Hon. Donna Dasko: Honourable senators, I still remember the announcement in The Globe and Mail in 2016 saying that Prime Minister Trudeau had appointed Howard Wetston to represent Ontario in the Senate. How lucky for the Senate, for Ontario and for Canada.

Howard Wetston has been a marvellous colleague and the model of an excellent senator. He brought to this chamber a depth of expertise in an area that is extremely relevant and vital for government, and I always appreciated his wisdom, judgment and willingness to share his knowledge.

Senator Wetston came to this chamber as a leader in administrative law and regulation with expertise in securities, energy and other regulated industries. He led the Ontario Securities Commission, the Ontario Energy Board and the Competition Bureau. He is a former federal judge and much more. Our colleague was truly a regulator for the 21st century, and I can say that, because I had first-hand experience.

Howard Wetston was my client in our previous lives. As chair of the Ontario Energy Board two decades ago, he brought in processes that were actually considered revolutionary for a regulator. He consulted widely with stakeholders, not only the big electricity and natural gas distributors, but consumers, academics, industry groups and the media. He set goals for his organization, he made them public and he measured his progress and made that public too. That is how I got to know him, as my firm was retained to conduct surveys with stakeholders and consumers.

I also learned at that time that Howard loved discussing and debating just about everything, which was a fine quality that has made him such a wonderful senator and colleague — none of this top-down style of leadership from him.

There’s much, much more. Here is just one: While chair of the Ontario Securities Commission, he took on the challenge of implementing a comply-or-explain policy with respect to women on corporate boards to promote gender equality in the private sector. He expanded this approach when, as senator, he sponsored Bill C-25, An Act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act, which required corporations to report whether they had implemented policies regarding diversity, what these policies involved, and, if not, why they had not implemented such policies.

As he said in his sponsor speech:

Talent is not gender-specific. Talented people must be given the opportunity to succeed regardless of gender or ethnicity.

Empowering our diverse and skilled talent to lead Canadian corporations will only benefit our investors, competition and the Canadian economy at large.

Howard, thank you for your service, for your help and advice, for your generosity of spirit, for your collegiality and good humour, and I offer my very, very best wishes to you in the years and months ahead. Like many of my colleagues, I hope to call on you for advice going forward.

Thank you, very, very much, Howard.

Hon. Donna Dasko: Honourable senators, Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Toronto Mayor John Tory were there. His colleagues from the Toronto Star and the journalism community were there. His family and friends were there. Last Wednesday, 400 of his closest friends gathered together in downtown Toronto — of course — to honour and celebrate our friend, John Honderich, who passed away suddenly on February 5, 2022.

It was a party that John would have loved. Mayor Tory bestowed posthumously the Key to the City. Former Toronto Star managing editor Mary Deanne Shears talked about John’s days leading crusades both inside and outside the newsroom. Former city councillor Gord Cressy recalled growing up with John at Bedford Park Public School and how this child of privilege began at a young age to give back to his community.

John’s son Robin Honderich told stories of growing up with sister Emily, John’s devotion to his grandkids Sebastian and George and his love of grand gestures and storytelling.

John Honderich was the long-time editor and publisher of the Toronto Star, which is Canada’s largest daily newspaper with the largest readership in this country. He was devoted to excellent journalism and was willing to pay for it. He was a relentless advocate for social justice. He was a Toronto booster and a national city builder, and he left this country a much better place.

John began his career in 1973 as night copy boy at the Ottawa Citizen, delivering late-night food orders to reporters and editors. He joined the Toronto Star in 1976, going from an economics reporter to Ottawa bureau chief, to Washington bureau chief, and upward to editor-in-chief in 1988 and publisher in 1994. He left that job after a decade but returned as board chair until 2020, when Torstar was sold to new owners.

Under his leadership, the paper won countless awards — way too many to mention here — and several of these awards recognized the impact of journalism in creating positive change.

I remember an extensive series in the Toronto Star where they accessed Toronto police data and found that Black drivers were much more likely than White drivers to be ticketed by police, taken into police stations and held overnight. Many Torontonians were shocked by these findings of racial profiling, but others were shocked that the Star actually did this kind of journalism. This was in 2002 — 18 years before the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

John personally received countless awards, including the Order of Canada. What I will miss is his big smile and how much fun it was to hang out with him, talking and chatting about all matters, large and small. There should have been much more time. John, you left us too soon. Rest in peace.

Hon. Donna Dasko: Honourable senators, on October 8, 1971, Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau rose in the House of Commons to proclaim that Canada would adopt a policy of multiculturalism. This year we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of a multicultural policy for Canada, which in my view is one of this country’s greatest achievements.

Canada was always ethnically and racially diverse, but for most of our history this diversity was not valued or embraced. We don’t have to go very far back to find a vast architecture of ethnic and racial stereotypes, discrimination and exclusion. It was a “vertical mosaic,” in the words of sociologist John Porter. And yet, the post-war world was changing and so was Canada. Education levels in Canada were rising rapidly in the 1960s, and deference to authority was in decline. And just about every disadvantaged group — women, ethnic and race minorities, francophones, Indigenous people and others — was rejecting the exclusion of the past and demanding equality and respect.

Still, the announcement of the new policy in 1971 of “. . . multiculturalism within a bilingual framework” was not entirely expected and was not universally welcomed. But the concerns expressed at the time did not impede the progress of the idea, and from its inception in 1971 multiculturalism marched forward.

In 1982, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognized “. . . the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians,” while also guaranteeing equality and fairness to all without discrimination based on race, ethnic origin, sex and other criteria.

The Canadian Multiculturalism Act was passed by Brian Mulroney’s government in 1988, further entrenching its principles and again emphasizing the two elements of multiculturalism: the preservation of the multicultural heritage of Canadians while working to achieve equality in the institutions of Canada. Both the 1971 policy and the 1988 act marked Canada as the first country in the world to adopt these measures.

And most importantly, Canadians themselves have embraced the concept enthusiastically over time. Multiculturalism is viewed in a positive light by Canadians, and just this year an Environics Institute survey shows that multiculturalism is seen by far as the most important thing that makes Canada unique.

The twin goals of multiculturalism — that is, respect for diversity and for our differing backgrounds and experiences, along with the right to equality and fairness — are still worth pursuing today, 50 years later, and also into the future. Thank you.