Mr. Speaker, this is an important piece of legislation that updates a convention that is 60 years old.
Following World War II when theft of invaluable artifacts was committed on a global scale, most of the world decided it should never happen again.
The 1954 convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict was a direct result of what the world witnessed during World War II. Great treasures were stolen from occupied countries in Europe, not just from museums and churches, but also from individuals. Some of those treasures remain hidden from the world today in private collections. The Hague convention, as it came to be known, sought to outlaw thefts of this nature as well as vandalism or deliberate destruction of cultural property.
It was only six years ago that Canada became a party to the Hague convention, and that is shameful. Canada should have been a party to the Hague convention back in 1954. Successive Liberal governments have dodged it for reasons known only to the Liberals.
If we read the Hague convention definition of cultural property, we will learn a little more about events that were not reported during World War II. The authors of the convention define cultural property as “movable or immovable property of great importance to the cultural heritage of every people, such as monuments or architecture, art or history, whether religious or secular”. It applies to museums, libraries, manuscripts, archeological sites, scientific archives, collections and so forth.
They wrote the Hague convention and agreed to it because they were eye witnesses during World War II. They saw the walls of museums and galleries where some of the world's greatest art once hung. They saw statues that had been deliberately pulverized as opposed to being the collateral damage of war. They knew that freight trains loaded with important and invaluable manuscripts, paintings, archives and architectural marvels moved out of occupied countries into other countries.
Some but not all of those treasures have been returned to the original rightful owners. The Hague convention did not force the repatriation of any of those treasures, but it sought to outlaw any such atrocities in the future.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Hague convention has had to be applied in more recent times. It was applied during the 1967 Middle East conflict and again in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia and Iraq.
This legislation will ban Canadians from illegally exporting cultural property from an occupied territory and provides a mechanism for the restitution of such property. Both the Criminal Code and the Cultural Property Export and Import Act will be amended to allow for the prosecution of Canadians who commit related offences outside Canada.
I want to pause here to make a reassurance. I hope our men and women in the armed forces will not see this as a reflection on them individually or collectively. Somebody not paying attention might think that amending the Criminal Code to prohibit offences such as theft and arson against cultural property protected during times of conflict is a reflection on our military. It is most certainly and definitely not a reflection on those brave men and women.
Instead, it is a tragic recognition of reality that there are people who would steal or vandalize priceless objects in times of conflict. The legislation could, however, impact on the practices of Canada's armed forces. This is one area of grave concern to us on this side of the House.
The government has not specified how our armed forces will have to change their practices. We do not want to see a situation develop where any member of our armed forces is liable for prosecution because of some unavoidable act during a time of conflict.
For example, what would happen if a soldier was called on to advance on an enemy who was holed up in a fortified and ancient place of worship? It seems to me that it is incumbent upon the government and the House to make it absolutely clear to our people in the forces that if they are called upon to do their duty, they will not be held liable for their actions if there is unavoidable collateral damage to the sorts of objects we are discussing here today.
We cannot have our military commanders or personnel second-guessing or hesitating to take action for fear of being held criminally responsible following an action. The Hague convention states clearly that it will protect cultural heritage during armed conflict, take preventative measures for this protection during both peace time and war and set up a system to identify important buildings and monuments. It also requires the creation of special units within the armed forces to be responsible for the protection of cultural heritage.
Again, this is worrisome. We must recognize in this new war of terror, the terrorists will have no qualms about occupying any building and using it for their terrorist purposes. Does anyone really believe that they will avoid buildings that have been deemed culturally important to society in any nation? The fact is they would probably seek out such buildings in the hopes that those we assign to fight terrorism might hesitate to do their duty.
It seems to me that the legislation has to give our military people some reassurance that their hands will not be tied when we ask them to do their duty. It is legislation worthy of our support, but there are a few too many questions left unanswered and most of those questions would undoubtedly come from the brave men and women in Canada's armed forces. It is my hope that the government will answer those questions before the legislation becomes the law of the land.