Mr. Speaker, the 69 military advisers that we have provided to assist Kurdish militia are not the only way in which Canada is seeking to protect the vulnerable minorities of that country by any means. There is humanitarian support. There are projects delivered through our Office of Religious Freedom to promote pluralism more generally in Iraq. There are military armaments that we are bringing into the region to support the Kurdish militias. There are political and diplomatic efforts.
I could get into a very interesting conversation with the hon. member about the theological root causes of this crisis and about the hundreds of madrasas spreading the doctrine of armed jihad, not just in Iraq and Syria but from Nigeria to the southern Philippines. That would be a very interesting subject.
However, if an Islamic State fighter is coming after the 12-year-old daughter of a Yazidi or Christian mom or dad, those parents do not have time for a debate on root causes. They do not have time for rebuttals on social media. They do not care in that moment about soft power. What they need is someone standing between them and their family and the militants who seek to destroy them, to behead them, to crucify them and rape their children.
Sometimes hard power is necessary. In this case, it is being provided, thank God, by the Kurdish militia, and we should be providing some measure of practical support to them. That is precisely what we are doing.