Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the situation in Lebanon. The armed conflict is intensifying and widening. The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens from harm. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and her department have been asking Canadian citizens and permanent residents to leave Lebanon as soon as possible. For months, she has been warning that the war could expand. Beyond warnings, the minister and her department have also secured hundreds of seats on flights to safety for Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
The Minister of Immigration is also working hard to ensure that Canadian citizens and permanent residents in Lebanon whose documents are out of date will be able to renew their documents and fly out of the conflict zone.
Because of the war, the Canada Border Services Agency is issuing a temporary halt on removals to Lebanon.
According to the Global Affairs website:
Canada and Lebanon have strong ties. The Lebanese community in Canada includes between 200,000 and 400,000 people and an estimated 40,000-75,000 Canadians live in Lebanon. The relationship is strengthened by close cultural ties and common participation in La Francophonie.
Canada is represented in Lebanon by its embassy in Beirut and increased its diplomatic presence there in response to the crisis in Syria. Lebanon is represented in Canada by its embassy in Ottawa.
Since 2016, Canada has committed over $475 million to support Lebanon’s stability and resilience as it copes with the effects of the conflicts in Iraq and Syria and the catastrophic explosion at the Beirut port in 2020. Lebanon now hosts more than an estimated 865,350 Syrian refugees that have been added to the country’s already existing refugee population, which also includes Palestinians, Iraqis and Kurds.
It goes on to state:
Between 2016 and 2022 Canada will have committed over $4 billion [in] humanitarian, development, military, and stabilization and security assistance for the region, including Lebanon, with an emphasis on building stability, governance, and long-term resilience.
In the immediate aftermath of the August 4, 2020 explosion of the Port of Beirut, Canada provided $30 million in emergency humanitarian assistance and early-recovery support, and then announced another $20 million in August 2021 to support the economic recovery of Beirut. This funding has helped trusted partners address immediate humanitarian needs and is supporting efforts for early recovery and resilience.
It also states:
Canada’s support of Lebanon’s security and social stability includes projects that aim to reduce tensions between refugees and host communities under pressures, as well as community security projects that strengthen the capacity of local police services and the Lebanese Armed Forces to prevent and respond to conflict and violent acts of extremism.
I wish that the October 7 attack on Israel had not happened, that those innocent civilians had not been killed and that those innocent hostages had not been taken.
Netanyahu and his regime's focus has never been on making an effort to release hostages; it has been on destruction and the killing of over 40,000 innocent women and children. Now there is the expansion of the war to Lebanon, where over 1,000 people have been killed; we do not know how many more will be killed. Netanyahu and his regime have no respect for international and humanitarian laws. Despite the fact that allies have demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, he has ignored every call.
Can members imagine being a Lebanese person currently living in Lebanon, which is suffering the worst economic collapse since the 19th century? The Lebanese lira suffered a 90% devaluation. There was the experience, in 2020, of the Beirut explosion disaster. The vast majority of Lebanese people and members of the Lebanese government remained neutral in the conflict that developed in the Middle East. We learned Lebanese history in school in 1967. Unlike some of our region's neighbouring countries, Lebanon maintained neutrality and did not get involved in the so-called Six-Day War.
In 2006, Lebanon experienced hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, in a conflict very similar to what has been happening over the past week. At the outset of the conflict, more than 1,000 Lebanese people had been killed, with more than 3,600 injured. Around a quarter of all Lebanon's inhabitants, close to one million people, have been displaced. The Israeli bombings have turned thousands of homes to rubble.
The resolution called for an end to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah; the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, to be replaced by Lebanese and United Nations interim forces in Lebanon; and the disarmament of armed groups, with no armed forces other than UN forces and Lebanese military, south of the Litani River. It was unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council on August 11, 2006. The next day, the Lebanese cabinet unanimously approved the resolution; the Israeli cabinet voted 24 to zero in favour of it.
The situation in Lebanon is devastating, and there is a fear of expanding conflict in the region. We demand an immediate ceasefire to save innocent lives in Lebanon, Gaza and Israel.