Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to inform the House that today the parliament of Sweden rejected the same kind of motion by a vote of 268 to 43. Facing the—

Foreign Affairs  It is good to see, Mr. Speaker, that there are responsible parliaments that want the assessment of genocide to be done properly by an independent court. I am proud of the House of Commons and the vote we had yesterday. We are proud.

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the EU parliament is not being followed by any parliament in Europe, but the U.K. The government of the U.K. has said the same thing we said, that the proper way to do it is to follow the motion proposed by the Liberal member. This motion said that it must be done by an independent body to determine if it is really a genocide.

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, if members want to hear a responsible motion on this issue, I will read the one by the member for Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs. It says, “That the Government of Canada continue its efforts to have these atrocities properly investigated and, where appropriate, referred to the International Criminal Court to formally determine the existence of genocide and to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice”.

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), the Government of Canada will seek clemency in all cases of Canadians facing the death penalty abroad. With regard to (b), (c) and (d), the Minister of Foreign Affairs proposed the current policy and, after consultation with the Minister of Justice, announced the policy on February 15, 2016.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the government will never hide behind the law. The government will respect the law, the international law. However, if our Conservative colleagues want to have a debate about how to be sure that the perpetrators will pay for their crimes, why did they not do so? There is not a word about it in their motion.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, that makes no difference to the determination and the great vigour with which the government and the House, I have no doubt, want to fight the terrorist group ISIL and all other perpetrators of such crimes. However, there are certain legal consequences for those who commit these crimes.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I think my hon. colleague answered his question. It is very clear that if we start to play politics with the definition of what genocide is, we are outside the rule of law. How can we have due process to be sure that the perpetrators rightly pay for their crimes if we identify genocide to all the massacres and the horrors of the world?

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I mentioned that Secretary Kerry gave his opinion, but it is only an opinion. He said himself that it is not a formal recognition by the government of the United States that it is a genocide. Who is selective here? It is my colleague who did not read the paragraph after.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. It reflects his great sense of responsibility. Sometimes in politics we have to make tough choices. Unfortunately, there is political pressure from the previous government. The Conservatives do not seem to understand why they ended up in the opposition.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is a matter of rule of law. It is a crime with an intention to kill a group because it is a certain group. This crime is not necessarily perpetrated only to kill people. One needs to have an intention for this. That is genocide. It is not necessarily the same as massacres or other atrocities.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, this House stands together in solidarity with the victims of ISIL atrocities. That is why our government broadened Canada's engagement in the Middle East and, in particular, in the fight against ISIL. We are focused on eradicating ISIL today and preventing its return tomorrow.

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, we actually need to grow the relationship between Canada and the sixth of humanity, China, which was so damaged by the former government. This is why we need to make progress in every aspect, including human rights, including the rule of law. It is what I said very clearly in the meetings with the minister of foreign affairs of China.

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, there are two erroneous things in the member's comments. First, of course I was not silent regarding human rights groups, including in the press conference. The obligation to hurt my--

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, it will probably hurt my modesty, but I need to quote myself. I said in the press conference, “In our international engagement Canada will continue to champion the values of pluralism, democracy, inclusive and accountable governance and respect for diversity and universal human rights.”