Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to speak to this House in support of Canada's continued participation in the stabilization force, or SFOR, in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
I am particularly delighted, because in my capacity as the chair of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs, in November 1997, I had the privilege of heading a delegation of eight members of the defence and foreign affairs committee on a visit to Bosnia.
We saw with our own eyes the components of the peace process in Bosnia and Canada's contribution to its implementation. Our military participation in the stabilization force headed by NATO ensures peace is maintained.
Reconstruction is taking place with the help of the Canadian International Development Agency, non-governmental organizations and the Canadian Forces. Efforts at establishing democracy are being carried out in co-operation with the Organization on Security and Co-operation in Europe, the international police group and other organizations.
Based on all we saw, we concluded that considerable progress had been made in Bosnia in nearly two years, that is, since the signing of the general peace accord known as the Dayton agreement.
We were very proud to see and learn that Canada had played a major role in military and civilian aspects of this peace agreement. Since considerable effort had been expended and progress made, all members of our delegation felt the need for a continued international presence in Bosnia after the expiry of SFOR's current mandate in June 1998.
There was a consensus in our group that Canada should remain among the forerunners in this international effort.
Let me tell the House what we saw and how this led us to our conclusion. Our first stop was in Aviano, Italy. This U.S. air force base was the location from which six Canadian CF-18 fighter aircraft flew over 250 operational missions, enforcing the no fly zone over Bosnia last year.
From Aviano we proceeded to Bosnia where over the next three days we visited all four major Canadian military facilities. We started at Black Bear Camp in Velika Kladusa where we received detailed briefings on military operations in the Canadian area of responsibility which is roughly the size of Prince Edward Island.
Coupled with the difficulties presented by the very mountainous terrain in this area, the challenge of communication and travel for our Canadian troops is immense.
It is not easy to describe the pride we felt to see our Canadian soldiers successfully meeting these challenges. We were struck by the high degree of professionalism and the great pride among the Canadian military personnel serving in the region. We were impressed as well by their understanding of the mission and their commitment to it.
We were all convinced that, if more Canadians had had the opportunity to see what we saw over there, they too would feel great pride in them.
We were also struck by the danger they were facing in this mission. One of the first briefings we attending was a mine awareness session. We saw mines that were virtually undetectable, buried in a small mine field used for training purposes. We were shown the equipment the mine removal crew wore. We were given explanations of how to avoid or to deactivate mines, and this gave us considerable food for thought.
It was not merely a matter of learning to detect or to deactivate mines, but also of learning to live with this insidious and ever-present threat.
We were told not to leave the paved area of a road when getting out of a vehicle. We were told not to walk on the grass surrounding local villages. We were told that farmers fields were sowed with mines and not crops. We saw miles and miles of yellow tape stretched throughout the land marking potentially mined areas.
We were also told that there were probably one million mines left in Bosnia. We were moved by the horrendous impact that mines can have on day to day living. It is difficult for Canadians living in such a rich and free country as Canada to understand such a horrible situation.
After this trip, we were convinced that Canada had to maintain its participation in SFOR in Bosnia. I was also very proud of Canada's efforts to rid the world of antipersonnel mines.
I will tell you what else we saw in Bosnia. In Drvar, we visited a school that Canadian field engineers helped rebuild under one of our restoration projects. We also took note of the enormous task of reconstruction that will have to be undertaken to repair that country's infractructure, to restore what the war detroyed: hospitals, electric substations, bridges and roads. It will take years.
Everywhere we went, people told us how important these projects are. They also asked us to thank the Canadian people and to convey their gratitude for what Canadians have done to help rebuild their country.
The military aspects of Dayton have been a clear success. The fighting has stopped as far as help to guarantee that municipal elections take place peacefully and as far as actively supporting the UN international police task force in the restructuring of the civil police are concerned. SFOR continues to monitor weapon storage sites and SFOR is also engaged in many other projects to help recovery.
However, the democratization process in Bosnia has been more than slow. The main issues yet to be settled are the inability of hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and refugees to go home and the presence of individuals accused of war crimes.
We saw why it is so hard for people to go home. Despite minor reconstruction work in some areas, houses in ruins can be seen everywhere in the countryside. In village after village, we saw houses that were destroyed by bombings during the war and others that were destroyed to prevent their rightful occupants to come back to them.
For all these reasons, I will be glad to give my unconditional support to the continuing presence of the Canadian armed forces in Bosnia.
