Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Windsor—Tecumseh. I thank her for her work on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. I know that she does very good work.
I want to begin by saying that I support the motion moved by the hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill. Obviously, Canada has a moral and legal duty to try to stop the genocide of the Yazidis. After the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia, the Canadian government sponsored and took on the responsibility to protect people. I know a lot of people, mainly soldiers who served in Bosnia and Rwanda, who are still deeply affected by what they saw there. When it comes to genocide, we have to do everything in our power to try to stop these situations that leave indelible marks on the victims and on those who eventually step in. We have a responsibility to protect these people so that such horrible things never happen again or at least are stopped as soon as they come to our attention.
In 2016, the Yazidi population was estimated to be around 600,000, 400,000 of whom are in the Sinjar district in Iraq. On June 16, 2016, the UN report entitled “They Came to Destroy: ISIS Crimes against the Yazidis” concluded that the atrocities committed by Daesh against the Yazidis constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Canadian government finally formally recognized that Daesh is committing genocide against the Yazidis.
A number of colleagues have repeatedly expressed how horrific and unimaginable the extreme violence the Yazidi people have faced has been. We are talking about torture, sexual exploitation, sexual slavery, slow, violent death, separation of families, as well as various means of forced sterilization. What is going over there is absolutely horrible, and no one can deny how serious and sad the situation is.
As MPs, we also sometimes have a duty to educate so that people know more about certain things. I want to take a few moments to talk a little about the Yazidi people so that anyone who is listening to my speech can learn a little more about who they are. It is important to take the time to do that. A better understanding of their reality could also help guide our actions.
The Yazidis believe in a form of Christianity. However, in Sinjar, they are considered to be of Arab origin since it is believed that they came from Syria. Their religion is supposedly derived from Islam. They consider Jerusalem and Mecca to be holy cities. Their religious calendar dates back over 6,500 years. They are very attached to their beliefs and their language, Kurmandji. Like us, the Yazidis from Sinjar and the northeastern region of Mosul are farmers and live in small towns. When I say “like us”, I am perhaps referring more to my region, which has a large number of farmers and where most people live in small towns. Like many of us, the Yazidis drink wine and eat pork. The women have a lot more freedom than women in the Orient in general. They do not wear veils and they will speak to strangers. I think that helps us to better understand the Yazidis and what makes them different.
The magnitude of the genocide is even sadder when we know that it is being committed against people with a different culture. Daesh ruthlessly attacked not only many buildings and historic sites but also an entire population. Daesh clearly indicated that it wants to commit genocide against this people.
We therefore have the duty to protect the Yazidis and to ensure that they survive this horrible situation and are able to return to their homeland and practise their traditions and culture once something has been done about this situation. We can do a lot more, particularly by helping Yazidis relocate to Canada. As I said before, they are farmers who live in small towns.
In my riding, many constituents were more than happy to volunteer to welcome Syrian refugees into their spacious homes. I am certain that that would be the case if Yazidi women and girls fleeing violence wanted to come here as refugees. I am certain that my fellow Canadians are still willing to take action and to welcome them. I could easily, no matter the circumstances, find several people who are willing to do their part to help them.
Resettling the Yazidi people is very important especially when we consider that they are extremely vulnerable. At first, they were a minority in Iraq and Syria. Now, an enemy is shamelessly attacking them and wants to wipe them out. We therefore have no other choice than to do our part to welcome these people and to protect them.
We have to bring everything to bear so that humanitarian aid gets to these regions and helps those in need. It is another scourge. In addition to being exposed to the possibility of extreme violence, these people are often condemned to living in truly awful conditions. They have little food and other resources. We must do everything we can to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches these regions.
Another very important measure has to do with processing times for refugees' immigration applications. Every day counts for these women and girls. We need to speed up processing times for their applications as much as possible. Obviously, security is important, but we need to figure out how to work more efficiently so we can spare these women weeks and months in stressful, terrifying situations.
When they get here, they are going to need psychological support and care. Canadian experts will be able to help them. Health professionals can be trained if the government chooses to use regions that were not initially targeted for Syrian refugees. They helped us gain experience. We learned from our mistakes, and now we can work hard to bring these women here quickly. We have to act fast, and there are many things Canada can do.
As I said several times, every day counts for these women given what they are experiencing. As parliamentarians, we should be thinking of better ways to help them every day.