Mr. Chair, it is a pleasure to participate in this important debate on the terrible tragedy in Darfur.
As others have referenced, we saw thousands of people around the world on September 17, including a large contingent from my city in Toronto, assembled to assert their responsibility to protect the innocent victims of international conflicts. This means that Canada needs to do much more in Darfur.
It is hard to imagine that a crisis, which we have heard so much about, could get worse than it already is. As we have heard tonight, in the last two months alone, another 50,000 people have been displaced. This is in addition to the many thousands of girls and women who have been raped, the over 450,000 who have been killed and the more than two million who have been displaced. These statistics are numbing. We feel we are in a kind of a sleepwalking state because we have heard these before in other countries, in other situations. Words of outrage are not enough for us to express in the House and for others to express around the world.
The African Union has agreed to extend its mission of 7,000 troops and it needs more funding. As Canada, as are others around the world, is now in the shadow of the genocide that took place in Rwanda, surely the wealthier nations of the world have to be asking themselves if they can do more. Clearly the answer is a resounding, yes, we not only can but we must do more to stop this terrible tragedy.
Canada needs to convince the Sudanese government that UN forces are necessary at the end of the African Union's mission. Canada must commit to participating in the UN mission in Darfur. Canada has the military and the fiscal capacity to do so. We know that. Canada must lead through example. Committing now to participating in a UN force will also encourage other nations to commit early to a UN force and send a strong signal to Sudan that the world is serious this time about ending the slaughter and protecting the vulnerable in Darfur.
Only one in three rebel groups has signed the Darfur peace agreement. We also need to negotiate to ensure that the groups that have not signed the peace accord do so.
Canada cannot make excuses. We need to do absolutely everything possible to ensure a swift result to a conflict that has already gone on far too long.