432-01132 (Foreign affairs)

We, the undersigned citizens of Canada, draw the attention of the House of Commons of Canada to the following:

Whereas, Abdul Rahman Khan the Amir of Afghanistan, who was installed by the British government and received a subsidy from them, waged a genocidal campaign against the Hazaras from 1891 to 1893, wiping out the vast majority of this ethnic group;

Whereas, tens of thousands of Hazaras were forcefully displaced from their lands while many other thousands were forcefully proselytized (from Shia to Sunni), raped and enslaved from 1891-1893;

Whereas, in August 1998 hundreds if not thousands of Hazara men, women, children and elders were slaughtered in the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Bamiyan;

Whereas, the Hazaras continue to face systemic and targeted persecution in post-2001 Afghanistan, such as the killings of newborn infants in Dasht-e-Barchi`s maternity ward in May 2020 or the targeted attacks in Behsud (Maidan Wardak province), Jibrail (Herat) and Jalalabad (Nangarhar) from January to March of 2021;

Whereas, Canada has expended $3.6 billion in assistance to Afghanistan and lost 158 brave men and women in uniform in the fight against the Taliban;

Whereas, Afghanistan remains one of the largest recipients of Canada's international financial assistance;

Therefore we, the undersigned, call upon the Government of Canada to take the following actions:

1. Formally recognize the 1891-1893 ethnic cleansing perpetrated against the Hazaras as a Genocide.

2. To designate September 25th as Hazara Genocide Memorial Day.

3. Support Bill C-287 to ensure that all development assistance sent from Canada to Afghanistan is contributing to the peace and security of the region for all peoples.