Mr. Chair, there are 300,000 dead. Think how many people that is. We have great debates over several people dead. That is more than the population of most of the villages, cities and towns in Canada. It is hard to fathom. Two million people have been displaced from their homes. Food aid has been cut to 1,050 calories, about half of what a person needs, because people in the world are not donating enough food. Humanitarian aid is being kept away by the government in Khartoum. The UN Secretary General has said that this is the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
I want members of Parliament and those who are at home watching this debate to imagine a tribe of bandits swooping down on them tonight, taking over their homes, killing half of their families and driving the rest out into the desert with no means of shelter or subsistence. The civilized world cannot let this go on. Much more needs to be done.
I want to congratulate those who have worked so hard for years on this already, the member for Mount Royal, the member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, Senator Jaffer, Senator Dallaire, and former Prime Minister Martin, whose actions have led to Canada having been one of the largest contributors to date in aid, troops and support.
I have never been so proud as I was last September at the United Nations when Canada won that great victory of the responsibility to protect. The United Nations and the whole world accepted that principle to protect citizens when their own governments could not protect them from genocide. We need to use that moral authority. The world needs to use that moral authority to stop right now the murders and rapes in Darfur.
We have to save the people in Sudan in a way that does not lead to the same impressions that occurred in Iraq. It must not appear like an imperialist invading force which could then attract a whole bunch of terrorists from other places and create more problems. We need to do this by cooperating as much as possible with and sustaining, enhancing and supporting African organizations, African Union forces and the African Union. All the while we have to have the full weight of the UN forces under chapter VII behind us if need be.
This is a very complex situation. It is not simple. There are no parties that are entirely innocent and no parties that have been doing everything possible in the conflict to save human lives, to prevent humanitarian disasters and to prevent violation of human rights, such as rape.
The main reason I wanted to speak tonight is that for years I have been pushing our government, but at the same time, our constituents, Canadians, have been pushing us. In particular, Bill Klassen has been pushing me. I want to read what he has written to me so that Canadians get respect for the work they have been doing to push us to take action:
It seems obvious now that the presence of African Union troops in Darfur has not reduced the killing of innocent people by the Arab militia supported by the government in Khartoum. I think that it is time that the Canadian representative at the UN advocates condemning these atrocities as genocide and that a UN-supported force of sufficient size to be effective (20,000 troops?) be deployed. Some have suggested that these should come from nations in the region, rather than from European countries, the USA or Canada. I would support having Canadian troops there to help with the organization and direction of the intervention but substantial intervention is necessary, especially given the situation in Chad and refugees now fleeing back into Darfur.
I understand that Canada has reduced its aid level to one quarter of what it was under the previous government. If accurately reported, this is absolutely deplorable; the level of aid for Darfur from Canada should have been increased, not reduced!
I have not heard recently of any activity on Darfur by Senators Jaffer or Dalar [sic]. I trust they are still involved and working to resolve this sad situation.
Thank you for your continued concern and work on this matter.
This debate tonight is absolutely essential, as are all other efforts around the world. We have to open the eyes of the world so that people around the world give more food, give their governments the moral support to take strict action through the United Nations and to make the ideal of the responsibility to protect a reality in this world. If we do so, we will not only save thousands of lives in Darfur, prevent thousands of rapes and deaths from starvation but we will do the same in other spots in the world, lest we forget Zimbabwe, the Congo and Burma/Myanmar.