Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Honourable senators, I’m thankful for the opportunity to rise before you today to speak to the motion put forward by my friend and colleague Senator Ngo.

On June 29, 2021, Senator Ngo presented cogent and compelling arguments before this chamber that listed the need to reconvene the International Conference on Viet-Nam per Article 7(b) of the Paris Peace Accords. He pointed to destabilization in the region and ongoing tensions in the Indo-Pacific as reasons for the reconvention of a multilateral conference that would be seen as a “vital policy tool and a useful means for the diplomatic and peaceful resolution of conflicts in Asia.”

In a joint policy perspective from the School of Public Policy and the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, Stephen Nagy writes that:

Canada needs to take a bigger part in the Indo-Pacific’s development and support for a rules-based order or risk getting locked out of the region’s economic, diplomatic and security benefits.

He goes on to state that:

Erosion of a rules-based Indo-Pacific order is not in Canada’s interests. It would make dealing with traditional and non-traditional security challenges more complex. It would aggravate the challenges of dealing with global issues such as climate change, transnational diseases and development. The negative effects of this lack of coordination would not be confined to the Indo-Pacific region.

Supporting a free and open, rules-based Indo-Pacific region is consistent with Canada’s middle-power identity and national interests. It’s time to turn statements into concrete action based on a long-term vision of Canada’s interests in the Indo-Pacific and a strategy to realize those interests.

A July 11, 2021, statement by Global Affairs Canada reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to support:

. . . lawful commerce, navigation and overflight rights, as well as the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of coastal states . . . . These principles are essential to a secure, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

Canada is committed to defending and revitalizing an effective rules-based international order, including for the oceans and seas, and to the peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law.

And then recently, colleagues, and in fact in this very chamber in recent weeks, the importance of this region, the Indo-Pacific, was highlighted in the Throne Speech, which pledges Canada to “. . . making deliberate efforts to deepen partnerships in the Indo-Pacific . . . .”

Approving this motion will be a step in that direction.

Passing this motion and acting upon the recommendation to push for the reconvention of the international conference would be consistent with these policy and position statements.

Colleagues, Canada has a proud record of peacekeeping in its history and in Vietnam, having sacrificed troops in the conflict, having sent peacekeeping troops —