The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Fire Chief Ken McMullen of Red Deer, Alberta. He is the guest of the Honourable Senator Sorensen.

On behalf of all honourable senators, I welcome you to the Senate of Canada.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question, and I couldn’t agree with you more in terms of the importance of these ceremonies to the participants, the observers and their families.

The government wants to be very clear: All applicants will continue to have the choice and the option to swear or affirm their Oath of Citizenship before a citizenship judge or an authorized person at an in-person or virtual ceremony as the case may be. That remains the case. The government strongly wants Canadians to know that citizenship ceremonies are here to stay. IRCC — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada — has resumed in-person citizenship ceremonies that were suspended due to the impact of COVID-19 to its operations and now actually offers virtual citizenship ceremonies to those for whom it’s appropriate.

The Oath of Citizenship is the final step to becoming a Canadian citizen. It’s a solemn promise to follow the laws of Canada and perform our duties as Canadians. The government is seeking input on proposed changes to the Citizenship Act to improve their experience and expand accessibility, and that is an ongoing process. Rest assured, citizenship ceremonies are here to stay.

Hon. Claude Carignan: My question is for the proud Government Representative in the Senate.

Leader, The Globe and Mail recently published an open letter from an employee of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, who identified himself as the newspaper’s source, justifying why he had shared the information with The Globe and Mail, after the Canadian authorities failed to take the necessary measures to counter Chinese interference, even though he implored them to do so. Apparently, the government knew about this interference, but did nothing.

Leader, can you confirm when the Prime Minister was briefed by CSIS agents?

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, we were all deeply saddened and shocked by the recent news of two police officers being killed on duty. Constable Travis Jordan and Constable Brett Ryan of the Edmonton Police Service were both killed early last Thursday, March 16. We offer our condolences to their families, friends and fellow officers. I would ask you to rise for a minute of silence in their memory.

(Honourable senators then stood in silent tribute.)

[Translation]

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): I would have had to have been in this position a lot longer to have the answer to your question at my fingertips. I certainly don’t have the answer. I will endeavour to find out who might have the answer and report back when I do get an answer.

Senator C. Deacon: Thank you very much, Senator Gold. Perhaps you could also add on to that the number of deputy ministers that have decided within their departments to prioritize the use of the Competition Bureau’s Competition Assessment Toolkit that has been made specifically for policy-makers and have reached out to the Competition Bureau’s competition promotion unit. Thank you.

Hon. Colin Deacon: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative.

Senator Gold, there’s been good news that hopefully signals the prioritization of competition policy in Canada. This includes Budget 2022’s down payment of amendments to the Competition Act and an increase in the Competition Bureau’s budget, as well as Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s ongoing consultation on the future of competition policy and the recent appointments of two competition law experts to top positions at the CRTC — the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

This last point is the focus of my question. Anti-competitive regulations programs and policies exist across all departments and agencies from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to Transport Canada, from the CRTC to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, or OSFI. As we all know, intention is important, but capacity to implement is paramount. Therefore, outside of the Competition Bureau itself, what is the federal government’s competition policy expertise? How many of the 336,000 federal public servants have had competition policy training and are responsible for the development of pro-competitive policies in their departments?

Hon. Patricia Bovey: Senator Gold, lately we’ve heard the idea from government that people could take the Canadian Oath of Citizenship by signing a document online without attending either an in-person or virtual citizenship ceremony. The negative concerns I have heard about this idea are legion, so much so that I attended a live citizenship ceremony again last Thursday. It was truly moving to hear all in the room take the oath, to witness the individual certificate presentations and see the photos — all very important aspects of the event that would be missed by merely signing an online form at home. Can you assure this chamber, all Canadians and those applying for citizenship that this idea of cutting out citizenship ceremonies in favour of a self-administered online oath will be quashed?

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Hon. Elizabeth Marshall: I have a follow-up question. Perhaps you can also check on this.

While announcing policy commitments is helpful, actually executing the policy is the real challenge. I’m thinking specifically of all the problems the department encountered in the area of military procurement over the last several years. Given the challenges encountered in implementing the existing policy, what changes have the government undertaken to successfully implement the new policy, which they should release very shortly?

Hon. Elizabeth Marshall: My question is also for Senator Gold, and it’s on the Department of National Defence.

Senator Gold, last year’s budget announced the defence policy review to allow Canada to update its existing 2017 defence policy, entitled Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada’s Defence Policy, with the stated goal of supporting its broader international priorities in a changing global environment. That was a full year ago.

We’ve just finished our study in the National Finance Committee of Supplementary Estimates (C), and we began our study of the Main Estimates this morning. It would be very helpful if we had that updated policy. Can you tell us what has happened to this update and when we can expect it?

Hon. Tony Loffreda: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Senator Gold, many are calling on the government to further investigate emergency COVID benefits and subsidy amounts paid to Canadians who may have inadvertently received money they were ineligible for. In her fall report, the Auditor General refers to some $32 billion in total payments, including $15.5 billion for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.

I appreciate that the CRA — the Canada Revenue Agency — does not agree with some of the Auditor General’s findings, but the point remains that the agency needs a plan of action to verify the millions of benefit applications it received. As the Parliamentary Budget Officer, or PBO, told our National Finance Committee:

. . . the CRA doesn’t deem it worthy, appropriate or worth the effort to go after an alleged $15 billion in potential overpayments . . . .

Can you assure us that the government is committed to recovering what could be millions or even billions of dollars that may have gone to ineligible candidates?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. During the pandemic, as you all know, the government took very decisive and unprecedented action to help Canadians get through this crisis, to save lives and help our economy, and it worked. But it was clear from the beginning, as I have said on many occasions, that the CRA would begin verifications once the time was right and once it had the required data to do so. Indeed, as you alluded to, verifications have begun and assessments are being made and continue to be made as to where the efforts of the CRA should be focused.

It will take some time to complete this work. The government does not accept the numbers that the Auditor General put forward in terms of the magnitude of the problem, but there was a problem, of course. In that regard, fraud will not be tolerated. The CRA will continue to use all of its tools to identify and recover the amounts that were disbursed to ineligible recipients.

Hon. Pamela Wallin: Senator Gold, Canada Post is apparently again polling on closing rural post offices to deal with revenue shortfalls. They’re even polling on how to redefine “rural” to get around their existing moratorium on closures. Post offices are vital in rural Canada, where internet is already iffy and everything from flyers to Amazon orders go to the post office. I drive 22 kilometres to get my mail. Hours are restricted, the cost of mailing is higher than the birthday gift I’m sending and the post office is competing with struggling local newspapers — and actually killing some — by putting advertising directly in our mailboxes. Can you please assure us that we will stop compensating bad business practices at Canada Post on the backs of rural Canadians?

Hon. Jean-Guy Dagenais: Honourable senators, I rise today to mark, in my own way, the fact that our colleague, the Honourable Senator Larry Smith, will be inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

It is a rare honour to become a Canadian football legend. I say “rare” even though Senator Smith is the second member of this chamber to be awarded this honour. The other is the late Senator David Braley, who was also from Montreal and who owned the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Toronto Argonauts, and the BC Lions.

Senator Smith is being inducted into the Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Canadian professional football 50 years after he first donned the Montreal Alouettes uniform in 1972. Larry Smith played for nine consecutive seasons during which the team won the Grey Cup twice, once in 1974 and again in 1977. I must say here that, at the time, our colleague was playing for one of the greatest coaches in Canadian and American football in the 1980s and 1990s, Marv Levy.

After serving as the commissioner of the CFL for five years, from 1992 to 1997, Senator Smith went on to serve as president of the Montreal Alouettes, not once but twice. The first time was from 1997 to 2001, when he basically had to save the CFL. After a brief stint as the president and publisher of the Montreal Gazette, he returned and served as team president a second time from 2004 to 2010 and won the Grey Cup in 2009 and 2010.

If there is still a professional football team in Montreal, it is no doubt thanks to Senator Smith’s reputation and talent as a manager and communicator. Under his watch, the Alouettes played sold-out games for 10 years. That was such an accomplishment that, even today, when the Alouettes aren’t doing well, Larry Smith’s name often comes up in the news as the one who could potentially save the franchise, which was just purchased by businessman Pierre-Karl Péladeau.

In all honesty, both the Alouettes and The Gazette could use a man of Larry Smith’s calibre to help them survive today.

It is fair to say that this is a very well-deserved honour for Senator Smith. He has dedicated more than 30 years to bringing professional football to life and promoting it in Montreal, Quebec and Canada.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate our friend, Senator Larry Smith.

Hip hip hooray!

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Hon. Claude Carignan: Honourable senators, today I want to pay tribute to another athlete from Saint-Eustache in my region, Marie-Ève Dicaire, who announced on March 8 that she is retiring from competitive boxing, a sport she has been mastering at the professional level for more than eight years.

Marie-Ève chose to announce her retirement on March 8, on International Women’s Day. I’ve known her for nearly 20 years and I know that choice was not a coincidence.

In fact, at her announcement, she said:

I always boxed to show that women are capable, that female professional boxing was possible. Today, there are many women who are ready to take up the torch, to shine a light on professional boxing. I’m at peace with that because I know that it is not going to die with my retirement.

She was always aware that she was a role model for many young female athletes and her announcement on March 8 marks the advancement of women in our society in general and in combat sports in particular.

After a long career in karate, during which she won five world titles, a stint in kick-boxing and another in Olympic boxing, she experienced glory and success in professional boxing, winning 18 of her 20 matches as well as the world championship belt from the International Boxing Federation on two occasions.

On December 8, 2018, she became Quebec’s first world champion with a unanimous-decision victory over Uruguay’s Chris Namus at the Centre Vidéotron in Quebec City.

Now 36 years old, she has a very long and impressive track record that reminds us that with determination, discipline and perseverance, nothing is impossible.

A recipient of funding from the Fondation Élite de Saint-Eustache, she was only 12 years old when she participated in her first international karate competition and took home the gold medal. She is a five-time world champion in the sport.

The pandemic put her professional boxing career on hold and she began working in communications and media, a career she will continue to pursue now that she has hung up her gloves.

Her cheerfulness, communication skills and friendly personality will make her a champion yet again, but in the media world this time.

Congratulations on your outstanding career, and good luck in your new challenges, Marie-Ève.

Thank you.

[English]

Hon. Brian Francis: Honourable senators, despite overwhelming research and evidence showing that for over a century, Indigenous children were forcibly taken to residential schools and other institutions where they were subjected to rampant neglect, abuse and even death, many people in Canada continue to not just outright deny the hard facts but invalidate and undermine them.

The use of such rhetoric and tactics in politics, media and all other forums must be strongly confronted and condemned. Our silence is complicity and violence.

We must use our positions of power and privilege to amplify the voices and experiences of survivors who have fought relentlessly to ensure that the shameful truth of Canada’s treatment of Indigenous people is known and addressed.

They are owed our utmost respect, gratitude and support for their strength, courage and resolve, sometimes at great personal cost, to demand better from all of us — and all levels of government and society.

We also have to honour the innocent children who died at residential schools and associated institutions, like hospitals.

Many were buried at unmarked locations that were never disclosed to their loved ones and which continue to be disrespected. Let’s ensure their spirits and bodies finally receive the honour, respect and dignity they deserve.

Colleagues, Indigenous people must lead the important and sacred work of uncovering, documenting and sharing the truth of the genocide inflicted on us, as well as the search, recovery, identification, protection and commemoration of our missing children. Parliamentarians and others must empower them in doing so.

This work conducted by, with and on behalf of survivors, in the pursuit of truth, justice, healing and reconciliation — often without the necessary funding, resources or even authority — is critical to addressing the wrongs of the past and present and moving Canada towards a better future for all.

Today, following a moving and compelling appearance at the Committee on Indigenous Peoples, we are joined by Kimberly Murray, the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools, her colleagues Executive Director Wendelyn Johnson and Senior Partner Donald Worme, as well as Stephanie Scott, Executive Director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, her Executive Assistant Carmen Roy and survivor and Elder Barbara Cameron.

I am endlessly grateful and inspired by them and all those who engage in this difficult, challenging and often painful journey to assist survivors and their families, communities and governments, and Canada as a whole. I pray the Creator continues to guide and protect them, and urge leaders inside and outside this chamber to listen, believe and support them today and every day.

Wela’lin, thank you.

Hon. Paula Simons: Honourable senators, last Thursday, just before 1 a.m., two young Edmonton police constables, Brett Ryan and Travis Jordan, responded to a call about a domestic dispute at an apartment complex in west central Edmonton.

When the constables arrived at the building, they were met by a 55-year-old woman, who told them that she was having problems with her 16-year-old son. The boy had no criminal record and no outstanding warrants. But police had been called to the home before to deal with the boy on a mental health call.

While all domestic disturbance calls can be volatile, there was no indication that this call was particularly high risk.

No one was prepared for what came next. According to the Edmonton Police Service, Brett Ryan and Travis Jordan were shot by the teen multiple times before they reached the apartment door. Neither constable had a chance to pull a weapon. The mother then attempted to disarm her son. He shot and wounded her grievously, before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life.

It is a horror that has rocked my city and my own neighbourhood. I walked my dog right past this building just a few hours before the shooting.

As a journalist, I covered the murders of the four RCMP officers who were ambushed by James Roszko at Rochfort Bridge in 2005. I also covered the 2015 death of Constable David Wynn, the St. Albert RCMP officer who was shot and killed by Shawn Rehn. But Roszko and Rehn were dangerous men, hard men, with serious criminal records. There is something so much more disturbing, more poignant, more painful, more pointless about the deaths of two brave young officers at the hands of a mentally ill child, who is now dead himself.

There are so many questions. How did this troubled 16-year-old get access to a gun in the first place? Did his family receive the support they needed from the child welfare system and the mental health care system? Did Constables Ryan and Jordan have all the information they needed about the boy’s mental health history before they arrived? And do police officers in general have the training and support they need to deal with mental health calls?

For now, we have no answers, only our shared anguish. At this very moment, thousands of Edmontonians are lining the streets of south Edmonton as the bodies of these two brave constables are moved from the medical examiner’s office to the funeral home.

On Monday, Edmontonians and police officers from across Canada will come together to mourn and to honour the lives of Brett Ryan and Travis Jordan in a public ceremony at Rogers Place. It will be an opportunity for community catharsis. But the private pain for all three of these grieving families will endure for many years to come.

Hon. Gwen Boniface: Honourable senators, I rise today in great sadness to honour the lives of two young police officers who were taken too soon. Constable Travis Jordan and Constable Brett Ryan were ambushed and fatally shot while responding to a family dispute call last Thursday. Despite the heroic efforts that were made to save them, the officers succumbed to their injuries.

Constables Jordan and Ryan served with the Edmonton Police Service West Division.

Brett Ryan was 30 years old and had worked with the Edmonton Police Service for more than five years. He had previously served the city as a paramedic. Constable Ryan is remembered as being passionate about his work and his community service. He enjoyed working as a minor hockey referee and playing slow-pitch baseball. A friend remarked that his face lit up whenever he spoke about his job.

His wife, Ashley, who serves the city as a paramedic, is expecting their first child this summer.

Travis Jordan was originally from Nova Scotia. He moved to Alberta to pursue a career in policing. He served with the Edmonton Police Service for eight and a half years. His sister, Sheena, said that he had dreamed of becoming a police officer since he was a small child. He had a reputation for being compassionate and had received accolades for helping someone who was driving a snow-covered car. Instead of handing them a ticket, he gave them a snow brush and a smile. Travis Jordan was 35.

These tragic losses have taken place amid a concerning rise in the number of police officers killed in the last six months in Canada. The other victims include Toronto Police Service Constable Andrew Hong, South Simcoe Police Service Constables Morgan Russell and Devon Northrup, RCMP Constable Shaelyn Yang and Ontario Provincial Police Constable Grzegorz Pierzchala. All but one of the officers were shot.

Funerals for Constable Jordan and Constable Ryan will be held in the coming days. Senator Busson and I, not just as former police officers but as mothers of police officers, ask you to join us in sending our deepest condolences to their families and to the women and men of the Edmonton Police Service. May they all find the support they need during this difficult time.

Thank you, meegwetch.

Senator Plett: As I said, he’s the beneficiary. Why did the Trudeau Foundation return hundreds of thousands of dollars that they clearly thought the foundation should not have received? Now, we find out that the Prime Minister himself has received thousands of dollars in donations from very questionable sources in his own riding.

For the past three weeks, we’ve seen Liberal MPs filibuster at committee to block the Prime Minister’s chief of staff from saying what she knows about the Beijing interference. Then they say it’s political when the opposition asks questions.

Yesterday, the Trudeau government threatened that a motion before the other place to compel Ms. Telford to testify could well be a matter of confidence — obviously, to get Jagmeet Singh on side.

This morning, the Prime Minister’s Office said Ms. Telford will appear before committee but also seemed to warn that she wouldn’t have much to say.

This is a farce, leader. The Prime Minister doesn’t need the former governor general or any made-up special rapporteur to tell Canadians the truth about what he knew. He can tell Canadians the truth.

Instead, we’ve seen the Prime Minister completely unable or unwilling to answer straightforward questions, leader. If the Prime Minister had and has nothing to hide, he’d be able to answer questions, wouldn’t he? If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn’t keep bending over backwards to keep the truth from coming out. Don’t you agree, leader?