Mr. Speaker, I wish to offer warm congratulations to Dr. Sima Samar, who will today receive the John Humphrey Freedom Award from a Montreal organization, Rights & Democracy.
Dr. Samar has just been appointed minister of women's affairs and deputy chair in Afghanistan's brand new government . The challenge she faces, that of improving the lot of women, is huge after years of the Taliban regime in which women were excluded from a society that wanted for everything.
Dr. Samar is not easily daunted. The physician set up hospitals, clinics, and schools for women and girls, and did so despite the pressures, not to mention the heavy penalties imposed under the Taliban regime.
Dr. Samar's courage, tenacity and devotion are receiving international recognition today. She will certainly need it, but what she will need most in this devastated country is assistance. The best tribute that Canada could pay her would be to loosen the purse strings on its international aid budgets.
Let us hope that this is what the Minister of Finance will do in his budget this afternoon.