Mr. Speaker, I listened to the hon. member's speech and I thought, by and large, it was quite a good speech. I join with the member for Timmins—James Bay in saying that this is a good place. The House of Commons is the place where these issues should be discussed.
Members will know that what has been entered into the debate is the letter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, where he says, “We are alarmed by evidence that suggests ISIL may have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Iraq and Syria. These atrocities must be investigated”. Then he formally calls upon the Security Council “to determine whether these violations constitute acts of genocide or other serious international crimes, and to identify the perpetrators”.
I have two questions for the hon. member.
The date of this letter is May 30, 2016. Given that the facts have been in existence for something in the order of the last five years, would it not have been better if the date of this letter were somewhere closer to May 30, 2015, or 2014 for that matter, and if his previous government would have called for this formalization of the process?
Second, in light of the fact that the previous government did not call for the formalization of the process, would the member therefore support the minister in his effort to have the UN Security Council make a formal declaration of genocide in a proper and investigative fashion?