- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- North Island—Powell River
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $145,542.18
- Government Page
- Nov/6/23 3:15:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, women veterans will be attending commemoration services this week. Many of them will be asked if the medals they are wearing belonged to their husband, or their son or their father. Too often, they feel invisible and diminished when they should feel acknowledged and respected for their service. This must change.
Will the minister commit today to ensuring the participation of women veterans in Remembrance Day commemorations this year?
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- Nov/6/23 2:13:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we enter Veterans' Week, I want to take this opportunity to thank the members, past and present, for their dedicated service. We know both from history and today that the cost of conflict is far too high. All too often, we, as Canadians, think of their service during this time of year, rather than recognizing it every day. After years of working for both serving members and veterans, I understand that the dedication to service is high. Their thoughts always focus on the “us” rather than the “I”.
This year, I am particularly thinking of service women and veterans who are women. I know they have served and that those realities, both past and present, are all too often left invisible. They participate in Remembrance Day services wearing their medals and civilian gear, and are asked, “Are those your father's, husband's or son's medals?”
This year, let Canadians recommit to seeing veterans, all of them, and to acknowledging and appreciating their service. I thank all the women who have served or are serving. I see them. Lest we forget.
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- May/12/23 11:27:20 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the poppy helps us commemorate the sacrifice and bravery of the women and men who served in the Canadian Armed Forces. Canadians are proud to wear their poppy in remembrance, but not Conservative premier, Danielle Smith. She is picking a fight with veterans to try to score political points for herself. It is shameful.
Will the minister stand up for veterans and condemn the remarks of Danielle Smith?
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- Nov/2/22 4:23:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to stand in this place on behalf of my New Democrat colleagues to recognize the sacrifices Canadians have made to pay for the freedom and democracy of our home and the homes of those in other countries. On November 11, we honour those who dedicated their lives in service for Canadians. We remember those who lost their lives in the line of duty, and we show our respect to those who continue to serve in war and peace, both at home and abroad, in protection of our rights and freedoms.
On November 8, we honour indigenous veterans. Back home in my riding on Vancouver Island, the plane of reconciliation hangs in the Comox Valley Airport. It is a unique commemoration of the substantial contributions made by indigenous veterans to Canada, who sacrificed not only their lives, but also their status and rights if they returned home. This history must not be suppressed. We must remember their bravery and their stories to ensure a better future for everyone who serves today.
As the NDP critic for veterans affairs, I am always deeply humbled and moved when I hear the stories of brave Canadian soldiers who endured significant burdens to do as they are called upon for our country. I have heard from generations of soldiers, and every single story is important for us to hear. It is in the remembering and the knowing that we do not forget.
This year, when I laid a wreath on behalf of the Parliament of Canada at Vimy Ridge with the member for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, I was deeply humbled by the love for Canadian soldiers in France. Driving through those communities and seeing both poppies and Canadian flags in the windows gave me a deep appreciation of the sacrifice, and the gratitude for that sacrifice.
Standing over the graves of so many young Canadian soldiers has also left me with a tremendous respect for those who wear the uniform and a deep confirmation that the cost of war is far too great. It is a cost that cannot ever be taken without the deepest of consideration. As we see the conflict of our planet, we must always consider the preciousness of every single life and the sacrifice we are asking for when we ask them to protect us. When I was a young person, my neighbours were a couple who had fled Nazi Germany. I remember Mary telling me, “We must pray for peace unceasingly.” Every year of my life, I understand this more fulsomely.
The cost of war is high, and there are many ways to remember and thank those who paid the ultimate price, as well as those who came home with wounds, which we often cannot see, but often there are ones that we can. There is also the sacrifice of those who loved them the best. Remembering is a commitment every Canadian must dedicate themselves to, and not just for a week a year during Veterans Week, but every single day. History repeats itself unless we learn collectively and remind ourselves what sacrifice is.
Canadians from all walks of life and diverse backgrounds have served and continue to serve today, from serving in the major wars of the first half of the 20th century to fighting in Afghanistan and the Middle East, and from peacekeeping in overseas operations to helping right here at home combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, floods and forest fires. Those are the many contributions the armed forces have made.
When the call is made for them, whether it is domestically or away, I hope we in this place and every Canadian all remember the body in each of those uniforms, and that each soul has loved ones who stand beside them. They know the risk and are willing to carry it in service of our country.
Earlier this year, on May 14, our riding lost 100-year-old veteran James “Stocky” Edwards, a Canadian fighter pilot during World War II and a community touchstone. We all miss him so very much. Many soldiers from the Second World War have left us. It falls on us to carry their stories and their history, which is our history, and learn and understand the history of every task and battle put before our Canadian Armed Forces, for which they rose to the challenge.
On this Remembrance Day, to all members of the Canadian Armed Forces, past and present, I thank them deeply for their service. I thank them for getting up every day and protecting our country, both in the past and the present. I call on all civilian Canadians to take on their responsibility to learn and understand so that we remember, lest we forget.
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- Jun/1/22 9:14:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to recognize the amazing work of the member for Edmonton Strathcona this evening. I really appreciate her thoughts on this issue and certainly hope that all people in this House listen to what she has to say.
I want to start this speech today by talking a bit about the fact that while growing up, I lived part of the time at my grandfather's house. He owned a large piece of property, and in the whole community, which spanned many acres, there were 25 people who lived there.
The reason that is so important to me is that as a young person I would go and visit Mary and Dobbie. They lived about a 45-minute walk from my house, and I would visit them regularly and help them out with things. As I got older, I started to understand that their accents were from where they grew up, which was in Europe, and the reason they were there was that during the Second World War, they fled Nazi Germany. I remember Mary telling me stories about her family being taken when she was young and how she had to hide in a suitcase to get through parts of Europe to eventually get to safety in Canada. She talked about the reason she lived in such a small house on such a big piece of land. It was because she always wanted an exit so that if anybody came for her again, she would be able to hide and get away, and there was enough space for her to do that.
I remember as a young person really being impacted by what that meant, understanding that for this person and her husband every day was a precious gift, yet every day they were slightly afraid of what they had lived through and afraid that it could happen again. I think of every Remembrance Day in my riding, when I go to multiple communities to stand and be with them to remember the history of the Second World War and understand how important it is that we create as much peace as we can.
I remember Mary saying to me one time, “I no longer believe in a god. I cannot believe in a god when I saw what happened in my community, when I saw people that I thought were friends tell on our family and get some of those people taken away.” She said, “Even though I do not believe in God, I pray for peace unceasingly.” Often when I think of her legacy for me personally, I think about peace unceasingly and I am really grateful for that lesson.
I too am one of the members who spent time in Lithuania just a few days ago with the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association. I think it is really important that as we sit in those rooms and listen to the interesting debates, discussions, education and papers that are presented to us, we always remember that even in those places where we are talking about security and how to stay safe, we also remember peace. I think about that space and about how many of us listened to ministers who were being televised from Ukraine, their images projected on the wall, and I think every single one of us who was there will never forget how exhausted those faces looked—how determined they looked, and how exhausted they looked.
I think of the deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine and government coordination of humanitarian aid, who spoke very passionately about the huge violations that were happening across her country and how she had to wake up every day, when she could actually sleep, and deal with those issues again and again and try to find solutions, in a situation in which I think most of us cannot even imagine trying to think of solutions, knowing that her communities and people were not safe and that children and women in particular were being attacked.
I also think of the work that was done and presented to us on NATO's approach to women, peace and security. I think we need to keep talking about these things. We know that when there is an investment in women in all of these situations, whether it is an act of warfare or international aid while people are rebuilding, if women are not lifted up, given supports and given power, things do not get better. In fact, they get worse. We heard very clearly that women play such a large part in communities, in leadership and in resources, and that when there are limited resources, they are better at negotiating so that everybody can be okay. I think about that a lot.
I also think of a presentation from Konstantin von Eggert, who is an independent journalist recognized in many countries for the profound work he has done, especially in relation to Russia. He talked about how one of the biggest challenges that we have in building up understanding and knowledge of Russia is people's indifference, because their focus is so much on survival and getting through day to day that they really do not have the energy to even think about what is happening outside of those borders. They are dealing with a lot of propaganda that is very concerning, and we need to fight that misinformation, which is hard to do in trying to educate people behind Putin's walls.
He also talked a lot about continuing to expand sanctions and that this needs to keep happening. We have to build that unease. He talked so much about how much power Putin has within his own country and with the oligarchs, and how hard it is to build up that pressure. I think it is incredibly important that we remember that our process in terms of sanctions is still very weak in this country. We need to do much, much better so that we can have better accountability and of course make sure that resources that are coming in are going back home to Ukraine, which desperately needs them right now.
As we look at all of these things, one of the deep honours that I had on the trip was having a meal with some Ukrainian members of parliament, sitting down with them and again seeing how exhausted those faces are and understanding that not only are they working within their own country day by day, but when they leave their country, they are on a road show where they are talking to people, going from country to country and trying to get engagement so that they can continue to fight this fight.
One of the things that I was happy to tell them was that in my riding, people are gathering together. They are working so hard. I spoke specifically of Slav and Stefan in my riding, who are getting resources and sending them off to Ukraine every day. They are working so hard. I want to recognize that. I know that across Canada, so many people are doing that work.
One of the things we have to also be talking about is the rebuilding process. We do not know how long this is going to last. We need to do everything we can during this time, but the other part is, how do we rebuild?
I remember that the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine came and presented to us and talked about reconstruction and development and how they are already working on that plan, recognizing the horrendous war crimes that have happened in their country, where they have seen many hospitals and schools and infrastructure that is core to communities completely obliterated, destroyed, and they have to figure out what they are going to do in the interim and later on as they rebuild.
I think one of the things that is so clear is how scary it is to think about rebuilding during so much uncertainty. It is, again, one of the things that we all need to think about in the House as we have these discussions.
I am very pleased to support having Finland and Sweden come into the fold of NATO. I think we are always better together. I think it is always important that as we come together in these ways, we hold one another accountable, as we should in all of the countries, to make sure that our human rights standards continue to be strong, that we are respectful, that we understand the relationships and how they will impact us.
I met with members of parliament from both countries, and we had conversations about the concerns that they are seeing and the things they want to do moving forward. We can do it better together, so I look forward to that discussion.
I want to close by saying that as we do these things, we must remember humanitarian aid. We must remember that stabilizing communities as they go through conflict and as they are trying to recover from conflict must be a priority. If those resources are not there, then we will all continue to deal with this, and we are, across this planet, so let us make sure that every system we use always focuses on peace.
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