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House Hansard - 123

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 2, 2022 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 123 - Nov/2/22
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • Nov/2/22 4:29:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to rise today among all my colleagues to mark Remembrance Day. Each one of us has been touched deeply and personally by the sacrifices of people within our own families and in our communities. I want to thank the minister for her words. I want to thank the hon. member for Banff—Airdrie for his thoughtful comments, as well as the member for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles and my friend, the member for North Island—Powell River. The member for North Island—Powell River anticipated some of what I wanted to share of that feeling we have every year, and now we are coming out of COVID and can gather together again in person, of going to the cenotaph and having the honour of placing a wreath in the memory of those who have fallen to ensure us the life we have, the liberties and the freedoms. In that moment, we look around, and every year we see fewer veterans. These are the brave men and women who have served in numerous wars, and each year, gathering at the cenotaph, there are fewer of them. We do, as the hon. member for North Island—Powell River said, miss them. I am going to try to get through this, because I want to speak of one of my favourite friends, who is in that category. First, I want to thank Peter Chance, who is one of the members of my riding who is coming up to his 102nd birthday. He served in the Royal Canadian Navy and is a commander retired. He served in the Battle of the Atlantic, D-Day and the Korean War. He will be there on November 11 at the cenotaph in Sydney in British Columbia. He is doing remarkably well, and he enjoys sharing the stories of his time with those younger people who need to know what it was like. One of our other major local heroes, Major Charles “Chic” Goodman, retired, is certainly well known to the member for Durham, who went with Chic Goodman to the memorials for the role of the Canadian military in liberating the camps in the Netherlands. Chic served in France and Belgium, and was wounded in the Netherlands. As a member of the South Saskatchewan Regiment, he was part of the original Canadian group to liberate Kamp Westerbork. I mention this now because there is something I hope the minister and her colleague, the Minister of Finance, will do for our veterans while there is still time. My dear friend Chic Goodman, who is now 96, is in palliative care. His wife gave me permission to share this with the House. She is standing vigil with him. He is not expected to last many more days, and I do not think he will be with us at the cenotaph. However, his most profound wish is that his wife of 36 years would get a veterans pension. She falls under what we call, and the member for North Island—Powell River knows this well, the “gold diggers clause”. All we would need to do is lift it. We speak these words to honour our veterans. There is something tangible we can do, and Chic Goodman would certainly like to know, before he breathes his last breath, that his dear wife Nancy, his wife of 36 years, so not a gold digger, would have a pension from the government for the service of her brave husband, a real war hero. I will not say more now; I am not sure I could. As all of us gather, we must never forget. Also, as we remember, we must do what we can to be of service to those who sacrificed so much for us.
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