The Canadian Prime Minister’s Response to Our Petition

Sheila Clark just received this response from the Canadian Prime Minister’s Office to an email she had sent him that contained our petition. It’s heartening to know that there are those who aren’t so conflicted and congested by their political correctness, anger at a government, leader, etc., that they can take a stand for what is right, in their rational self-interest and in the best interests of humanity:

 On behalf of the Prime Minister, thank you for your correspondence regarding the situation in Iraq.  We appreciated the opportunity to review your comments and have taken note of your concerns.

Since early 2014, the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been carrying out a campaign of unspeakable atrocities against innocent children, women and men, as well as religious minorities in Iraq.  Specifically, it has tortured and beheaded people, raped and sold women into slavery, slaughtered minorities and kidnapped innocent victims whose only crime was to have a different set of beliefs than ISIL. We know from experience that terrorist groups such as ISIL cannot be permitted to gain control of a territory in which they are then able to train and prepare for further attacks in the region or against the international community.

Last summer, when ISIL stood on the brink of committing genocide in Northern Iraq, Canada’s allies, led by U.S. President Barack Obama, intervened.  We joined this response by offering humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people.  We also provided Canadian Armed Forces specialists to offer advice to security forces in Iraq on battling the terrorists, and provided aircraft to transport weapons and supplies to fight ISIL.

As you know, on October 7, the House of Commons voted to authorize participation in air strikes against ISIL, joining other countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Jordan and many others.  This motion includes the commitment of up to six CF-18 fighter aircraft as part of a strike force.  It also sets out continued assistance to Iraq and other allies in the areas of ongoing advice to security forces, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and aircraft refueling.

To be clear, Canada’s engagement in Iraq is not a ground combat mission.  It includes a number of targeted measures, being taken with allies, to severely limit the ability of ISIL to engage in full-scale military movements and to operate bases in the open.

The military measures we are taking are helping to provide security on the ground and degrade the capabilities of ISIL.  These actions are necessary to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance is provided and reaches those most in need.  Canada is proud to be the 7th largest contributor to assist in this crisis, providing food, hygiene kits, cooking materials, blankets, tents, medical supplies and other essentials including emergency repairs to water and sanitation facilities.  We are also providing emergency shelters and medical assistance to thousands of Iraqi civilians.  This is in addition to large-scale financial assistance to other governments in the region impacted by the crisis in Syria.  Rest assured we remain committed to working closely with our allies to determine how best we can continue to support the needs of Iraqis, including religious minorities.

Left unchecked, ISIL is a threat not only to peace and security in the region, but to global security as well.  They have already voiced their local and international terrorist intentions and identified Canada as a potential target.  It is imperative that we act with our allies to halt ISIL’s spread in the region and reduce its capacity to launch terrorist attacks outside the region, including against Canadians.  Our Government has a duty to protect Canadians and shoulder our burden in efforts to combat such threats.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,

Prime Minister’s Correspondence Unit

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NOTE: There is also a Canadian petition.

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The Canadian Prime Minister’s Response to Our Petition originally appeared on They Fly Blog on December 12, 2014.