Mr. Speaker, I tried to be very specific in my comments and make it clear. First, I recognize, without hesitation, that members of our military would never do anything deliberate to damage anyone else's cultural property, their artifacts, et cetera. I want to make certain that the legislation recognizes that as well.
My concern, as I outlined in my speech, is that I want to have assurances in the legislation that the hands of our military personnel will not be tied in these situations, so they will not hesitate to do their duty to protect people and livelihoods in another country because of fear that there may be reprisals down the road if there is collateral damage done to a particular institution, a church or museum, or whatever the case may be.
I believe all Canadians learned dramatic lessons from World War II. We watched the confiscation of irreplaceable objects. We watched the literal destruction, for no purpose whatsoever, of pieces of history, of religious culture which were completely irreplaceable. I want to be certain that the legislation does all that it is intended to do. I want to make certain that those cultural pieces of importance to the country where the conflict is taking place are preserved. I also want to make certain that we do not have a situation that could cost lives, where we have military personnel hesitating to take the action out of fear of reprisals or being charged back in Canada for having destroyed something inadvertently, what I refer to as collateral damage.
I think everyone in the House has great respect for our military and also wishes we lived in a world where there was no conflict. The reality is we do live in a world where there is conflict and Canada plays a vital and important role. We have a long history of being there for other people.
As the shadow minister for veterans affairs for the Conservative Party, I am probably in touch with veterans on more occasions than anyone else may have the opportunity to be in the House. I hear their concerns. When I talk about veterans, I am not just talking about our former veterans from World War II and from Korea. I am also talking about modern day veterans who are now finding themselves in situations in other countries where they are trying to protect lives, protect culture, et cetera. I want those people going into those situations with clear minds. I do not want them to hesitate about doing their duties out of fear of reprisals.
Therefore, I ask the House and all members in it to make it clear and certain that if there is collateral damage, there will be no prosecution to our own people, that we understand that in times of conflict and war there will be terrorist groups and organizations that will target exactly the kind of things we are trying to protect. I do not want our people or any other people to hesitate to go in and eliminate these terrorist groups because of fear of reprisals down the road.