Senator Wells: Senator Gold, assuming that the government and Transport Canada may be the subject of this investigation, can we assume that the review or the investigation will be independent of the department and the government?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you, Senator Cordy, for raising that. The government knows that there are still barriers, biases and systemic obstacles in the way of Black Canadians and others. It’s too regular a feature of life, frankly, for too many of our citizens. These have taken root over generations, and eradicating them will take some time.

To your question, the government has launched programs to support departments in addressing barriers to recruitment and promotion at every level, including the executive level. In that regard, the government is releasing disaggregated data on equity‑seeking groups, which will help us to understand the nature of the problem and, I hope, over time, to track progress in addressing the problem. Indeed, the government has amended the Public Service Employment Act to strengthen its provisions to address potential biases and barriers in the staffing processes, and the Clerk of the Privy Council recently issued a call to action for public service leaders to fight racism within the public service. One hopes that this is at least the beginning of progress in that important area.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Kateri Coade, the Executive Director of the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of PEI and daughter of the Honourable Senator Francis.

On behalf of all honourable senators, I welcome you to the Senate of Canada.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. The Government of Canada and all Canadians are horrified at the actions of the Iranian regime that have culminated in violations of human rights and, in particular, the tragic killings of Mahsa Amini and hundreds of brave protesters.

The Government of Canada has announced new measures that go even further than the ones previously imposed. The government is banning officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, from Canada forever, creating a new sanctions bureau and continuing to increase their sanctions on Iran and expanding the ability to seize and freeze assets. Indeed, the Government of Canada has some of the toughest measures of any country in the world against the Iranian regime. Impunity for those in the regime is not an option. Canada stands with the Iranian people and is considering and will always consider further measures to ratchet up the pressure.

Hon. Peter M. Boehm, pursuant to notice of December 8, 2022, moved:

That, notwithstanding the order of the Senate adopted on Thursday, February 24, 2022, the date for the final report of the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade in relation to its study on the Canadian foreign service and elements of the foreign policy machinery within Global Affairs Canada be extended from March 30, 2023, to September 29, 2023.

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?

Hon. Mobina S. B. Jaffer moved the adoption of the report.

She said: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Bill S-205, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to another Act (interim release and domestic violence recognizance orders). Bill S-205 was referred to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee by this honourable chamber’s order of reference given on April 26, 2022. The bill amends both the Criminal Code and the Youth Criminal Justice Act with respect to judicial interim release, also known as bail.

The sponsor of this bill is Senator Boisvenu. Bill S-205 provides more protection for victims of intimate partner and domestic violence, and requires judges to consider whether the accused should be ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device as a condition for bail. The committee reported Bill S-205 back to the Senate with four main amendments.

[Translation]

First, the first paragraph of the bill authorized peace officers to require individuals to wear electronic monitoring bracelets as a condition of release at the time of their arrest.

This provision would have ensured the individual’s presence in court, protected victims and witnesses, and prevented further offences. After consideration, the committee amended the bill to delete this clause.

Second, clause 2 of the bill created two new conditions that judges could impose when granting conditional release to an accused. This clause also emphasized the importance of implementing requirements to consult the victims.

With respect to the new conditions, the court could, at its discretion, require an accused to wear an electronic monitoring device, participate in a substance abuse treatment program or receive domestic violence counselling.

The committee amended clause 2 by removing the second condition related to treatment programs and domestic violence counselling.

(1700)

The committee also added a requirement to the first condition. The attorney general must now ask the accused to wear an electronic monitoring device before a judge can allow release.

Clause 2 also required a judge to ask the prosecutor if the victim was consulted before granting conditional release to a person accused of intimate partner violence.

The committee amended the requirement for consultation, making it mandatory to consult victims of crime, whether an intimate partner or some other person.

[English]

The third amendment related to Bill S-205 is a new type of peace bond. This new peace bond could be imposed if someone had reason to believe their current or former intimate partner would commit an offence causing them or their child injury. The court could require this current or former intimate partner to wear an electronic monitoring device. The committee amended this section by requiring the Attorney General’s consent before the judge can request the use of an electronic monitoring device. This is consistent with the second amendment mentioned earlier.

Finally, the committee made a fourth amendment. The committee recognized that Bill S-205 shared similar elements with Bill C-233, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Judges Act (violence against an intimate partner). Most notably, both bills would require judges to consider whether an accused should be ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device as a condition for granting bail.

The committee adopted coordinating amendments between Bill S-205 and Bill C-233 should Bill C-233 first come into force. Bill S-205 adds electronic monitoring as a condition for interim release under section 515(4), which is broader than section 515(4.2), to which Bill C-233 is limited. Therefore, if Parliament passes both bills, the coordinating amendment ensures that Bill S-205 would prevail in that regard, its amendment being further far-reaching.

[Translation]

Honourable colleagues, in committee, we had the privilege of witnessing the hard work and tenacity of our colleague Senator Boisvenu, particularly with respect to the prevention of violence against women and the protection of survivors. We’re very grateful to him.

Senator Boisvenu, I’d also like to personally thank you for your commitment and perseverance in protecting women.

People of conviction bring about change, and you’re certainly one of those people. Thank you.

(On motion of Senator Martin, for Senator Boisvenu, debate adjourned.)

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Klyne, seconded by the Honourable Senator Harder, P.C., for the second reading of Bill S-241, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (great apes, elephants and certain other animals).

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Senator Harder, you have eight minutes remaining. Will you take questions?

Senator Harder: Certainly.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. I do not know the exact date at which point the government became aware of this practice. We all became aware of it only recently in the media. I will certainly make inquiries.

But, Senator Plett, I can assure you and every senator in this chamber, as I’ve done before, that the government has been working and continues to work with its counterparts in the Government of the United States in order to address the issue of illegal migration generally and the causes of that migration, which go beyond simply the Canada-U.S. border, as you well know.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Sylvia Parris‑Drummond, the CEO of the Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute in Halifax. She is the guest of the Honourable Senator Bernard.

On behalf of all honourable senators, I welcome you to the Senate of Canada.

Senator Cordy: Thank you, Senator Gold. I think these are steps that are going in the right direction, and tracking is certainly a strong first step.

You spoke about government departments, but has a specific government department or departments been tasked with tracking the progress on these initiatives to eliminate what are real barriers that Black Canadians face in the labour market? Are they being assessed regularly to determine their effectiveness? Sometimes we have programs that no one is ever assessing, so we don’t know whether they’re working or not. To follow up with that, are there specific markers, milestones or timelines that the public service is aiming for in meeting employment equity?

Senator Batters: The predecessor bill to this one, as you pointed out near the end, was introduced in the Senate in 2021, I believe, and you may recall that I raised a concern about the appropriateness of the bill’s introduction in the Senate at the time because it could be presumed that part of it was a money bill and was problematic in that respect. You didn’t think it was problematic at the time, but the Speaker of the House of Commons agreed that it was, and the government reintroduced Bill C-9 in the House of Commons.

Now, I was briefly distracted when you were delivering your speech, but I believe you said that this bill was nearly identical except for one small amendment to that predecessor bill. When you were explaining that part, that was part of what I missed. If you could please relay that difference in this particular bill as compared to the predecessor bill.

Senator Dalphond: Thank you very much. Again, I rise with humility because I know that not only are we listening to Senator Batters but the Speaker of the other place is also listening, as we saw further to your questions last time about the money bill.

I said there was one change, and this change is minor. It is that when a complaint is dismissed at the screening process, in committee, MPs amended it to say that reasons should be provided to the complainant to ensure greater transparency. For example, if it were a complaint against a provincial judge, they would say, “Well, you should address your request to the provincial council, not to the Canadian Judicial Council.”

(On motion of Senator Martin, debate adjourned.)

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question, Senator Wells. I will have to make inquiries and report back to the chamber.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Hon. Nancy J. Hartling: Honourable senators, during Black History Month, Canadians celebrate the achievements and contributions of Black Canadians and their communities who — throughout history — have done so much to make Canada a diverse, compassionate and prosperous country. This year’s theme is “Ours to tell.”

Today, I would like to celebrate and honour our dear colleague Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard, and thank her sincerely for her many achievements and her unwavering commitment to Black history and culture.

We have many things in common: We both grew up in Nova Scotia in the 1950s; we both became social workers and social justice advocates; we both experienced early losses; we both had a sister named Valerie; and we both pushed forward under difficult circumstances.

One major difference is that I have never experienced racism or discrimination for being a Black woman. However, I have witnessed microaggressions. I’m grateful to Senator Bernard and my other colleagues in this place for teaching me ways to be an ally whenever I can.

In 2016, we were appointed to the Senate, and met for the first time at a television interview about our appointments. After coming to Ottawa, we became allies in the Senate around many issues related to human rights. I have admired first-hand her work first as Chair and now as Deputy Chair of our Human Rights Committee. In addition, every March for the past five years, during National Social Work Month, we have partnered with the Canadian Association of Social Workers to bring events to the Hill, both in person and virtually.

Before coming to the Senate in 2016, Senator Bernard was the first African-Nova Scotian woman to hold a tenure-track position at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then promoted to full professor. She is a founding member of the Association of Black Social Workers. She has been awarded many honours for her work and community leadership — notably, the Order of Nova Scotia and the Order of Canada. As an academic, she has published several works and continues to provide educational sessions.

Senator Bernard is the first Nova Scotian woman of African descent to serve in the Senate. Her role in the Senate has added value to our work, bringing an intersectional lens focused on diversity and inclusion. Senator Bernard has been a long-time supporter for the official recognition of Emancipation Day on August 1 in Canada.

Senator Bernard has recently become the Liaison of the Progressive Senate Group — a perfect fit given her skills and respect with which she treats all of us.

Congratulations on your many achievements.

Her life in East Preston, Nova Scotia, is busy with community and church. She is actively involved with her family and two lovely grandsons, along with her political engagement on important issues.

I am proud to call Wanda a friend, and to honour and celebrate her during this very important month. In closing, I leave you with a quote by Senator Bernard:

Some people wait for things to happen but I say we must all be willing to lead the change you want to see in your world.

Thank you, Wanda, for continuing to lead the change and for being you.

Hon. Jean-Guy Dagenais: I’ll be away tomorrow, so I wanted to say a few words today ahead of my colleagues to mark, in my own way, the Honourable Dennis Dawson’s retirement.

I have to admit that I think 73 is pretty young to be retiring, especially since I actually turned 73 last Thursday and I don’t feel even remotely ready to leave, much to the chagrin of some.

Senator Dawson’s decision to retire now is a very personal one, but it certainly doesn’t mean he’ll stop being active and never make an appearance in the back rooms again. He’s not the type to sit around doing nothing. He never backs down from a fight, even the fight he won against throat cancer.

Senator Dawson is a politician through and through. It’s what he did for almost 50 years.

Let’s talk about his life. After graduation, Dennis Dawson was elected school board trustee and later became chair of the Commission des écoles catholiques de Québec. At 27, he was one of the youngest Liberal MPs in Canada, and he represented the riding of Louis-Hébert for seven years before losing his seat to the Progressive Conservative candidate, a teacher from Chicoutimi by the name of Suzanne Fortin-Duplessis, who later joined him here as a fellow senator.

This harsh setback was certainly not about to extinguish the Honourable Dennis Dawson’s political passion. Our colleague and friend had already figured out that one could be very, very, very active in politics without being elected, so he reinvented himself as a government relations specialist, better known as a lobbyist. He never once stopped serving his party, the Liberal Party, even going so far as to attempt a comeback 20 years later in the 2004 election in the riding of Beauport. Defeated by the Bloc Québécois, this star candidate was asked by Prime Minister Paul Martin to serve Canadians in the Senate.

I have to say that he has done it very well for 18 years.

Today, I think it’s important to specifically recognize Senator Dawson’s commitment to the never-ending fight to have the French language respected in our country, here in Ottawa, and in certain international diplomacy arenas where French and English are equal official languages. Bravo and thank you for your commitment.

Outside of this chamber, the Honourable Dennis Dawson was always one to bring together francophones working together here on Parliament Hill.

I’ll never forget the memorable luncheons where he warmly welcomed me into his select group of politicians, political staff and friends. Around the table at Le Parlementaire restaurant, which the Honourable Dennis Dawson presided over with deftness and humour, everyone could let go and drop their political affiliations for a moment in the name of forging friendships.

Thank you for these magical moments that produced fantastic exchanges and even political ribbing like we saw in 2014 when Justin Trudeau removed Liberal senators from the party’s caucus. I’m sure that was a difficult moment for a Liberal who was forced to end his career under the progressive banner, which suits him very well I might add.

Thank you very much, Dennis, for your commitment, your devotion and especially your friendship. I wish you good health and good luck in your future endeavours.

In closing, if you don’t come back to see us here in Ottawa — which I doubt — then rest assured that we’ll see you in Quebec City.

Thank you, my friend.

[English]

Hon. Gwen Boniface: Honourable senators, I rise today to pay homage to the Honourable Joan Bissett Neiman. She died on November 27, 2022, at the age of 102, after living a unique and rich life. At the time of her death, she had been the oldest living Canadian who served in this Senate.

Joan was born in 1920 in Winnipeg to Catherine and Dr. Edgar Bissett. Her father served as Member of Parliament for Springfield, Manitoba, between 1926 and 1930. Joan’s formative years were marked by spending time outdoors with their family at their beloved Willard Lake and voraciously reading all the books in her father’s library. She began her university studies at the tender age of 16 at Mount Allison University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English. She was active in the students’ union, theatre society and newspaper. Soon after graduation, she served in the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service during World War II, retiring in 1946 as a lieutenant-commander.

Joan met the love of her life, Clem, at Osgoode Hall Law School, and they went into practice together in downtown Toronto. Together they raised four children and were married for 66 years.

Joan was appointed to the Senate in 1972, making her the fourteenth female senator at the time. She served for 23 years until her retirement. On the topic of female senators, she was quoted as saying:

 . . . it is nice that 15 of us are in the Senate today. That is a beginning. I think it has made a tremendous difference to have women in the Senate . . .

Her work as a senator included chairing both the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee and the Special Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted suicide. She was very proud to have been the first Canadian to chair the human rights committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Following her retirement from the Senate, she continued to contribute to the issues she held dear, such as penal reform, women’s and Indigenous rights and universal health care. She was a member of the Dalhousie Health Law Institute end-of-life project, the Citizens Panel on Increasing Organ Donations and the Patron’s Council of Dying With Dignity Canada.

I had the pleasure of getting to know Joan in her retirement years, which she and Clem spent in our region. They were a formidable team. She was preceded in death by Clem and daughter Martha, and is survived by her children, Dallas, Patti and David, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A memory shared by a friend summed up Joan perfectly:

Joan loved to giggle, especially at Clem’s jokes, and could express a point of view with the logic of a lawyer, the warmth of a mother and friend, and the experience of a WAC. She made a tenacious and inspired commitment to issues of public policy, and it must have been as rewarding to Joan as it has been to many others, for her pioneering ideas to now have the force of law.

Rest in peace, dear Joan, a trailblazer for all of us who stand in this chamber.

Thank you.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett: Honourable senators, last May I rose in this chamber to bring you the story of an outstanding junior women’s curling team who went on to become gold medal winners in the Under-18 Canadian Girls Curling Championships. Now I know you’ve been waiting anxiously for an update on the team’s success this year, and I’m happy to be able to bring you that today.

This year, Team Plett consists of my granddaughter Myla Plett as skip, Alyssa Nedohin as third, Chloe Fediuk as second and Allie Iskiw as lead. Together with their coaches, Blair Lenton and David Nedohin, they have had a very busy winter.

From November 25 to 27, Team Plett competed in the Canada Winter Games Trials. They went 4-2, playing the other three teams twice, and then went on to the final to emerge victorious with a score of 8-2. This means that Team Plett will be representing Alberta at the Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island from February 18 to March 5.

Right after Christmas, Myla’s team headed to the Under-18 provincials, which were held January 4 to 8 in Cochrane, Alberta. The team went 6-1 during a round robin, giving them first place, which meant they had a bye straight to the final. They won the final 4-3, making them the Under-18 Alberta provincial champions for the second straight year.

Team Plett is in Timmins, Ontario, this week, representing Alberta and defending their title at the 2023 Canadian Under-18 Curling Championships. They are 2-0 so far.

Two weeks after winning the Under-18 provincial championships, the team was on the road to Ellerslie, Alberta, for the Under-20 provincials, which were held January 25 to 29. There, they had a record of 5-2 and advanced to the semifinals, which they won by a score of 7-3. In the final, they faced their long-time nemesis Team Booth and came out victorious with an 8-6 victory, becoming the Under-20 Alberta provincial champions. Team Plett is now headed to Quebec on March 25 for the 2023 New Holland Canadian Under-21 Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships.

Colleagues, as you can imagine, I am a very proud grandpa. But I am not only proud of my granddaughter Myla and her team. I’m also extremely proud of all the athletes in Canada who work very hard at their sport, often without securing those coveted spots on the podium.

I salute their discipline, determination, dedication and good sportsmanship. I invite you to join me in congratulating not only my favourite curling team, but all of our athletes who make us proud as they pursue their dreams.

Thank you.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.