Hon. Brent Cotter: Honourable senators, a great tragedy unfolded in Saskatchewan in the early morning hours of September 4 on the James Smith Cree Nation and shortly afterward in the small town of Weldon. It resonated across our province, the country and beyond.

I received a message of condolence and thought from friends I had not heard from in years who live in Uganda.

Eleven people, perhaps twelve, died at the hands of a deeply troubled person prone to great violence, and another eighteen were seriously injured.

I will not repeat the beautiful, caring and thoughtful remarks of Senators Gold and Batters about each of the victims who died. But I do want to extend my sympathies and those of my family to those who have lost loved ones, to those who are recovering from their injuries and their families, and to the communities so deeply affected by these horrific events.

Questions are being asked regarding how this could have been avoided, how well law enforcement responded to these unfolding events. In time, we will know more on these fronts, and this is good and legitimate. We can look forward to insights based on the investigations flowing from the tragedy, including coroner’s inquests which were announced today.

I have known members of the James Smith Cree Nation for a long time and have great regard for their leadership, their commitment to their community and to the interests of First Nations people across Saskatchewan. Some of the great First Nations leaders in our province come from James Smith Cree Nation. In Chief Mark Arcand and his colleagues, that commitment of support continues to this day. We should be proud of the courage and commitment they have provided to their community in the face of such a horrific tragedy.

We should also listen to their message about the needs of their community and many other First Nations communities in this country. In my own experience, and in my view, in the same way that some First Nations desperately need clean water, so many First Nations communities desperately need the authorities and the resources to build healthy communities themselves from the ground up. I hope we will listen to these voices.

Let me close with a reminder. First Nations and First Nations people are a direct responsibility of the Government of Canada. We need a whole-of-government comprehensive response so that First Nations can build their communities and care for their members in healthy ways going forward, ways that are available to so many of us in the rest of the country.

Thank you, hiy hiy.

Hon. Brent Cotter: Honourable senators, I’m deeply saddened personally and for her family by the Queen’s passing. But to be honest, my reflections are filled — and I hope yours are, too — with gratitude for the role she has played in our lives. First, I have two personal reflections, then something about the Queen and Saskatchewan and something about immortality.

Like Senator Batters, I am a Q.C. — that is, a Queen’s Counsel — though, admittedly, there are thousands of us. I had not thought greatly about it before yesterday, but thinking about it at that beautiful celebration, thinking about the Queen, whom I very much admired, and thinking that I was a Queen’s Counsel, it made me feel proud, honoured and humbled, even though I should admit that in the 29 years that I was a Q.C., the Queen didn’t call me once for any counsel.

I’m now a King’s Counsel. I know the present King a little bit, but I’m not expecting a call from him either.

My second personal reflection is more associated with the Queen’s family. In the darkest days of the Second World War, King George VI delivered a very special radio address. One aspect of it became an inspiration within the generations of my own family. We occasionally take some liberties with the specific language, but what the King said at that time was the following:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

Inspiring at the time to millions, and a bit of a talisman in my own family.

I met the Queen once and had a brief, pleasant conversation with her. I wish that I had told her of her father’s impact on my father and our family.

The Queen and Saskatchewan: The Queen has visited all of the provinces and territories, as you have heard, and conveyed outwardly that she was equally fond of all parts of Canada. But we in Saskatchewan know that she loved Saskatchewan best. There are two arguments for that, one you have already heard from Senator Gold and Senator Batters. Her favourite horse, given to her by the RCMP in 1969, was from Saskatchewan.

More compelling, though subtle, is her insignia. One part of it is embedded in the chair behind the Speaker. It is in three parts. First, the “E” for “Elizabeth”; then the Roman numeral II for “Elizabeth II”; and then what follows, is it a “W,” as in “E II Winnipeg”? No. Is it an “F,” as in “E II Fredericton”? No. It is “Elizabeth II Regina.” It is subtle, I grant you, but we in Saskatchewan got the message.

And the Queen was beloved by Saskatchewanians. Her visit in 2005 was an outstanding event. The people then responsible for protocol in Saskatchewan, Michael Jackson and Deborah Johnson — and this is the person we referred to in Saskatchewan as the Michael Jackson without the glove — none do these things better, arranged, among other things, for that bronze statue of the Queen astride Burmese to be commissioned and unveiled on her visit. It sits magnificently in the front of our Legislative Building in — you guessed it — Regina.

I was involved in planning the Queen’s visit in 2005, our centennial year, and had the idea of building a new wing onto Government House, the Lieutenant Governor’s building, and calling it the Queen Elizabeth II wing. The trouble was it was going to cost $6 million, and there wasn’t $6 million in the budget for it. So, somewhat audaciously, I put together a Government House foundation of distinguished Saskatchewan citizens, one of whom was our colleague and friend Pamela Wallin as she then was, and that foundation raised from the people of Saskatchewan nearly all of the $6 million to build that wing and honour the Queen, which she opened on her visit.

Queen Elizabeth was an inspiration for people of Indigenous ancestry across Canada and has kept alive the spark of hope for a better future that Senator Arnot spoke about , something that I hope inspires us all. In these days of heartbreaking tragedy in Saskatchewan, and particularly at the James Smith Cree Nation, this hope and inspiration are greatly needed.

Finally, to immortality: Whatever immortality is for any of us, it is surely at least this — that a person lives on in the ways in which he or she touched others for good or ill. Queen Elizabeth II, our Queen in her 70 years as monarch, perhaps more than any other person on this earth, touched the lives of tens of millions with her goodness, decency, integrity and her commitment to duty. What a legacy.

I don’t know the protocol in this chamber, but I would like to invite you to join me in a round of applause for Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate a great life well lived. Thank you.

Hon. Brent Cotter: Honourable senators, I would like to first share a few personal words about Senator Wetston and then talk about his remarkable career.

I’ve known Senator Wetston, or Howard Wetston as he then was, for over 50 years. Howard and I started law school in 1971 at Dalhousie in Halifax. Howard was the star of that star-studded law school class graduating class of 1974. Howard and I have remained friends over the years, occasionally overlapping in work or sports. As some of you well know, Howard was and still is a formidable athlete, as we’ve heard, when his health permits.

We have grown closer in the Senate. Here, he has been my mentor, friend and guide. On my first date day — in fact, in my first hour in the Senate — Howard came over to my seat, up there in the nosebleed section, where Senator Quinn is presently, and offered his advice and support. We had dinner together that first week and had regular coffees, all with gentle guidance to help me navigate the mysteries of the upper house. He made calls of encouragement pretty well every week.

All of us have benefited from Howard’s wisdom — yes, wisdom — and his generosity of spirit, but I think none more than me. Thank you, Howard.

Second, he’s had a career of excellence and distinction at every stage, as you’ve heard, as a Crown prosecutor in Nova Scotia, Director of the Competition Bureau Canada, judge of the Federal Court of Canada, chair of the Ontario Energy Board, member and chair of the Ontario Securities Commission, not to mention his amazing contributions as a senator.

The law school from which he graduated is known for its “Weldon Tradition,” a commitment to public service. It is named after its founding dean, Richard Weldon, himself a member of Parliament over a century ago. As I listed off Howard’s contributions, you might well think, as I have, that this tradition of commitment to public service could have aptly been named the “Wetston Tradition.” All of this emerged from extremely humble beginnings about which Senator Wetston only occasionally speaks.

His contributions to this country have often been at the cost to him of opportunities foregone, sacrifices so that Canadians could benefit. In some ways, he is a superman, which brings to mind, for me, the closing lines from the Crash Test Dummies song, “Superman’s Song,” sung by Brad Roberts. Some of you will know it. It goes like this — and I won’t try to sing it:

Kept on changing clothes

In dirty old phonebooths ’til his work was through

And nothing to do but go on home

Superman never made any money

For saving the world from Solomon Grundy

And sometimes I despair

The world will never see another man like him

A man like Howard Wetston.

Thank you, Howard, for your kindness to me, and for your lifetime of work on behalf of Canadians.

Hon. Brent Cotter: Honourable senators, others have spoken eloquently about Senator Keating’s professional talents, achievements and contributions. My remarks will mostly be personal reflections.

I had known Judith Keating by reputation prior to her coming to the Senate — her dedication to the citizens of New Brunswick, her work on official languages, her commitment to women and to Indigenous people and her distinction in senior executive positions within the Government of New Brunswick — but we had never met prior to the day on which she and I were sworn in to this place in February 2020. My impression on that day was that her family was ecstatic that Judith was being recognized by the Senate appointment, and the air was electric with joy for her.

After she passed away, her daughter Stephanie and I shared reflections on Judith in a few communications this summer. This reinforced both the love and admiration her family had for her. Stephanie wrote:

Her appointment to the Senate brought me (and her!) great joy. Mom’s life wasn’t easy. She overcame a lot of obstacles. When challenges came her way, she always pushed through, always worked harder, always put others before herself. . . . She was the toughest, smartest person I know.

Judith was also an intensely private person. While many of us got to be good friends with her, most of us were completely unaware of the health challenges she faced prior to taking her leave from the Senate and ultimately, sadly, never being able to return.

It was a small example of the gifts she extended to others, minimizing our worry and grief had we known how serious her health problems were. Indeed, at the very end of her life, she asked Stephanie to convey to me her thanks for the embroidered pillow my daughter had made for her, saying, “She loved the pillow your daughter sent her and kept it on her bed beside her until she died.” In her very last days, a gift from her to my daughter.

Her premature death is a loss to so many of us who were her friends and a deep loss to the Senate — her contributions here would have been great — but most of all to the family and friends who loved and admired her.

I would like to end this on a small personal reflection. Sometime after we’d been sworn in to this place, I asked Senator Keating why she had asked Senator Percy Mockler to be her sponsor. To be honest, I was a bit surprised because I didn’t have the sense that she and Percy were philosophical fellow travellers, if I can put it that way.

Her answer was:

Well, Percy is a friend and sometime mentor, and has had a distinguished career in public service in New Brunswick and here in the Senate, and, most importantly, he is a good, decent and principled person.

Her intention was to emulate that. In a sense, to breathe life and meaning into the title “honourable” that was bestowed on her and on all of us. Perhaps this is Judith Keating’s greatest gift to us.

Thank you, Judith Keating, for being my friend and for the message of goodness you have provided to all of us in your too short time in this place.