I’d like to welcome Karen Littlewood, president of the OSSTF, along with Dan Earl, Kaitlyn Reed and Munib Sajjad, ainsi que nos amis de l’AEFO, Anne Vinet-Roy et Émile Maheu. Bienvenue.

I’d like to welcome members from the architectural conservancy: Richard Longley, Diane Dent, Kae Elgie, Diane Chin, Shannon Kyles, Mary Walton, Susan Ratcliffe, Alysson Storey, Alison Creba, Charlotte Mickie, Deb Crawford, Catherine Nasmith, Doug Evans, Paul Farrelly, Marlee Robinson, Michelle Bullough, Zoe Goluch, Justine Tenzer and, finally, Kanika Kaushal.

Before I do my introductions, I’d like to share with the House that today is Losar, Tibetan new year, and I’d like to wish Tibetans in Ontario and across the world a very happy new year. Losar Tashi Delek.

Speaker, in the galleries I have my OLIP intern, Téah U-Ming; placement student from University of Toronto, Alex Boross-Harmer; and my new constituency assistant, Margarita Tsetsekas.

We have a few guests for the Chronic Disease Awareness Day, starting with Sarah Hobbs, who is the chief executive officer of Alliance for Healthier Communities, as well as Kim Fraser, the chief executive officer for Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood and Community Health Centre.

Also from Alliance for Healthier Communities, we have Marie-Lauren Gregoire Drummond. She is the director of communications. We have Zakaria Abdulle, who is the government relations and policy lead, as well as Sanya Budhiraja, who is the communications and event planner. I also want to wish Angela Preocanin, first vice-president of ONA, a welcome to Queen’s Park.

Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and it’s good to see everyone again.

I would like to take the opportunity to welcome a constituent of my riding, Mrs. Pam Spence. Pam is a stroke survivor whose passion and dedication for stroke and cardiac rehabilitation programs have made her a leader within the community. In December, Mrs. Spence received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee award for her work. Thank you to her and her husband, Dave, for being here today.

From my riding of York South–Weston, I would like to welcome the Early Development Childhood Initiative for all the work that they do in York South–Weston, but particularly during Black History Month and all the work they do elevating our Black community in my riding and across Ontario.

I’d like to welcome the executive from the OFL and OSSTF, and I’d like to give a special welcome to Ronnie Blackburn who is an intern in my office and has been doing some great research work for us.

J’aimerais souhaiter la bienvenue à ma fille aînée de 18 ans, Vanessa Sarrazin, qui est ici avec ma ravissante conjointe, Chantal. Vanessa profite du congé de relâche pour venir me visiter à Queen’s Park, puis explorer la ville de Toronto. Donc, bienvenue à Queen’s Park.

I want to welcome François Aubin and Adam Hoerdt who are here with the AED Foundation and CARE reception, as well. But when you’re at the reception, ask Adam about his ride across Canada on a bicycle to raise awareness for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, ARVC.

I want to just join everyone in welcoming those who are here from the Greenbelt Promise. We certainly stand with you.

I’d also like to welcome the members of the Ontario Federation of Labour who are here, as well. I know that Rob Halpin is here.

Also, I see my very good friend Karen Littlewood from the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation. Welcome all to Queen’s Park today.

I see Laura Stone back in the press gallery. Welcome back, Laura.

I’d like to welcome Heart and Stroke delegates to Queen’s Park. They will be meeting with MPPs throughout the day to discuss their policy recommendations and will be hosting a dinner reception at the legislative dining room from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Welcome.

I’d like to introduce my new executive assistant, Jenna DePaiva. Today is her very first day here in the chamber.

Unless there’s an objection, I’ll continue with introduction of visitors.

The Attorney General.

Members will please rise.

The House observed a moment’s silence.

The member for Scarborough Southwest is seeking the unanimous consent of the House for a moment of silence for the victims of the earthquakes in Syria and Türkiye. Agreed? Agreed. Members will please rise.

The House observed a moment’s silence.

I recognize the leader of His Majesty’s loyal opposition.

I seek unanimous consent for the House to observe a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims of the earthquakes in Syria and Türkiye.

It is an honour to rise and to pay tribute to the Honourable David Onley. David Onley served as Ontario’s 28th Lieutenant Governor from 2007 to 2014. Named to the Order of Canada in 2017, he was a symbol of dignity and an inspiration to many throughout his years of service.

It would be impossible to overstate the influence that he has had in Ontario. Raised in Scarborough, David Onley had a long career as a television newscaster, starting with Citytv in 1984, where he was a science and a weather specialist. He was also a newscaster for Cable Pulse 24, CP24. Even then, as a broadcaster, he appeared on camera in his mobility device. He was an advocate on disability issues just by doing his job.

For David Onley, accessibility was “that which enables people to achieve their full potential.” I couldn’t agree more. So it is of particular significance that David used his status as the province’s first Lieutenant Governor with a physical disability to raise awareness and help break down barriers facing other Ontarians with disabilities. He blazed a trail that all could access. Leading by example, he helped all Ontarians to see beyond physical limitations to see ability everywhere. He was a man who lived his personal motto: “Through adversity to the heights.”

A tireless advocate for a more inclusive society, David Onley was devoted to the service of people in a way that set him apart and set examples for all. He made Ontario and Canada a more welcoming place, and the legacy of his efforts and advocacy for improved access to employment and opportunities for people with disabilities will indeed be lasting.

David was someone that I worked with at Queen’s Park when I was first elected in 2013, and he is very well-known as a graduate and champion of the University of Toronto Scarborough campus, where, following his tenure as Lieutenant Governor, he returned to teach and to develop courses on the role of the crown in the Canadian political system and on the politics of disability in Canada.

On behalf of the residents of Scarborough–Guildwood, I want to thank him for his service. To his family: Thank you for sharing him with us. My deepest condolences to his wife Ruth Ann; to their sons, Jonathan, Robert and Michael; and to their extended families.

I have the utmost respect and admiration for the Honourable David C. Onley. His contributions will always be remembered with a deep degree of gratitude, and it is my hope that we will all do our best to honour his legacy of accessibility through the kinds of service and action that he modelled so well for all of us.

Speaker, I am truly honoured to rise today to pay tribute to the late Honourable David C. Onley, who served faithfully as the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 2007 to 2014. Mr. Onley was, among many other things, the first provincial Lieutenant Governor with a physical disability and the second-longest serving since Confederation, a father, a grandfather, a husband, a change-maker, a broadcaster, a public servant and an advocate.

I’d again like to welcome Mr. Onley’s wonderful family: his wife Ruth Ann and Robert his son who are joining us here today. Thank you for being here.

David Onley is remembered as one of the most extraordinary figures in Ontario’s rich political history. He contracted polio at the age of three, which made walking a mammoth task. As his family shared with us recently at his funeral, that also left him with a lifetime of pain. Yet when he was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor, he walked up the stairs in front of us today and sat in the Speaker’s chair. That determination and grit transcended to all areas of David’s life. When David saw closed doors, he opened them, and when they couldn’t be opened, he made sure they were made accessible—not just temporarily, not just for him, but for everyone who passed through after him.

Former Toronto mayor David Crombie and I were speaking recently about Mr. Onley, and he reminded me of his son’s reflection at his father’s disability and desire to live a full life. He said, “He lived a life of courage every day,” something we should all aspire to.

Mr. Onley lived a life dedicated to service and continually fought to make this province work for the disabled. He once remarked that accessibility was, “much, much more than just the curb cuts and wheelchair parking spots and automatic doors and ramps.... It’s that which enables people to achieve their full potential.” He shared the joy in the passing of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and was dedicated to using every tool he had to sound the alarm when he felt the province was lagging in fulfilling its legal obligations, and in 2018 he was asked to do the official AODA review.

I was speaking with disability advocate Sarah Jama yesterday—she’s a disability justice advocate who, yes, is running for a seat in this House—and I couldn’t help but ask her what stood out for her about the legacy of David Onley, as somebody who is a disability justice advocate and also a person who uses a mobility device. She said she felt it incumbent on all of us not to let his incredible work pass with him. She says, “We owe him and the millions of disabled people in this province the implementation of every single one of his 2019 recommendations.” Tough words—and she’ll have tougher words too, but I leave her to bring them to this place. And I would say that, if she were to take her seat among us here, or the next person who sits here with a physical disability, she will have been well served by the path that he forged.

I want to share, Speaker, that I was honoured to attend Mr. Onley’s funeral just a few weeks ago. It was an extraordinary event. It was held in the very church where Mr. Onley and his wife Ruth Ann met and was attended by a who’s who of leaders of all levels of government, past and present; former colleagues in the media; of course, his beloved family; but also hundreds and hundreds of disability advocates, people with disabilities.

I spoke yesterday with Anthony Hylton, his chief of staff when he was Lieutenant Governor, about the time and effort necessary to ensure that that church and service would be truly accessible for this occasion: larger font in the programs, an area for people in mobility devices, the book of condolences had to be accessible to everyone, programs in Braille, screens with captioning and on and on.

Mr. Hylton called David Onley “one of the greatest people I ever met”—and he’s met pretty great people—and he shared that he would receive a call from Mr. Onley every January 30, the anniversary of the day he asked him to be his chief of staff, becoming the first Black person to fill this role anywhere in Canada.

Anthony Hylton also remarked that Mr. Onley was a deeply religious man. His family and his pastor talked about this throughout their service. It was fitting, then, that his coffin was led out of the church by his pastor, now himself needing a mobility device, on David’s scooter.

As Mr. Onley had said often, most people are one fall or one accident away from really understanding how inaccessible places were for him. He lives on in his immortalized words in Hansard, in the results he achieved for the people of Ontario and in the lives and memories of his loving family and the friends who had the pleasure of knowing him. Thank you for sharing him with our province.

Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to allow members to make statements in remembrance of the late Honourable David Onley, 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, with five minutes allotted to His Majesty’s loyal opposition, five minutes allotted to the independent members as a group and five minutes allotted to His Majesty’s government.