44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 1, 2022 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his remarks. I would also like to thank him for his work on the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
I would first like to point out that we have heard a lot of people across Canada say that the work done on official languages is non-partisan, and I also want to say that I appreciate my colleague's comments. Today is an important debate for our government. We will have another next Thursday when the budget is presented.
We are talking about measures to improve the bill, and I would like to know if my colleague would support a motion for a pre-study by the Standing Committee on Official Languages. It is important to invite community organizations and witnesses to discuss the issue and find ways of improving Bill C-13.
Will my colleague support a motion proposing a pre-study of Bill C‑13 by the Standing Committee on Official Languages?
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Official Languages, who represents the people of Nickel Belt. It is a pleasure for me to work with him on the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
I do not know whether my colleague listened carefully to my speech, but I clearly said that we need to take our time. We are at second reading. I do not think that doing a pre-study during a debate is either strategic or effective. We must follow the usual steps with Bill C-13, and I think that we are three or four days apart. Even if we reject the idea of a pre-study, the committee can still hear witnesses.
My colleague already proposed this motion, we voted on it, and his motion was rejected. This is not bad faith, it is in the interest of the French language.
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Madam Speaker, we all know the old adage that history repeats itself.
I would like to refresh the memory of my colleague from Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, who today is praising the Conservative Party for its defence of bilingualism and its efforts to protect French in Canada.
The first thing the Harper government did when it came to power in 2006 was to make cuts to the court challenges program. That was the first thing.
Next, it appointed unilingual anglophone justices to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Conservative Party never wanted to appoint bilingual justices to the Supreme Court. Today, in 2022, these great defenders of the French language are still doing nothing in this regard.
Let us also consider the former minister of foreign affairs, the Hon. Rob Nicholson. Imagine a great big country, Canada, with two official languages, whose minister of foreign affairs conducts diplomatic business in English only. That is unacceptable.
I would like my colleague to tell me, truthfully, what the Conservative Party has done to defend the French language.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that the update to the Official Languages Act drafted in 1968 was done under a Conservative government. Also, in November 2020, an emergency debate was held at the request of the Conservatives. Perhaps my colleague should look up what happened in the history books.
There are reasons why we have to manage public funds wisely. We were in an economic crisis at the time, and I totally agree with the decisions made by the then prime minister, decisions that were temporary in nature.
With respect to money for institutions, it is important to understand that the money is there.
Why did the Minister of Official Languages wait until March 30 to tell organizations that they were entitled to $134 million when that amount was earmarked in the budget a year ago?
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier. I hope to work with him at the Standing Committee on Official Languages to improve Bill C-13.
We have heard extensively about problems with francophone immigration and the fact that the government's failure to meet the targets is contributing to the decline of the French language and the demographic weight of francophones. These targets were set in 2003, and they have never been met, because the Liberal and Conservative governments did not make it a priority.
Does my colleague agree that these clear principles should be enshrined in law so that future governments work harder to allow francophones to catch up demographically?
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, with whom I am privileged to sit on the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
This week, the committee was told that the francophone immigration target should be increased, because it is now only 4.4%. This is therefore a very important measure to include in Bill C‑13. Instead of having a short paragraph on immigration, we need to define it more precisely.
I have said this to my colleague, and I am repeating it to the House of Commons: I am reaching out, and I want to work with her, the Bloc Québécois and the party in power to improve this bill and make it a historic act that will be effective for the next 50 years.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague pointed out that this bill really needs to be scrutinized from top to bottom in order to ensure that it promotes the French language.
There are francophones outside Quebec, living in every part of Canada, including my riding of Fort McMurray—Cold Lake. Could my colleague give examples of improvements to the bill that would help promote French outside Quebec?
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Madam Speaker, I commend and congratulate my colleague for her impressive French. Moreover, she is a Conservative member. We are all working together for all of the provinces.
I think that is important. We need to implement measures for the entire country. There are minority francophones in British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario and all of the Maritime provinces. Quebec's situation is obviously special, because it is the only province with a francophone majority.
I would like to remind my colleague that it is important that the bill contain some recognition of the fact that, of the two official languages, French is the only minority language across the country. This was a request made by the Quebec minister responsible for Canadian relations. Beyond this necessary recognition, we need to implement the appropriate measures.
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Madam Speaker, I am going to quickly piggyback on my colleague's question about a clause that would allow the Governor in Council to decide whether agreements with provinces, territories and even other states will be translated, into French or any other language.
We know that these agreements are typically written in English, with the exception of agreements with Quebec. Otherwise, the translation can be provided on request. Moreover, in the English version of the bill, there is a major error as the sentence is actually incomplete.
My question is this: How can we talk about equality when not everything is automatically translated into both languages?
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate that the Bloc Québécois recognizes that this bill is poorly written and that it contains a number of flaws.
There is a problem with translation. Both official languages merit respect throughout Canada. I am reaching out to the Bloc Québécois as well, because we need to work together to improve this bill so that it becomes an effective law that is capable of stopping the decline of French and protecting and promoting this language.
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- Apr/1/22 11:00:40 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am deeply saddened to announce the passing of Mr. Alick Siu. Alick was a long-time resident and proud ambassador for Markham—Unionville. He worked tirelessly and passionately on my federal campaign last year and was a policy chair for the Markham—Unionville Federal Liberal Association.
Alick served on the board of directors for various community groups, such as the York Region Parent Association, the Markham Arts Council, the Markham Public Library Board and the Unionville Residents Association.
Alick had a career as an IT professional and co-founded the Chinese Canadian Information Processing Professionals 30 years ago. He was a co-host and commentator on Fairchild Radio and 105.9 The Region.
Alick Siu was highly respected and recognized as a model citizen and community leader by our residents and IT professionals.
On behalf of the Markham—Unionville riding, I offer my sincere condolences to the family of Mr. Alick Siu. Alick will be greatly missed.
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- Apr/1/22 11:01:53 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, this week I met Cayle. He is from B.C. and made a road trip to Ottawa to speak up for his rights. He cannot fly here because Canada is the only country in the world that bans unvaccinated citizens from travel.
The Liberal ban on unvaccinated travel is especially egregious given that Canada is one of the largest countries in the world and Canadians rely on air travel far more for family, health and work reasons than any other people around the world. Conservatives have been urging the Liberals to follow the science on air travel, which has shown that airplane filtration systems and other measures make transmission extremely low.
Further, the new variants show that vaccinated people seem to transmit COVID similarly to unvaccinated people, and the government's rationale for banning air travel is fundamentally flawed. There is no justification for this serious infringement on the charter rights of Canadians.
Cayle and many other Canadians feel like second-class citizens in their own country. When will Cayle be able to fly again?
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- Apr/1/22 11:02:53 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, this Sikh Heritage Month let us all recognize and appreciate the important contributions the Sikh community has made and continues to make to Canada's socio-economic, political and cultural heritage.
Sikhism's core principles include equality, generosity, openness and compassion. I would like to recognize Gurdev Bal, Manjit Sandhu, Sanyogta Bhandari, Dr. Inderjit Singh Sambi, Harbhajan Sekhon and Dalip Singh Parwana, who have worked hard both inside and outside of the Ottawa Sikh Society.
I would also like to appreciate leaders like Kanwar Hazrah, Narinder Sra, Gurpal Grewal and Tejprit Dulat, who have worked hard for the Sikh community and beyond in Ottawa.
These leaders represent the true spirit of the Sikh community by being there for their communities through seva, which is selfless service.
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- Apr/1/22 11:03:59 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, our country has lost a champion. Elder Raymond Mason passed away peacefully on March 20.
Dr. Mason was a member of Peguis First Nation. He was a residential school survivor. Raymond spent three decades fighting for justice for residential school survivors and launched a class action lawsuit that resulted in a historic settlement in 2009.
His work remains unfinished. Elder Mason lamented how the original settlement left communities behind and, until the end of his life, continued to fight for survivors to be recognized and compensated.
He is survived by his wife Rhoda, his children, stepchildren, grandkids, step-grandkids and every life he touched and fought for.
Over the last number of years we have lost many survivors. Their children and grandchildren are carrying on their calls for justice and so must we. We must support communities seeking to search the grounds of the residential schools imposed on them to bring their children home. We must ensure communities have the resources they need to accomplish this work. There must be truth for there to be reconciliation.
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- Apr/1/22 11:05:05 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, as Autism Month begins, I would like to share the story of Emmanuel and his parents.
Emmanuel will soon be 20 years old. His autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, has always been challenging for his parents and the people who love him. When he was three, nobody knew if he would ever learn to talk. Through weekly adaptive intervention sessions, he learned to interact with others and become a little more independent, but he will never be able to live alone.
Emmanuel is charming, kind and intelligent in his own way. He works hard to adapt to the world around him. He lives with his parents. Their lives revolve around him. They would never have survived all these challenges without the help of dozens of people: their loved ones, devoted caregivers and specialized educators.
His parents truly need respite from time to time. Autisme Estrie looks after Emmanuel for 24 hours every two months. That allows his parents to continue taking good care of him and to love him just the way he is.
Thank you for thinking of all the silent voices of children and adults with ASD and of the people who love them.
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- Apr/1/22 11:06:14 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, on Tuesday, March 29, Witchekan Lake First Nation and the FSIN held an honouring ceremony. It was to recognize the work that seven members of the Spiritwood RCMP did to make their community safer. Earlier this month, the Spiritwood RCMP found firearms and prohibited weapons along with more than 150 grams of illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia and cash when searching a home.
Chief Annie Thomas of Witchekan Lake spoke at the ceremony. She talked about how drug activity has impacted her community. She said, “We’ve seen the hurt in our communities and we’re burying more loved ones because of alcohol and drugs instead of natural causes like old age”.
It is fostering positive relationships like these that will help build a better path forward. I ask all members in the House today to join me in recognizing the work of both the RCMP members in Spiritwood and the leadership of the Witchekan Lake First Nation for working together to protect the people of their communities.
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- Apr/1/22 11:07:22 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, on February 20, a pillar of the student community at Polyvalente Le Carrefour passed away. Éric Noël-de-Tilly was a devoted history teacher who treated his students with unwavering respect and love.
Over the years, he passed on his passion for civic engagement to his students in order to teach them the meaning of democracy. Because of him, several hundred students participated in the 30‑hour famine. Today is the 30th edition of this event, and I will be there to honour the memory of this dedicated teacher.
Mr. Noël-de-Tilly is a citizen, a teacher, a role model and a colleague we will never forget. My thoughts are with his family, especially his four children. I offer them my deepest condolences, and I thank the entire Polyvalente Le Carrefour community for keeping his spirit alive.
Thank you for everything, Éric.
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- Apr/1/22 11:08:36 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day, an opportunity to support, listen to and learn from those on the autism spectrum like Aiden Lee from my riding, their families and caregivers.
This year's theme is inclusive, quality education for all and calls to ensure that everyone has equal, accessible opportunities to learn. Our government created the Accessible Canada Act to ensure a barrier-free Canada that allows everyone to participate fully in their community, school and workplace and have an equal chance at success.
ErinoakKids in my riding of Oakville North—Burlington is Ontario's largest children's treatment centre dedicated to ensuring inclusive health and learning for children and youth with disabilities and their families, including autism. I am so proud of the work that it does in our community.
On World Autism Awareness Day and every day, let us commit to ensuring equity and inclusion in all aspects of society for everyone.
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- Apr/1/22 11:09:40 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, as a change of pace, I am excited to rise today and highlight a young man in my riding who is working to make a difference.
Brayden Morrison was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at four years of age. Fifteen years later, he has taken it upon himself to climb for a cure. While finishing up his two-year power line technician program, Brayden will be dedicating each of his remaining hydro pole climbs towards raising money to help fight diabetes.
Brayden, whose family has been chosen as one of the 100 ambassadors of history families by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, said, “I dream of the day where I will be able to just wake up and live a normal, healthy life without needles, daily monitoring or insulin to survive”.
Thanks to young Canadians like Brayden, that day will come soon.
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- Apr/1/22 11:10:55 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, earlier this week, the Prime Minister flew all the way to Vancouver to make a speech on his new climate plan. As is often the case with this Prime Minister, promises were made.
However, here is the thing. It is now five months since communities like Princeton in British Columbia were hit hard by devastating floods, and as we all know, this Prime Minister told the good people of Princeton that he had their backs and that he would be there for them. Well, the supports the Prime Minister promised rural communities for rebuilding have not been delivered. There is nothing. In another month, it will be half a year.
Why is this considered acceptable? How is it that, in a country like Canada, when a prime minister makes a promise to a small rural community, literally nothing happens for months on end?
The Prime Minister once said better is always possible. The people of Princeton and other British Columbian communities need to see better from this Prime Minister. What will it take to see that the promises he has made are kept?
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