44th Parl. 1st Sess.

September 15, 2022 10:00AM

Ms. Raquel Dancho (Kildonan—St. Paul, CPC)

Sep/15/22 2:52:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am honoured to pay tribute, on behalf of my constituents, to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, who passed away after 70 years of devoted service to the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and certainly to Canada. Her death has been a devastating heartbreak for millions of people around the world. Very poetically, on the day she died, I noticed on social media many photos of a double rainbow that appeared that very day right above Buckingham Palace. Much of the popular commentary is that perhaps it was a message from God that our Queen had been reunited with her Prince Philip, her husband of over 70 years, whom she called her “strength and stay”. That was just a lovely thing to happen on that otherwise very devastating day for many people. As many people have seen, there was a magical sense about the Queen. Peter Mansbridge recently said on his podcast that the monarch, the Queen, was “this kind of magic mix of fairytale and history”. I thought that was put very nicely. For our family, the Queen was part of our cultural heritage and the discussions we would have. There was certainly an admiration and appreciation for Her Majesty. My maternal grandmother mentioned that she used to cut out photos of the Queen in her younger years, to see the outfit she was wearing, what she was saying, how she was acting and what she was doing. It is almost the equivalent to modern-day's Pinterest. There are likely many of us who have pinned an outfit or two of the younger royals. My grandmother was doing the very same thing 70 years ago out of admiration for Her Majesty. My paternal grandmother, who greatly admired the Queen, would always affectionately tease us to show her love. If we were dressed up for church or for a family gathering, she would say, “Oh, is Queen Elizabeth coming?” It was her way of giving us the highest possible compliment that we looked very lovely. My mother, like many women her age, greatly admired Princess Diana. For my generation, of course, there are many new younger royals, notably the Princess of Wales, Catherine Windsor, who really sets a standard of decorum and professionalism and respectability whom those before her have done for well over 70 years. Beyond a distant admiration, it was not something that was necessarily a cornerstone of my professional life or personal life until I swore an oath of allegiance to the Queen, which all members of Parliament have to do in order to become members of Parliament. Really, when I said those words, “I, Raquel Dancho, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II”, the enormity of the responsibility I was assuming hit me like a waterfall. That is where the clock really started to turn and I thought about what this really meant. What is my duty that I am swearing an oath to uphold? Certainly, I look to the Queen as an example. She was certainly the living embodiment of our ancient institutions, our symbols, our parliamentary traditions, our culture, our history, and again, our Canadian and Commonwealth values. I saw, in swearing my oath, that I was swearing to uphold those traditions and those values. Certainly, it is not always easy. The Queen made it look very easy. She did it for 70 years and, certainly, led by example. Members of Parliament, of course, have our own duties to uphold those values and traditions. Queen Elizabeth II was like no other historical figure. Her impact will be felt for many lifetimes to come. It will likely never be repeated, what she was able to accomplish. She was born in 1926 as part of the world's greatest generation that was defined and shaped by the hardships of the Great Depression and the world wars. She personified the moral standards of the western world and Judeo-Christian values. When I found out that she had died, I felt a deep sense of sorrow but also a feeling of some frustration, an anxious feeling. It was as though the standard bearer of those values was now lost, and our ability to uphold those values in society was slipping away, the ability for us to prosper and to thrive, which depends on those values, right along with it. We know that the Queen stood for dignity, for hard work, for doing one's duty, for embracing public service. She never complained, no matter the struggles of the day, whether they were public struggles or ones in her personal life. She always kept a stiff upper lip, as the British say, and maintained her calm composure with grace. She was resilient and strong. She never played the victim. She never exhibited narcissism in any way. She was dedicated, stately, honest, decent and was an absolute lady of decorum, good taste and propriety, rarely, if ever, having a misstep in her seven decades of her reign. It is truly remarkable. I think that is why millions of us are going to miss her. We need examples like this for ourselves, for our children, for our politicians and for our communities. In 1947 on her 21st birthday, famously she did a radio broadcast heard around the world where she made a vow. She said, “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service,” and she stuck to that vow for the rest of her life. I think it is pretty difficult for anyone to imagine making a promise at 21 and living up to it with such perfection for 70 years. She always had poignant words of wisdom for all of us. I really loved her Christmas speeches, and I am really going to miss those. In 2008 she said, “When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.” Then, during the early days of the pandemic, she shared with all of us, “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again,” and she was absolutely right. She was always calm and composed, no matter what was going on in the world. She was really a port in the storm, so to speak. She was truly an extraordinary role model for her people, for members of Parliament and certainly for women. At the tender age of 25, she became Queen with the world watching. Many underestimated her abilities. Many thought a young woman would never be capable of the enormous responsibility of carrying over a thousand years of constitutional tradition and evolution that makes up our system of government, but she did and she became one of the greatest world leaders we have ever seen. Although she was a servant of tradition, she was also a modern woman in her own right. During World War II, as princess, she volunteered as a truck driver and a mechanic, making her the first female member of the royal family to serve in the military. Her coronation was a significant moment for women in history. Women at that time rarely saw women in positions of power. After years of war, women at that time were being encouraged to go back home and be dutiful wives and mothers, but the Queen was expected to know world issues and to be able to converse with and advise the mostly male leadership at the time. She was expected to travel despite having young children. She was a working mother before it was fashionable. For 70 years, it has been her face we have seen in the halls of power, something women have rarely seen. As was written in a recent Globe and Mail story: She was also the rare woman who grew old while holding public power. The Queen, after all, could not be fired for having children or going grey. Instead, in official portraits her countenance was updated to mark her advancing years and accruing experience. She aged into her leadership example of being unflappable and resolute.... I found a few very poignant quotes for us to remember as we go into this new parliamentary session. In her 1957 and 1974 Christmas broadcasts respectively, she said, “It has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is much more difficult,” and, “We may hold different points of view but it is in times of stress and difficulty that we most need to remember that we have much more in common than there is dividing us.” On this very solemn occasion, I want to conclude on a happier note. Something that has comforted us in the recent days is that she certainly has been reunited with Prince Philip, her husband of 70-plus years. He was her strength and stay, and I think that she was ours. We will miss her. I will certainly miss her. God save the Queen.

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