20万名来自韩国、中国、印尼和菲律宾的妇女在1930和1940年代遭入侵的日军掳走，在军中当性妓，仍然存活至今者，60多年来一直无法抹去当年的愤恨和羞辱。
各方不断要求日本政府向仍然在世，已经70岁和80岁的“慰安妇”正式道歉和赔偿，日本一直没有反应，直至有军方文件证实日军确实在军队蓄有性奴，日本政府也只在1993年发表一份措辞审慎的道歉声明，但始终未获国会通过。
至于为赔偿而设立的亚洲妇女基金，纯粹是由私人捐献。
今年年初，日本首相安倍晋三恬不知耻宣称，没有证据证明该批慰安妇是被强迫当性奴，随即遭国际社会炮轰。美国众院最近一致通过要日本政府向该批妇女道歉，并更正早前所称事件从未发生的说法，又要将当年犯下的罪行告知年轻的一代。
加国众议院应该支持新民主党国会议员邹至蕙今年年初，提出要求日本向仍然在世的慰安妇正式道歉和赔偿的议案，虽然新民主党和自由党都已表示支持该议案，但必须获得全体议员一致通过才成，但保守党政府一直对问题保持缄默。
加拿大史维会多伦多分会会长王裕佳医生，敦促国会坚持要日本向该批慰安妇正式道歉和赔偿，他曾向《多伦多星报》表示，日本一直未从历史中汲取教训或承认责任。
当年遭日本侵略的国家中有数百万人如今以加国为家。加国向来被视为全球中少有的一个体现公平和公正的国家。由国会发出声明，将会显示一项重要信息，日本必须主动修补他们曾犯下的严重错失，尽快正式向仍然在世以致郁郁而终的慰安妇道歉。事不宜迟，保守党政府须立即行动，正如王裕佳医生所言；“加国一个核心价值就是让人权获得保障，加拿大人岂能袖手旁观。”
EDITORIAL
Ottawa must end silence
Aug 12, 2007 04:30 AM
For more than 60 years, the euphemistically called Asian “comfort women” have lived with the anger and shame of being forced into prostitution and savagely beaten and raped by the Japanese military in the 1930s and ’40s. As many as 200,000 women and girls, mainly from Korea, China, Indonesia and the Philippines were kidnapped and made sex slaves for the invading army in military brothels.
But despite ongoing demands for an official and unequivocal apology and compensation for the surviving women, now in their 70s and 80s, Japan’s only response was to issue a carefully worded apology in 1993, never approved by Parliament, after military documents were uncovered showing the army was involved in establishing these brothels. It also set up an Asian Women’s Fund to provide “atonement money” to the women but it was financed only with private donations.
Even that limited acceptance of responsibility was largely undone earlier this year when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shamelessly stated there was no proof the comfort women were forced into sexual slavery, prompting an international outcry.
In response, the United States House of Representatives recently adopted a unanimous resolution calling on the Japanese government to issue an “unambiguous apology” for the treatment of these women. It also said Japan must refute any claims the episode never happened and future generations must be told of “this horrible crime.”
The House of Commons should do the same by supporting a motion introduced earlier this year by New Democrat Olivia Chow, which publicly condemns Abe’s comments, urges Japan to issue a formal apology and offer compensation to the surviving victims. But while the NDP and the Liberals support it, the motion needs unanimity and the Conservatives have remained shamefully silent on this issue.
A petition campaign led by Joseph Wong, co-founder and president of the Canada Association for Learning and Preserving the History of WWII in Asia, is also urging Parliament to insist Japan formally apologize to the comfort women and provide compensation because as Wong told the Star, “The issue has not been resolved. There has been no formal apology or anything close to an apology. Japan has not learned from history or admitted responsibility.”
Canada is home to millions of people from parts of Asia invaded by the Japanese army and has a reputation “as a fair and just country few others in the world can compare with,” Wong said in a recent letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, urging passage of the resolution.
A statement by Parliament would send an important message that Japan needs to make further amends over an episode that still scars generations later and marks a shameful period in its history.
A formal apology from Japan to the surviving comfort women and those who died in despair is long overdue. The Conservative government must join the growing community mounting pressure on this valued ally to do so. As Wong said: “A core Canadian value is to protect human rights anywhere. We Canadians cannot just sit on the sidelines and do nothing.”
http://www.thestar.com/article/245242
