SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

Mar/18/24 6:41:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Winnipeg Centre. In my tradition, we learn that human life is sacred. It is sacred because our mothers carry us, nurtured by the bounty of this wonderful place, this generous earth. We are brought here to witness and experience this place's majesty and its beauty, a truly wonderful gift. It is one that is granted to each and every one of us so we may cherish it and ensure that this gift is passed onto the next generation. That is a message so clearly and consistently voiced by my, and so many, elders here on Turtle Island that it has given strength to countless leaders throughout time and I hope to all of us here today, because the opportunity of the gift of life for countless Palestinians, particularly children, is at grave risk. In the tradition of my people, there is a law. In our language we say wahkohtowin. It teaches us that we are all related, that the suffering and pain of one is truly the suffering and pain of all of us. In the words of one of my elders who has now passed, former veteran and famed Métis political leader, Jim Brady, “Our ideals are the ideals of the common people throughout the world. We rejoice at the success of the common people in other lands and exalt in our solidarity throughout the world in the common fight for human liberty, human happiness, peace and progress.” Today as the shadow of war, famine and loss of innocent human life continues to ravage the world, we must have the courage to stand for those who cannot. We must work toward that very same human dignity, human happiness, peace and progress for all. That includes dignity, happiness and peace for Palestinians and Israelis alike. This includes the families of the hostages and particularly the victims of the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023. However, the collective punishment of Palestinians is simply unacceptable. The indiscriminate killing of children, women and whole families; forced internment; loss of oral history and culture; and ultimately the loss of land, is ethnic cleansing. In northern Gaza, one in six children under the age of two is acutely malnourished, and media reports have indicated that at least 20 children have died from human-made starvation in recent days, including a 14-day-old baby. UN human rights experts continue to express concern over egregious violence against women in Gaza and the West Bank, including sexual assault, rape and arbitrary detention, and the withholding of food and water. Now, over 85% of the total population of Gaza has been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly one million women and girls. A last verified news report from October 31, 2023, states that over 600 families were wiped off the civil registry. That means that all of the family members across multiple generations were killed. Here we are five months later, and the civil registry system itself has now all but collapsed. Today, a new UN-backed report on food security says famine is the immediate threat in northern Gaza, with catastrophic hunger for 70% of the population as Israel began its renewed attacks on the aI-Shifa hospital this morning. The sheer scale of the siege in Gaza is unfathomable. With over 30,000 deaths, it is difficult to imagine the pain. I, like many of us in this place, have received thousands of emails and other messages from constituents across the country asking for the NDP motion to pass today. Let me remind members that Canada is a country that is unique among many. Our history of colonialization; the taking away of children, as in my family; the murdering of indigenous women; and the lack of infrastructure, clean water and food in indigenous communities are still ever-present here at home. Although we cannot change our past, we can change our future. Canada can and must be a global leader toward the peace, dignity and self-determination of nations here at home and in Palestine. That is why today I urge my colleagues to demand an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages, to support an arms and technology embargo on Israel, to officially recognize the state of Palestine, and to work towards a two-state solution. In addition, we demand the unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. The government must ensure that Canadians and their families trapped in Gaza, and their families elsewhere, can reach safety, and it must lift the arbitrary 1,000-application cap. Under the current temporary resident visa program for extended family members in Gaza announced by IRCC on January 9, only 12 people from Gaza have received approval to travel. Shamefully, no one from Gaza has yet arrived in Canada. According to the IRCC ministry, the 12 individuals had to independently manage to complete their own applications and provide biometric data, all while bombs were dropping. These 12 individuals were responsible for arranging their own travel to Canada, but none have arrived. This is a tremendous failure. In my riding of Edmonton Griesbach, there are 110 family members of Canadians who are stuck in Gaza. Our constituents have reached out to us about helping them access the special measures. We have consistently informed the minister of their names, information and updated whereabouts, and he has yet to respond to even one of them. The motion before us comes to Parliament because of the unity of Palestinian organizers, courageous activists, students, progressive Jewish organizations and peacemakers here in Canada. In addition to brave voices like theirs, we also have indigenous solidarity from the Assembly of First Nations, the Sámi Parliament, Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild, Paul First Nation's Bearhead Sisters and indigenous nations across Turtle Island and the globe. I also want to take this opportunity to thank my constituents, particularly Palestinian families and youth, for their resilience and steadfast love, courage for their cause, and the very painful memories they share with me. Edmonton families have stepped up and given aid in the form of time, money and supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza through constant fundraising efforts by Islamic Relief, the Canada Palestine Cultural Association and many others in my city of Edmonton. Even small businesses like Made in Palestine have been giving a portion of their sales in aid to the people of Gaza. I particularly want to thank the Canada Palestine Cultural Association's board chair, Randa Alhijawi for her work and incredible advocacy. Her organizing and support for the Palestinian community in Edmonton is truly exemplary, and we owe her our gratitude for her thankless work and teachings for the young people. Randa is truly a beacon of hope in these truly dark times. To conclude, I want to acknowledge that many who recognize the holy month of Ramadan are doing so in grief and loss for the thousands killed and under threat as Netanyahu continues to prevent and obstruct worshippers from praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque. My thoughts are with those are breaking their fasts with lemon and grass in the absence of nourishment. Although many cannot pray or eat, it will be up to all of us to pray for them this Ramadan. Louis Riel, our famous Métis leader, once said, “We may fail. But the rights for which we contend will not die.” Cease fire now.

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Mr. Blake Desjarlais

Mar/18/24 6:51:57 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, we are speaking of a terrible and egregious reality facing the innocent lives in Gaza. Not everyone who is a child or an innocent woman is a terrorist. Not every single one of them there is in fact being used as a human shield. These are innocent lives. I spoke about a 14-day-old baby. This is unimaginable horror that we are witnessing. It is a time in our history and a moment in this country and this Parliament for Canadians, and I call on all Canadians to stand for the very basic human liberties of those who are innocent, no matter in what conflict. I expect all members would have the kind of heart to see that these children deserve life, like all children do.

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Mr. Blake Desjarlais

Mar/18/24 6:54:01 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, it is an important reality that we have to delineate, and we must create clarity for this issue when we are speaking of innocent lives, children, women, folks just like us and those who are watching, who wake up every day, expect to go to work and expect to come back to a family and be able to live a regular life. However, that opportunity is so absent and so lost with what we are seeing in Gaza and the West Bank that even the idea that these people can return to a kind of normalized life is so far out of the frame that it is truly tragic. Canada can be a leader towards global peace if we will it. I mentioned in my speech that we have our own history and that we are working towards a better relationship with our own history of imperialism and colonization. We have so much more to do in our own country for the equality of indigenous people here that it is going to take immense reflection by all of us to truly see how important it is. Whether it is Quebec or my tiny Métis community in Alberta, we are united by laws of just basic humanity, and I hope that those basic laws of humanity I spoke of can translate across the globe towards peace and security for all those persons who are innocent.

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