Peter Kent

[Business of Supply, November 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for reminding us that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done.

I wonder if the Prime Minister in his thespian experience ever came across the story of Caesar's wife, who Caesar divorced on the grounds only of rumours of opprobrious behaviour by her on the fact that he did not want to be associated with someone under suspicion.

I would ask my colleague whether he believes that if the ministers who accepted these baskets of $1,500 cheques did nothing wrong, were not vulnerable to the appearance of compromise, it is the appearance of their vulnerability that is unacceptable.

[Foreign Affairs, November 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, some weeks ago, former Liberal justice minister and human rights champion Irwin Cotler, among others, called on the minister to defy the UN's secretive and hypocritical tradition and make Canada's vote public. The minister refused, as he did again today.

We recognize the Liberals' willingness to mute Canada's principled voice in their shameless quest for a security council seat, but will the minister, today, reconsider, demonstrate leadership on the human rights file, and tell Canadians how Canada voted on Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Cuba?

[Foreign Affairs, November 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we have just witnessed the annual ritual of some of the world's worst human rights abusers elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The good news is that Russia has been denied the seat it so long took for granted. However, China, Saudi Arabia, and Cuba will be seated. The vote, as usual, was secret. However, the vote is not the minister's. It belongs to all Canadians.

Will the minister tell Canadians how Canada voted on these four notorious human rights abusing nations?

[UNESCO World Heritage Site, October 27th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the United Nations agency created to celebrate education, science, and history has embarrassed and disgraced itself yet again, allowing itself to be used as a tool for hate.

At the annual meeting of UNESCO's annual world heritage committee, a resolution was passed that effectively denies Jewish and Christian ties to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, and that ignores the importance of Jerusalem to the three monotheistic religions that share its history.

As the site of two biblical temples, Temple Mount is the holiest place in Judaism, as well as the Muslim holy site of the al-Aqsa Mosque, al-Haram al-Sharif.

Denying the existence of the Jewish temples is only a blood libel step away from denying the existence of Jews. Canada must strongly protest and condemn this latest hateful manipulation of our shared history.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, October 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, many thousands of Yazidis in Iraq, particularly women and girls, are not recognized by the United Nations as refugees. As internally displaced persons, they are stuck in a terrible limbo, enduring discrimination and segregation in Muslim-run UN camps.

German Chancellor Merkel has called for coalition forces to create a safe zone for Yazidis.

What about Canada? When will the Liberals address Canada's genocide convention obligations and actually act?

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, October 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Immigration tried to excuse the Liberals' refusal to rescue Yazidi refugees in Iraq by saying that his officials could not get to them because of the battle to liberate Mosul. We hope that many Yazidi prisoners will escape as ISIS retreats. There are already thousands of Yazidi women and girls in the relative, if inadequate, safety of western Iraq.

Words are not enough. When will the Liberals fulfill Canada's genocide convention obligations and act?

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the allied coalition battle for the liberation of Mosul will, we hope, see the liberation of more Yazidi women and girls who have been enslaved and brutalized by the ISIS death cult, but the villages, towns, and cities that have been freed are largely uninhabitable. Any Yazidis freed will have only inadequate sanctuary in the Kurdish region of Iraq, unrecognized as refugees by the UN.

Why will Canada not fulfill its genocide convention obligations and circumvent unworkable UNHCR protocols?

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, during the special immigration committee study of the Yazidi genocide, a Liberal member suggested that, because of the Yazidi refugees' ancient culture, they might not integrate well into Canadian society. That suggestion was properly rejected by genocide survivor, Nadia Murad, and Canadians of Yazidi origin.

There are many Canadians, including descendants of the Holocaust and other genocides, offering private sponsorship of Yazidis, particularly widows and girls. Why is the minister and the Liberal government ignoring them?

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, to respond to the first part of the question, yes, indeed, we saw Daesh or ISIS sweeping across Iraq and Syria in 2014. But as Daesh attacked and progressed across the region and Iraqi and Syrian forces retreated and abandoned communities, we were unable to have access. It was only in the last year that Yazidis have moved to places where they are accessible for processing by Canadian immigration officials for consideration, if the government would change its focus to accept Yazidi refugees specifically.

Yes, the motion today could make many more requests on the government for action, but I think, first and foremost, if we can convince the government to rethink its basic position of looking away and refusing to recognize specifically our responsibilities under the genocide convention to the victims of the Yazidi genocide, then I think we will have accomplished a good deal.

I know that among the members on the government benches, there are many who agree with us, and were they not whipped, would vote with us to pass this resolution.

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the opportunity to respond.

What the government needs to do and should do is rethink its general policy of being blind to the religious or ethnic background of refugees generally. More specifically, after recognizing the genocide back in June of this year, it needs to to respond appropriately to the most vulnerable, those most at risk in this continuing genocide, to make exceptions and respond to the United Nations direction under the genocide convention to do more to rescue these people. Rescue comes in many forms.

In response to the Yazidi who have survived the genocide and have literally walked across their country and are now sitting in limbo in northern Iraq, where they are not recognized by the UN as refugees, I think the government should unilaterally rethink its policy. We know it has access. Foreign Affairs has sent a small mission there to investigate the situation in the Kurdish autonomous region. It needs to circumvent the UNHCR restrictions that do not recognize these Yazidi as refugees, and should act to bring at least some of them to Canada for resettlement.