Mr. Speaker, I rise to table a petition. I had the great honour this morning to receive a group of very courageous women who came forward with this petition. The petition was initiated by Chris McDowell of the Women Refugees Advocacy Project, along with 300 organizations across the country.
The petitioners call on the government to ensure that Yazidi survivors who are resettled in Canada are provided with the necessary psychological and counselling support as a result of the trauma they experienced. They note that since August 2014, ISIS and extremists began a campaign of genocide against Yazidi people because they were a religious minority in northern Iraq. As a result, some 6,800 Yazidi women and girls were captured and were brought into sexual slavery.
Some of those survivors are here today and with whom I had the opportunity to meet this morning. They too support the petition calling for action from the government. In particular, a survivor, Adiba, shared her story with us earlier today at a press conference. I urge the House to receive this petition.