Motion achieves unanimous consent in the House of Commons after long campaign

OTTAWA, ON – Today Brian Masse M.P., NDP Industry, Automotive, and Border Critic declared a victory for human rights as the motion he introduced to establish a Srebrenica Remembrance Day in Canada was passed in the House of Commons by unanimous consent after a long campaign which began more than a year ago in his riding and was lead by the Bosnian-Canadian community.

“The time is long past due for Canada to declare July 11 Srebrenica Remembrance Day. This anniversary raises awareness of the tragic suffering of the people of Bosnia and honours and remembers those who were killed as a result of the policies of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995,” Masse stated. “With this declaration, Canada acknowledges the importance of this event in helping to bring closure for the Bosnian people through truth and justice. The institutionalization of Srebrenica Remembrance Day every July 11 will help to inform future generations and assist all of us to work towards peaceful coexistence.”

After the fall of Srebrenica on July 11th 1995, Bosnian Serb forces, commanded by General Ratko Mladic (an indicted war criminal), and paramilitary units rapidly executed more than 8,000 Bosniak (Muslim) men, boys, and elderly, who had sought safety in the area. Moreover, approximately 30,000 people were forcibly deported in an UN-assisted ethnic cleansing. The European Parliament resolution referred to the Srebrenica Massacre as "the biggest war crime in Europe since the end of WWII." This atrocity has been declared an act of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate in 2005 have passed resolutions on the Srebrenica Genocide and all the atrocities that occurred during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The European parliament passed its resolution on January 15, 2009 institutionalizing July 11 as the day of Remembrance for the Srebrenica Genocide. This past March the Serbian parliament passed a resolution recognizing the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica.

Some 60,000 people attended 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, the worst crime in Europe since the Nazi era. Bosniaks prayed near coffins of 775 newly identified Srebrenica victims during a mass funeral at the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial in Potocari on July 11, 2010. Fifteen years ago, more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed, some 30,000 Bosnian Muslims forcibly expelled and many women and girls brutally raped. The victims were shot and dumped in mass graves, then reburied haphazardly in more than 80 mass graves in a bid to cover up the evidence.