Mr. Chair, first of all, I am absolutely in agreement that the situation unfolding in Chad is very serious. I think Oxfam International and other NGOs have been documenting what a deteriorating situation this is; it literally spreads like a virus from neighbouring Darfur. We have to be very concerned about acting quickly and acting decisively.
I am a little bit nervous when I hear the member talk about how we have to be very careful not to just put a band-aid on the situation. When we are talking about a humanitarian tragedy of these monumental proportions, I think we have to respond to the urgency and the immediacy of the situation as well as work to try over time to figure out how to help a country that is literally in chaos, in a severely disintegrating situation, to get up off its knees and actually begin to be a functioning nation that can meet the needs of its residents.
I think we have to realize that our response has been inadequate. I personally congratulated the government last year when it appointed a task force consisting of a respected senior public servant, Robert Fowler, and two very respected persons in Senator Mobina Jaffer, who has done Herculean work on women, peace and security and as the peace envoy to Darfur, and also in General Roméo Dallaire. But I felt at the time that it was more an excuse for inaction, that it was not fair to put that task force in place without giving it the resources and ensuring that the mandate was there to respond in a robust way. The result is that the situation has deteriorated and the need is greater than ever.