The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I have the honour to inform the Senate that the Clerk of the Senate has received a certificate from the Registrar General of Canada showing that Flordeliz Osler has been summoned to the Senate.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I have the honour to inform the Senate that the Clerk of the Senate has received a certificate from the Registrar General of Canada showing that Flordeliz Osler has been summoned to the Senate.

Hon. Raymonde Saint-Germain: Honourable Senator Flordeliz Gigi Osler, all of my colleagues in the Independent Senators Group join me in wishing you the warmest of welcomes. We also welcome your family members. This will always be a very special day in your history. Our best regards to your family.

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Senator, I would like to point out that you have demonstrated on several occasions how active and dynamic a woman you are, finding time not only to serve your patients but also to serve your professional association, in addition to sharing your knowledge and transferring your expertise to several universities in Canada and abroad. For the last several years, Dr. Osler, you have been volunteering in Africa to help train other surgeons in collaboration with the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute, Harvard University; University of British Columbia; University of Manitoba; and the Canadian Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

This would be impressive enough, but I’m not done with your very impressive résumé. As a dedicated advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion, your appointment is a continuation of a career in which your professionalism, integrity and competence have long served the public.

Senator Osler, when you were only and mostly known as Dr. Osler, you once said:

In my own work, I’ve come to realize how important it is to say to a patient who is about to have surgery, “We’re all here for you,” and give them confidence that they’re in good hands.

As this new chapter in your illustrious career begins, I couldn’t help but think about this sentence and how, despite your great expertise as a surgeon, you realize just how important it is to reassure your patients about what they are soon to undergo. On a larger scale, whether it is the Manitoban community, the Filipino one or all citizens of our country you will be representing in your new functions, I have no doubt that you will exercise your role with the utmost empathy, and our fellow Canadians will surely be confident that they are indeed “in good hands.”

Senator Osler, you will bring a unique perspective to our discussions, and I trust that you will keep in mind our duty to ensure the best interests of all Canadians with the care, the dedication, as well as the patience that have marked your career so far.

You have expressed your love of being in the operating room. This I don’t share with you, though. Although this might not look like one, the issues we deal with in this chamber can be delicate in nature and require rigour as well as precision. I have no doubt that you will succeed with flying colours.

Today, you are officially opening in the Senate a new chapter of your life. As this chapter is beginning, I wish to express how eager all members of the Independent Senators Group are to work with you. With your rich background, your proven dynamism and your modern and innovative approach — we saw it on TikTok indeed — we can only look forward to a tremendous contribution to the future of the Senate, especially with the great advantage of the time you have before you.

Senator Osler, welcome to the upper chamber.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, what a pleasure it is for me to welcome our newest colleague, Senator Flordeliz (Gigi) Osler. Senator Osler is a proud born-and-bred Manitoban of Philippine and Indian heritage. Her background and career achievements are most impressive. She is a surgeon, an assistant professor, an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, a past president of the Canadian Medical Association and a mentor to Filipino students through the Filipino Association of Medical Students in Manitoba. She has been president of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada since 2021, chair of the Canadian Medical Forum since 2020 and co-chair of the Virtual Care Task Force since 2019.

As CMA chair in 2018, Senator Osler spoke in favour of Senator Boyer’s work in ending forced and coerced sterilization of First Nations, Inuit and Métis women and committed the association to working with the federal-provincial working group being set up by the government.

Senator Osler has trained surgeons in Africa in a volunteer capacity, and during her two-year tenure as president of the CMA, she initiated its first in-house policy on equity and diversity.

However, for tens of thousands of viewers, she may be best known as a COVID TikTok star. By her own admission, since the beginning of the pandemic, Senator Osler wanted to reach younger people, those in their twenties and thirties, who rely on social media for so much of their information. In her estimation, the best way to do this was to provide the information on the forum they used. She posted her first short video in March of 2020, demonstrating the best hand-washing techniques to stop the spread of COVID. It was a big hit. She went on to post dozens of more videos displaying and explaining to people how they could stay safe and avoid lockdowns.

When asked why she chose this particular medium to get her point across, she explained that these were the simplest ways for people to understand how best to continue their lives even in the middle of a pandemic. She stated:

So that’s my message that I keep trying to get across, [it] is one of hope. It’s not one of fear.

Senator Osler has also expanded her TikTok education to include a short history lesson on the Federation of Medical Women of Canada, of which she is the president.

Colleagues, I suggest that you take that 48 seconds that it will take to learn about the founders of the federation and the snub at the 1924 Canadian Medical Association conference, which is the raison d’être for the organization.

Senator Osler, your experience and talents are a welcome addition to this chamber, and on behalf of my colleagues in the Government Representative Office, I welcome you to the Senate of Canada and very much look forward to working with you.