REFUGEES – House of Commons unanimously agrees to let Yazidi victims in

OTTAWA With a freed Yazidi sex slave watching from the gallery, the House of Commons voted unanimously Tuesday to acknowledge a genocide against her people and to offer safe haven in Canada to vulnerable women and girls by the end of February.

Nadia Murad, described by the Conservatives as a victim of sex trafficking at the hands of members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has been lobbying MPs this week on behalf of her hard-hit fellow Yazidis.

She received an ovation from the House before MPs voted 313-0 to adopt a Conservative motion calling on the Liberal government to help her fellow Yazidis within the next 120 days.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered his personal assurance that help is in the offing.

“I am pleased to see Nadia again today and reassure her that in the coming months we are committed to bring in ... vulnerable Yazidi refugees,” he said during question period.

The Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking religious minority who used to dwell mainly in northern Iraq, have been targeted by ISIL militants over the last two years. Thousands of Yazidi men were killed, while thousands of women and girls were carried off, bought and sold in slave markets.

Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, who helped guide the motion through the House, said she wants to see a concrete action plan to help the Yazidis, saying that will count more than words.

Immigration Minister John McCallum confirmed the government intends to act.

“We on this side of the House are every bit as enthusiastic and committed to welcoming Yazidis to this country,” he said.

“We are looking into various ways in which this can be done and we will do the job.”

He also said the unanimous vote is a good thing. “I am really pleased that an issue of this importance should go above politics.”

Ambrose has said a minimum of 1,000 Yazidi women and girls should be brought in, but McCallum didn’t offer a target.

“We do not have any numbers today.”