Hon. Joan Kingston: Honourable senators, I am honoured to have my first opportunity to speak in this chamber. I didn’t think that I would speak here so soon after taking my seat, and I do not have any stories prepared to share, but I am certain that I could never equal the storytelling of Senator Prosper. I am just going to leave it at that.

I am, however, hopeful that, over the next months and years, I will show my spark, as he has asked us to do.

I am speaking in favour of this amendment to Bill C-35 because it fits with my goals to give voice to equity-seeking groups and to address the issues that impact the social determinants of health and social justice.

Colleagues, Bill C-35 is an important piece of legislation to support the federal government in working with the provinces, territories and Indigenous people to build an affordable, inclusive and high-quality early learning and child care system for families across Canada, and to support equitable access to early learning and child care.

I have to say that early learning is my priority because of the implications around early childhood development and how it impacts that.

Bill C-35 is another significant step toward ensuring the system remains in place long into the future so that generations of young Canadians can get the best possible start in life.

[Translation]

Both of New Brunswick’s official languages are spoken in my family. My husband is a proud Acadian.

[English]

Our family and our children were fortunate to live near the capital city of New Brunswick, where we had access — in the late 1980s and early 1990s — to quality early learning and child care in French, thanks to the existence of the Centre communautaire Sainte-Anne, and later they went to École Sainte-Anne as well.

I would just like to say that, historically, this was made possible by Louis Robichaud, followed by Richard Hatfield. They were two New Brunswick premiers, who, although they were on different sides, and one after the other, were both committed to equal opportunity: Chances égales pour tous.

This is how my children received the opportunities that they did.

I wish for and want all children to have those experiences, especially the English and French linguistic communities across this country. Early learning is vital to early childhood development as a social determinant of health.

Early learning should be recognized as an important part of the education of our children, and we should put in place whatever we can to ensure the protection and promotion of that education for our linguistic communities. In fact, in New Brunswick, education is protected under section 16 and section 16.1 of the Constitution. However, early learning has never quite made it as a real part of education, and it needs to be.

I will be voting in support of this amendment. I would urge you all to do so.

Thank you. Meegwetch.

[Translation]