Text of the address by New Democratic Party Leader Alexa McDonough in the special Commons debate on Monday in response to the terrorist attacks in the United States:
I want to begin by reaffirming that the New Democratic Party joins with citizens around the world in demanding that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes be tracked down and punished.
But I also call for reflection and restraint in our response. Today I want to reinforce that plea, the plea that the same values that cause us to be outraged and repulsed by these acts of barbarity must guide us all, and particularly world leaders, in their responses.
I think our prime minister on behalf of all Canadians who share those sentiments rose to the occasion and provided very sound words and wise counsel to that effect.
In these extremely dangerous times it is essential that we reaffirm our commitment to pursuing peaceful solutions to the tensions and hostilities that breed such mindless violence in our world.
In the immediate aftermath of the horrific death and destruction people understandably were driven to demand instant, massive military retaliation to these terrorist atrocities. However, as freedom loving citizens have grasped the complexity and magnitude of what has happened the imperative of a more measured response, more multilateral response and more informed response must form the basis of our actions.
Not to respond would be unthinkable. It would diminish and demean American leadership and would surely invite further attacks, wrote Charles G. Boyd, a retired air force general in Wednesday's Washington Post. "But to react excessively or inaccurately," he wrote, "would put us on the same moral footing as the cowards who perpetrated yesterday's attack."
Canadians know that we have a very special relationship with the United States of America and we value that relationship with our neighbour to the south. But we also have a special role internationally. If there was ever a time that both our neighbours to the south and the world needed to hear the voice of Canada, it is now.
Our neighbours were thrown into a state of shock last week. As the depth and breadth of the personal tragedies come to grip their collective soul, the cry of vengeance from many quarters will surely grow louder. As America's closest neighbour and friend we owe it to them to listen and to support. But we must also give them the benefit of our understanding of the events. A true friend lends a guiding hand when someone is blinded by grief and rage.
<bf> <nm> The cry from America today and from around the world is that this can never be allowed to happen again. We must resolve to see that this can never happen again, but if we pursue the path of blind vengeance, the path of the clenched first we are guaranteeing that this will happen again.
Military strikes, while they may satisfy an understandable desire for vengeance will solve nothing if thousands more innocent people are victimized in some other part of the world.
A survivor of the '93 World Trade Center bomb blast said:
"As I silently remember my friends and co-workers who have perished I know only this, if we fail to wage peace instead of war, if we do not learn to value all life as fervently as we value our own then their deaths will mean nothing and terror and violence will remain our dark companions."
In the House three decades ago the first leader of the New Democratic Party, Tommy Douglas, stated that our task is to understand the forces that work in our society and to seek to influence them toward constructive ends. We need to ask ourselves some tough questions. It seems to me at a terrible time like this we could do well to ask ourselves what wise counsel Lester Pearson might offer.
In the wake of these terrifying events we need to reflect. We need to reflect on the kind of international community we have created where the images of mass destruction in the United States last week saw some Palestinian children actually dancing in the streets, where an international community can allow 5,000 children a month to die of malnutrition in Iraq or hunger and preventable disease can claim the lives of thousands and thousands of children in the too many impoverished nations of the world.
We have to ask ourselves and consider what it means. What kind of political leadership funds and trains the likes of the mujahedeen and Osama bin Laden to overthrow the Afghanistan government and then get caught out when these same people turn their evil skills on their former supporters? Unless and until we base our policies and our allegiances on long-term values, as the prime minister has said . . . and not on short term strategies, we will continue to create the monsters that come back to haunt us.
We need to tell the world that in the eyes of Canada the wanton destruction of life and property is absolutely unacceptable. Whether it is in the United States or in Rwanda, whether it is in Washington, Beirut, Baghdad or Bosnia, we need the world to know that we practise what we preach in Canada. We need Canada to know that when Tommy Douglas said the means we use largely determine the ends we achieve, resorting to violence destroys the goals that we seek before we even reach them. He spoke of a standard by which we must all judge our actions.
Let me be clear. I am not advocating passivity or appeasement in the face of aggression. The international community must spare no effort in bringing to justice all of those responsible for these atrocities and rid the world of the scourge of terrorism.
This response must be carried out based in association with the principle of the rule of law. As many as 100 Canadians may have died in this disaster along with the United States loss of thousands. As many as 40 other countries have lost sons and daughters. This is a crime against humanity, and an international court should mete out the punishment. No country should be called upon to be the judge, the jury and the executioner, least of all the country that has suffered the greatest of all.
Supporting foreign invasions, assassinations and the abandonment of our values will raise the level of violence. It will lessen our security. It will diminish our capacity to advise our closest friends at a time when they are most in need of wise counsel. We have seen the results of ever increasing levels of violence in other parts of the world. Indeed, this act is not an isolated incident directed at America alone.
If the initial assumptions about culpability or inspiration about this attack are true, this is the latest gruesome chapter in an ever expanding cycle of violence that has already claimed cities, countries and whole generations. How does it increase our security to bomb countries into the stone age?
I would like to address very disturbing developments over the course of the past week where visible minorities have been targeted as people look for scapegoats, both here in Canada and abroad. Other leaders have addressed this issue as well. The very ugliest and most horrifying incident was surely the fire-bombing of a mosque in Montreal, but we have all heard about other incidents.
The Canadian Council for Refugees in its statement of Sept. 14 wisely reminds us that many more Canadians came to this country to escape from violence and persecution on the basis of religion, race or nationality. Refugees and immigrants are as horrified as anyone by the events and condemn the violence. Canadians need to work to ensure that our country is a haven from hatred and discrimination.
In the coming days we will surely hear arguments that we re-examine our immigration policy and procedures. We have already heard some. We in the NDP agree that much needs to be done to overhaul our immigration system, but with an eye toward greater compassion, security and efficiency.
As we debate this issue, I invite all members of the House to remember that their words and the passions that they excite, can have very real repercussions on the many new Canadians and visible minorities that make up the diversity and the beauty of our great land. It is reassuring that so many voices have been heard: political leaders, community leaders and ordinary citizens counselling against doing anything to create a backlash, to create prejudicial attitudes and actions directed toward innocent Canadians.
Let us extend that same concern and consideration to other countries. A wise, elderly woman who has been a life long friend of peace said to me over the weekend that there is surely a lesson for us to learn and hear in our own words. If we are absolutely in agreement that we must stand against any scapegoating of innocent civilians in our own country then surely the same consideration and concern has to be extended to innocent civilians around the world.
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