Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time this evening with the member for Edmonton Strathcona.
I am pleased to rise in the debate tonight to support Canada's recent decision to extend Operation Unifier for the next two years. This is a very welcome commitment to the promotion of stability, not just in Ukraine, but in the wider scope of eastern Europe. It is also an important commitment to the preservation of international law in the face of Russian aggression.
Ukraine represents a strategic opportunity for NATO member countries at this time to display a strong and unified front against Russian aggression, both by providing military support to Ukraine and by keeping up the diplomatic pressure on Russia over its role in the occupation of Crimea and its role in eastern Ukraine.
In addition to Canada's military involvement, though, there is an important role for us to play in supporting Ukraine's democratic development. In the former soviet state, if we are to have long-term stability, Canada needs to be a partner in supporting Ukraine's civil society organizations, in helping to build good governance and economic stability, as well as in providing the military training support and non-lethal military aid that we are providing.
The deep corruption in Ukraine is also a threat to its own stability, as much as I would say are the Russian-backed fighters in eastern Ukraine. Therefore, Canada's role in Ukraine must include assistance in addressing this corruption for the long-term positive progress of Ukraine.
In the limited time I have tonight, I do not want to forget to thank the Canadian troops who are doing the training in Ukraine. One of the things we heard in Washington when I was there two weeks ago with the defence committee was the recognition from the Americans that there are two things they can count on from Canadian troops: one is their high skill levels, and two is their professionalism. As much as the training is about skills, I think it is also very important that the professionalism of the Canadian military become an example for those in Ukraine, where too often corruption has played a major role.
In the storm of everyday events around the world, and I suppose I would say the storm of tweets from the U.S. President, it can be too easy to forget that the situation is quite fragile in eastern Ukraine. The United Nations estimates that more than 10,000 civilian deaths have occurred since the beginning of this conflict. Now there is an estimate that 3.8 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and that 1.7 million of those people have been displaced by this conflict.
We often pay attention, as we should, to the number of displaced and internally displaced people in the Middle East, but we should not at the same time forget that the same situation is of crisis proportions in eastern Ukraine. We understand that the humanitarian situation, as of the end of January, early February, began to deteriorate even faster in the Donetsk region, amid the outbursts of violence and the disruption of the supposed ceasefire. According to UNICEF, at least one million children are now in need of humanitarian assistance. Again, the daily violations of the ceasefires that are taking place put the children's physical safety and psychological well-being at risk as well.
At the same time, we have to remind ourselves that the human rights situation on both sides of this conflict is often not very good. The reports on civilians in detention, both on the Russian side of the line and in Ukraine, are subject to serious human rights abuses. Certainly we have more influence over what happens in Ukraine. This is an example where Canada needs to work with the authorities to better train police, to better train prison officials, and to give them that example of Canadian professionalism that is of such a high standard here in our country. However, we will also have to keep up diplomatic pressure on Ukraine to do better in the human rights and democracy area. There is no better way, no more secure way, to defeat what Russia intends to do in eastern Ukraine than by promoting democracy in Ukraine itself.
The NDP remains concerned by the ongoing Russian-backed violence in Ukraine and the continued violation of ceasefire agreements. That is why we support the training mission, and that is why we support continuing to provide non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine.
We will not go as far as the Conservatives have gone tonight because we have concerns that the trade in small arms remains difficult to police. It is difficult to make sure that arms that get shipped to Ukraine remain in the hands of those they are intended for and do not get—