Thank you.

Members’ statements?

Today, April 24, Armenians in Ontario, in Canada and all over the world will observe the 109th anniversary of the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire.

On the night of April 24, 1915, the Ottoman authorities gathered Armenian intellectuals, members of Parliament, clergy, teachers, writers, civic and political leaders and marched them to the concentration camps for slaughter.

The Armenian genocide claimed the lives of one and a half million and over one million Greeks. Among the victims were my great-grandparents on my Armenian grandfather’s side and my maternal Greek grandmother’s side. Who would have thought that one day the grandson of survivors of two genocides would be serving as a Canadian citizenship judge and be elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario? This is the promise of Canada to the persecuted people of the world.

In March 1980, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario recognized the Armenian genocide. On April 24, 1986, the Premier of Ontario declared April 24 as Armenian Memorial Day in Ontario.

Finally, in his annual commemoration statement, Premier Doug Ford stated, “Today, we remember the strength and bravery of the Armenian people and honour the memory of those who perished during this dark chapter in human history. In remembering, we ensure that present and future generations reject hatred, intolerance and injustice in all its forms.”

Mr. Speaker—

We all know the world is a crazy place right now, and we all know in our communities we’ve seen the rise of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and all forms of hate. We also know in our communities there are people trying to build bridges.

So, last week, when all four party leaders agreed that allowing the kaffiyeh was a good thing in this Legislature, that was building a bridge. That was rare. It was unanimity.

And when we couldn’t achieve that in here, I heard from thousands of people—thousands of people—who were disappointed, discouraged and some of them hurt. And I also said to a colleague here who felt the same way last week, “Don’t worry. It will be fixed by Monday.” It’s Wednesday. It’s not fixed.

Our job is to bring people together here, to be leaders, to build bridges. I think it’s important that we do that, and I would like all of my colleagues to consider just how important that is in each and every one of our communities. I encourage the government to bring forward a substantive motion in that regard.

Trudy Sachowski, the executive member of the board of health for the Northwestern Health Unit, joins us today in the gallery. I appreciate her advocacy. She’s a real champ for northwestern Ontario.

I’d like to welcome the Dairy Farmers of Ontario here today, especially my constituent Steve Runnalls, and invite you all to their reception this evening.

I too would like to welcome the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, and in particular chair Mark Hamel, who hails from Elmwood, Ontario, and Roger Boerson, who represents the dairy farmers in Huron and Perth counties.

I would like to join the member opposite in inviting everyone to the reception later this evening, hosted by the Dairy Farmers of Ontario. And I promise you, there might be some really good curds for everybody.

Good morning, colleagues. I’d like to welcome Alina Cameron, Tony Stravato, Kate Dudley-Logue, Bruce McIntosh and the many families from the Ontario Autism Coalition who are here for their advocacy day. Welcome to Queen’s Park and I look forward to meeting with them.

Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity to wish my colleague from Cambridge, Brian Riddell, a very happy birthday today.

I’d like to welcome my new intern, Josh Green, who’s up there in the gallery, to Queen’s Park.

Later today, I’ll be welcoming students from Whitney Public School in my riding—their first visit to Queen’s Park. I’m looking forward to meeting with them. But what is really remarkable is that I actually spent one day as a supply teacher at Whitney Public School many years ago—

Interjections.

I’d like to welcome Sudershan Lohana, who’s an MBA student from Windsor. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Two visitors: Spencer and Lucas Fair. They’re Canucks fans, so on behalf of the government: Go, Leafs, go.

It’s a great pleasure to see my friend Kate Dudley-Logue in the chamber here from Ottawa. Thank you for all the advocacy you do for autism. It’s much appreciated.

I’d like to introduce and welcome to the House this morning Lawrence Berg, one of His Majesty’s counsel, called to the bar in 1968, a leading Ontario trial lawyer practising for over 50 years in Durham region and appointed originally QC by the Honourable Roy McMurtry and the government of Bill Davis. Welcome, counsel.

I am pleased to welcome the Girls Government group to Queen’s Park this year from Parkdale–High Park. We have from Runnymede public school: Hazel McGillivray, Stella Calandrino, Isobel Kenny, Lori Yalcin, Tori Nishi, Isidora Eror, Noelle Falconer, Chloe Lucas-Torres Barbiere, Isabel Meana, Baribelle Rands, Ella Henderson, Olivia Hollis, Meara Doran and teacher Anastasia Maniatis.

We also have from Swansea public school: Alexandra Arata Roman, Sierra Bender, Beatrix Cairns, Zoe Devlin, Teagan Kosmalski, Tessa Laceda, Chloe Lauzon, Avni Ramwani, Kaia Ratajczak, Stella Ratajczak, Jayda Richards, Naomi Sheahan and teachers Julie Gutierrez and Lisa Stewart. We also have a parent joining us, Emily Hollis.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d like to thank the Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance for the most delicious and nutritious breakfast this morning. I met some beautiful Beaches–East Yorkers: super Sabrina Scarcello from Ophea—thank you for keeping kids healthy all over Ontario and Canada—and sensational Susan Flynn, the director of cancer prevention at the Canadian Cancer Society. Welcome to your House.

I’d like to welcome parents from Kensington junior public school here today: Pouya Hamidi, Anna Gutkowska, Ricardo Junco Reinosa, Diana Laura Pech Mis, Julia Dorfman, Christopher McElhone, Nate Kreiswirth, Angie Gammage, Rebecca Osolen, Sepideh Shahi, Robyn Armstrong and Pete Wen. Thank you so much for joining us here today.

I would like to welcome Justin Thompson to Queen’s Park today. He’s from my constituency, and I hope he enjoys the tour of the building.

I’d like to welcome Chris Markham from my riding. He was here to attend the Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance breakfast this morning. I thank him for his good work as well with the Ontario Autism Coalition.