44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 7, 2021 10:00AM
- Dec/7/21 1:35:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my question will be brief, but I imagine the answer will be long, and I would like to stress the nuance.
Could my colleague tell us about what happened in the past when Mr. Harper, Mr. Duceppe and a third person, whose name I forget, found a way to study such a file?
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- Dec/7/21 4:25:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I just want to mention that I will share my time with the member for Scarborough Centre, a colleague I respect deeply, like very much and have had the pleasure of knowing for six years now.
Before I begin my speech, I would like to congratulate you, Madam Speaker, on your appointment to the position of Assistant Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. I appreciate the dignity and wisdom you bring to the role of House of Commons referee.
I rise in the House today to discuss the opposition's proposals with respect to the situation in Afghanistan. Their goal is to determine how we can help Afghan refugees. This is a very serious matter.
Where to begin? First of all, this is a life and death issue. As several members have already mentioned, it is a real shame the Conservatives are making political hay out of this situation. It is outrageous.
I think that all members of the House want us to reach out to the Afghans who are at risk in Afghanistan because of the Taliban government, and I would venture to say that the vast majority of Canadians want that as well. We want to help those Afghans, especially the men and women who helped us and our allies’ troops, who have been trying to bring stability to that country, which unfortunately has been torn apart by civil war and Taliban forces.
No one is going to tell me that the Taliban can improve the well-being of the Afghan people. It is unfortunately a government run by radical Islamist forces that completely distort the tenets of this major religion. As a politician, I have had the pleasure of learning more about this religion, as I have gotten to know my Muslim constituents.
The government, the Canadian Armed Forces and Global Affairs Canada have been working very hard to ensure that we can welcome those who helped us in Afghanistan. That is remarkable.
As a government, we made a solemn commitment to bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada. We have made a lot of progress despite some very difficult situations. Almost 4,000 people have regained their freedom here in Canada. We are working very hard on this.
Tomorrow, another 500 Afghan refugees will arrive safely in Canada on two chartered flights. As part of a commitment we made, we are also working with the various governments to bring another 9,000 Afghan refugees to Canada.
Some progress has been made, although the situation is far from ideal. Very few credible individuals really understood how quickly the Afghan government collapsed over the summer. In spite of that, we have made a serious commitment to put in our share of the effort and bring these people home.
I cannot begin to describe how harmful the Taliban is to women's rights in Afghanistan. The situation that Afghans, especially women and girls, are facing is absolutely terrible. When I was younger, I studied international relations in university and I remember that we looked at what was happening in Afghanistan. It was horrifying.
I think Canada had the right to intervene and to be part of the coalition forces that went into Afghanistan to stabilize the country and form a democratic government accountable to Afghans. Unfortunately, that was not enough.
The Canadian Armed Forces has been out of Afghanistan for a long time now. Several governments have had the opportunity to carry on the work and do their part to welcome Afghan refugees. Everyone tried, but no government's commitment was as firm and ambitious as the one we made last summer. We made that promise to Afghans and to Canadians, and we will keep it.
We are keeping up our efforts in Afghanistan to bring these refugees here. We will be there for vulnerable Afghans. We will be there to repay the Afghans for their service in support of the Canadian Armed Forces stationed there. We will be there for our translators, our interpreters and the people who forged connections between our military personnel and the Afghan people. We really want to help those who need it most, and we will be there for them.
It is important to look beyond the creation of another committee, that is, a special committee that would look at these matters. I think we are all very aware of the workload that we have. We do not need a new committee. There are already committees where these issues can be addressed. We have the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration and the Standing Committee on National Defence. Let us use the tools already available to us instead of just empty rhetoric.
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- Dec/7/21 4:36:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to acknowledge my friend from the opposition, with whom I had the opportunity to work on a private member’s bill.
He asked a very simple question, but life is rarely so simple, and simplistic solutions rarely work in complex situations. We saw a very unusual situation with the fall of the Afghan government and the return of the Taliban, which very few serious people saw coming.
We made a firm commitment. Our National Defence staff, security forces, and diplomats are working very hard and are moving heaven and earth to make sure that we honour our commitment to those who helped us when the Canadian Forces were there.
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- Dec/7/21 4:38:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, again, I want to thank and commend my friend from the Bloc Québécois.
I can easily answer his question: The answer is yes. The government is already doing that. We are working with the Taliban government to ensure that we can safely repatriate these Afghans who want to leave and settle in Canada. These discussions are currently under way.
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- Dec/7/21 4:39:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from Vancouver is asking an important question. I do not have an answer for her at this time, but I can assure her that I will raise her question to get that answer. We all want the same thing: to provide help to the Afghans swiftly and effectively.
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- Dec/7/21 4:40:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Milton and commend him on the quality of his French. He has worked very hard these past two years, and I congratulate him for the progress he has made.
As members of Parliament, we have an obligation to deal with this issue in a non-partisan way, especially when discussing matters of life and death. The best way to achieve this objective is to work with the existing House committees, such as the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, the Standing Committee on National Defence, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration—
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