The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Chief Roy Whitney of Tsuut’ina Nation, Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, Chief Aaron Young of Chiniki First Nation and Chief Clifford Poucette of Goodstoney First Nation. They are the guests of the Honourable Senator Tannas.

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

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Dr. Sharon Allar, Adam Allar and their children. They are the guests of the Honourable Senator Marwah.

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

Hon. Michèle Audette: [Editor’s Note: Senator Audette spoke in Innu-aimun.]

Honourable senators, before sharing something I experienced today, I’d like to thank Senator McCallum. Tshinashkumitin.

[English]

It was important for me to see you, to feel you and to listen to you this morning, along with other survivors and families who participated in this event.

Senator Patterson, you gave me your spot, so I will try to honour it.

[Translation]

First of all, I’d like to thank Senator Patterson for giving me this opportunity to tell you about the ceremony that many of us took part in this morning, where people came to show us the sacred site of a new monument that will remind us of part of Canada’s history. It’s part of a path of healing for many of us, including me.

It is also the subject of Call to Action No. 81 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which states, and I quote:

We call upon the federal government, in collaboration with Survivors and their organizations, and other parties to the Settlement Agreement, to commission and install a publicly accessible, highly visible, Residential Schools National Monument in the city of Ottawa to honour Survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities.

It happened this morning to the sound of Inuit song, Métis fiddle and the words of a First Nations woman. It was powerful and moving. The committee to create this monument will be made up of people from different nations and territories and from the government, and it will reflect on how to honour these little children and the families affected by residential schools.

The beautiful thing about First Nations’ protocols is that we must ask the permission of the people to welcome us. The Anishinaabe people were present and welcomed us with a lot of love and respect. This beautiful monument that we will one day see will be located where parliamentarians enter the building, on the west side of the Hill. It will be where everyone can see it, whether they are tourists, parliamentarians or people who come just to pay their respects to and commune with our ancestors.

I will close with some of the words that I heard spoken by men and women today: This is for the children who thought we did not love them. Every day, they will see that we carry them with us in our hearts.

Tshinashkumitin.

[English]

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Honourable senators, I wasn’t expecting to speak, but it being World Refugee Day, I thought I should speak. I want to remember the millions displaced and acknowledge their resilience and struggles. As senators have been speaking, I have been sitting and scribbling on paper. Senator Omidvar gave us the numbers, but I want to share with you that 52% of the current refugees are from three countries: Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan. Over 43 million are children. We are witnessing the highest level of displacement on record.

Only 3% of refugee children will go to school or have higher education. For refugee girls, it’s even more difficult. Refugee girls have less access to education than boys and are half as likely to be enrolled in school by the time they reach secondary level. UNESCO estimates that if girls completed primary education, child marriage rates would go down by 14%, and if they completed secondary education, the rates would plummet by 64%.

Canada, once again, has come out as the leader. We have been and continue to be a world leader in accepting refugees. But on this day I want to think back to the people I have seen in refugee camps. I want to mention the young boy whom I met earlier this year. I asked him about his education and the education of the girls. He was from a small remote village in Afghanistan. He was selling stuff in my hometown, and I stopped to talk to him. He said, “Girls? Girls don’t get an education.” He said, “I don’t have an education. I went to class 6 and that was it.”

I want to acknowledge the widow whom I met when the people of Swat were displaced by the Taliban. When I was in the camp, she told me:

They keep telling me, “Bring your husband.” I’m a widow. I have been a widow for 20 years. They won’t let me have any aid unless I have a man by my side.

I think of the women whose tents I went into who said, “We need help; we need feminine products. We can’t ask the men.” And I was a spokesperson for these people. These are some of the stories that I have lived through, that I have seen, that we continue to see.

I want to thank every one of you, my colleagues. You have stood with us when we speak in support of the refugees, as we did on Bill C-41. I want to thank you for that. I want to remind you: Let’s not forget those who are displaced and let’s applaud their courage. Thank you very much.

Hon. Patti LaBoucane-Benson (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the document entitled Proposals to correct certain anomalies, inconsistencies, out-dated terminology and errors and to deal with other matters of a non-controversial and uncomplicated nature in the Statutes and Regulations of Canada and to repeal certain provisions that have expired, lapsed or otherwise ceased to have effect.

Hon. Mohamed-Iqbal Ravalia, Joint Chair of the Standing Joint Committee on the Library of Parliament, presented the following report:

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

The Standing Joint Committee on the Library of Parliament has the honour to present its

FIRST REPORT

Your committee recommends to the Senate that it be authorized to assist the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons in directing and controlling the Library of Parliament, and that it be authorized to make recommendations to the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons regarding the governance of the Library and the proper expenditure of moneys voted by Parliament for the purchase of documents or other articles to be deposited therein.

Your committee recommends:

(a)that its quorum be fixed at six members, provided that each House is represented, and a member from a non-government party or recognized parliamentary group and a member from the government are present, whenever a vote, resolution or other decision is taken; and

(b)that the joint chairs be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence published when a quorum is not present, provided that at least three members are present, including a member from a non-government party or recognized parliamentary group and a member from the government, provided that each House is represented.

Your committee further recommends to the Senate that it be empowered to sit during sittings and adjournments of the Senate.

A copy of the relevant Minutes of Proceedings (Meeting No. 1) is tabled in the House of Commons.

Respectfully submitted,

MOHAMED-IQBAL RAVALIA

Joint Chair

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, when shall this report be taken into consideration?

(On motion of Senator Cotter, report placed on the Orders of the Day for consideration at the next sitting of the Senate.)

Hon. Patti LaBoucane-Benson (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the document entitled A Self-Government Treaty Recognizing the Whitecap Dakota Nation / Wapaha Ska Dakota Oyate.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, when shall this report be taken into consideration?

(On motion of Senator Cotter, report placed on the Orders of the Day for consideration at the next sitting of the Senate.)

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, when shall this bill be read the second time?

(On motion of Senator Deacon (Ontario), bill placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading two days hence.)

[Translation]

The Hon. the Speaker: Are senators ready for the question?

Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?

The Hon. the Speaker: Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?

The Hon. the Speaker: Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?

Hon. Senators: Question.

The Hon. the Speaker informed the Senate that a message had been received from the House of Commons with Bill C-51, An Act to give effect to the self-government treaty recognizing the Whitecap Dakota Nation / Wapaha Ska Dakota Oyate and to make consequential amendments to other Acts.

(Bill read first time.)

(Pursuant to the order adopted earlier this day, the bill is placed on the Orders of the Day for a second reading later this day.)

[English]

The Hon. the Speaker informed the Senate that a message had been received from the House of Commons with Bill C-35, An Act respecting early learning and child care in Canada.

(Bill read first time.)

Hon. Brent Cotter: Honourable senators, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifteenth report of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, which deals with Bill S-12, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the International Transfer of Offenders Act.

(For text of report, see today’s Journals of the Senate, p. 1853.)

Hon. Patti LaBoucane-Benson (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-5(j), I move:

That, notwithstanding any provision of the Rules, previous order or usual practice, in relation to Bill C-51, An Act to give effect to the self-government treaty recognizing the Whitecap Dakota Nation/Wapaha Ska Dakota Oyate and to make consequential amendments to other Acts:

1.if the Senate receives a message from the House of Commons with the bill after the adoption of this order, the bill, once read a first time, be placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading later that day, or, if the Senate has already passed second reading of government bills, second reading be dealt with forthwith;

2.if, before this order is adopted, the bill had been placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading at a sitting after the one on which this order is adopted, second reading be brought forward, upon the adoption of this order, to later on the day this order is adopted, or, if the Senate has already passed second reading of government bills, second reading be dealt with forthwith;

3.on the first day the bill is considered at second reading after the adoption of this order, debate on the bill not be adjourned, no vote relating to the bill be deferred, and, if the bill has not been disposed of at second reading by the time provided for the adjournment of the Senate, the Speaker interrupt proceedings at that time in order to put all questions necessary to dispose of the bill at second reading;

4.if the bill is adopted at second reading, it be referred to the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples, and, for the purposes of its study of the bill, that committee have power to meet even though the Senate may then be sitting, with the application of rule 12-18(1) being suspended in relation thereto;

5.when the committee reports the bill:

(a)if the report is without amendment, the bill be placed on the Orders of the Day for third reading later that day; and

(b)if the report is with amendment or recommends against proceeding with the bill, the report be placed on the Orders of the Day for consideration later that day, and, after the report has been disposed of, the bill, if still before the Senate, be taken into consideration at third reading forthwith;

6.if the committee has not reported the bill by Routine Proceedings on the second sitting of the Senate after the bill was referred to the committee, the committee be deemed to have reported the bill without amendment, with the bill then being placed on the Orders of the Day for third reading later that day;

7.when the Senate considers a report of the committee on the bill or deals with the bill at third reading, debate not be adjourned, no vote relating to the bill be deferred, and if the bill has not been disposed of by the time provided for the adjournment of the Senate, the Speaker interrupt proceedings at that time in order to put all questions necessary to dispose of the bill; and

8.for greater certainty, if, under the terms of this order, the Speaker is at any time required to interrupt proceedings then before the Senate in order to put all questions necessary to dispose of the bill at a particular stage, no further debate or amendment be permitted except, if required, to move third reading of the bill, and, if a standing vote is requested after proceedings have been interrupted, the vote not be deferred and the bells ring once, and for only 15 minutes, without being rung again for subsequent votes necessary to dispose of the bill at that stage, with, on that day, any rules and orders relating to the time of adjournment being suspended until the Senate has concluded proceedings as required under this order.

The Hon. the Speaker: Is leave granted, honourable senators?

The Hon. the Speaker: Are senators ready for the question?

Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?