Mr. Chair, the issue of the UN embargo, the International Criminal Court, are definitely issues that I have identified. However, the underlying principle, which I wanted to highlight in my remarks, is the responsibility to protect. The reason for that is very simple. We saw it in Rwanda. We saw it here. I remember being in school, watching the situation unfold before my eyes. I recollect us and the international community doing nothing. Again, history is repeating itself.
We can sit here and we can talk and debate this issue to death, no pun intended, but we are watching thousands of people being killed. Even tonight if we were to go on the Internet and listen to the news reports coming Sudan, we would hear about these killings. We have to come to a solution.
Not too long ago I spoke to students about the situation in Darfur. I was talking about the notion of responsibility to protect. A grade 3 student said, “We saw this in Rwanda and now we are seeing this situation unfold in Darfur. Is it because of the colour of their skin? Is it because they are black?” That question shocked me. It was a straightforward, innocent question asked by a young child. That is something we need to consider as well. Not to underscore the importance of our role and the responsibility to protect and to stop a genocide, we also have to examine that issue as well. I hope the government takes that into account when it addresses the situation.