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Also, critically, what does success look like for this mission? What is the end game? These, and many more questions remain unanswered. Last week, the Chief of the Defence Staff was clear about one thing: There will be more risk to Canadian soldiers under this new mandate.

We cannot agree to this new expanded combat mission, but there is another way forward.

First, Canada should lead efforts to prevent the flow of weapons and resources to ISIS starting by signing and ratifying the Arms Trade Treaty, which is another thing the Liberals have promised but still have not done. If fully implemented, the treaty would deprive some of the world’s most brutal actors of access to weapons. Canada remains, sadly, the only member of NATO not to have signed the Arms Trade Treaty, and we in the NDP find this totally unacceptable.

Second, Canada should partner with domestic faith communities to counter radicalization, which we all know is a primary source of foreign fighters going to join Daesh (ISIS). We can and should lead the way in developing a strong campaign of counter-extremist messaging, exposing the brutality of ISIS, and the utter lack of any religious basis for its atrocities. ISIS is not Islam.

Many of our allies have recognized the need for a comprehensive approach to countering and discouraging radicalization at the community level: the United States, France, and Germany to name a few. Municipalities are even acting. Montreal now has an effective model. Here at home we have also seen families of young people who have been radicalized and left to fight in Syria pleading for this kind of help from government.