Mr. Chair, all members of Parliament have received numerous communications from constituents on the terrible genocide in Darfur. I brought three that I received.
One is from Sister Shelley Marie Jeffrey who supports a strong diplomatic effort, as we all do, and supports UN resolution 1706. She asks, “Why can we not have a full time envoy in Sudan”?
Shamir Tanna says he cannot sit back and watch this go on. We cannot do this. Let us have increased humanitarian aid because he still sees people are dying. They are starving to death. They still have not received the basic needs that the member says they have.
The last letter I brought with me is from Stephen Hawrylshyn who says that Canada can no longer lead from the bleachers, we must act to save a desperate population. He reminds us of Lester B. Pearson who said:
Of all our dreams today there is none more important — or so hard to realize — than that of peace in the world. May we never lose our faith in it or our resolve to do everything that can be done to convert it one day into reality.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs stated in this place that we have committed all our military resources to Afghanistan. He has also said that any kind of special effort that we may take, Canada on a unilateral basis, is not going to alleviate suffering.
The minister just does not get it. There are 2.5 million people who have been displaced from their homes. How many million people must die before the government decides to take decisive action and show a lead role in terms of a lasting peace initiative?
We are talking about human life. How many millions must die before the government stops waffling about little things that it may have done and takes human life more seriously?