Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to four courageous Vancouver women, Irene MacInnes, Linda Morgan, Irene Vandas and Jennifer Ziemann, who are presently in Iraq to support the people of Iraq.
They are there as part of the Voices In The Wilderness Peace Team whose members go in relays so that there will be members in Iraq if and when the U.S. launches a war. In effect, they are there to act as human shields.
The purposes of the peace team are to live among the Iraqi people, to be there with them during any aggression, to use their presence to protect life supporting facilities and to speak truthfully about Iraq from the perspective of peace activists and to look at the effect of sanctions and war on the people of Iraq.
They are joined by two Canadian doctors, Dr. Amir Khadir and Dr. David Swann.
War would have devastating consequences on the people of Iraq who have suffered too much already.
New Democrats call once again for the lifting of the genocidal economic sanctions on the people of Iraq. We call as well for an end to any suggestion of war on the people of Iraq, with or without the sanction of the United Nations.