Canadian lawmaker makes statement in parliament on Japanese atrocities during WWII

OTTAWA - Canadian lawmaker Jenny Kwan on Thursday made an open statement in parliament on the Nanjing Massacre and other Japanese atrocities committed during World War II.

It was the first time for a Canadian lawmaker to deliver such a statement to the House of Commons, and it came two weeks before the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre.

"Eighty years ago, Imperial Japanese Army Forces raped an estimated 20,000 to 80,000 Chinese women and girls and some 300,000 people were killed," Kwan said.

"Western eye-witnesses in Nanjing described the atrocities as 'Hell on Earth'," she said.

On Dec 13, Canadian provinces of Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia will hold events to mark Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day, she said.

Last month, the Ontario provincial parliament passed a motion designating Dec 13 as the Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day to commemorate the mass killing of 300,000 Chinese by Japanese troops.

The parliament of Ontario, home to Canada's largest Asian community with more than 3 million of Asian descent, became the first regional legislature in Western countries to adopt the motion.

Manitoba joined a growing movement in Canada to recognize and commemorate the Nanjing Massacre, with a motion of this kind passing its second reading with unanimous consent in its legislature.

Kwan also took note of the heinous crime committed against female war victims in Asia, who were forced into sexual slavery known as "comfort women" by Japanese troops during World War II.

"Some 200,000 women from Korea, Philippines, China, Burma, Indonesia and other Japanese occupied territories were tricked, kidnapped or coerced to work in brothels to serve as 'comfort women' to the Imperial Japanese army," she said.