Mr. Chair, I am really thankful that my colleague raised this point, because that is in fact exactly what the ambassador from the CAR to the U.S. and Canada indicated last week. He was hopeful that he and other leaders in the country could urge the spiritual leaders of the different faith groups within the country to come together and dialogue among themselves as a first step. The bigger step, and the most difficult step, is then to convince their people to lay down their arms and work toward reconciliation.
All of us in this chamber tonight know the value that civil society, faith groups, and volunteer groups in our country contribute to the fabric of our society. Government could never begin to duplicate the work that our civil society and faith groups do within our country. Every one of us sees this when we go back to our ridings on the weekend or during our constituency break weeks. We see the number of volunteer hours and the work that goes into our communities.
We need that same kind of spirit taking hold in the Central African Republic. As I said, the ambassador is encouraging that. I do think that the ambassador of the Office of Religious Freedom here in Canada, Dr. Andrew Bennett, has already made statements to that effect. I think his support and our support will certainly strengthen the hand of those who are trying to work toward reconciliation, and then forgiveness and moving on towards total reconciliation in that country.