Mr. Speaker, over 50 years ago, an outstanding and remarkable Canadian, Lester Pearson, was honoured with the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for his perseverance, success, vision and wisdom in creating a peacekeeping mission and the blueprint for the United Nation's now well recognized role in peacekeeping and peace building. Pearson was a tough advocate and firmly believed that Canada had a responsibility to actively participate in any international activity to end ongoing conflict.
Throughout his career, Pearson demonstrated two characteristics: undeviating stability and dynamic responsiveness. Because of these two characteristics, Pearson was an effective supporter for peaceful resolutions to several major international crises, from the Korean War to the Cyprus crisis, and Canada emerged with distinction.
Civil war has raged in Sri Lanka for 37 years and throughout the period both sides have been accused of serious human rights violation. I absolutely and strongly believe that terrorism is unacceptable no matter who commits it, no matter what the reason.
However, now is the time for dynamic responsiveness. A major humanitarian crisis is unfolding in northern Sri Lanka, with 250,000 unprotected civilians trapped in the crossfire between government troops and rebel forces.
The United Nations reports that several hundred civilians have been killed since the beginning of the year and last week more than 300 patients and staff were forced to flee a hospital in the Tamil area after it came under shelling. For over a week, my constituency office and my riding office have been inundated by members of the Canadian Tamil community. I have held grown men in my arms while they sobbed, listened to young women recount tales of rape and prayed with families.
My community writes:
“My aunt's uncle is trapped inside the war zone; we haven't heard from them for months...we are devastated; please stop this genocide....I cry every night at the thought of the number of children that die, and get raped...why won't the international community listen to our children...I cannot go home because I am unable to handle how my mother cries every night because she hasn't heard from her family in weeks....I have no words to make her feel better...I have three uncles and their families in Sri Lanka and we have lost all communication with them”.
When people's lives are threatened, we have a moral obligation to alleviate their suffering. I cannot imagine the terror of not knowing where one of my family members might be, let alone 100 members as one of my community members reported, or the tragic confirmation of their deaths. I know how Canada and our whole country grieves when one person goes missing and how the international community mourns when a child goes missing. Where is the mourning when a hospital is bombed and children killed?
Parliamentarians must take, as Pearson did through history, a leadership role in the intensifying crisis. We must push for a humanitarian ceasefire and for independent monitors to ensure it is respected. We must send more humanitarian aid and ensure that it reaches whose who need it most. We must ensure the protection of life.