was the responsibility of the international community to ensure that this small group of people, which had faced so much, could exercise its right to self-determination?
Only Canada, of all the countries concerned, did not want to apply economic sanctions, and it made no preparations to intervene either, so that Canadian forces arrived there only on November 3.
We know now that the three weeks following the referendum gave the army and the militia the opportunity to force half the population to leave the country, kill many and destroy much of the country, so that today the Timorese are suffering.