Canada Offers $10 Million for Treatment of Sexually Abused Victims of IS

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, right, and Iraq's then deputy prime minister Rowsch Nuri Shaways toured a Kurdish bunker in Kalak, Iraq, last month, coming within eyeshot of ISIS's front lines. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

The Conservatives offered additional humanitarian aid Monday for the battle against ISIS, anticipating opposition MPs' arguments against sending Canadians into air combat in Iraq, but that failed to stem the criticism.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird pledged up to $10 million to provide services and treatment for Syrian and Iraqi refugees who have been victims of sexual abuse as he kicked off debate.

I am so impressed, and that doesn't happen very often. $10 million can help a lot of sexually abused women and children make some progress toward recovery. 

The House devoted most of the day Monday to discussing the government's plan to deploy six fighter jets and 600 troops in a six-month air combat mission against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS. The Canadian mission would target ISIS in Iraq but not Syria, something the opposition NDP fears could change.

Baird also announced a joint Canada-U.K. assessment mission in Iraq to identify what else can be done to help victims of ISIS, as well as the deployment of an expert to work with the UN Human Rights Council on a fact-finding mission to Iraq.