Debates of June 9th, 2016

Opposition Motion—ISIS

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I mentioned that Secretary Kerry gave his opinion, but it is only an opinion. He said himself that it is not a formal recognition by the government of the United States that it is a genocide.

Who is selective here? It is my colleague who did not read the paragraph after. Why did he not do so? Why does he want to mislead the House?

The next paragraph is the following, which I said in my speech, but I will repeat it for him if he will listen. This is what Secretary Kerry said:

I want to be clear. I am neither judge, nor prosecutor, nor jury with respect to the allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing by specific persons. Ultimately, the full facts must be brought to light by an independent investigation and through formal legal determination made by a competent court or tribunal.

Can you please stop playing politics? This is too serious.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I would remind hon. members to direct their comments to the chair.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Sherbrooke.

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent speech.

Could the member comment on the political aspect that the Conservatives are playing with, and the responsibility that parliamentarians have when it comes to using such consequential words? Could he talk about the political games being played by the Conservatives, who are acting without any regard for the facts and the normal processes in place for using such words? Does he think the Conservatives are behaving responsibly in the House here today?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. It reflects his great sense of responsibility.

Sometimes in politics we have to make tough choices. Unfortunately, there is political pressure from the previous government. The Conservatives do not seem to understand why they ended up in the opposition. They are using political pressure to have us believe that if we hold to the true meaning of “genocide” that somehow means we are not determined to fight terrorism, that we are not as deeply moved as we could be by the atrocities that are being committed.

We must resist this pressure and hold to the specific meaning of the word “genocide”. The atrocities, horrors, and massacres are not necessarily genocide. We must not let our emotions get the better of us. This House has never done that in acknowledging any genocide. We are known around the world for always being very serious and very responsible.

I am very ashamed of my Conservative colleagues today.

[Kate Young, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I think everyone in this place can agree that they are horrified by the reports of what ISIL is doing.

I would like to ask my hon. colleague why it is so important to have an independent body determine if the crimes that ISIL is committing are in fact genocide.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is a matter of rule of law. It is a crime with an intention to kill a group because it is a certain group. This crime is not necessarily perpetrated only to kill people. One needs to have an intention for this. That is genocide.

It is not necessarily the same as massacres or other atrocities. It is something more, and we need to keep it this way in order to be sure that the perpetrators who do this on purpose, who kill a group because it is a religious or ethnic group, will be accused of genocide.

We need to keep that apart from other crimes. Therefore, we need a very professional, independent investigation, and not the crass politics that the official opposition would like us to use.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and I debated in the House quite a lot on the issue of ISIL and the engagement of Canada, when he was in the opposition and I was on that side. Therefore, for him to now get up and get really angry, he should not be getting angry.

However, the fact of the matter still remains that over the period of time that we started debating in the House on ISIL, we could see the steps that ISIL was taking. Every day, more and more incidents are coming out to say that ISIL has been acting, not just in massacres, which the minister talked about, but in many massacres that have mounted to the level that there is absolute unanimous opinion that it is a genocide.

Now, if the minister says it is a genocide today, and stops hiding behind the law, it does not change the fact that those who committed this crime need to be brought to justice, either through the International Criminal Court or whatever means of international justice there is.

Therefore, it is still beyond my understanding why the minister would not simply say this and why he would hide behind the law.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government will never hide behind the law. The government will respect the law, the international law. However, if our Conservative colleagues want to have a debate about how to be sure that the perpetrators will pay for their crimes, why did they not do so? There is not a word about it in their motion. If they wanted to have a debate about how we can annihilate ISIL and to be sure that another terrorist group will not come back after, why did they not do so? They decided to play politics with the word “genocide”. They must be responsible for their words because it is crass politics.

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, again, I thank my colleague for his speech.

Can he help members of the House understand how the word “genocide” is used and the consequences of having a genocide recognized by an international court or an international organization?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that makes no difference to the determination and the great vigour with which the government and the House, I have no doubt, want to fight the terrorist group ISIL and all other perpetrators of such crimes.

However, there are certain legal consequences for those who commit these crimes. They can be convicted of genocide in a court. We hope that this would deter any other group or state that one day would want to destroy another.

For that reason we must retain the definition of “genocide” and avoid associating it with our moral indignation towards these crimes, murders, and horrors. I ask that the House retain this definition because the House of Commons of Canada is an institution that has always acted responsibly when considering a determination of genocide .

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I think the House heard the minister say that it was important to proceed under the rubric of the rule of law. This is a question of international public law procedure. I think he also alluded to the fact that it is important to pursue this because the evidence that is collected through those investigations is evidence that is very important in terms of the ultimate prosecution of those who commit these kinds of atrocities, genocides, and are prosecuted for them after the fact.

Could he expand on that so Canadians understand how that evidence through that process is indispensable for the successful prosecution at the back end?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I think my hon. colleague answered his question. It is very clear that if we start to play politics with the definition of what genocide is, we are outside the rule of law. How can we have due process to be sure that the perpetrators rightly pay for their crimes if we identify genocide to all the massacres and the horrors of the world? We need to be very specific.

I want to mention that in my Conservative colleague's motion all the acts of ISIL are considered genocide. It is not only the Yazidis as was said in the press conference. They apply genocide to everything that ISIL has done. There is no way that we can say that this is due process, that this is the way to proceed, or that this respects the very definition of this terrible act, which is genocide.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I will share my time with the formidable member for Calgary Nose Hill.

I rise today to support the motion calling upon the Liberal government to recognize the atrocities committed by ISIS as genocide, because that is exactly what the deliberate slaughter of specific groups of innocent people is. It is genocide.

This barbaric and merciless organization is responsible for unspeakable crimes and human rights abuses against Yazidis, Christians, Assyrians, Shia Muslims, and others across the territory it controls. ISIS slaughters innocent religious and ethnic minorities, and captures prisoners and civilians whose only crimes are being or thinking differently from these terrorists. ISIS tortures and beheads children. These savages use rape and sexual violence as weapons of war and enslave innocent women, girls, and boys as a means to incite fear and to perpetuate their reign of terror. They have cruelly targeted gays and lesbians, torturing and murdering them in unimaginable ways, simply because of their sexual orientation.

We need to explicitly recognize it here in the House in support of the thousands of victims and on behalf of all Canadians. Those barbarians are ruthless. They are murderers and rapists. They are terrorists.

I want to talk about the tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children who have suffered the wrath of one of the world's most abhorrent terrorist organizations.

Samia is a 15-year-old Yazidi teenager who, along with her family, was captured by ISIS and held captive for six months. Men and women were separated, their possessions taken, and girls as young as seven years old were raped. Deemed unworthy to keep as sex slaves, older women were killed.

The British Parliament recently heard about the 16-year-old girl who had witnessed indescribably brutal violence. Her father and brother were executed in front of her. She witnessed the repeated rape of an innocent nine-year-old girl, so brutal and vicious that the girl died. She listened helplessly to the desperate screams of her friends as they were tortured and raped. She also witnessed ISIS barbarians force a mother to eat the ground-up remains of her child.

In the August heat of Raqqa, a two-year-old girl was placed inside a tin box and left in the middle of a courtyard for seven days. Her distraught mother was told that if she tried to rescue her tiny, innocent daughter, her other two children would die. The mother had seen her husband and father brutally executed by ISIS soldiers, so she knew they would follow through on their threat. After being beaten, the toddler died.

ISIS attacked the city of Sinjar in August of 2014 and tens of thousands of Yazidis fled to the mountains. Trapped, without food or water, thousands were massacred on the bloodstained slope of Mount Sinjar.

There would have been thousands more casualties if it had not been for an U.S. air attack targeting armoured ISIS fighting vehicles. The U.S. air strike is the only reason the Yazidis in the region were not completely exterminated.

After capturing the ancient city of Palmyra in May 2015, ISIS massacred over 400 people. It beheaded them and mutilated their bodies. Why? Because they had co-operated with the government and did not follow ISIS orders.

ISIS extremists were driven out of Sinjar in November 2015, after a two-day operation led by Kurdish forces and backed by U.S. air strikes. After the expulsion, Kurdish forces uncovered two mass graves where the bodies of men, women, and children were found. At least 50 of these mass graves have been found in the region.

The people committing these atrocities do not behave like human beings. They do not have a conscience. They do not believe what they are doing is wrong. They are not moved by the rule of law or due diligence or processes. They are monsters.

The victims of ISIS deserve recognition that genocide is taking place in the Middle East, and these words matter. Our government would not be the first to acknowledge this, without an unnecessary lengthy, so-called investigation. The European Parliament passed a resolution recognizing the systematic killing and persecution of religious minorities in the Middle East by ISIS as a genocide. The U.S. Congress and the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, declared that ISIS is committing genocide against religious minorities in Syria and Iraq. The British House of Commons unanimously passed a motion stating that Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria are suffering genocide at the hands of ISIS. The previous Canadian Conservative government also recognized the actions of ISIS as genocide.

In 2014, the member for Calgary Heritage said that ISIS was “committing genocide against people they see as different”, as did the previous foreign affairs minister, the member for Niagara Falls.

What else do the Liberals need to know before they call these atrocities exactly what they are? The whole world can see what is happening without an investigation, except the Liberal government. By declaring ISIS crimes as genocide, we are not precluding all of the other measures being taken to denigrate and destroy this terrorist organization.

Our allies are doing more, not less, to defeat ISIS, including declaring its actions as genocide. Calling it genocide drives their actions. Our allies are combatting this evil with full forces.

The destruction and specific targeting of minorities was the reason, along with threats to our own security, that the former government entered the war against ISIS along with our allies. It is why we continue to call for Canada's full participation, in contrast to the current Liberal government, which recently removed our CF-18 fighter jets from the mission. It continues to call it a training mission, and seems to believe a lengthy bureaucratic process will somehow provide more information that we do not already know in order to just say the truth.

The Liberals have yet to provide a single coherent reason for ending our air combat mission against these genocidal, barbaric terrorists, even after numerous attacks by ISIS around the world. Instead of pulling our CF-18s and proposing unnecessary processes, we need to explicitly stand with our allies, say what is happening, and participate fully in the combat mission against this evil. Let us not forget that Canada is not immune. We are not standing on the outside looking in. We are a part of this, and Canadians are as vulnerable to attacks as any of our allies.

While the Liberal government has worked to meet its election commitment to resettle 25,000 refugees in Canada, the religious freedom organization, One Free World International, says that it is turning its back on 400 Yazidi women and their families who could seek refuge in Canada to escape ISIS. Why is the government ignoring this proposal, while girls are sold as commodities, tortured, raped, and murdered? While the government delays, people are being exterminated.

The member for Spadina—Fort York earlier dismissed the importance of one word. Those whose lives have been changed by ISIS and its genocidal barbarism would disagree. The word “genocide” carries deep significance, particularly for the victims.

It is important for the House to pass the motion not only to band together with our allies, but also at a basic human moral level. Genocide is the most despicable, most heinous crime imaginable. Formally recognizing the actions of ISIS as genocide shows the victims of these atrocities that we respect their inalienable dignity and sanctity as human beings. It sends a clear message of support and solidarity during their deepest and darkest times.

The official opposition has continually called on the Liberal government to stay with our allies and to strongly condemn the atrocities committed by ISIS. This is our chance. I urge my colleagues from all parties, representing Canadians from every corner of our country, to support our motion today. Canada must join our EU, U.K., and U.S. allies in recognizing ISIS as a genocidal entity, responsible for horrific crimes against humanity.

Over the years, as monstrosities against mankind have happened across the world, every government in every developed country has vowed never to let these types of atrocities happen again, but they happen. We know right now that these crimes against humanity are being systematically being carried out by ISIS. The motion is our never again moment. It is incumbent upon all of us, now, to stand up to condemn ISIS and recognize its atrocities as what they are, genocide.

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like the member to comment on the following. To cripple ISIS, we have some means. Who supplies ISIS with arms and with ammunition? Who feeds ISIS financially? Who allows ISIS to smuggle and sell crude oil? Why do other countries allow other fighters from all around the world to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq? If all of those elements could be prevented, ISIS would be crippled. I would like her to comment on this.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what I think is most disturbing about this debate today is the attempts made by members of the Liberal government over and over to refuse to talk about what needs to be said and named, which is that the acts of ISIS are acts of genocide. Therefore, I will read the definition of genocide from the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948. Article II of the convention defines “genocide” as:

...any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article III defines the crimes that can be punished under the convention. They are genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide, and complicity in genocide.

ISIS is committing genocide and the Canadian government, on behalf of all Canadians who know that to be true, needs to say it.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, at our committee this last Tuesday, a witness from the One Free World International presented a brief. In his comments he suggested that 400 young Yazidi girls had been rescued, yet they did not have the means to find their way to come to Canada as refugees. To my understanding, the same presentation was also made at the committee on foreign affairs.

What is the member's view on this? Is it her view that the government should do everything it can to help bring the girls here on the basis of humanitarian and compassionate reasons as refugees to Canada? For that matter, if we knew this was happening anywhere else in this world, Canada, which wants to be known and be identified as humanitarian and compassionate in addressing refugees, would exercise every means it could to address the sexual violence against young girls.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I think all members know but maybe will not admit that the position of the previous Conservative government was to prioritize the specific targeting of religious and ethnic minorities, the most vulnerable who were facing genocide by ISIS, and to expedite bringing those specific groups to Canada as refugees, while protecting the safety and security of all Canadians.

I wholeheartedly support the expediting of refuge for the 400 Yazidi women and girls who are facing systematic and constant extermination by ISIS. They should be prioritized as refugees to Canada. Doing so would reflect the compassion and the will of Canadians who want to provide refuge for innocent people being slaughtered in the region by those terrorists.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, there is a growing and a rare consensus among western lawmakers and world leaders that the atrocities committed by ISIS against the minorities under its control constitutes the crime of genocide.

The U.S. Congress, the British Parliament, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.S. Holocaust Museum and the International Association of Genocide Scholars have preceded us in making this determination. Like John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Pope Francis, these institutions have recognized this crime by its rightful name, genocide.

What should Canada do? The facts demand that we call this genocide. Our obligations under the genocide convention demand we call this genocide. In fact, if we do not, we betray not only the victims and the cause of justice, but we fail Canadians who expect us as MPs to do better than our predecessors who sat in these very seats in addressing a crime that was rightly described by Winston Churchill as the crime of crimes.

I believe I am not alone in the House in carrying a sense of shame over the silence that resonated all too often in the western world and in this chamber as previous genocides were perpetrated. I therefore must take issue with those who have suggested that this motion, like those that were passed in the U.S. and in Europe, is somehow beyond Parliament's purview, and that recognizing genocide for what it is is strictly a legal determination to only be made by a court.

Today, the member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country said that genocide was not for us to decide. The Minister of Foreign Affairs also said that genocide was not for us to determine. They are both so very wrong.

It is true that an individual accused of this crime can only be convicted in a court of law. However, our obligation as parliamentarians and as Canadians under the genocide convention to punish the perpetrator of genocide was never meant to replace or impede our concurrent obligation to prevent genocide. Our obligation to prevent and to protect, demands that parliaments like ours make a determination, an indictment of sorts, upon which our policies are to be predicated.

Today, the member for Spadina—Fort York said, “there is this sense that simply uttering a word is going to save a life; that simply uttering a word is going to suddenly transform action on the ground”. The member for Burlington said, “it is times like these where it is compelling, when we see the videos, when we see the images, to want to name what is happening.” Then they went on to define why we should not.

We know we cannot prevent what we cannot name and because we know this, their comments are cowardly and shameful. Waiting for a legal ruling that could be years away, if ever, before raising our voice as a country would simply add another shameful chapter to the history of reticence in the face of genocide, which has plagued the last century.

As noted by Diane Orentlicher, an expert on genocide at American University's Washington College of Law:

One of the mistakes we have made in recent memory is we have performed legal gymnastics to avoid using the word 'genocide' when describing real-time atrocities...That misses the point of the [international] Genocide Convention—which is, if you wait until it's legally certain that a genocide has occurred, you have waited too long to prevent it.

Genocide has a very specific legal threshold that is different from those required to determine whether an atrocity should be considered a crime against humanity or a war crime. It is a legal threshold that in the past has sometimes been difficult to prove. However, today we have cellphones, video cameras, an instant news cycle, social media, YouTube, Periscope, and many other methods to transmit information. ISIS has used this to its disgusting advantage.

Its genocidal actions have been widely documented and disseminated. Its genocidal actions are undeniable. Its genocidal actions are unabashed and open, and its guilt, freely admitted and publicized in numerous publications, including Dabiq, the official ISIS magazine.

Mass graves have been uncovered. Documentaries of women in sexual slavery have been made. Yazidi women are being sold over the Internet. What more proof does the government need? Furthermore, ISIS genocide is neither a crime nor even a tactic, but an ideal and value unto itself, and one that is espoused by this group.

Secretary of State John Kerry put it succinctly and accurately, “[ISIS] is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions – in what it says, what it believes, and what it does”. He is right. The evidence has far exceeded the threshold for probable cause and the quotient of atrocity required for this determination.

The first question today asked of the Leader of the Opposition in moving the motion was again by the member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country. I was blown away. The first question was on what responsibility the Leader of the Opposition feels to the International Criminal Court. I would ask her and my colleagues here, should that be our first concern? Are we so down the path of moral relativism that we cannot acknowledge that our first responsibility should be to save the women who are at this very moment, while we sit here arguing over semantics, being raped and tortured by ISIS?

Our first responsibility should be to the tens of thousands who were trapped on Mount Sinjar and felt starvation and dehydration. It should be to those who cannot reach refugee camps because they will be further persecuted. It should be to those who have nowhere to go and nowhere to turn. If that is not our first responsibility and our first concern, then who are we as a country?

I have to mention two Yazidi women who have been in contact with me in Calgary. They have been through so much, and they do not understand it when the government stands up and cannot conform to its obligations under the genocide convention of preventing genocide.

This is what they told me. They told me that girls have jumped from two stories, breaking their backs while trying to escape. Many others were killed trying to escape. The Yazidis were all trapped at the top of the mountain. Many were betrayed by their neighbours, only to be captured or killed. All men are executed except for young boys, who are then brainwashed into being child suicide bombers, willing to return to destroy their previous communities. A woman refused to let go of her baby while being brutally raped, so they killed the baby in front of her and continued to rape her. The women, once rescued, are unable to go back into society because they are considered damaged goods. Recently their leader spoke out, saying that the communities must accept the women, but they are still unwelcome. There were 150 women who were put into one dark room for days with no water and no light bulb, brought out a few at a time for short periods, only to be raped and abused by their captors. There are 272 Yazidi children who will not come home because they were brainwashed by ISIS for suicide missions.

I have sadly concluded that up until now, the atrocities against these minorities have not adequately found their way into the policies of the western world, and only a tiny fraction of these communities have found their way on to western shores. This is why rediscovering our sense of urgency has to start by beginning with calling these crimes genocide. It is a word that conveys a particular level of evil, of premeditation, of monstrosity, and it should never be blithely used, but it also must not be shied away from because of the sheer gravity of the word.

Making this designation does not establish a hierarchy of suffering in the world of atrocities, but it does recognize a hierarchy of evil as defined by our laws and our most basic of values, a hierarchy that should be a critical component in defining our policy priorities. We should not be worried about what we need to do after we call this genocide. We should call it genocide and start getting that stuff done.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs just said in the House that supporting the motion would be playing politics and that it would create a dangerous precedent. I would argue rather, that voting against the motion by each member of the government would do those exact things.

Former president Bill Clinton has publicly expressed his deep regret on multiple occasions for not declaring the Rwanda slaughter as a genocide, and it would be a terrible error for us to make the same mistake. No number of future apologies, mournful eulogies, or successful prosecutions will atone for and acquit us of the error of silence.

Canada should not remain outside this extraordinary moment of consensus in the face of an extraordinary evil. I urge my colleagues to reconsider this, look in the bottom of their heart and figure out what is right, and to consider their vote based on these facts, irrespective of any policy consideration. I urge my colleagues to consider why they are here. They are here to protect the people we serve and stand up for what is right. I urge my colleagues to save many lives and support this motion.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Intergovernmental Affairs)]

Mr. Speaker, the members opposite seem to think that if they say the word genocide three times, spin around in a circle, and click their heels, suddenly something stops. It is as empty a set of rhetorical arguments as the notion that saying “Get out of Ukraine” suddenly solved the crisis in that part of the world.

Margaret Thatcher once said, “if you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman”.

In this Parliament, it seems if people want something said, they should choose the opposition; if people want something done, choose what the Liberal government is doing. What we are doing is actually setting the stage for the prosecution and the end of the atrocities. We think that these atrocities are just as evil as anyone else in this House.

What we are trying to do, and what we hope the opposition will support, is a move to declare this a genocide legally under the conventions of the United Nations. Additionally, we are not waiting for that action. We are taking actions specifically on the ground, with an increased support for the people who are fighting to stop this.

Would the members not agree that the action to stop this outweighs any word that they could ever attach to the atrocities, all of which we denounce with them?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in 50 years, when some future government stands here and apologizes to the world for inaction on this, I hope the member for Spadina—Fort York's comment, that if one calls it genocide and clicks their heels, that level of glibness, is remembered. I hope the disgusting trivializing of hundreds of thousands of people dying and being raped and how he treats it are remembered by his constituents.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Calgary Nose Hill for the courage of her convictions. She often stands up for values, and I cannot help but understand her motivation.

I understand full well how the message is received in an entirely different way, even by myself, when it comes from her. The messenger and the choice of words make all the difference. When she states that in 50 years we will remember certain comments in the House, she is evoking a type of consensus, a global conscience.

Why does the motion not mention the UN Security Council? Personally, I am not an expert on international politics. However, when I see that the United Nations is moving in a certain direction, I am reassured that we are doing the right thing, that we are on the right side of history.

I would like my colleague to comment on that.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in May 2015, the United Nations issued a report which went over this issue. The findings were irrefutable in terms of the commission of genocide by ISIL, by many groups.

As I said in my speech, we are in a time of rare consensus among many groups who usually have disparate opinions. As humanity, in order for us to stop what is happening, we need to call this genocide and focus all of our foreign policy and aid efforts on stopping this.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have been here since this morning, and I am surprised to see how little compassion there is in the House.

I would like to ask my colleague a question: Does she think that the members on the other side of the House are burying their heads in the sand when they refuse to call a genocide by its name?

No one here is suggesting not taking any action. You have to call a spade a spade and a genocide a genocide. Millions of women and children, human beings, are being raped or burned. What will it take for every member of the House to rise and say that enough is enough?

Could my colleague answer my questions? Is a genocide a genocide?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am now in my fifth year in this place. For my colleagues who are new to this place, especially my colleagues in the government, there will be many times when they will think they cannot make a difference or do something, but there are moments in this place when their actions, their words, and their votes materially impact hundreds of thousands of lives, and this is one of those moments.

My colleagues in the government need to go back to their caucus and cabinet and say that they need to do something that is right. They need to stand up for something that is right. This is not partisan. This is what it means to be a human being. For me, this is why we need to support this motion.

[Cheryl Hardcastle, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the path of destruction of the repulsive Daesh, or ISIL, needs no introduction. We have been very graphic in describing it here today.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported in 2015 that the following atrocities were perpetuated by ISIL against the Yazidi community: the rape and abduction of women and girls as young as six and boys as young as eight forced into war as soldiers. These actions were directly targeted at the Yazidi people. As well, we all know very well the ISIL crimes that have also targeted Christians, Shia Muslims, and LGBTQ individuals.

For all intents and purposes, this is genocide. We have heard today how we are compelled to use this word in moral persuasion. I am doing so, and yet I remind my colleagues that this is a term that does, indeed, have its roots in legalese.

From my experience on the Subcommittee on International Human Rights, I have gained a deeper understanding that Canada has an imperative role as a leader in shaping international policy. Canada can count on its own allies among those who have called this genocide a genocide. Beyond this label, Canada has a distinct responsibility to act where clear evidence has presented itself. Therefore, please allow me to express my practical reservations about this motion.

First, I do not want to legitimize this group's actions on behalf of its demented imaginary state any further, but, at the same time, I wish to legitimize the persecution of targeted groups of humanity who have faced atrocities. I admit, I hope, there is some immeasurable value in these communities knowing that Canada recognizes their suffering and pledges to meaningful action.

Simply labelling this a genocide will not be enough. I comprehend that this is where our differences in the House must have consensus built around them in order for us to move forward. Canada wields great influence in the world, but our influence is most useful in complement with international co-operation. We should do more than to label this a genocide. We should focus our attention on the responsible way forward and refer this issue to the UN Security Council, maximizing Canada's ability to use its influence to assist those persecuted by ISIL. This must be our priority.

Additionally, I am disappointed the Conservative motion focuses only on the atrocious actions of ISIL. We in the NDP believe it is important to recognize all atrocities committed in the region, not just by ISIL but by Syrian President Assad's forces and opposition militias. We cannot forget that there are multiple actors committing war crimes in the region and the focus on ISIL is part of a complex regional issue of dysfunction and despair.

New Democrats believe that Canada has an important role to play in addressing the threat that ISIS poses to the global community and in alleviating the suffering of civilians caught in the conflict.

We have long argued that more stress needs to be put on crucial areas that perpetuate ISIL. Canada should focus on stopping the flow of arms, funds, and foreign fighters, including improving anti-radicalization efforts. It is imperative to move now to boost humanitarian aid in areas where there would be immediate life-saving impact. We will address radicalization by building winterized camps for refugees, with water, sanitation, hygiene, health, and education for the displaced. Support in areas of Canadian expertise is where we can do so much more work, combatting sexual violence, support for survivors, protecting minorities, and providing assistance to investigate and prosecute these alleged war crimes.

Canada should be providing considerable help to vulnerable populations in Iraq and Syria. This includes basic humanitarian support, but also long-term support for recovery such as the psychosocial support that has been mentioned earlier today, to help these groups return to their communities and rebuild. Along with the international community, Canada should assist in the development of long-term reconstruction for Iraq and Syria. It will take decades to rebuild.

Canada should be asking the UN Security Council to mandate international independent investigations and refer the issue to the proper court. Canada should provide immediate financing for these investigations and gathering of evidence. We need to maximize this area of our expertise. If using the terminology “genocide” is going to hold any weight in the future for something legalese, then we have to make sure that we have this evidence collected professionally and properly because that is what the International Criminal Court requires.

Naomi Kikoler is the deputy director for the Centre for the Prevention of Genocide and she stated at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum last November that there has been virtually no effort to systematically document the crimes that have been perpetrated, to preserve evidence, to secure and preserve forensic evidence, and to ensure that mass graves are being protected so that we can have successful prosecutions in the future.

This is one area where Canada can play a crucial role in supporting financially and intellectually with our expertise in sending experts to areas that have been liberated from the Islamic State. This is very crucial if we are to take seriously the term of genocide.

Also, in keeping with the emphasis of the Prime Minister's government on humanitarian assistance, there is a great deal more that can be done to help survivors of Islamic State crimes. Most notably, the women, children, and men who have been kidnapped and subsequently freed are released from Islamic State. They need considerable help when it comes to providing that psychosocial support to help them return to their communities and rebuild their own well-being.

One unresolved matter in which Canada can actively assist those persecuted by ISIS concerns the Yazidi young women who have been referenced here several times today. I recently met with Reverend Majed el-Shafie, who is the president of One Free World International, a human rights organization that advocates for religious minorities. One Free World International has put together a proposal that includes private sponsorships in order for young Yazidi women, 400 of them, to come with their families to Canada to flourish and to be that next generation of decision-makers and policy developers who will lead with a sense of power that comes from a sense of contentment in community and compassion, not fear and might.

We need to be able to not just care for these young people and foster and nurture their development so that they can take on the roles that we as esteemed members have in their place in the world, we have to recognize how imperative it is to do this now. Let us do it.

The NDP wholeheartedly supports this proposal and I was extremely disappointed to learn that it has been sitting on the Minister of Immigration's desk for months. There is a level of frustration here when we know that there is a real tangible impact we can have right now directly related to these atrocities that we are calling genocide now.

While opposition motions such as this carry the weight of a decision in the House of Commons, they have no binding effect on the executive branch. The recognition of genocide by the executive branch has in the past come through statements by the Prime Minister or the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

We know that in the legalese we have been talking about, genocide has been defined. I have heard it described here as the definition already in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Canada is a signatory to that genocide convention.

If the government were to recognize the actions of a sovereign state as genocide, then the consequences would and could include sanctions, which are really hard for us to apply to non-state actors, even though they consider themselves a state. This is where it is really problematic.

However, in the future, it will not be problematic for us to press for an International Criminal Court treatment of these same actors if we were to make sure that our expertise is used now to collect that evidence. This is because, as impactful and emotional as the anecdotal evidence is on YouTube with the beheadings, and some of the reporting that we have heard in the news, we cannot deny that there is an International Criminal Court.

Earlier today, I heard one of my colleagues on the other side call the United Nations Security Council and the International Criminal Court dysfunctional and impotent. I have to say that if that really is the case, then we all need to think about the voluntary mechanism that is our United Nations, our world government. It is only going to be as strong and impactful as we, the member nations, let it be.

We are the sovereign state here. Let us not forget that. ISIL is not a sovereign state. There are actions that we can take so that we are making it impotent in the future, and not our own international body that we are trying to bring forward, a global community that sees security and peace for all. In order for us to be able to do that, we are going to have to recognize and face that this is only going to be as strong as we let it be.

Canada should be providing considerable help to vulnerable populations in Iraq and Syria as well. We know that basic humanitarian support not only helps communities flourish and develop strong sovereign states, but it is also what helps to alleviate and eliminate radicalization.

As a country, if we are going to use the word “genocide”, I embrace that. New Democrats continue to urge the government to boost humanitarian aid, and to prosecute alleged war crimes. In order to do that, we do have to accept our role in the international community. If all it takes to get the momentum going on very important initiatives for humanity is to install the use of the word “genocide”, I do not want to stand in the way of that.

Let us answer to the urgency of those affected by this genocide, and let us do it now.