Mr. Speaker, last week it was revealed that the Liberals know that people who have fought for ISIS have returned to Canada. The first response from the Liberals about this was that they were going to provide “reintegration support” for these people. When asked about what this meant, the Prime Minister said that he was working to “ensure that resources are in place to facilitate disengagement from violent ideologies”, and that he was there to “help them disengage from this terrorist ideology.”
The problem with this response is that it fails to recognize that these people left Canada to fight for a terrorist death cult and have perpetrated terrorist attacks around the world, and claimed responsibility for attacks such as the one in Edmonton where a U-Haul van was used to brutalize Canadian citizens; sold Yazidi women as slaves on open markets, with thousands of these women still being held in captivity; perpetrated genocide; burnt people in cages; fought against members of the Canadian military; fought against members of our allies; and regularly and actively threaten and call for violence against Canadian citizens.
The first response of the government should not be figuring out how it will provide “reintegration support” for these people. Its response should be to figure out how it will surveil and contain them to ensure that they do not harm more people and, indeed, bring the full force of Canadian justice against them for fighting for a terrorist organization.
In 2013, our former Conservative government introduced legislation whereby an individual could be charged with leaving or attempting to leave the country with the intent of committing an act of terrorism. Today, the Liberals know there are people who have undertaken this very activity in Canada, and they are failing Canadians, first of all, by prioritizing reintegration support for these criminals and, second, refusing to send a message to the world that if a Canadian goes to fight for ISIS, Canada will punish them. This can be the only response to the Yazidis who have survived genocide at the hands of these people. This can be the only response to our American allies who are eyeing their northern border and wondering why we would do anything other than this. This can be the only response to Canadians who are watching this and wondering why the government is not doing more to keep them safe. This can be the only response to the men and women in Canada's military who have fought to contain this threat. This can be the only response to people and their families who have faced U-Haul vans, suicide bombs, a shooting in their place of work and of their family. This can be the only response to millions of people whose lives have been impacted and uprooted by the vile acts of these people. Any other response is an injustice and cowardice that puts the rights of criminals ahead of the rights of victims and the safety of Canadians. That is wrong.
Therefore, I asked why the Prime Minister is promising reintegration support for these people instead of directing these resources to the victims of ISIS, to our military, and to efforts to surveil and bring these people to justice. Why has the Prime Minister provided two-year old data to Parliament regarding how many ISIS fighters are in the country? Why are the Liberals hiding this information? Why will the Prime Minister not provide more information on why the government is cancelling and revoking passports for people who are travelling?
We should not be sitting here talking about reintegration support, but about how we are making every effort to make Canada and Canadians safe, and to bring these people to justice.