Mr. Speaker, as I and all of my colleagues have underscored, this government has been the seventh-largest financial contributor to humanitarian assistance. We are one of the only countries that is providing logistical support to bring arms in to support the Peshmerga military.
The member asks what we are doing to protect the minorities. With respect, we do not protect innocent civilians from these minority communities hiding behind Kurdish lines from the Islamic State militants through pleasant speeches. We do not protect them with tents and humanitarian supplies. There is only one way we can protect them, and that is through the defensive use of force.
That is precisely why we are providing the heavy airlift capacity to arm the Peshmerga, so they can defend those minorities and those innocent civilians. That is precisely why 69 brave men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces are providing tactical advice to the Kurdish militias, so they can protect those people That is precisely what we are doing.
I would invite the New Democratic Party to stand by its humanitarian values in supporting the protection of these people in the only practical way that matters, which is by assisting the military forces on the ground to protect them.