Mr. Speaker, I congratulate you on your appointment and I congratulate the member on his election.
The member opposite emphasized refugee resettlement, particularly of Syrians, and commendably so. However, I noted that he did not mention at all the crisis of Iraqi refugees, which is bound up with that of Syrians, and neither has the government, for some peculiar reason.
Would the member care to comment on the fact that Canada has led the world in welcoming, through resettlement, some 23,500 Iraqi refugees, most of them through Syria since 2009, and that there continue to be millions of Iraqi refugees in the same countries as there are Syrian refugees. Why has the government abandoned Iraqi refugees? Why does it refuse to address their crisis? Why is it not discussing the Iraqis who have fled to Syria, then fled the Syrian civil war back to Iraq and then had to flee ISIS to the Kurdish region? I wonder if he would comment on the government's response to the Iraqi refugee crisis.
The member's leader has said that prioritizing groups that are particularly vulnerable to genocide is “disgusting”. Is he not aware, as a member of the Ismaili Muslim community, that the Ismaili Muslims of Syria are facing particular vulnerability at the hands of Daesh, of al Nusra and other salafist terrorist organizations? Does he not think it would be appropriate for us to seek to prioritize their protection and resettlement, given their particularly unique vulnerability?