44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 14, 2022 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, my work to pass International Mother Language Day dates back to the 42nd Parliament. At the time, I brought Senator Jaffer's bill to the House. It was reintroduced in the 43rd, and now the 44th, Parliament. The meaning behind International Mother Language Day is rooted in Canadian multiculturalism and openness and diversity. It is also an empowerment of our indigenous languages and a loud symbol of acceptance, internationally, during a dark time in world history. I would like to thank my colleague, Senator Jaffer, for her commitment to the bill, as well as my colleagues for Fleetwood—Port Kells, Beaches—East York and Surrey—Newton for their continued support for the bill.
If the bill passes, it will establish International Mother Language Day, a day that promotes the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world on February 21. If this had been in effect this year, it would have been just three days before Russia invaded Ukraine, partially based on the false pretext that the Ukrainian language and its people are pseudo-Russian.
We, as Canadian parliamentarians, have a duty to protect and preserve Canadian values, including multiculturalism. Ukrainians and peoples around the world have had to fight to keep their languages from imperial, jingoist and colonial powers. We have always stood up for minority groups around the world, and that is why we see so many people immigrate here. They know we offer a safe country for them. Establishing this day is yet another reinforcement of this multiculturalism.
We are not perfect, though. I just mentioned that peoples have had to fight colonial powers from taking their languages from them. That has happened here in Canada up until very recently and, even now, indigenous communities and individuals are struggling to restore the knowledge and languages lost.
International Mother Language Day promotes not only international languages but the more than 60 indigenous languages from within Canada that are not officially recognized. While this is not an official call to action, it should be seen as a small but important step on our path towards truth and reconciliation.
To my Bloc colleagues, this bill would fully and explicitly recognize that English and French remain Canada's only official languages, and this would not change. Rather, it would promote the preservation of all languages.
I know the Bloc and Quebec are adamant allies of peoples around the world seeking the right to exist as unique, distinct nations with their own languages. This day epitomizes those values. Whether it is the Ukrainian language, Catalan or any other language, the Bloc and Quebec have also stood up for people's right to speak their own language. I ask you to support this bill today for the same reason.
I would like to add that asking for support for this day is not novel. The city of Surrey, which is part of my riding, already recognizes International Mother Language Day and so does the province of British Columbia. Canada would be the first country to do so. We never shied away from standing up for those without voices before, so why stop now? It is beyond time to recognize this day.
If the symbolism in Ukraine, multiculturalism groups, promoting indigenous languages, protection of minority languages or established precedent have yet to convince some of my colleagues, perhaps a story from one of my constituents will.
The late Rafiqul Islam and Abdus Salam, constituents from Surrey, immigrated to Canada from Bangladesh. Abdus is still a constituent of my riding in Cloverdale—Langley City. This issue is dear to Abdus's heart, and was to Rafiqul's, as Bengali speakers. Both have been fully aware of what it means to not be allowed to speak their mother language and of the pain that came with fighting for the right to speak it by their elders, dating back to 1952 in what was then East Pakistan.
They had lived in Bangladesh during a time when Bengali was not officially recognized, and people would be discriminated against if they did speak it. The identity of a people was in question.
After Britain left the Indian subcontinent in 1947, dividing it into India and Pakistan, the West Pakistani ruling class declared from the outset of the new country that only Urdu would be the official state language of Pakistan. English was to be taught and recognized as a second language. Bengali, the dominant language spoken by 54% of the total population of Pakistan, was excluded.
This threatened to sideline Bengali speakers from involvement in politics. It limited their ability to succeed in all spheres, including practising their own rich language and culture. It was another example of how colonial rule led languages and peoples to be oppressed.
These discriminatory laws soon came under pressure from Bengali speakers to be changed. This was led by student protests that called for the government to include Bengali as one of the official languages.
On the 21st day of February, 1952, in the streets of Dhaka, while people were protesting and demonstrating for the right to establish Bengali as one of the official languages of Pakistan, the police opened fire on this unarmed protest. This killed at least five students on the spot and injured several more. Some were later known to have died in the hospital.
The deaths of these students and student protesters sparked national unrest and eventually the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956, along with Urdu, in the Pakistan constitution of 1956.
This language movement had a major cultural impact on Bengali society. It inspired the development and celebration of the Bengali language, literature and culture. February 21, celebrated as Language Movement Day, is a major national holiday in Bangladesh. While Bengalis had to fight for this, Canada now takes this for granted.
This also impacted Rafiqul and Abdus when they arrived in Vancouver as immigrants. They saw that Canada is a land where all kinds of different nationalities have come together. Along with the indigenous-rich culture, it was a mosaic of inherent beauty and strength among people, but they also realized that many small languages were dying away. These two men formed an organization named Mother Language Lovers of the World and brought in eight other people from different linguistic backgrounds.
Apart from these two Bengali speakers, there were two English-, two Filipino-, one German-, one Cantonese Chinese-, one Hindi- and one Kutchi-speaking individuals. They petitioned first to the UN and then UNESCO in early 1998 and, through various processes and protocols of UNESCO, finally International Mother Language Day was declared unanimously on November 17, 1999. The inherent beauty and unique mutual respect hidden in this for all languages and cultures was recognized by the world at UNESCO's 30th general conference. It was a big victory for all the mother languages of the world. Since 2000, the world observes International Mother Language Day on February 21.
We should recognize International Mother Language Day in solidarity for those who did not and still do not have the ability to freely speak their own language. We should recognize it in support of Ukraine today. We should recognize it because it represents our multicultural roots. We should recognize it because it promotes indigenous languages. We should recognize it because it highlights the need for protection of minority languages.
Today, I ask all my colleagues to join me in recognizing International Mother Language Day. In doing so, Canada can be a beacon for the rest of the world to follow in this peaceful gesture.
I have appreciated the opportunity to speak to this bill.
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- Jun/14/22 6:04:53 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague for his service to this country, as well as his consistent advocacy for members of the Canadian Armed Forces, and for Ukraine and Ukrainians.
Canada has made it very clear that we stand firmly with Ukrainians in the face of this unjustified and unprovoked attack on their country. Following Russia's occupation and the attempted illegal annexation of Crimea, we launched Operation Unifier in 2015. Over the last seven years, we have been working alongside Ukraine in training over 33,000 members of its security forces, training and learning valuable skills from one another. We were privileged to witness the complete transformation of Ukraine's security forces over the past several years. This is the force that is bravely and effectively defending itself against invading Russian forces today.
We have also helped bolster Ukraine's resilience in cyberspace, in conjunction with the Communications Security Establishment. We continue to work closely with our international partners and various government departments to ensure that Ukrainians have what they need in order to defend their country.
Canada has already committed $262 million for military aid for Ukraine since February 2022, and that includes anti-tank weapons, rockets, M777 howitzers, drone cameras, 155-millimetre ammunition and rifles, armoured utility vehicles, and satellite imagery and technology. Our military donation includes both new equipment and equipment from Canadian Armed Forces inventories. I am pleased to say that some of the military aid coming in does come from the $500 million that our government announced in the last federal budget. This is the case for the 20,000 155-millimetre artillery rounds that the Minister of National Defence recently announced, at a cost of $98 million, which will be crucial in Ukraine's current fight to defend its eastern territory.
In addition, Canada has deployed two CC-130 aircraft to Europe to transport military equipment toward Ukraine. This includes equipment from Canada and our allies. These aircraft have delivered over two million pounds of aid so far, on over 100 flights, and this work continues every single day.
We are conducting an assessment of what further equipment we can buy or donate based on Ukraine's list of urgent requirements. However, we need to ensure that we are donating equipment that can be integrated with their existing fleet and that they can maintain it during this time of war. We are focused on addressing the most pressing defence needs that Ukraine communicates to partners and allies at forums like the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting, which the Minister of National Defence will be attending on the margins of this week's meeting of NATO ministers of defence. As we announce further aid to Ukraine, we will continue to respond to the requests of Ukraine's government. Canada's defence minister remains in close and frequent contact with her Ukrainian counterpart on how Canada can best assist Ukraine as it fights to defend itself.
I want to reassure the member opposite and Canadians that Canada will continue seeking every opportunity and every avenue to support and help Ukraine. We will continue to work with our international partners as well to ensure that we continue supporting Ukraine in effective and meaningful ways to best respond to its needs.
I look forward to further discussing this issue with my friend and colleague and, once again, thank him for his service to this country.
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