Mr. Speaker, Sri Lanka has a long history of enforced disappearances, white van abductions and missing persons. I have met with many families of the disappeared who have been protesting each and every day for the last three years demanding answers to the fate of their loved ones.
I met a teacher who handed over her husband to the Sri Lankan military in May 2009. She saw him and others get on a military bus. The men and women are still missing.
Last month the new president of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, concluded that those missing persons are dead. These assertions have sent chills and despair among the families, many of whom live in Canada.
The families are demanding answers. How does he know the missing are indeed dead? How did they die? Who is responsible for their death? The families need to know and in order to have closure and end impunity, a thorough, independent international investigation that leads to truth and justice is needed now more than ever.