Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the hon. member for Jeanne-Le Ber.
“Ramenez nos filles”. “Bring back our girls”. I and all my colleagues in the House join our voices to those of the mothers and families who are experiencing the sheer agony of knowing their girls were kidnapped. We are pleased that the House is holding this debate, at the request of the hon. member for Ottawa Centre.
I would also like to take this opportunity to draw the government's attention to the crisis that has been unfolding in Nigeria and the measures that should be taken to help find a solution that is in keeping with Canada's humanitarian tradition. The kidnapping of 267 innocent young girls last month by Boko Haram has devastated us all. It is outrageous.
Our first duty as parliamentarians is to remember a truth that is often forgotten. While we may not know these young girls or their families, and we are thousands of kilometres from Nigeria, we are all closely linked by an inextricable connection. Our humanity links each of us to each of them. Turning a blind eye to their plight is akin to turning a blind eye to the ties that bind us together. It is unacceptable to use such actions, which belong in another era, to advance a cause.
As parliamentarians, we must share that simple truth with the whole world. The great Ernest Hemingway, in his time, reignited the light of universal consciousness with the words he borrowed from philosopher John Donne. Please listen closely to his words and ponder them carefully so that we may understand the full scope of our actions here in the House tonight.
No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea...Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.
Those few sentences set our course of action. We cannot turn a blind eye to the tragic events in Nigeria without losing some of our humanity. However, that alone will not protect these young girls from the madmen who haven taken them hostage. To rescue them, we must understand the situation and work together on finding ways to deal with it so that Canada can contribute to the release of these girls and to stabilizing this region.
There is no room for partisan language here. The opposition is not trying to fault the government. The government does not have to defend its record. We must work together to find a common solution. We are providing constructive and positive criticism of the government's action on this file. We are speaking with one voice, that of Canada. That is why I commend the initiative by the hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs to bring Nigeria's partners together, including the United States, Great Britain and France, in order to provide the necessary surveillance equipment to find the 223 kidnapped young girls.
I hope this aid is deployed as soon as possible, and I am calling on the government to provide the opposition with regular updates in a spirit of straightforward and honest co-operation. This approach seems to be the only possible option for concerted action on the ground in the face of a situation that becomes more alarming with each day.
On April 14, a bombing claimed 75 victims in Abuja. The next day, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of 276 young girls. Then, on May 5, there was an attack on the city of Gamboru Ngala, which reportedly killed 300 people. The same day, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, announced that he was preparing to sell the kidnapped girls as slaves. This shows the growing and worrisome inability of local authorities to regain control of northern Nigeria in particular.
The accounts of the atrocities committed in Nigeria are horrifying. As we saw during the civil war that ravaged the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in conflicts of this nature, it has become commonplace for women to be systematically targeted. Terrorists deliberately attack these innocent victims in the most despicable ways, leaving terror and destruction in their wake.
Restoring order is an indispensable prerequisite for any long-term stabilization solution.
Terrorists, no matter where they are, must understand that their actions will not go unpunished. Not only do they discredit the cause they claim to defend, but they will be prosecuted and judged for their actions.
That is why Canada must actively help Nigeria in its fight against terrorism by taking concrete action, such as establishing police co-operation between the two countries, for example. There can be no viable political agreement unless the security situation improves.
The next step will be to create the conditions for true long-term regional stabilization. Repression cannot be the only means to achieve that end.
Insecurity, exclusion, poverty and the lack of real democracy and a just society are key factors that allow terrorist groups to recruit militants.
An international force whose only purpose is to crack down on terrorist acts would not consider these factors. Thus, any solution would only be temporary because the embers would continue to burn under the ashes.
Some other countries in the region, such as Mali, are also affected by political crises and civil wars that are seriously compromising regional stability. For that reason, the crisis requires a political solution at the local and regional levels.
Canada has a crucial role to play, locally and regionally, in bringing this crisis to an end. In addition to immediate assistance, we can also provide research and surveillance assistance. Canada must also get involved in the economic development of western African countries in order to address the endemic root causes of terrorism. To that end, the government must ensure that Canadian investments in the region allow for a fair distribution of profits to the local people.
We in the NDP are calling on Canada to sign the arms trade treaty in order to prevent conventional weapons from fuelling conflicts.
Let me remind hon. members that in the conflict that affected the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the combatants did not use any heavy weapons or weapons of mass destruction. However, the civil war that ravaged that country between 1998 and 2002 killed more than 3 million people. It is the deadliest conflict since World War II.
It is therefore imperative to take every possible measure to put an end to small arms trade and trafficking. If we do not make an effort to do so, conditions will continue to exist so that political crises in African countries are marked by indiscriminate violence time and time again.
Those are the main actions that Canada should take to immediately alleviate the crisis in Nigeria and stabilize the region in the longer term.
I urge the government to take these simple measures. They will send a strong message of support to the people of Nigeria and help mitigate the overall factors that lead to crises in Africa in the long term.
The gravity of the situation, our country's history and our humanist values require us to act.
