Mr. Speaker, it is almost midnight and we are here debating because there is a civil war happening in Syria and we do need multilateral engagement and a multilateral solution. However, I find it a little rich for the Conservative government to disengage with the United Nations but now, today, rely on the same body to come up with a solution.
Canada has lost so much ground on the global scene. We have lost our seat on the Security Council. We have lost our ranking among the nations around the world. We used to be known as a peacekeeping nation that was in love with humanitarian aid, a country that was there at the beck and call of the world. We are not that country anymore.
Having said that, we know there is a crisis in Syria. We have heard members of the government say there is a crisis in Syria right now and it requires urgent address from our government.
I would like to speak about one aspect of this war, which is the women and children who are affected by it. As a woman, I am particularly moved by the fact that the majority of the Syrian refugees are indeed women and children.
I would like to share a personnel story.
I was born in the middle of a war, and I am probably one of the few members in the House of Commons who have lived through a war. It is not something a child should ever go through. I was smuggled in the cover of night with my mother and sisters, which was necessary in order to be safe. If one travelled in daylight, as a woman, one would be exposed to rape, which is used as a weapon of war. One would be exposed to extortion for oneself and one's daughters. I know that is not a condition under which anybody anywhere in the world should have to live. Being a child who witnessed people being bombed, and being shot at myself, I know we should not have any child in this world experience that.
Although I experienced being shot at when I was four or five years old, today it is still a vivid memory. It is as if it were yesterday. Since I have had the privilege to live, literally a second chance at life, I have the opportunity today to speak on behalf of those hundreds of thousands of people who remain voiceless, who do not have that opportunity.
Those children and women who are being victimized by this war did not choose to be part of it. It is up to the international community to speak up for them. It is up to us, as parliamentarians who have the privilege of speaking up for them, to actually do so.
We know this conflict has claimed more than 70,000 lives and it has forced more than one million Syrians to flee as refugees. Many are internally displaced people within the country and within the region. Many of these refugees have been recognized by the United Nations; they have UNHCR refugee cards.
It is our responsibility as global citizens to stand up for them. It is up to Canada as a have nation, not a have-not nation, to be the conscience of the world. Canada is a bountiful nation that has so many resources and richness.
It is up to us to be the conscience of the world. That is what Canada is known for. We are known for our history and for our legacy of being the conscience of the world. Having that history of being the humanitarian country, we are duty bound to these hundreds of thousands of people who are now being displaced, who are being affected by war.
We need to ensure there are not more and more children who are being inflicted with lifelong memories of war. It is our responsibility to remove those children from those situations. It is our responsibility to reunite families.
We know there are many people here in Canada of Syrian descent who have sponsored their spouses, siblings, nieces and nephews. We, as responsible parliamentarians, have the duty to ensure we are reuniting these families.
I know that my time is coming to an end, and with that I will leave the House with my last request for the government. My request to the government is that the government respect the wish of this House. When the NDP brought forward a motion, it was unanimously agreed to by this entire House. The motion called for support of the peace-building efforts in Syria; it called for the provision of emergency humanitarian assistance to the Syrians, to the families, to the Syrians who had families in Canada; and it called for us to expedite the process of family reunification for Syrians who have family members in Canada.
This was a motion that was unanimously agreed to by this entire House. My request to the government is that it respect the wishes of this House and that it provide that humanitarian relief, as well as expediting family reunification.
