Letter of Canadian-Bosnian Community to Honorable Members of the Canadian Parliament

Institute for the Research of Genocide Canada
Published: September 11, 2009  

We would kindly ask you to support of MP Brian Masse’s motion SREBRENICA REMEMBRANCE DAY.

Being a supporter of this motion will help demonstrate that you deeply care about issues important to your Bosnian-Canadian constituents. There are about 50,000 Bosnian-Canadians, and as you know, many of them live in your riding.

There are many most serious aspects directly implicating, involving, and connecting Canada to the events and issues leading to, and in the aftermath of, Srebrenica and many other atrocities in the war aggression and genocide on the sovereign state and UN Member the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RBiH) and its People. In asking you to co-sponsor and support this motion, let me stress one aspect which is less known to Canada’s public, and that is international responsibility and privilege from Canada being a member of the UN Security Council’s Chapter VII Executive Governing Body of Bosnia and Herzegovina - the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council (SB PIC), sitting together with its closest allies and international partners, US and European Union, which have already adopted similar resolutions (European Parliament resolution of 15 January 2022 on Srebrenica; US S. RES. 134 and H.Res. 199). Further details and thoughts from us, Bosnian-Canadian community can be found at these links:

By passing Mr. Masse’s motion, Canada will benefit in many ways:

• If support, Canada’s international image will be respected as it was in the past;
• If support, Canada will send a clear message to all abusers of power that we will always stand for peace through justice;
• If support, Canada will serve as the model and guidance to other countries to follow its path in acknowledging the genocide of innocent Bosnians; and
• If support, Canada will give hope to those whose hope was taken from them;
• If support, you are demonstrating that all Parties and Members of Parliament can work together in a non-partisan way on such fundamental issue of our human race.

We trust that we can count on you as a committed supporter of a free, democratic, and sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the victims and survivors of the genocide and the Canadian-Bosniak community in large (who still face overt and subtle threats and intimidation here in Canada without protection of the local and other authorities).

Thank you very much for your time and urgent attention to this matter.