Mr. Speaker, earlier today, five members of Parliament from this place, from five different parties, were deeply honoured to welcome to this place former Afghan members of parliament. All these former MPs are women. All of them lost their role as parliamentarians in the blink of an eye on August 15, 2021, when the Taliban again seized power and declared a war on women, a genocide on women.
These former Afghan women MPs inspire us. We were deeply honoured as a team to work together across party lines to help get them entry to Canada and safety, but the work is not done. We do not sit back and congratulate ourselves as long as women and girls in Afghanistan cannot go to school. We cannot forget them. We cannot turn our page and say that was then and this is now. Now is the time for action to protect the women and girls of Afghanistan.