Debates of May 1st, 2006

Darfur

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Chair, I want to say at the outset that I am very pleased to be splitting my time with the member for Sault Ste. Marie. During my years as a provincial politician I came to know this member when he was at Queen's Park, our provincial counterpart, as someone who is genuinely a champion of the dispossessed, the poor, the hungry, the homeless and the vulnerable. In the two years that I have been privileged to be in caucus with him here in the House of Commons, I have seen that his concern extends not only to people in his own backyard or his own constituency but literally to the global community.

We are here tonight to focus our concern on the horrors and the tragedy of what has been unfolding in Darfur and to the people of Darfur on the continent of Africa. It is very difficult for Canadians to even conceive of what it could mean to live in a country where people are experiencing three million to three and a half million people being literally displaced, hundreds of thousands of people murdered, countless numbers of women raped and children sexually assaulted, whole villages plundered and burned, and the horrors go on.

What is bringing us together tonight in this all party debate is addressing the question of what it is that we as Canadians can do, must do and should do in the face of this outrageous and horrendous situation that continues to unfold in Darfur.

I am going to say that it is not really accurate to say that Canadians have been insensitive or unresponsive to the situation. Tonight I want to particularly acknowledge the numbers of youth across this country who have been mobilizing around the horrors of what is happening in Darfur. This is very promising for the future of our country. In particular, I mention the constituency of my colleague from Burnaby—Douglas, where there is a very active chapter of a group called Canadian Students for Darfur. It is just one of a dozen or more such chapters on university campuses and in high schools across the country that have been shining the spotlight on Darfur.

In my own riding, I am very proud of the fact that there is a chapter known as Students Helping Others Understand Tolerance, SHOUT, a good acronym, because the students have been shouting out to plead the case of the people in Darfur. Again, it is one of many chapters across the country. These students have been focused on the horrors of the Holocaust and the genocide in Rwanda and pleading with the world to not turn our backs on the people of Darfur.

The reality is that even here within our own country we have seen not a robust response to what is happening and unfolding but actually quite a feeble response. I know that last year through the foreign affairs committee we were trying to make the case for the government to respond with a greater sense of urgency and with a more generous response in responding to the plea of the African Union. The AU said that absolutely it was its desire to be in the lead in terms of military intervention, but that it desperately needed more help with logistics, communications, equipment and so on, yet I think the response was extremely feeble.

We have heard today, and perhaps someone tonight can go beyond and clarify this, that the $20 million for food aid in Darfur last year, which is a small enough commitment, was in fact reduced to $5 million. There was some suggestion earlier tonight, and I was not able to be here, that there is an indication from the government that it intends to increase this amount, but this is only one of a multi-faceted series of measures to which we have to commit ourselves, measures to do with increased diplomacy, with humanitarian aid, and yes, measures to ensure the security that will stop the killings and make sure that people get the most basic requirements to survive the horror of what is happening.

I hope that as a result of this all party debate we can truly come together and stand together for a more robust, proactive response from Canada, including participation in a SHIRBRIG rapid deployment force, which after all was supposed to have been, from the lesson of Rwanda, what Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands agreed needed to be in place so that we could respond with urgency in such horrifying circumstances unfolding before the eyes of the world.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Chair, the hon. member asked a question in reference to the food aid that was given. She said it has gone down from $20 million to $5 million. I wish to correct this and say that CIDA has pledged $90 million in assistance to Sudan. This assistance is allocated as follows: $40 million in food aid and non-food aid, including 60%, which is $24 million in assistance to Sudan. Out of the $40 million, $26.7 million was dispersed in 2005 and 2006. Today, the minister of CIDA announced an additional $10 million for humanitarian food assistance to the region.

This is what I would like to ask the member about, though. Today there is another crisis brewing next door to Darfur, in Chad, which is west of Darfur. If we are not careful, in Chad we could have another humanitarian crisis that would have a major impact. That is why it is critically important that we work with the African Union, have it take the lead and give it all our assistance in order for it to be there when this crisis takes place.

I would agree that it has not happened so far, but Canada has already committed. Canada has supplied helicopters. Canada has supplied vehicles. Canada has supplied fuel. Now we are looking at working with the AU to have it bring in the UN forces that will work with the African Union. In the long term, Canada has already pledged to the African Union to form that rapid deployment the hon. member is talking about.

Therefore, yes, Canada is doing something over there, but we need to be very careful that we solve the problem, that we do not put in place a band-aid solution, because if we try a band-aid in Darfur we may have another crisis the country next door, in Chad. I would like to hear what she has to say about that.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

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.

[Tony Martin, NDP, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Mr. Chair, I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this most important discussion here this evening.

I must say that one of the most profound moments in public life for me happened while I was a member of the legislature at Queen's Park in Toronto. I was at a prayer breakfast and listened to General Roméo Dallaire, now Senator Roméo Dallaire, tell his story about Rwanda and ask the question, “How do we value humanity?” We could see and feel the anguish in the man because he had been there. He looked the evil that is genocide in the face and asked that it never be allowed to happen again. He spoke of the lack of resources and the lack of political will in that situation.

We heard in this city and in this place last week the call of the Holocaust survivors asking us not to forget. There is a voice rising in the country that is reverberating around the world and that will not be ignored. There was a scream on the weekend: “What price humanity?” It starts at the heart of Sudan itself.

I remember attending a small gathering in Sault Ste. Marie last year and listening to one Elizabeth Majok from the New Sudan Council of Churches. She was there under the aegis of KAIROS, touring Canada. She shared with us at that meeting that what Canada needs to do and what we need to do is:

--demand that the Canadian government, backed by the general public and civil society, move beyond merely working with the international community to demonstrating authentic leadership to intensify pressure on the Government of Sudan and other parties to conflicts in Sudan to pursue in good faith a comprehensive peace that builds on North-South peace and transition processes underway in Naivasha, Kenya;

urge the Canadian government to insist that any peace agreement, whether between North and South Sudan, or between the government of Sudan and the rebels in Darfur, affirms the principles of a just and enduring peace including human rights, justice, the right of self-determination, fundamental freedoms, pluralism, transparency, as well as addresses the root causes of the different conflicts in Sudan, demanding responsive and accountable governance, the existence of a vibrant civil society including churches, a meaningful constitutional process, and credible monitoring and guarantee mechanisms on the part of the international community.

Church groups are speaking out. I have with me a faith leaders' letter signed by 16 leaders of faith groups. They say:

As representatives of various faith traditions in Canada, we commend the Government of Canada for the significant contributions made to support humanitarian and relief efforts in Darfur, Sudan and to assist the African Union Mission in Sudan in its efforts to provide security. People of faith in Canada have worked in solidarity with the people of Sudan for many years, developing long partnerships and collaboration.

Canadians are looking to our political leaders to continue taking steps unilaterally, bilaterally and multilaterally, to protect communities under threat, boldly work with others to resolve the conflict, and restore peace and safety to the people of Darfur.

Therefore, as the crisis continues into a fourth year, we urge the government to include Darfur at the top of its international policy agenda, and take actions that would be effective in bringing peace and security to the people there. Thus we issue a call of deep concern to develop action to assist the suffering and vulnerable people in Darfur, Sudan.

This is signed by 16 faith leaders in our country.

As the leader of the NDP said this evening, groups are forming. There are SHOUT, CASS, STAND, and the Canadian Students for Darfur, founded at Simon Fraser University, now with chapters at 12 high schools and colleges across the country.

As my colleague from Victoria said earlier this evening, we can no longer be timid. The situation, genocide, calls for direct and immediate leadership. We cannot let the people of the Holocaust down. We cannot let the people of Rwanda down. What price humanity?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for his intervention, his comments, and also for sharing with us some of the thoughts and ideas from some of the faith groups across this country. I am sure a lot of these groups are tuned into this debate tonight and are proud of the fact that their names were mentioned and that their concerns are passed on.

I have some concerns about some of the comments, not necessarily that the member made but that were made earlier, that we were not doing enough in actual food aid. I want to remind some members who may not have been in the House earlier that the Minister of International Cooperation announced an additional $10 million in food aid. We were, before that, in fourth place as the highest donor of food aid. This is a critical factor in these people's lives to be able to actually stay alive.

We see how some of these people are starving to death and the lack of food is a very critical part of that. It is very important that we continue that aid. Comments were made earlier about the amount of aid that has actually happened and been delivered. We still rate Sudan as one of the top 25 priority countries and I think that is most important.

There have been some comments about the difference between peacekeeping and peacemaking. Until the government of Khartoum is willing to address these in a real manner, would the hon. member care to comment on how we can effectively make peace if the government involved is not willing to accept a peacemaking process?

[Tony Martin, NDP, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Mr. Chair, the member asks one of the central questions in this whole very challenging circumstance.

I do not think anybody for a second is saying that it is not complicated, but if we are truly concerned and want to make a difference, we must develop a strategy that is comprehensive, direct and active. We see governments going along the road, doing a little bit here and a little bit there in an ad hoc manner, while literally hundreds of thousands of people starve and die on a regular basis.

I want to answer the first question about the different information we are receiving regarding how much aid is actually going into food. The member for Halifax who spoke earlier, somebody who I do not think anybody here would question, who understands, has been involved in, knows about, and has spoken passionately in this House over a number of years now, told us that we were spending $20 million. The former government brought it down to $5 million. With the contribution tonight, we are now back up to $15 million.

The member mentioned we are fourth in the world now. That is not anything to be proud of, in my view. Obviously, people in this area of the world, in the Sudan, in Darfur, are starving. Hundreds of thousands of them. We are not doing enough. We need to do a lot more.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would like to follow up on the member's remarks about faith groups. In my lifetime, I have had the opportunity to personally serve on a number of overseas short term projects which addressed human needs in developing countries. I have witnessed firsthand the plight of many of our brothers and sisters who through no fault of their own found themselves in extremely difficult circumstances.

It is true that for years now, our sisters and brothers in Darfur have been suffering in conditions of severe violence and starvation. In the meantime, Canada has been blessed with years of peace, prosperity and growth. I believe that because of this very privileged position, we have a moral duty to share with those who face these extreme conditions.

Canada has already done a lot to alleviate human suffering by providing millions of dollars in emergency assistance, but in light of our current privileged position, I am thrilled to hear that we are committing an additional $10 million through CIDA. One person cannot meet all the human needs and Canada cannot meet all the needs in developing countries, but we must do what we can.

I have a question for the previous speaker. Does he feel that the additional $10 million in aid that we announced tonight through CIDA is a step in the right direction in addressing this humanitarian crisis in Darfur, and will this initiative actually give a message to faith groups that they too can come to the table in addressing that human need?

[Tony Martin, NDP, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Mr. Chair, I do believe that the $10 million announced tonight is a step in the right direction. However, I also remind the member about the faith communities. I do not think there is a faith community out there that is not saying today that if there was a choice to be made between cutting taxes, particularly corporate taxes, and finding the money, so that we can have the capacity, and we heard a lot tonight about having the capacity to actually play a meaningful role in places like Darfur and soon to be Chad, then we need to be talking about responding to the faith groups when they say our priorities need to be different.

The member for Halifax tells me that on the eve of the 2000 election, the previous Liberal government gave a corporate tax break of $100 billion. Imagine what we could do with $100 billion today, in light of some of the very difficult circumstances we are confronting out there all over the world.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Mount Royal.

The present day hell of Darfur has its roots in the competition for scarce resources in the region. African farmers and nomadic Arab herders have been vying for what little sustenance the land can provide, and the creeping desertification of Darfur has exacerbated this competition. The Arab Islamic government has ignored threadbare Darfur's needs for decades.

In February 2003 Darfur insurgents attacked several army outposts to draw attention to their demands. Senior military officials in Khartoum, feeling emasculated by their failure to win the civil war with Sudan's Christian south, reacted in Darfur with ferocity. Villages were bombed from the air as Janjaweed militiamen moved in to rape, pillage, burn and murder. This hurricane of hatred led to more than 10,000 Darfurians dying every month for almost two years. The genocide had begun.

The fighting subsided when the African Union brokered ceasefire negotiations between Khartoum and the two main insurgent groups. On May 12, 2005, to alleviate the continuing suffering of the displaced in Darfur and to assist the work of the African Union peacekeepers, AMIS, the former Prime Minister dedicated $192 million to the region. It could not have come at a better time.

In late September 2005, I travelled to Khartoum and then to Darfur on a self-financed fact-finding mission.

In Darfur, as I listened to our soldiers, I grew increasingly proud of our military's conduct under extremely difficult circumstances. The direct consequences of Canada's military commitment to Darfur, the empowering of AMIS, is saving thousands of civilian lives weekly. While in Darfur, I was able to verify that attacks were coordinated by Janjaweed and Sudanese army forces. This knowledge was based on identification cards left behind after an attack. I had an opportunity to see the identity cards in question and these clearly established that the Janjaweed were in fact irregular Sudanese government forces.

Meanwhile, in the internally displaced refugee camps, the NGO community has been doing a phenomenal job. I found the people in the camps generally in good spirits. There were wells, schools and hospitals.

However, phase one of our involvement is only sufficient to protect the refugee camps and the areas around them. For the two million refugees to return to their destroyed ancestral villages, phase two will be required.

Phase two will not happen without the international community, the United Nations and Canada, stepping up to the plate to expand the peacemaking capability to encompass not only the refugee camps but the countryside from which the refugees were ethnically cleansed. All of us know that the solution is not for refugee camps to become a permanent fixture.

In phase two, the hell of today's Darfur will be solved on three levels: humanitarian, military and political. Although interconnected, each will require different tools. Humanitarian aid must continue to arrive. We cannot allow the beginnings of a genocide by a hurricane of hatred to transform into a planned starvation, genocide by attrition. Militarily, what is needed today is a 20,000 person strong UN peacemaking military force with a mandate to shoot back, and a no-fly zone.

Finally, along with our responsibility to protect, there should be a responsibility to rebuild. Politically, the AU sponsored peace talks must continue. Due to the political realities of Sudan, these talks may last as long as three to six years. Along with the talks, an international donors conference is needed to commit the resources to rebuild Darfur, a conference that would commit resources to build a civil society, the social, political and economic rebuilding of Darfur over the next decade.

While I was in El Fasher, Darfur, I visited a local hospital. As I stood in the hospital looking at the blood-soaked cots, I had a feeling of foreboding. The two Darfurian insurgent groups had splintered. While the refugees in the camps were mostly secure, an increasingly disparate number of armed groups in the countryside were filling the security vacuum. Concurrently, the Sudanese army and Janjaweed were attacking villages.

For once, let the rallying cry “Never Again” be a commitment of substance, not rhetoric.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Chair, the member has been to Darfur and has seen first hand the crisis in Darfur. I was a little confused when he said he expects the peace talks to go on for almost six years. That is a very, very long time. We are looking at a peace agreement that is happening now with concrete steps to be taken now to stop the killings that are taking place. I do not know what the member means by five to six years.

The AU has put forth a very comprehensive plan that takes a lot of things into account, human rights, development and everything. It is a comprehensive plan that we want both parties to sign ASAP, as quickly as tomorrow hopefully, so that the killings can stop, reconstruction can start and people can go home. That is what we are debating today, so I am a little confused by what the member means by five to six years of peace talks.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, the member opposite said he was listening quite carefully. If he were listening, he would have heard three to six years as opposed to five or six. Notwithstanding that, yes, it will take time.

I am not referring to the killings. If he had listened to what I said, there are three component parts here.

There is the humanitarian component. A good first step today was the additional $10 million, but compared to the commitment of $192 million that the government of a year ago had made, it is 5% of that commitment. It is a good, first small step. The humanitarian component has to be taken care of. We cannot allow a genocide by attrition.

There is also a military component. We want to see 20,000 peacemakers, and I use that term quite specifically as opposed to peacekeepers, but the political negotiations for a solution will take a longer period of time. We will need to have patience and dedicate the resources. That is why I am calling for a donors' conference. We will not see permanent peace until we see a similar situation to what happened with southern Sudan. Those negotiations took almost three decades. This could take a lot less time.

If we take a look at the agreement that was put in place just over a year ago, within six years there will be a new Parliament. There will also be a new constitution. That is why I referred to three to six years. That is probably at the low end. There will have to be a long term commitment to resolve the big issue of resources. Otherwise there will be constant tension that could lead to conflict between the nomadic herders and the farmers.

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Chair, I thank my hon. colleague and his assistants and members from all parties who have spent a lot of time on this issue. Parliament has worked very well on this particular issue which, as other members have said, goes beyond politics. I would also like to thank Leyla Di Cori and the Canadian Jewish Congress for their hard work. Above all else, as has been said before, I thank our Canadian Forces members who, out in the field along with RCMP officers, have done a yeoman's job under very difficult circumstances.

In Sierra Leone the British went into a situation where rebels were slaughtering innocent civilians. Six hundred and eighty six troops went into Sierra Leone and they stopped the conflict cold. In this particular conflict, 20,000 troops have been asked for. There are a number of groups, including the African Union, which showed extraordinary maturity in giving this particular mission to the UN, but it does not preclude their actions.

Does the hon. member not feel that one of our roles should be to increase capacity within the African Union to work perhaps within a SHIRBRIG to enable a peacemaking force to get on the ground to save the lives of the innocent?

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Yes, Mr. Chair, I believe that we should have another plan in place in case the United Nations does not step forward expeditiously.

We have shown, notwithstanding the denigration of the African Union AMIS forces that we have heard from the opposite side during the debate, that with the limited resources they had they did not fully stop the killing, but it went from 10,000 a month to perhaps 1,000 a month.

It is a terrible situation, but we would love to see for the long term the African Union method used throughout Africa's zone of conflict.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Mr. Chair, we meet this evening at an important moment of remembrance and reminder of witness and of the imperative for action, for we meet in the immediate aftermath of Holocaust Remembrance Day, whose enduring lesson is that the genocide of European Jewry succeeded not only because of the industry of death and the technology of terror, but because of crimes of indifference, because of conspiracies of silence.

We have witnessed an appalling indifference and silence in our own day to the unthinkable genocide in the Balkans and to the unspeakable genocide in Rwanda, unspeakable because the genocide in Rwanda was preventable. No one can say that we did not know. We knew and we did not act. In the same way that with respect to Darfur we knew and we know and we did not act, and we have not been acting sufficiently to arrest the killing fields. And so the moral injunction of never again has become tragically yet again, and again and again. The time has come, indeed it has past, to break down these walls of indifference, to shatter these conspiracies of silence, to sound the alarm, to scream as the students put it, to scream for Darfur.

I want to commend the students for taking the lead. As one of them put it yesterday, “The time for complacency, for gradualism, for foot dragging, for anything but overwhelming and immediate action is over”.

What follows is a 10 point agenda for action where Canada, in concert with the international community, can exercise the necessary moral, diplomatic and political leadership.

One, there must be a transformation of the African Union mission, which has fought valiantly to carry out its peacekeeping mission, into a multinational peacekeeping and protection force, pursuant to the UN chapter 7 responsibility to protect mandate, to put an end to the crimes against humanity and in a word to save Darfur. Two, we must ensure that the prospective multinational protection force has the necessary numbers, resources and capacity to fulfill and implement a robust civilian protection mandate. Three, we need to support and enforce UN Security Council resolutions to bring the war criminals to justice as a matter of priority and principle. Four, we need to enforce the UN Security Council resolutions banning offensive military flights which are responsible for killing fields as we meet. Five, the Government of Sudan itself is in standing violation of UN Security Council resolutions calling for the cessation of acts of violence, the banning of the offensive military flights, the enforcement of arms embargoes, the disarming of the Janjaweed, such that additional sanctioning measures under article 41 of the United Nations charter are necessary to hold the Sudanese authorities to account.

Six, there is now a desperate humanitarian crisis unfolding in Darfur, what I would call death by starvation, as a result of the announcement of cutbacks to rations by half, and this after the UN already 18 months ago characterized Darfur as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The Government of Canada must take the lead to ensure that donor nations fulfill their pledges and that humanitarian assistance reach the victims. Seven, we cannot ignore the recent ominous regionalization and internationalization of the conflict including the dangerous Iranian-Sudanese nuclear collaboration axis, the role of China as paymaster and collaborator in the killing fields and the Chad connection. Canada in concert with like-minded nations must address and combat the growing regionalization and internationalization of the conflict. Eight, we need to support the peace process in Abuja, but not allow it to become a diversionary tactic or to allow it to pre-empt what otherwise needs to be done to fulfill our civilian protection mandate. Nine, we need to ensure the protection of the refugees and internally displaced persons is intensified, permitting them to return safely to their homes. Finally, we need to convene an urgent meeting of world leaders from the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and NATO to draft and implement a save Darfur action plan.

In conclusion, let us resolve that never again will we be indifferent to genocide. Never again will we be silent in the face of evil. Never again will we acquiesce in the killing fields, not on our watch. We will speak, we will act, and we will make never again a moral imperative and a reality.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Chair, the hon. member has a very distinguished record as a human rights protector, a human rights defender and a former justice minister of Canada.

Nobody can argue the fact that there is no crisis in Darfur. The crisis is absolutely very serious and demands urgent attention. He set out a 10 point plan.

Given the situation in Africa, given that there are crises in the neighbouring country, there are crises in Congo, there are crises all across central Africa, it is incumbent upon us to assist the African Union to be the driving force.

Time after time I have heard “Africa for Africans” and “Africans must take the lead”. Yes, that is what we should do, although we recognize our responsibility to assist them and help them shoulder the load. In Darfur we have seen that not happening, henceforth, their request for UN forces to come in.

The comprehensive peace plan that is being discussed in Abuja, and Canada's UN Ambassador is there to assist that, is the first step, if it is implemented, toward the goal of achieving a sustainable peace in that region. The need for sustainable peace in that region is very critical in Africa.

Instead of his 10 point plan, would the member not say that Canada must stand behind the Africa Union's political will, that it may not have the military capability, but we should be out there to do that and let the African Union be the leader with us and all the donors assisting the African Union in achieving that objective?

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Mr. Chair, nothing that I said was intended to diminish or in any way undercut the role and the importance of the African Union which has been valiantly seeking to undertake the peacekeeping mission.

The African Union itself has acknowledged that what is needed at this point is a more robust chapter 7 UN mandated civilian protection mandate, number one, and number two, that what is necessary are increased numbers, resources and capacity for the purposes of actually implementing a chapter 7 civilian protection mandate.

I might add that Canada itself can take the lead. We have a particular leverage that we can exercise. We have no colonialist legacy in Africa. We are respected among a large group of nations. We can take a lead morally, diplomatically, and politically with respect to these objectives. Even with regard to that more robust multinational civilian protection force, we can provide, in my view, as General Dallaire and others have said, a headquarters, brigades of 300 or 400 forces without diminishing anything in Afghanistan. We can provide CF-18 planes without diminishing anything we are doing in Afghanistan. We can make, even on that level, an important symbolic and substantive contribution, along with everything else in the 10 point plan.

With regard to the peace process in Abuja, and this is crucial, while we support that peace process and we have made an important contribution to it, it is now in its seventh round. It has dragged on for more than two years. There does not appear to be a resolution and even if there were, whether it could hold, because some of the Darfurian communities are not represented. Janjaweed is not represented. We could have a situation where that would unravel even if an agreement was reached. It should not detract at all from any of the other things that need to be done in order to save Darfur. That is why we are here this evening, to sound the alarm, to break the silence, to have an action plan to save Darfur.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister]

Mr. Chair, I rise impressed by the participation of members in this debate. I think it indicates that Canadians and our parliamentarians are seized of the urgency of the crisis, what I would personally call a genocide, in Darfur.

I know that bureaucrats, diplomats and countries at the UN are arguing over the application of the term genocide. In this instance it is self-evident. As the member for Mount Royal reminds us, we gathered in front of this place to mark the Yom Hashoah last week. Last week we also had a Prime Minister with the courage to join Canada's voice with those of certain other countries in recognizing the historical reality of the first genocide of the last century, the Armenian genocide.

In all these moments, in all these historic commemorations we always hear the repeated cry “never again”. Every time we hear that, we invite cynicism and skepticism. We invite a kind of total political cynicism because, as my colleague from Mount Royal points out, we have let genocide happen again and again in the past century. This is why this is a matter of moral and political urgency.

Speaking for myself and as a representative of my constituents, I will join with the voices of others here tonight to encourage the Government of Canada to take a leadership role internationally and, because of the prestige of Canada's name, to do all that can be done.

There is a debate about what can be done, in what sequence and with what speed. Let me remind us of the moral obligation here. We talk about numbers, about something like 215,000 Darfurians murdered, about another 200,000 dying from disease and malnutrition, the indirect consequences of these genocidal acts. Every one of those numbers represents individual human persons with an inviolable dignity, who have been either murdered or had their fundamental dignity unspeakably violated. For instance, UN reports indicate:

Between 5 and 7 March 2004, Sudanese military intelligence and armed forces officers accompanied by members of the armed militia, the Janjaweed, arrested at least 135 people in some 10 villages in Wadi Saleh province, in Western Darfur state... At least 135 men were then blindfolded and taken in groups of about 40, on army trucks to an area behind a hill near...village. They were then told to lie on the ground and shot by a force of about 45 members of the military intelligence and the Janjaweed.

I should mention, Mr. Chair, that I am splitting my time with the member for Kildonan—St. Paul.

In another instance in February 2004 there was an attack in Al-Fasher in north Darfur. In one case at least 41 school girls and female teachers were raped in the local school. Some of them were gang raped by at least 14 Janjaweed members, according to the testimony of survivors.

Some were abducted. Amnesty International met one of the survivors of this attack who said:

I was living with my family...and going to school when one day the Janjaweed entered the town and attacked the school. We tried to leave the school but we heard noises of bombing in the town and started running in all directions. All the girls were scared. The Janjaweed entered the school and caught some girls and raped them in the class rooms. I was raped by four men inside the school. When they left they told us they would take care of all of us black people and clean Darfur for good.

That is the reality with which we are dealing. It is not a garden variety political crisis. It is a genocide.

To quote the Hon. David Kilgour, who more than any Canadian has pressed our national conscience on this issue, in his speech yesterday in Toronto he quoted a scholar, Gamal Adam, who said:

Since the 1990s, (Khartoum’s) policy has aimed at relocating the indigeneous ethnic groups of Darfur from their home regions and settling Arabs in their areas in order to accelerate ‘Arabization’…It sent the Janjaweed to relocate the indigenous population and when individuals from (that) population organized themselves to defend…, the government (in Khartoum) response was the adoption of genocide because it was looking for a pretext for the destruction of the indigenous population of Darfur

Another African professor who visited Darfur recently noted that, “The Khartoum regime does not consider African Darfurians to be human beings”. It is that kind of evil that lays at the heart of the matter with which we are dealing. I agree with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Government of Canada that we must do everything possible to encourage and facilitate the peace talks currently underway with respect to the status of Darfur.

However, it is reasonable for all of us to suspect the long established pattern of Khartoum to ignore its legal obligations and political undertakings. For that reason, I hope that we will find a national consensus for Canada to lead an international consensus to do what is necessary and what is responsible in the near future to stop this slaughter before it becomes uncontrollable.

[Don Bell, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Chair, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister in his final statement, in response to the horrific situation that we have been discussing, suggested what needed to be done. Does he concur with the 10-point plan, as referred to by the member on from Mount Royal, as an appropriate action plan that would lead to at least the immediate resolution to put a stop to some of the most serious of the problems such as rape and murder, while a process could then go on to deal with more of the negotiations required behind the scenes to bring law and order to the land?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Chair, l do not disagree with any one of the elements that were mentioned in the member for Mount Royal's 10-point plan. I see they had some slight variation from the 10-point agenda for action on Darfur from the parliamentary group concerned about Darfur. There are many different programs of action out there with many commonalities.

I have friends in Calgary who produced a three part plan for ending the Darfur genocide which includes: part A, the establishment of a no-fly zone over Darfur; part B, a three step sequence in which the key leaders and stakeholders in Darfur establish a legitimate and functional regional government; and part C, the constitution of an implementation force of combat ready units that will work in coordination with these key parties as well as with the African Union forces.

I also take to heart the exhortation of my colleague from Calgary East and parliamentary secretary to the foreign minister that this cannot be developed by European and western countries imposing a solution on the region. It is not just the complexity of the Darfur situation. It is the complexity of the entire central and east African situation which is at play here. It is whether we are going to allow Africa to take ownership for and to be at the lead of resolving issues like this.

I do not pretend to have the perfect solution. No one does. All of these contributions, including the 10 points mentioned by my colleague opposite, constitute a sound basis for action, but Canada can do none of these things in isolation. Any one of these items require international cooperation and coordination at the United Nations and multilaterally. I would urge our government to pursue any or all of these approaches simultaneously, but to focus first on stopping the violence through whatever intervention can be realistically made. For instance, to urgently to enforce the no-fly zone in Darfur would be an obvious first action point.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, we do not like to see a UN peace making force, but should such a force not be sent, will the government commit to at least minimally continue with the enabling military resources we have provided to the African Union AMIS mission to date?

Having provided those resources for a transitional period and knowing and having learned the lessons of what was not going right and what we could improve on, will the government continue to provide the resources? Going forward, what would it do differently in providing those resources to ensure that the African Union peace making force was more effective?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Chair, I believe the answer to the first question is clearly, yes. The government intends to continue providing logistical support and equipment, including, I believe, the 105 Bison APCs in the region. It is with frustration that I note a lot of this equipment was offered to the African Union and not used as readily as we might have liked. There are capacity and training problems, as my colleague from Calgary East has pointed out.

We have had some equipment in the theatre for some time. After several months, it is only being used now. If there is more that we need to do to provide for the 7,200 African Union troops already in the theatre with the capacity and training to run the APCs, the helicopters and other equipment, then I am sure the government will be there to offer that support. I also would--

[The Chair, NDP, Bill Blaikie]

Order, please. I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member, but we do want his colleague, the member for Kildonan—St. Paul, to have an opportunity for the full five and five. The hon. member for Kildonan—St. Paul.

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Chair, I must say that I am really heartened tonight by the fact that all members on all sides of the House in Parliament have shown a deep concern for a bad situation in Darfur at this point in time. In my riding of Kildonan—St. Paul there are different faith based groups that are working very hard and rallying to send aid to Darfur. They have met with challenges over there as well. I must commend Canadians as a whole for the heart they have right now.

We remember the terrible Holocaust, the loss of life, and the pointless genocide that occurred with the Jewish people. We remember Rwanda. Unfortunately, we have many examples throughout history.

Now, Canadians and parliamentarians, with one voice, are having a late debate tonight over our very deep concern about Darfur. We have heard about the work by many parliamentarians on all sides of the House in trying to come up with a solution. We know about the situation there and we want to do something about it.

Despite the presence of the African mission in Sudan, the security situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate. Furthermore, the tense security situation in Chad has the potential to further destabilize the already extremely fragile region. Right now, in Abuja, the peace process has recently gained momentum and we have a very few short hours left to find out whether this peace process will come to fruition.

Tonight, I was gratified to hear the Minister of International Cooperation in the House commit another $10 million in aid for Darfur. This is a significant commitment over and above all the concerns that are voiced about the killings, rapes and terrible circumstances in which these people are living right now. It has touched the hearts of our nation. The world's eyes are now on Darfur and they are also on us, as Canadians, because our hearts are being taken to a country far away. We are reaching out and it seems like it is just next door. It is because we are so aware of what has gone on there.

Traditionally, Canadians have always been the peacekeepers of the world. In May 2005 Canada launched a major initiative to support AU efforts to resolve the conflict in Darfur, making Canada one of the top international donors in the world to that cause. There was $170 million of logistical, financial and equipment support for the African mission in Sudan, including a provision for contracted helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. All these things were deployed to Darfur.

There was $28 million of humanitarian assistance and government support through CIDA and $20 million to support the Canadian diplomatic engagement and the support of the AU peace talks in Abuja. There were peacekeeping initiatives throughout Sudan, including $500,000 to support the International Criminal Court to address war crimes and crimes against humanity.

We now hear on a daily basis about those continued crimes against humanity. This is what has touched the hearts on Canadian soil. We believe that children have a right to go to bed at night without fearing what might happen to them. We believe that women and men ought to be safe and fed. I will say with a very sincere heart that Canadians need to stand at the forefront, and help solve this problem and its immediate need.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Chair, I do not know whether the member or other members have had an opportunity to read a really excellent but horrifying op-ed article by Gerry Caplan, a Canadian with a great deal of experience in Africa and, in particular, an authority on the Rwandan genocide, who has been pleading the case of Darfur for several years now.

He talks about how the first and most obvious lesson from the unmitigated catastrophe of Rwanda in 1994 was the disheartening evidence that there was very little interest from countries that did not have a self-interest at stake in intervening in such a crisis.

He goes on to talk about how disheartening it is that the Security Council has been particularly unresponsive. I guess the suggestion would be that because there are not the same kinds of geopolitical or economic interests in Darfur by the members of the Security Council, they have been very unresponsive.

I wonder if the member might wish to comment on those two observations.

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Chair, I believe that in situations such as this one all of us feel very disheartened many times because we do not feel enough has been done. I think the common feeling is that we want things done a lot faster.

What I am heartened about this evening is that Canadian parliamentarians are standing together with one voice and saying that we need to address this immediate concern in Darfur. When the Minister of International Cooperation announced tonight an additional $10 million, that was concrete evidence. We know that the feeding of these people and the solutions we want to bring to help Darfur are very apparent.

With regard to the peacekeeping process going on right now, we are sitting in a very tentative situation, just hoping and praying that it comes to fruition because after that we have to go on further and give additional support.