Sarkis Assadourian

[Points of Order, October 18th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make some corrections to page 6276 of Hansard , October 17, in the debate on Bill C-36. In the second column, third paragraph, it should read “USS Cole navy ship”.

The second correction is on the same page, same column, in seventh paragraph, which should read “Algeria” and not “Nigeria”.

The third correction is in the eighth paragraph, third line from the bottom, which should read “in a” and not “from the”.

The blues were late, by the way. That is why I could not make the corrections.

[Anti-Terrorism Act, October 17th, 2001]

Madam Speaker, I too would like to express my total support for Bill C-36 and the fight against terrorism. I would also like to take a moment to congratulate our Prime Minister for going to Halifax to bid farewell to our soldiers. I hope when everything is said and done they will all come back safe and sound to their families and loved ones. I also hope they will come here one day so we can honour them in the House of Commons.

Over the last couple of days we have had many discussions. During one of the discussions a colleague from this side of the House mentioned the fact that any time we have a demonstration that turns violent it is a terrorist act. Someone else from the other side mentioned that it is not a terrorist act but rather a free expression of will.

As far as I am concerned, I do not think we can come up with a scientific definition of what the word terrorism means.

I will give an example. In the 1950s Nelson Mandela, the leader of the African National Congress, was a terrorist for the white supremacist government in South Africa. I am glad to say that he was here a couple of years ago and will be here again to receive an honorary citizenship for Canada.

To re-emphasize the point I made earlier, there is no scientific definition for the word terrorism.

However, having said that, there is no justification whatsoever for anyone to engage in terrorist acts, especially the ones that happened on September 11 which killed over 5,000 innocent people working in their offices.

I want to focus my next few minutes not on the bill alone. I would like to say that to fight terrorism is like having a chair. It needs four legs to have balance.

I think the Minister of Justice is doing a fantastic job on the legal end of it. However what is missing in our fight against terrorism here, and especially in the United States, is the intelligence aspect of it.

As we all know, the Middle East is a hotbed of international problems. In the early 1950s attempts were made in Iran to overthrow the shah. The CIA was involved. It brought back the shah but it failed to protect its interests in the Middle East in 1979 when the shah was thrown out by Ayatollah Khomeini. I think we have regretted that from that time onward to this day because we were not able to predict what was going to happen following the shah's fall . Then we had the Iran-Iraq war.

We then had the Lebanese civil war in 1983 where 241 U.S. marines were bombed by terrorist acts. Again, the Americans were not able to get the intelligence required to defend themselves or prevent these terrorist acts.

In the late 1980s the U.S.S.R. fell. It was the biggest empire in the world. Everybody was afraid. It was a powerful nation for over 1,000 years but nobody knew it was crumbling from within.

The CIA and the FBI have a $28 billion budget. If they could not figure out what was happening in the Soviet Union for the last 50 years, then I am really concerned about what will happen in the next 50 years.

What happened on September 11 was, I think, an intelligence failure. The U.S. knew full well that the same place had been bombed by terrorists 10 years ago. Obviously they failed, and I am glad, but they should have failed this time around too. The U.S. knew this thing was coming up.

In history there are many situations that could have been prevented if we only had good intelligence. We have failed to have that.

The bombing of a U.S. navy ship in the south Yemen Sea was due to an intelligence failure. The African embassy bombing two years was also due to an intelligence failure.

We had many warnings that our intelligence system was failing us but we never took the time to review the status of our western intelligence.

Over the last few weeks there were quite a few documentaries on CBC telling us about the failures of our intelligence system, the American intelligence system and the whole western intelligence system to prevent the attack that took place on September 11.

If I may say so, I think this discussion should focus on improving our intelligence system so we can prevent further attacks.

To describe what is happening now, I would describe it as a snake. The snake's head is in Nigeria.

The House may recall three or four years ago that the foreign affairs committee had a delegation of Algerian parliamentarians here on an exchange program. The people in that country had a coup d'état against the democratically elected government. It was in the news, on TV and in newspapers over the last couple of years. Individuals were concerned that Muslim fundamentalists were taking power from the democratically elected government. From that time on things have changed. All disguised fundamentalists have now congregated in Afghanistan.

The hotbed of this conflict is of course the Middle East. One does not have to say anything more when they say Middle East because everyone knows what has been happening there over the last 50 years, and more intensely over the last year or so.

I believe that by bombing Afghanistan only part of the problem has been solved, not the whole problem. We have to go to the root of the problem. No matter how many laws we pass in this place, there will not be a final solution to terrorist acts.

As far as I am concerned, rule number one is intelligence. Rule number two is more intelligence. Rule number three is even more intelligence to fight terrorism.

[Kofi Annan, October 15th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I ask the House to join me today in congratulating UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who was awarded the Nobel peace prize last week.

The UN is at the forefront of the international struggle for peace, security and freedom. This award recognizes the personal and professional commitment of Kofi Annan to the shared values of human dignity and global security.

The world is facing many challenges right now that will test the fabric of our global society. This award recognizes the achievements of the United Nations in facilitating resolutions to conflicts around the world and striving toward a better quality of life for all.

I congratulate the international community for persevering in the struggle of ever changing issues that confront us. I congratulate Kofi Annan and all Canadians whose work with the UN all over the world makes such a difference for all mankind.

[Airline Industry, September 26th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport. Following the hijacking attacks on New York and Washington, the airline industry has been in a free fall with airline employees and airport workers facing unprecedented layoffs. Air Canada alone will lay off over 9,000 employees.

My riding of Brampton Centre is home to many airline sector employees and many of the local industries will be affected by the severe downturn in this industry.

Will the Minister of Transport inform the House what steps the government has taken to overcome the negative effects of the terrorist attacks in Washington and New York?

[Supply, September 25th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, could the hon. member for Scarborough East comment on the following? After the September 11 strike, which I viewed as an attack on us, and after NATO changed the wording of article 5 to reflect that any attack on any member of NATO is an attack on all of NATO, how can the hon. member from the opposition describe the action which may be taken in the future as an offensive act?

How can the hon. member make this statement when we were attacked on September 11 and NATO said that an attack on one is an attack on all? Could the hon. member comment on the words offensive and defensive?

[Terrorism, September 18th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, following the horrible events of September 11, many of my constituents have telephoned or visited my office to sign a book of condolences and to share their grief with our American friends.

In response I have written to the American Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci on behalf of my constituents of Brampton Centre to extend sincere sympathies and regrets to the families and friends of the victims of this tragic terrorist attack on the United States of America.

Canada and the U.S. share more than the world's longest undefended border. We share a common view of a free and democratic world that will stand the onslaught of evil no matter where it might originate. We also share in the pain and suffering of the victims and pray that their families will find the strength to persevere in the absence of their loved ones.

God bless America. God bless Canada.

[Attack on the United States, September 17th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I was following the hon. member's comments very closely. My question is, after everything is said and done and we retaliate and eliminate Mr. bin Laden and his followers, will that be the end or does the member see some other venue to follow, a plan a or a plan b that will bring an end to this kind of terrorism that will take away innocent lives from society forever?

[Attack on the United States, September 17th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I too would like to join my colleagues and Canadians from coast to coast to convey my condolences for this terrible act of terrorism which took place last week on September 11 and claimed over 5,000 innocent lives. This is really tragic. I believe this is a higher percentage of casualties than the attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor some 55 years ago.

I have received many messages of condolences from constituents in my riding of Brampton Centre who are very concerned. As a consequence I have a book of condolences in my riding where people can sign their names. They are supporting Canada and other countries that have condemned this act of terrorism.

I am pleased to report that three firefighters from Brampton have gone to New York to help firefighters there. I was really proud of them when they were on TV. I am sure the House joins me in supporting the Brampton firefighters for their work and showing appreciation for the duties they are performing to save lives in New York.

My question concerns her comments about the Muslim religion and the fanaticism aspect. I was born in Syria which is a Muslim country. I am the first and only Syrian born member of parliament. I never witnessed discrimination even though I was a Christian living in a Muslim country. To the contrary, we were called Armenian brothers.

Would my colleague comment on how she approaches the issue of Muslim fanaticism when the Muslim religion calls for peace and co-operation among all religions?

[Armenia, June 1st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to thank all members who joined in the debate, especially those who expressed themselves in a positive way. I did not hear anybody objecting to it, but I cannot say the support was 1,000%. However I am quite happy with the content of the speeches delivered in the Chamber regarding Motion No. 285.

I will read a message the Armenian community received on April 24 from the Prime Minister. The message stated:

I am honoured to extend my sincere greetings to all those participating in the activities commemorating the 86th anniversary of the calamity suffered by the Armenian community.

Canadians recognize and deplore the demise of such a large number of Armenians during the turmoil of the First World War and its aftermath. Many survivors subsequently immigrated to Canada, and the contributions they and their children have made to Canada has greatly enriched our country. Let us thus be reminded how important it is to work together to eliminate intolerance and fanaticism wherever it appears.

Please accept my very best wishes.

It was signed by the Prime Minister of Canada. This is exactly what the Canadian Armenian community is asking for. Victims and survivors of the genocide and their children need a simple recognition that yes, a genocide took place.

I admit it happened in the last century. It happened 86 years ago in a place far away. However the Armenian genocide is the only genocide of the last century that has not been officially recognized as a genocide. Being the first, we would think people would recognize it in order to set an example for others from which to learn.

Even Adolf Hitler said “After all, who remembers the atrocities of the Armenians and who shall remember what happened in World War II to other minorities?” I regret that we did not learn from history. It was repeated from 1939 to 1945. It has been repeated since then in many parts of the world: Bosnia, the Balkans, Africa, Cambodia, all over the world. Someone gave me a figure that in the last century 95 million people died as a result of crimes against humanity.

Basically my point is that 93.5 million were recognized and 1.5 million were left out. I have no answer when people ask me why that is so, why everybody is recognized except the Armenian people.

At one point on one day we as representatives of the people of Canada must collectively come together to give the answer. We must set history right for future generations so that we can say proudly that the House spoke to the issue, spoke unanimously and spoke the truth without being revisionist and without changing history as it was in 1915.

As I said in my speech earlier, Deir ez-Zour is the Auschwitz of the Armenian people. I have been there and I hope members will get a chance to go to Syria and visit Deir ez-Zour so they will recall the conversations we have had in the House today and in previous years. I was hoping we would put an end to it today, but we will continue. We look forward to co-operation and to working together with the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey. After all, these two countries are neighbours and must live together.

My feeling was that Canada could play a positive role, but without a recognition of genocide by Turkey and the G-7 countries we cannot go forward and ask these countries to totally forget the past.

Armenians are prepared to forgive. However in order for one to forgive, someone must ask for forgiveness. We must go forward from there. Mr. Speaker, if one is to ask for it, this is the time.

I thank everyone for joining in the debate. I hope we continue the discussion after we leave this place, because we did not come to a conclusion. However I think it was a good exercise. I congratulate everyone for joining in and debating the issue.

[Armenia, June 1st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it is unanimous consent to agree to the motion.