44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 15, 2022 10:00AM
- Sep/15/22 10:28:57 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, its elected officials, members and staff, I would simply like to express my condolences to anyone who is grieving the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
We, as nationalists and sovereignists, do this only after much deliberation amongst ourselves. Everyone's feelings should be considered through a historical lens. The history between the British Crown and the Quebec nation is full of dark and sometimes even cruel times. Our history and values irrevocably separate us.
However, respect must come first, and so we have a duty to distinguish between the person's institution and policies and sincere grief. It is therefore with no ulterior motives that we express our deepest condolences to the people of England who are grieving.
I think members will understand when, after the leaders have given their messages of condolences and we have observed a minute of silence here in the House, the members of the Bloc Québécois withdraw from the chamber and allow Canadian MPs to continue their tributes.
I invite all members to later reflect on this situation. In the meantime, our thoughts are with those who are mourning the loss of someone who was a prominent figure over the past three-quarters of a century.
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- Sep/15/22 10:30:57 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I want to join with my colleagues in marking the tragic loss of life in Saskatchewan, on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the town of Weldon. The sorrow and pain for the families who lost their loved ones to such unspeakable violence is beyond our understanding. We hold these families close in our hearts.
Today I want to join in marking the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and extend my condolences to her family. At the age of 21 she made the promise that she would spend her whole life, whether it be long or short, fulfilling her duty. For more than 70 years, she kept this promise.
Two days before she died, she met with the incoming British prime minister and invited her to form a government, ensuring that she fulfilled this final constitutional duty.
Queen Elizabeth II led a remarkable life, a life marked by history. Amid tremendous change, she was a figure of stability, providing a constant symbol to many.
Ninety-six years is a long time for anyone to be alive. She was born before mass communication and media shrank the distances between nations, before television, and long before the Internet brought us limitless access to information.
Her life was marked by war. In World War II, as her parents vowed to stay in London while it was bombed, she and her sister were moved to Windsor for safety. As children in war, the Queen and her sister took to the airwaves in a radio broadcast for other children who were also experiencing the worry and fear of bombing attacks and parents gone to fight.
Throughout her life, Queen Elizabeth II used her platform to offer encouragement in difficult times. Most recently, during the pandemic, she reminded us that we would get through the challenge and the pain of not being able to see loved ones. She asked us to greet the tough times with optimism and hope, by pulling together and doing what needed to be done. She said, “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.”
For many, her death marks the end of an era. She is the only queen we have ever known. She loved Canada very much, and I have heard many stories from people who were very touched by their encounters with Her Majesty.
In the days since her death, I have heard many Canadians talk about meeting her. She came to Canada often, as has been remarked, showing her affection for this country. Many who met the Queen, sometimes for the briefest of moments, feel that she took the time to listen to them and was interested in their lives and sincere in her appreciation for the chance to meet them. This was her gift: to make one feel seen in a crowd of thousands and to invest her whole attention in every encounter, even when it was one of many.
I would also like to take a moment to congratulate King Charles III on assuming his mother's legacy. He is grieving this profound loss as the world watches, while also ensuring that he lives up to the task. I hope he will rise to the challenge of reconciliation that has been laid before him by First Nations leaders and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
One of the calls to action is for the issuing of a royal proclamation of reconciliation. I hope that when the Prime Minister has his first meeting with the new King, he will remind him of this outstanding call to action and the power that King Charles has to further the goal of reconciliation.
There is also much work to be done to repair the relationship of the Crown with many people around the world who experienced pain as a result of colonialization. Loss of language and culture, violence and war are the legacies of a colonial past. I believe the new King has an opportunity and a responsibility to do what he can to right the wrongs of the past.
In closing, I want to again extend my deep condolences to the family of Queen Elizabeth II. More than a monarch, she was a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother. It is for her family that we must feel the deepest sympathy. They have lost a pillar of strength, a reminder of their own history and an example of a life well lived.
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- Sep/15/22 12:00:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour today to stand, on both my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Don Valley West, to remember, honour and pay tribute to Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
All of us were caught by surprise at the events of last week. We knew in our heads that this day would come, but in our hearts I think we all hoped it never would. My first thoughts are to those who mourn this loss most deeply and most personally. We knew her as a beloved monarch, but condolences must first be expressed to those who knew her as mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. May they cherish in their hearts their richest and most intimate memories, even as they shared her so generously with the people of the United Kingdom, the realm, the Commonwealth and the world.
My second task is to honour her legacy. She certainly kept the promise she made at the death of her father, King George VI. More than anyone could ever have imagined at that time, she faithfully lived up to the pledge she made when she said, “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” However, her life, including 70 incredible years on the throne, was not only long. It was incredibly rich, gracious and profound.
Third, I take this moment to wish a long life, good service and a rich legacy to King Charles III, to whom now, as a member of this Parliament, I do pledge my allegiance, with historic words, that I do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III.
Queen Elizabeth set a very high bar for any head of state of any country to match. Her selfless devotion to duty was an inspiration and an example to us all. She was not only respected, which comes with the Crown, but I would say she was deeply loved by Canadians. That love, respect and admiration was born not out of her position, but because of the person she was: a woman of compassion and warmth, of grace and dignity, of mischief and joy, of wisdom and experience, and of a deep understanding of her people in Canada and throughout her realm.
I, like most members of this House, have never known another monarch. She was a constant in our lives, reigning by example, with hard work, calm under great stress and difficulty, persistence and the honouring of tradition, but always willing to adapt to a changing world.
My earliest and most persistent memories of the Queen were from Christmas day, year after year, when, for as long as I can remember, I would hear the voice of my mother ringing out throughout our house, “The Queen, the Queen,” as we were all called to stop whatever it was we were doing, gather around the television and watch Her Majesty deliver her annual message.
This is a tradition I keep: even with the Internet, I watch it on television. She had the ability to reach into our home with a message that not only acknowledged the year that she and we had faced, but also with confidence for the coming year that those challenges would be met and that all in our world would be right and well.
We saw Her Majesty mostly from a distance, even with her many visits to Canada, but I had a few opportunities to meet her in person. The first was in 1977, as we celebrated her first 25 years on the throne. The then prime minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, invited young Canadians who had excelled in the arts and sciences to a state dinner in Ottawa. Luckily for me, he also included some young Liberals, so we got in under the bar. They sent us a protocol sheet on how to meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, and it even had a note on how to eat our asparagus. We learned that we should not use a knife and fork, but pick it up with our fingers, because that is what Her Majesty does. Who knew?
We were nervous, but as the Queen entered the room our shoulders dropped, her smile welcomed us, and each one of us had a chance to tell her our story. She listened, and she cared. To be in the presence of royalty is humbling; to be in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth was overwhelming, but in the sense that the kind of humility she brought made us at ease.
There is a story told of the Queen, which may or may not be true, but if it is not, it should be. Apparently she had a habit of occasionally escaping from her favourite home, Balmoral in Scotland. She would take her own car to visit shops in neighbouring communities. One day she went into a shop and made a purchase, and the clerk at the store said that she looked very much like the Queen. The Queen simply responded, “How very reassuring.” She might have been reassured that day, but she spent her life reassuring us, and we have been the richer for it.
This is indeed a sad day. It is also a day for celebration. It is a day for celebrating a life well spent in service to others. This House and parliaments around the realm will be filled with words of tribute and admiration, superlatives used to describe Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. They are entirely justified. She was our longest-serving monarch. She was respected around the world. She joined in our most important moments of joy, and often, with a mischievous smile, engaged with us. She gave us an example and made an example of her life for all of us on how to live a life of service, duty, dignity and decency. She was remarkable.
May she rest in peace and rise in glory, even as we say, “Long live the King.”
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- Sep/15/22 12:14:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to begin by paying my respects to the victims of the recent horrible tragedy in Saskatchewan and to their families.
I would also like to acknowledge that Canada's Parliament is located on the unceded traditional territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin people.
We are here today to pay our respects to and commemorate the life of Queen Elizabeth II. In a world that changes and evolves at such a rapid pace, the Queen represented stability, service and a quiet grace. She embodied duty and commitment to one's country.
I would like to offer my condolences to the royal family and King Charles III. They have lost not only a Queen but a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. We know they are grieving that loss, and our hearts go out to all of them.
Canadians have been expressing their sorrow and sharing their admiration for the Queen since they learned of her death. Many people recall the time she visited their community or the time they shook her hand. Not all Canadians have had the same experience with the Crown, however. Some, in particular indigenous peoples, have much more mixed feelings.
Many felt a personal connection to the Queen, as she was a kind, thoughtful and compassionate individual. However, the idea of a sovereign of Canada is a complex one for indigenous peoples, who had lived on this land long before Europeans arrived.
The relationship between the Crown, Inuit, first nations and Métis is complex, continually evolving and personal, so I want to take a moment to acknowledge that some people’s reactions will be different, and that is entirely okay. That is what Canada is all about: being able to have different opinions, speaking about them in a respectful way and speaking about them in a thoughtful way.
For many indigenous peoples, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had a special and personal role in Crown and indigenous relationships. Today we are here to recognize her extraordinary lifetime of service, and I will speak about Her Majesty’s affinity for northern Canada and, of course, her visits to Winnipeg and other areas of Manitoba.
The Queen has long shown love and respect for Canada. Queen Elizabeth II travelled on 23 royal tours of Canada and made a huge impact wherever she went, drawing crowds and touching hearts.
Over the years, she made four trips to the beautiful northern and Arctic parts of our country, the first being to Yukon in 1959. That was quite a trip, indeed. It was 2,600 kilometres of travel over 45 days. During that time, she visited 90 towns and hamlets.
During that first trip, a famous Inuit carver, Osuitok Ipeelee, carved a beautiful stone image of the Queen. He had based the carving on a photograph from her coronation in 1952. However, in the photograph, her shoes were covered by her gown, so Mr. Ipeelee carved the Queen in her bare feet and presented it to Prince Philip.
The Queen once again visited the Arctic in 1970, which included a stop all the way in Resolute in the High Arctic, as well as visits to Yellowknife and Iqaluit. For the duration of the trip, she had the future king, King Charles, alongside her.
She visited Yellowknife again in 1994, where she dedicated the new Northwest Territories legislative assembly building. She then made her way to Nunavut, drawing crowds in Rankin Inlet, and attended celebrations to mark the upcoming creation of the territory, where she watched performances by Inuit and Dene artists.
During her visit to Iqaluit in 2002, she was given a bouquet of Arctic flowers with Arctic cotton. It being her third time in Nunavut, she made the effort to thank people in Inuktitut and tried her best to give the right pronunciation, which many people appreciated.
Much like the people in the north, Manitobans have good memories of Queen Elizabeth II and her visits to our wonderful province and to my hometown of Winnipeg. The Queen visited Manitoba six times. In 1970 she, along with Prince Philip and their two children, the future King Charles III and Princess Anne, visited 16 towns in Manitoba in celebration of our province's 100th anniversary.
We will never forget that the Queen travelled to Saint‑Pierre‑Jolys in 1970 to speak to Franco-Manitobans. The Queen and Prince Philip returned to Manitoba in 2002 to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee and to unveil the Golden Boy statue at the Manitoba legislature.
During the Queen's final visit to Manitoba, in 2010, she unveiled a cornerstone at the site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights following her arrival with Prince Philip as the first official passengers at Winnipeg's new James Armstrong Richardson International Airport. That stone had been brought from the fields near Windsor Castle where the Magna Carta was signed. During that visit, she also crossed the magnificent Esplanade Riel to get to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
The Queen passed on her virtues of service and responsibility to other members of her family and passed on her affinity for northern Canada, which is obvious, to King Charles. Our new King has been a strong advocate and an early voice in the effort to educate the public about the dangers and effects of climate change. His work on climate change has a special resonance in the north, as the region is disproportionately affected by changes to its climate.
During his visits to Canada, King Charles III has often spoken about climate change. In 2009, he spoke in Newfoundland saying that climate change was a “threat...to all humanity”.
In 2017, in Nunavut, he pointed out that global warming was causing rapid and harmful changes to the Arctic way of life that has sustained the Inuit for so long.
The King has also shown an interest in Inuktitut and Inuit culture. In 2016, he invited a group of Inuit to Wales to study ways to standardize the writing of Inuktitut.
I like to think that the King's special interest in the north and his commitment to causes such as climate change are, at least in part, the product of his travels with the Queen during his youth.
We can all learn from the Queen's example, from her commitment to the common good, her devotion and her sense of responsibility.
Through political and social changes, through evolution in communications and technologies and through peace and conflict, Her Majesty the Queen served as a symbol of tradition and stability. She had a special love for Canada and she was loved in return. Each time she visited, she drew enormous crowds from coast to coast to coast.
In a rapidly changing world, one thing is for certain: There will never be another quite like Queen Elizabeth II.
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- Sep/15/22 4:15:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we gather today under historic and sad circumstances at a moment of great uncertainty in the world.
Uncertainty, as we continue to cautiously observe the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic on our reopened economies. Uncertainty, as Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has upset an already unstable political environment, threatening the lives of millions of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, and shocking our collective conscience.
There is uncertainty as the existential threat of climate change has already resulted in more severe weather, which is affecting our lives, challenging our recovery and threatening our communities. In short, we live in a world where the assumptions and conventions that we once took as a given continue to feel like they are being pulled out from under us.
It is, under these circumstances, a sad honour indeed to join fellow members of the House in paying tribute to the woman who was such a constant in our lived experiences, one whose destiny was deeply intertwined with that of our country.
As we celebrate the mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who was our late sovereign, I extend my personal condolences, and those of my family and all the residents of Edmonton Centre, to His Majesty King Charles III and all members of the royal family on the passing of Her Majesty.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne in 1952, becoming the head of state of the United Kingdom, Canada, and other realms. The world was deeply divided between the west and the Soviet Union, in a cold war that seemed ready to turn hot with the slightest provocation.
Parts of the world that had so far been ignored and exploited were gaining confidence and claiming their right to self-determination and self-government. The relatively new invention of television changed our way of seeing and understanding the world. Canada and its allies were just beginning to make essential reforms to our health care system and government services to improve opportunities for everyone.
What a difference a life makes.
Personally, I will always remember the experience of Her Majesty's visit to Edmonton in 2005. I had the opportunity of seeing Her Majesty and listening to her speak in person in my home city. I remember so clearly how she expressed her love of Canada and for Canadians, and how every single time she set foot in our country, she felt at home again.
It was the same love and adoration she expressed on many visits to our country throughout her reign. Indeed, over the last 70 years, Her Majesty participated in, and bore witness to, some of our most significant accomplishments and our greatest challenges, from the existential challenges of two sovereignty referendums to the patriation of our Constitution, including the enshrining of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and from the decriminalization of homosexuality to the celebration of marriage equality, the legal protection of trans and gender-diverse people and the banning of conversion therapy. She saw the growing recognition of the injustices and cultural genocides that mark our legacy with first nations, Inuit and Métis people.
There was the creation of the Commonwealth and the joy and hope of our 100th and 150th anniversaries.
She saw the world's collective horror at the events of September 11 and the ongoing struggle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the whole of our collective experiences, exciting and tragic, inspiring and devastating, she was there. Her presence was a constant assurance that our institutions would hold, that our democracy, our House of Commons, which guides the functioning of our state from the rule of law to the power of the people, would hold through sunshine and storm, through celebrations and challenges.
Through it all, our institutions did hold and we, as a people, held together and grew stronger together.
Indeed, with the exception of my late father, Rowley, there is no member of my family, or that of my partner David's family, who can remember any other person as our head of state. Three generations of my family have only known a world where our head of state was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. As I said, this is true for my partner David, my mother Shirley, my brother Mark, my sister-in-law Leanne, and for my nephews and niece Ethan, Skyler and Andrew.
I will share a story with the House and my colleagues. My youngest nephew, Andrew, is now 14 and a half years old and is starting to wake up to the world, politics and what is going on around him. When I picked up my phone, which was in the lockbox when we learned of the passing of Her Majesty, the first text I saw was from Andrew. The text in our family group chat read, “Uncle Randy, the Queen has died. What does this mean?” That was the implication in his question. My immediate response was, “Andrew, we are all still trying to figure that out ourselves”, but I responded, “We are now in mourning, and on the Queen's watch Canada became a great country. The Queen is dead. Long live the King.”
When I next get to see Andrew in person, we will chat about the continuation of government and the processes and traditions that are in place to keep our work moving, and we will probably talk about his new motorcycle. However, the fact that he is thinking about the Queen's role and our role as a constitutional monarchy at the age of 14 says something about where he is on his own journey into adulthood.
I share with many in this place, across the country and around the world a deep feeling that embodies the legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Through it all, she was there, and it became easy at times to think she always would be.
She lived her life with a deep devotion to duty and a profound commitment to service, a responsibility that was placed on her at such a young age and which she accepted with dignity and grace.
Perhaps by now we have seen the video, replayed over the last many days, of a young Elizabeth, just 21 years old, who looked the world in the eye and gave her solemn oath that the whole of her life, whether long or short, would be dedicated to service, that the nations would be her only focus and that those nations would become the Commonwealth. It is a promise that she kept, an oath that she fulfilled.
Now we say thank you.
I am grateful to this extraordinary woman for everything she did.
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- Sep/15/22 4:31:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a privilege to rise in the House, but it is a special honour to do so to pay tribute to Her late Majesty and extend my condolences to the royal family.
For so many Canadians, myself included, Her late Majesty was the only queen we have ever known, but she was more than a widely loved and respected sovereign. She represented stability in a country that grows increasingly chaotic and in a world that grows increasingly chaotic. She espoused a profound sense of humility in an era of self-aggrandizing, and she was a stalwart defender of democracy and the rule of law in an age of rising autocracy.
Speaking to friends and family, I noted that so many were surprised at the sense of personal loss we felt. The impact has been profound, because I think it is like losing a grandparent. It was deeply personal, and when it comes to losing a grandparent, it is something we know will happen one day but hope will be a long time from now. We never really expect it.
There is not much I can say that has not already be shared, but I can tell members from personal experience that there could be hundreds of people in the room, but she would make us feel like the only one there. She was incredibly attentive and as funny as she was kind, compassionate and gracious beyond words.
I am especially grateful that I had the opportunity to meet her during her reign, in 2017, when at Her late Majesty's command, I marked Canada's sesquicentennial by joining young leaders from across the Commonwealth in the U.K. It was at a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace, where we were appointed medallists of Her late Majesty. I had the distinct honour of being named Her Majesty the Queen's Young Leader for Canada.
I still recall being there in Buckingham Palace, with all of the pomp and circumstance, wracked with fear about whether or not I would mess up all of the protocol we were required to remember when we met the Queen, things like ensuring we do not turn our backs to her, that we wait for her to extend her hand first and that she speaks first.
I imagine that some people listening are thinking that, of course, they could do those basic and easy things. I would agree with them, until they are about to meet the Queen. Then it all goes out the window. It did not help that during our briefings, leaders would recount all the times they froze up or were speechless. Suffice it to say, I was nervous.
I was wearing my high-collar navy whites and had practised marching in, left turning and then saluting. Then I was told that, actually, we were to throw all that out the window when meeting the Queen and just do a quick head bow. So here was this kid in his mid-20s out of the suburbs of Toronto scared out of his mind trying to remember all of these basic, straightforward protocol requirements, all while my brain was screaming, “Oh my God. There's the Queen. Holy smokes.” Well, I used another word, but I am not allowed to repeat it in this place. Obviously, I was nervous.
To try to settle my nerves, I looked away at the crowd. “Do a quick scan of the room”, I thought. There were hundreds of people in the room, so that did not exactly help. However, as I was doing it, I spotted Prince Harry, who was at my two o'clock sitting in the front row. I guess His Royal Highness could sense my nervousness, so he gave me a supportive head nod and a wink as if to say “Hey, you've got this.” He was right.
I approached Her Majesty, I bowed, she extended her hand first, of course, and I did so in response. She said, “Congratulations” and handed me my medal. Now, I figured that was probably the end of it, but she asked me to tell her what I do. To put it in context, we were being recognized for the work we did in our communities back home and I was nominated for my work. I had the privilege of working with amazing at-risk youth and indigenous communities in northwestern and southwestern Ontario, including the incredible community of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation.
I mentioned that I work with youth in different communities. She said, “Huh” and I thought, “She's interested”, so I told her about it. She said it was all very fascinating and asked me to tell her more, so I did. We ended up speaking for about a minute or two, which I am told, in Queen terms, is actually a really long time. As I said earlier, she had an extraordinary ability to make me feel like I was the only person in the room.
At the end of the conversation, she extended her hand. The handshake is meant to bookend the conversation, but I imagine there are some people who are so enamoured with meeting the Queen that they might not get the message. When she comes out to shake someone's hand, we cannot tell when watching in person, because I was there watching her do it to others, or on TV that she actually pushes the person away. It is kind of like, “Okay, Kevin, it was nice talking to you. Off you go now, little one.” I have to say that for a then 91-year-old woman, that was a strong push, and today I have the distinct pleasure of being able to tell people that I met the Queen, she gave me a medal and then she pushed me away. All joking aside, I am forever grateful that I had this opportunity. It is a memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
To conclude, twice I have sworn an oath of allegiance to Her late Majesty, first in 2015 when I joined Her Majesty's Royal Canadian Navy and again last year as a member of Parliament. In that oath, we commit to faithfully serving her and her heirs and successors. With the ascension to the throne of His Majesty King Charles III, I, like all members of this House, will continue my service, both in and out of uniform, to our sovereign.
Long live the King.
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- Sep/15/22 5:05:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, with profound sadness I am here to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
However, on a positive note, I first want to note the 18th anniversary of Melanie Namespetra, who has worked with me on the Hill as a constituency assistant and legislative assistant. We have had a whole series of wonderful moments over 18 years of my 20 years here. I want to thank her and her family for all the work they have done on behalf of Windsor, Ontario, Essex and Canada.
I want to offer my condolences to the royal family. The Queen was a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother. The royal family is certainly going through a lot of emotions, even recognizing the fact that it has to share this moment with the entire planet. It is very difficult doing so in the public eye. I wish them the best during this difficult time.
I also want to thank Drew Dilkens, the mayor of Windsor. Our mayor is showing leadership in including the public. There will be a public viewing of the Queen's funeral at 5:45 a.m. on September 19 outdoors at City Hall Square. I want to thank Mayor Drew Dilkens for doing that. As well, there will be a public memorial service at All Saints' Anglican Church at 6 p.m. It is right next to that area. People are asked to RSVP for that.
Of particular note, it will be led by the Essex and Kent Scottish regiment to recognize that this year is the 80th year since Dieppe. The Essex and Kent Scottish regiment played a leading part in those operations and suffered significant losses in their duty during the Second World War. I will talk a bit about that now, with regard to the Queen as well as connections as to why this is important for our country and our Parliament.
I will share a little about my experiences too. I had the chance to meet the Queen in Toronto. I will talk a bit about that later.
I want to note that some of my family came from England. We grew up at the kitchen table hearing experiences about what took place during the war, what took place with the royal family and a number of different connections. My biological grandfather was John Clifford Addison. I did not know him. I have his medals, his soccer medals and war medals. He died on the HMS Scorpion in the fall of Burma.
It was lucky that my grandmother, Irene Attwood, was able to marry Fred Attwood. He served in the Royal Navy on the Ark Royal and the MacCallum. My grandmother, Irene, and my mother, Jean Masse, Jean Attwood at that time, survived the bombing raids in London. My mother just gifted me last year a scrapbook of the Queen that she made during that time and during her teen years.
There are lots of papers and news articles going back to the start, 70 years ago, that were published in the British papers, official programmes and so forth. I will be sharing them on the 16th on my social media. I took some pictures of them.
It is interesting, through the eyes of my mother at that time, to see all the work that went into this collection of materials. I think that experience was translated later on with better understanding. Fred Atwood was a merchant and I mentioned he served in the Royal Navy. He spent a lot of time serving his country, but he came to Canada.
I grew up with big band music playing in the background sitting at the kitchen table with my grandmother making scones and having tea and talking about life in England. Recognizing Her Majesty's commitment during wartime was part of the discussions. It was a continuation of the life they had in England which extended over into Canada.
It is important that we recognize the duration of Her Majesty's tenure. It lasted so long. During her 70-year reign there were 179 individuals who served as her prime ministers, including 15 British and 12 Canadian prime ministers. Her first British prime minister, Winston Churchill, was born in 1874. The last British prime minister to be appointed by the Queen was Liz Truss, who was born 101 years later, in 1975. She was appointed by the Queen just two days before her death.
As I mentioned, I had the chance to meet Her Royal Highness when she visited Toronto. As a child, I was in Windsor, Ontario, when the Queen visited. Like many of my age, we were on the side of the road as she drove by and waved. It was an interesting experience as a kid.
Later on, the Queen participated in a number of ceremonies in Windsor. Obviously, with a name like Windsor, there is a connection that is very strong. As well, we are a border city that fought significantly in the War of 1812. We are also the place of the Underground Railroad. When the British Empire finally got rid of slavery, many people came to our area for freedom from the United States. There was a recognition that it was a better place. Slavery is still one of those issues that languishes. I am hoping that the new King recognizes some of the suffering that still takes place from the awful state of slavery over generations. However, we have those connections.
Later on, it was Jack Layton who was supposed to attend a luncheon for the Queen at the Royal York. Jack, the former member for Toronto—Danforth, could not make it, so I got the call to represent him. It was a 90°C summer day, and I was staying at a hotel. I will try to describe it so that people get an idea of what one goes through.
For people who do not know me, I am not a very formal person. A tuxedo was required. I am not very good at protocol either. However, for me to get into a tuxedo was an accomplishment in itself, let alone doing it during a blackout, which took place at that time. I had to go down the hotel stairs, 11 storeys in 90°C weather, walk over to the Royal York where about 100 guests huddled in the dark.
At the time, we were to meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. We were sent a protocol sheet, which was much needed for people like me, to know what to expect. We were to get in line, and when our turn came, we would walk to the Queen, do a certain type of greeting and then move to His Royal Highness. We would then move to another room for the event.
Well, I am terrible at protocol. I got the right greeting for the Queen but when I got to His Royal Highness, I froze, and people were behind me. I said, “Hey man”, and he smiled and laughed, and then I moved on. The moment was kind of special, because I was there to try to be as respectful of the protocol as possible, but it did not matter.
We then moved to the next room for lunch where the Queen spoke. It was interesting, because she talked about Canada. She did not talk about anything other than Canada. She talked about the visits she had made across our country, whether it be the Northwest Territories, British Columbia or the east coast. She mentioned Windsor as well. We had that type of exchange and then the event was over. It was interesting, because I had grown up with this at the kitchen table.
Another interesting thing is that she was the most travelled world leader, having travelled to 117 countries and almost 56 Commonwealth nations. She was also the first monarch to visit West Germany, China, South Africa and other African nations and almost every corner of Canada during her 22 visits. Listening to someone with that type of experience is always interesting in itself, and then having these different connections was really important. I think the kind of common element in what was taking place in Canada was very special.
As I mentioned, her reign was not perfect. One of the things that I am hoping to see is some reconciliation with our first nations. I am hoping that King Charles III does that and will recognize that there has to be more, which is necessary to have reconciliation. It is one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's points, and I am looking forward to that. I think it would help not only myself but maybe young Canadians as well as we try to move forward with a connection to the monarchy in our country, but it needs to come with recognition of what has taken place in the past.
In closing, I send my condolences to the royal family.
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- Sep/15/22 6:02:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, before I begin, I want to offer my condolences and sympathies to all those affected by the tragic stabbings on James Smith Cree Nation. Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire community.
It is an honour to rise today at this special sitting to provide some words of tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen's passing on September 8 has shaken us all. Last week, the world lost a monumental figure. Her Majesty was the epitome of grace, class and duty.
I would like to send my deepest condolences to the royal family and to Canadians across the country. We, as a nation, are in mourning over the passing of our Queen, and the numbers speak for themselves. In England, lines of mourners stretched for five kilometres, and in Canada, our online book of condolences alone contains more than 170 pages of signatures, and I am sure there are a lot more since I wrote this speech earlier.
In my own constituency office in Brampton West, hundreds of people have stopped by to pay their respects. Words used to describe the Queen in the press and in the books of condolences evoke her grace, her dedication to service, as well as her humour and diplomacy. To many, including me, she was a beautiful presence, a beacon of hope and stability in a shifting and increasingly fractured world.
In public life, she modelled respect, duty and humility, qualities that are sorely lacking in today's political dialogue. Her Majesty was the Queen for almost half of Canada's existence. Her reign spanned more than seven decades, and in that time, she witnessed and participated in Canada's growth and prosperity as it grew into the strong, inclusive country it is today.
Over the course of the past seven decades, Her Majesty was always there for many of our major milestones. It was only 40 years ago that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was adopted with the signing of the proclamation of the Constitution Act, 1982, by Her Majesty and the former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
She was present for the proclamation of the national flag of Canada in 1965, the establishment of the Order of Canada and broader Canadian honour systems in 1967, and the celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the admission into Confederation of Manitoba, the Northwest Territories in 1970, British Columbia in 1971 and Prince Edward Island in 1973. Her Majesty was also present for the drop of the puck at the NHL hockey game in Vancouver in 2002.
On one of her many visits to Canada, she also visited the City of Brampton to celebrate the 100th anniversary as a town in 1973. I was not born then, but I can say that on her royal tour, she and Prince Philip were taken to Gage Park during the official centennial celebrations. I know many Bramptonians still remember that day and have talked about that day in many of the conversations I have had with my constituents over the last week.
There are so many more moments that Canadians will cherish forever. Her Majesty remains the first Canadian monarch to open Parliament and deliver a speech from the throne in 1957. She was the first female member of the royal family to actively serve in the military and had a meaningful relationship with the Canadian Armed Forces as their commander-in-chief. She visited many ships and military bases across the country and presided over many military ceremonies.
Canada, of course, was the most frequently visited country by Queen Elizabeth II, and she had a strong relationship with our country. She made it a point to tour every province and territory, beginning with a five-week cross-country tour in 1951, which was followed by 22 official visits over the years. She often called Canada home and described us as a land “full of hope, of happiness and of fine, loyal, generous-hearted people.”
It was in 1947, at the age of only 21, that she vowed her whole life would be devoted to the service of the Commonwealth, and she honoured that promise until her very last day at the age of 96.
In 2002, Her Majesty reminded the world of the importance of service, community and compassion through her words, “Our modern world places such heavy demands on our time and attention that the need to remember our responsibilities to others is greater than ever.”
Her Majesty embodied these very words herself through her devotion and commitment to service. She was a sponsor of over 600 organizations, including 36 in Canada, many of which reflected her own interests and passions, such as education, health, children and science.
Her Majesty was a role model for selfless service that inspired so many here at home and across the globe. She will forever be remembered for her commitment to service, volunteerism and the betterment of society.
As Minister of Seniors, I have often reflected on the powerful and inspiring example the Queen gave of the value and worth of all elders. She worked to serve others until her final breath. Her resilience and contributions well into her advanced years are a reminder that seniors are a valuable asset. That makes us a very lucky nation. Canada's seniors are growing in ranks, so we can lean on a multitude of older Canadians to guide us into the next era.
Canadians will remember Her Majesty for her wisdom, advice and compassion. She was a source of stability and strength for all. She brought guidance, direction, confidence and courage to our nation and never failed to provide steady and reassuring messages, especially during times of global crisis, and particularly recently with the COVID-19 pandemic. Her words always held great weight.
It was in 1974 that she said these lines, which have stuck with me since the very first day I came across them: “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.” These words have held a large place in my heart and serve as a constant reminder for all of us of how similar we truly are, regardless of our backgrounds or political stripes.
Her Majesty has always had a constant presence in the life of Canada, and she will be deeply missed. She had a deep love for Canadians and Canada, and she will be remembered for generations to come. On behalf of all Canadians, I thank her for her countless years of service and dedication and for the vow she made 75 years ago, which she never steered from.
My thoughts go out to her family, for whom she was a beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. I know I join many Canadians, including in my own community of Brampton West and across the country, in mourning the end of an era.
I also wish to commend His Majesty King Charles III on his accession to the throne. His commitment to service, his focus on climate and his commitment to renewed Crown-indigenous relations all bode well for the future. Long live the King.
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