Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, April 18, I attended Cambodian New Year celebrations at Thammikaram Pagoda in Rivière-des-Prairies.
While I was there, I met two men who talked at length about how as orphans during the Cambodian and Vietnamese wars they were saved from certain death by two wonderful sisters who brought them to Canada.
The heroines are Éloïse and Anna Charet, who were just 22 and 20 at the time. They risked their lives to save 55 infants and children. Forty years have passed since their acts of heroism, and all of us must honour these women on behalf of Cambodian and Vietnamese communities and all those who believe that humanitarian aid is a gift of self that sometimes is given at the risk of one's own life.
Thank you again Éloïse and Anna Charet for your heroism and your love. Today, these children are your children as well.