Rona Ambrose

[Foreign Affairs, June 14th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, this is not actually about him.

How many people will have to be murdered by ISIS before the Prime Minister recognizes that it is committing genocide? Canada has always stood up for human rights, but with this Prime Minister, we are now one of the only countries that has not recognized these horrors as genocide. That is shameful.

How far will ISIS have to go before the Liberals declare that these killings constitute genocide?

[Foreign Affairs, June 14th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, this is a low point for the Liberal Party and it is a dark spot on Canada's record as a defender of human rights.

Liberal MPs actually said calling the crimes committed by ISIS a genocide would be a rush to judgment. Other Liberals said it does not matter because genocide is just a word.

It is more than a word for the thousands of Yazidi girls being murdered and enslaved by ISIS.

Will the Liberal government do the right thing and support the motion to declare ISIS crimes a genocide, yes or no?

[Foreign Affairs, June 14th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the European Union, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.K. House of Commons, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and others have shown moral clarity by standing up and clearly stating what is obvious: ISIS crimes against religious minorities, women and children, and gays and lesbians are genocide.

Meanwhile, the Liberal government tries to hide behind weasel words and says it may constitute a genocide.

It is totally shameful. If all our allies can find the moral resolve, why can our Prime Minister not do so?

[Business of Supply, June 9th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, one of the things that has crossed my mind is that the government is uncomfortable with calling this a genocide because it would have to explain why it has not done more. The Liberals are not doing more. In fact, they are now doing less. They withdrew our CF-18s. They are not part of the bombing combat mission to degrade and destroy ISIS, which is this genocidal cult, murdering thousands of people, beheading children, enslaving women and girls. We just heard last week about 19 girls being burned alive because they refused to be sex slaves. I do not know what more the Liberals need.

If the House declares this a genocide, yes, there may be consequences and, yes, Canada may have to do more. However, what is wrong with that? Is that not what we want to do?

Let us all support the motion, and then let us have a debate about what Canada does next. What do we do next to make a difference?

[Business of Supply, June 9th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately the Yazidi girls cannot file a petition and they cannot hire a lawyer to defend them.

Here is the opportunity for people who are elected representatives to stand and take a moral position in parliaments of western democracies, just like the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.K., and the E.U. Canada was always a country that would step up first. People are asking why Canada is almost the last country in the western world to declare this a genocide.

Yes, there will be debates about what obligations Canada will have if we call this a genocide, but what is stopping the government from taking the moral decision? Where is the Liberals' moral clarity on this issue? What are they waiting to find out? What more do they need to know before they call this a genocide?

[Business of Supply, June 9th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it is not surprising that Canada is now one of the only countries in the western world that has not declared this a genocide, and the member stands and starts talking about legalese. This is an issue of morality, it is an issue of moral courage, and this is the Liberals' answer to us? It is unbelievable.

The member has an opportunity to stand with all the members of the U.S. House of Representatives, all the members of the U.K. House of Commons, and members of the E.U. Parliament. What is stopping the government from calling this a genocide? What more do the Liberals possibly need to see?

The sad part is that ISIS does not do this stuff in secret. It does not do it in stealth. It is on YouTube. The whole world can see what is happening, and the government is turning a blind eye to it.

[Business of Supply, June 9th, 2016]

moved:

That the House agree that ISIS is responsible for: (a) crimes against humanity aimed at groups such as Christians, Yezidis, and Shia Muslims, as well as other religious and ethnic minorities in Syria and Iraq; (b) utilizing rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war and enslaving women and girls; and (c) targeting gays and lesbians who have been tortured and murdered; and, as a consequence, that the House strongly condemn these atrocities and declare that these crimes constitute genocide.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to speak to the Conservative motion calling on this House to recognize the actions of ISIS as genocide.

I will be splitting my time with the member for Thornhill, who has for many years been an advocate for human rights.

As we all know, this past Monday marked the 72nd anniversary of D-Day and the allied landing at Normandy. Every year on June 6, we take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices of the Canadian troops, generations past, all in the name of stopping a tyrannical and bloodthirsty regime.

World War II saw the rise of fascism and anti-Semitism across much of the western world. Our troops fought valiantly for Canada, but they also fought to put an end to the horrors that were being inflicted across Europe by the Nazi regime through the Holocaust.

It was a campaign of genocide and is rightly recognized as such. Since that time, Canada and our allies have made a solemn commitment to never forget, and we recommit ourselves to that promise every year.

A commitment to remember also requires a commitment to act. Let there be no mistake: there is a need to act once more now. The terrorist group ISIS continues to leave a trail of destruction across an already unstable Middle East, and thousands of innocent lives have paid the price.

It is sometimes easy to forget how real the ISIS threat is, protected as we are here in Canada where we enjoy relative peace and prosperity.

Yet as we speak, the brutal, jihadist terrorist regime known as ISIS is systematically exterminating Christians, Assyrians, Yazidis, Shia Muslims, and countless other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq. They have tortured and beheaded children. They have raped women and sold them into sexual slavery.

There is a word for this kind of deliberate slaughter of specific groups of innocent people. It is genocide.

This campaign of genocide is waged against some of the most ancient and most venerable peoples of the world, many of whom can trace their heritage well into antiquity.

They have for many years lived as small, defenceless minorities; in fact, for centuries. They have faced prejudice and persecution before, but the strength of their faiths and communities kept them together in their historic homelands. Against the vicious onslaught of ISIS, however, they must leave or face enslavement and certain death.

Stories coming out of Iraq are chilling. ISIS has set up so-called sex-slave markets where girls literally have their teeth checked before being sold on the market. We just heard this week about another 19 Yazidi girls who were burned alive because they refused to become sex slaves.

The girls are regularly beaten, whipped, burned, and raped. This is both disturbing and heartbreaking. In 2016, it cannot be tolerated.

Not only is ISIS committing unspeakable crimes against humanity, it has deliberately destroyed dozens of ancient churches, mosques, temples, and monasteries, looting the artifacts within them for sale on the black market.

Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, has called this despicable vandalism “cultural cleansing”. It is an attempt to erase these communities from history by demolishing the most cherished symbols of their past.

ISIS has a simple goal: to create a new reality in its image across the Middle East and to wage war against the west, including Canada. Yet, under the current government, Canada has only been committed to half-measures.

The previous Conservative government was part of an allied effort to bring the fight to ISIS through an effective and forceful air strike campaign, halting its progress and severely depleting its resources. Sadly, under the current government, that effort was withdrawn. Canadians are still looking for an explanation as to why.

We can strengthen Canada’s response to this terrible threat being visited upon innocent men, women and children by calling ISIS’ actions what they truly are: an act of genocide.

Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs has avoided calling these actions genocide. He has said in the House of Commons that he wants to investigate whether a genocide has taken place. I do not know what more he needs to see.

While the minister stalls, our allies are moving forward.

In the U.S., the Secretary of State John Kerry has said, clearly, that ISIS is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control. In fact, on March 15, the United States House of Representatives unanimously declared that genocide was taking place in Iraq and Syria by ISIS.

The House of Commons in the United Kingdom also has followed suit and voted unanimously to recognize that Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria were suffering genocide at the hands of ISIS.

The European Union has also declared this a genocide.

Even the United Nations has made its voice heard. UN investigators have accused ISIS of committing genocide. Their evidence clearly suggests that ISIS intends to destroy the Yazidi as a group.

In just one example, the UN found that ISIS fighters rounded up hundreds of Yazidi men over age the age of 14 and summarily executed them.

The previous Conservative government also recognized the actions of ISIS as genocide.

Let us be absolutely clear. It is a dark spot on Canada's record that the Prime Minister and his government cannot gather the moral courage to name the threat that has driven families from their homes, seen women and girls sold into sexual slavery, or murdered outright, and forced thousands of innocent people into refugee camps.

Yet, the other side of the House remains silent on this issue. It remains silent, in particular, on the case of the persecution of young Yazidi girls who have been subjected to horrifying campaigns of sexual abuse and slavery. Despite all the government's photo ops and press conferences, it forgets to mention that only nine cases of Yazidi families have been processed since Canada's refugee plan was put in place. Only those few Yazidis have found safe haven in Canada, while many thousands more remain at risk of ISIS brutality. Its silence is just as bewildering to Canadians and as insulting to our allies as the Prime Minister's unjustified decision to withdraw Canada's fighter jets from the air campaign.

With no explanation coming, we are only left to conclude that the Prime Minister's inaction is in fact a political manoeuvre, not one of principle.

There are times when we must call things as they are. Today, we are witnessing an ongoing campaign to wipe these ancient nations from the face of the Earth. There is no more fitting description for these terrible acts than the declare them genocide.

Having made this declaration, I invite all members of the House to reflect on what must be done to stop this genocide and whether Canada is doing its utmost to this end.

Now is the time for all 338 members of the House of Commons to stand up and be counted on, including the members opposite.

I ask them to do the right thing and vote in favour of this motion, and declare this a genocide.

[National Defence, June 8th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal record under the decade of darkness is clear: they refused to buy any new jets; our troops had to beg for rides, because the Liberals refused to buy any new heavy-lift airplanes; and they sent our troops into the desert with green uniforms.

It was our Conservative government that put an end to the decade of darkness. Every time we bought new equipment, the Liberals opposed it. Now they are again choosing politics over buying the best equipment for our troops. With that kind of record, why would anyone believe them?

[National Defence, June 8th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, one of the Prime Minister's first actions was to pull our CF-18s from the fight against ISIS and the genocide being waged against the Yazidis and other minorities. Now the Liberals claim a so-called urgent need to replace jets they do not even want to use. What could be more urgent than protecting vulnerable people from the atrocities of genocide? If the Prime Minister will not even use our fighter jets to destroy and degrade ISIS, what exactly is he going to use them for?

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, June 8th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, on International Women's Day, I asked the Prime Minister if he would take action to help protect Yazidi girls who have been forced to be sex slaves by ISIS. I asked if he would step up and ensure that Yazidi girls get placed in the joint sponsorship program so they can come to Canada. He had no answer.

Yesterday we learned that another 19 Yazidi girls were burned alive for refusing to become sex slaves to ISIS terrorists.

After three months of silence, I am still waiting for an answer. Why are the Liberals turning a blind eye to the atrocities being committed against these girls?