Hon. Senators: Agreed.

(Motion agreed to.)

(At 6:19 p.m., the Senate was continued until tomorrow at 2 p.m.)

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question, colleague, but I don’t subscribe to the premise, assumption or statement in your question.

As I’ve reported in this chamber, the government is looking into — two ministers have been tasked with looking into — the circumstances under which contracts are awarded, not only to McKinsey but to others. I’ve read, and as we all know, it is also the subject of inquiry in a House committee. The government looks forward to the results of both of those processes to make sure that public funds are used appropriately and in the best interests of Canadians.

The Hon. the Speaker: Is leave granted, honourable senators?

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, at the end of January, former senator Viola Léger passed away peacefully at the age of 92 in Dieppe, New Brunswick.

She is survived by her three sisters, Doris, Sister Agnes and Lilianne, as well as many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Viola Léger really loved her family, and I want to offer them my deepest condolences.

Viola Léger was mainly known for her work with author Antonine Maillet and for playing the role of La Sagouine on stage over 3,000 times in French and English, both in Canada and abroad.

Viola Léger was an excellent actress, an ambassador of Acadia and an important symbol of pride for all Acadians. Her art paid tribute to the Acadian culture, including its language. Of course, Viola Léger spoke French, but she did more than just speak it. She gave meaning to the everyday language of Acadians and its charming and unique turns of phrase.

Few things are more precious than one’s mother tongue. Language helps to carry on a culture’s origins and traditions. It reflects the culture’s heart and soul. On stage, Viola Léger was able to embody the Acadian language and culture and breathe new life into them.

Ms. Léger was an Acadian icon known in French Canada as La Sagouine. However, to members of the Senate, she was above all an esteemed colleague. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada by former prime minister Jean Chrétien and served from 2001 to 2005. It was only natural for her, as part of her work in the Senate, to represent the arts community and draw attention to the important contributions that artists make to Canadian society. She also embodied an important part of the Senate’s mission by defending the interests of marginalized and minority communities.

During her maiden speech in the Senate, in November 2001, Senator Léger said the following about her beloved Acadia:

Whether in Newfoundland, Louisiana, Caraquet, Montreal or Belle-Île-en-Mer, the Acadian soul is constantly reborn. We are intrigued, seduced and moved by it. It also makes us laugh, and sometimes cry.

Although we mourn her passing, it also gives us the opportunity to remember the joy and laughter that Viola Léger brought to our hearts. May her soul rest in peace.

Hon. Rose-May Poirier: Honourable senators, it is with a heavy heart that I rise today to pay tribute to Viola Léger, who passed away on January 28 at the age of 92.

This great woman from Acadia brought Acadian culture to the rest of the country and the world by bringing to life the character of La Sagouine created by Antonine Maillet.

Viola Léger is beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the greatest Acadian actors. From 1971 to 2016, she performed the role of La Sagouine more than 3,000 times, in French and in English, in Acadia, Quebec, Canada and around the world. A true symbol of Acadian resilience, she embodied Acadian values, both on and off the stage: She was warm with people, generous with her time, staunchly proud of her Acadia, not to mention determined.

Viola Léger’s legacy goes beyond the stage. She opened doors for several future actors from Acadia by demonstrating that it was possible to make a living from their art. She always gave back to the community in many ways: She founded her own theatre company in 1985 and, in 1999, she created the Fondation Viola Léger, which has been awarding the Viola Léger award to support young artists with their projects since 2011.

On June 13, 2001, Viola Léger was appointed to the Senate, where she would serve until June 29, 2005. During this period, she seized every opportunity afforded by this forum to promote Acadia. In her maiden speech on November 20, 2001, Viola Léger spoke on a motion calling on the federal government to recognize August 15 as National Acadian Day. I would like to quote her speech, as my colleague did earlier:

Whether in Newfoundland, Louisiana, Caraquet, Montreal or Belle-Île-en-Mer, the Acadian soul is constantly reborn. We are intrigued, seduced and moved by it. It also makes us laugh, and sometimes cry. It makes us travel through time and space. The arts are a people’s soul. Without arts, there can be no identity. And without identity, a people cannot exist. The Acadian culture has been one of the most effective tools to ensure the future of the Acadian people.

Honourable senators, on behalf of the Conservative caucus, I offer our most sincere condolences to Viola Léger’s loved ones and to everyone in Acadia mourning the loss of its greatest ambassador, our Sagouine, who now shines in the sky like our most beautiful star. Thank you.

Hon. René Cormier: Honourable senators, since the passing of the Honourable Viola Léger on January 28, numerous tributes from Acadia, Quebec, the Canadian francophonie, France and other parts of the world have shown us how very much she meant to the Acadian people, francophones and all Canadians.

Our former Senate colleague was also a teacher, an actor and a friend. Her presence was unique and incomparable. In life and on stage, she had a remarkable talent for being in the here and now, as though nothing mattered more than the exact moment of her interaction with you as she looked you right in the eye with that bright, piercing gaze as deep as the Atlantic Ocean and as vast as the skies of Bouctouche or Abram-Village, Chéticamp or Cape St. George.

As my colleagues said, Viola Léger performed La Sagouine over 3,000 times. In a way, the character, created by the extraordinary Antonine Maillet, enabled her to tell her own story and express her feelings and reflections on life.

Society’s most vulnerable were always top of mind for Viola Léger, and she put her own stamp on the character, a daughter of cod fishers who became a cleaning woman aware of the many ways in which her kind were exploited and whose insights about life were at once clear-eyed, compassionate and poetic.

Demanding of herself and those around her, Viola played multiple roles in both of our official languages throughout her career. During her four years in the Senate, Senator Viola Léger worked tirelessly to raise awareness about Acadia and to promote the arts and culture.

She had a remarkable sense of public service. She was aware that words can bring hope and, whether on stage or in the Senate, words have a power that must be put to good use. She bit into every word as if she was taking hold of the strength and resonance of the French language, an Acadian language like a treasure to be cherished, tinged with the fear that it might disappear.

Colleagues, one of the outstanding voices of the Acadian people, of the francophone community and of the entire country has passed away. Viola Léger, a great Canadian, a wonderful Acadian, gave of herself and her life in the service of the theatre, the Acadian people and our country.

Some have said that when she passed, her voice took with it a piece of the Acadian soul. That said, I truly believe that her voice will continue to resonate for generations to come, nurturing the identity and pride of the first francophone people to set foot on this continent.

I will conclude not by quoting the same text as my colleagues, but by saying that if it is true that “the Acadian soul is constantly reborn,” that is what Viola Léger has been for us and will continue to be for the people of Acadia.

Thank you, dear Viola. Rest in peace.

[English]

Hon. F. Gigi Osler: Honourable senators, I rise today to share with you that this is Sexual Health and Reproductive Health Week, an annual campaign designed to raise awareness of sexual and reproductive health and to promote resources to improve community health in Canada.

Everyone has the fundamental right to control their own bodies, to security and to health. Reproductive rights are fundamental rights, and abortion care is health care.

Lack of access to safe, timely, inclusive and respectful information on sexual and reproductive health is a risk to one’s physical health, mental health and social well-being.

Despite this January marking 35 years since the landmark Morgentaler decision, which secured the right to legal abortion in Canada, access to abortion care remains inequitable. Legal does not mean accessible.

Significant barriers to accessible sexual and reproductive health care still exist, including the exclusion of abortion care services outside of hospitals in some provinces; limited access to timely health services in Northern remote, rural and Indigenous communities; a lack of universal contraceptive coverage; and the rise of mis- and disinformation on various health topics including gender-affirming care.

Health care providers should have more teaching on comprehensive sexual education, reproductive health, contraception and abortion care integrated into their training curriculum. Increased and permanent funding for Canada’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund would support community health organizations such as Action Canada for Sexual Health & Rights and the National Abortion Federation. Both organizations run toll-free hotlines and online directories to provide accurate and reliable information on pregnancy options, reproductive health services and stigma-free care.

We need to celebrate these successes and double down on our commitment in Canada to ensure that governments facilitate timely, safe and equitable access to health care for all its citizens.

As a physician and member of the Canadian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, I stand committed to advance work that would close gaps in access to inclusive and respectful sexual and reproductive health care in Canada and around the world.

I welcome others in joining our collective work on this front. Thank you. Meegwetch.

[Translation]

Hon. Pierrette Ringuette: Honourable senators, it is fitting that, on February 14, a day for showing our loved ones that we love them and appreciate them, we should pay our deepest respects to a wonderful woman, the late senator Viola Léger, who recently passed away at the age of 92.

Viola was a senator for New Brunswick from 2001 to 2006, during which time she served on both the Committee on Official Languages and the Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. That is no coincidence since she was a staunch advocate for minorities throughout her life.

During her years in the Senate, she regularly charmed us with her insightful poems that showed us the fundamental role of culture as a reflection of Canadian diversity, united by our common values. I don’t have time, in these three short minutes, to list all of the titles and honours that she was awarded, but they were all very well deserved.

For francophones from New Brunswick, she was our ambassador, both nationally and internationally, bringing our history to life on stage in her role as La Sagouine. Off stage, it was her smile, her intelligence and life experience that shone through.

Like the star on the Acadian flag, she was for many of us a guiding star whose wisdom and dignity served to light the way for future generations of Acadian artists, like our own Senator René Cormier and many others. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Senator Cormier, who gave an eloquent eulogy at Viola’s funeral last week. Thank you, René.

It goes without saying that, of all the roles Viola undertook during her lifetime, her performance on stage in the role of La Sagouine, from the novel of the same name written by her friend Antonine Maillet, was particularly exceptional. Every time I attended a performance, I was moved by her monologue, and the fact that she could enthrall the audience for hours, all on her own. That was just one of her many feats.

In the Senate on May 19, 2005, during her statement on the influence of culture, she said the following:

The arts play an indispensable role in our mutual understanding.

Artistic creation awakens our consciousness. It is a source of meditation, inspiration, reflection and comfort. The arts help balance us, elevate our souls, and allow us to breathe, to live. . . .

The arts define us and, above all, help us understand who we are as Canadians and what our society is all about.

Honourable senators, Viola’s statement was one of love — appropriate for us on Valentine’s Day. It shows her love for Acadia, for culture, for the arts, for Canada and for all of us who have been blessed to have known her at some point in her life.

Dear Viola, thank you so much for dedicating your life to the love of culture, and love for one another. Know that your memory will live on in our hearts.

You accomplished your life and your mission brilliantly. Rest in peace.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.

Hon. Jane Cordy: Honourable senators, the impact of the arts on our lives should never be understated. People feel seen and understood when they see their lived experience reflected back to them. It can also foster understanding from those who are coming from a different perspective.

On behalf of the Progressive Senate Group, I rise today to recognize a former colleague and a friend who did just that. Former senator Viola Léger passed away on January 28 of this year at the age of 92. Before her appointment to the Senate by the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien in 2001, Viola dedicated her life to the arts as an actress and as a teacher, particularly known for her portrayal of La Sagouine, a role created in 1971 by her friend and author Antonine Maillet. It was a role she would play more than 3,000 times over her lifetime. Her humble, straight-talking washerwoman inspired pride among the Acadian people, but also reached far beyond the people who recognized themselves in her.

She has been described as an icon, and indeed, as the author responsible for her signature role said, if Viola Léger:

. . . hadn’t played Sagouine, Sagouine wouldn’t have had the success that it had, and therefore (I would not have) received the recognition I received as a writer.

Many Acadian artists regard Viola Léger as an inspiration and have endeavoured to pursue a life in the arts because of the path she carved. Without her influence, we cannot know the stories or the beauty we may have missed. What a marvellous legacy.

When she eventually came to this place in 2001, she was certainly someone who did not shy away from hard work. While she herself was tiny and quiet, her dedication was not. I recall that she was driven to get things done in the chamber and was not very fond of the partisan debate to which we are often prone.

She spent time as a member of the Aboriginal Peoples Committee, the Official Languages Committee and the Social Affairs Committee, and she certainly championed the arts throughout her time as a senator.

Senator Léger was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1989. She was the recipient of the 1995 New Brunswick government’s Arts Excellence Award, the Order of New Brunswick in 2007 and four honorary degrees. She was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of France in 1991, member of the Ordre des francophones d’Amérique in 1998 and Knight of the Ordre de la Pléiade in 2004.

Honourable senators, while Canadians, and particularly the people of New Brunswick, have lost a cherished icon, La Sagouine will sit forever in our hearts. I send my deepest condolences to her friends and to her family. Thank you.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question.

I have endeavoured, and will continue to endeavour, to get answers as quickly as possible. I believe we have made some progress in that, as my statements and responses in the chamber will indicate.

I’ll certainly make inquiries about the questions that are outstanding and, in particular, regarding the status of questions that were asked in previous parliaments.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): I do not know what the government’s response to the report is.

I can say the following: First of all, drug-impaired driving was a problem that pre-existed the legalization of cannabis. No one assumed for a moment, in this chamber or elsewhere, that legalization would eliminate that problem.

A number of things have changed: increased attention to the detection of impaired driving, specifically drug-impaired driving; one hopes there’s stringent prosecution where such has been found and established by the evidence to be the case; and, of course, at least in some jurisdictions, increased sophisticated tests to determine and detect when somebody may be driving while impaired by drugs.

It is a serious problem. That’s why the government introduced changes to the Criminal Code, which helped assist law enforcement in detecting those who may have been driving after having consumed cannabis and its related substances.

The government, working with the provinces and territories, will continue to do what it can to keep Canadians safe on the road.

Honourable senator, it is not the position of the government that the legalization of cannabis is the driving force behind this, admittedly, serious problem affecting the safety and security of Canadians.

Senator Gold: It is not contempt. As I said in my previous answer, honourable colleague, I will continue to make every effort to get answers in a timely fashion.

[Translation]

Hon. Rosemary Moodie: Honourable senators, I rise to mark the release of the annual report by Campaign 2000 on the state of child poverty here in Canada. I want to thank and congratulate Leila Sarangi and her team, along with their many partners and stakeholders across this country, for this important work.

This year’s report focused on the impacts of income supports that were made available during the pandemic. Based on 2020 data, Campaign 2000 found that while more than 300,000 children were lifted out of poverty, one in eight still experience the short- and long-term impacts of poverty on every facet of their lives.

This means, colleagues, that at least one million children live in poverty.

Campaign 2000’s data indicates that without pandemic benefits, another half a million children would be in poverty.

Another key finding is that the Canada Child Benefit is losing its impact, and its effect on poverty reduction is increasingly minimal. Simply tying it to inflation is not enough.

I want to highlight for you, colleagues, that these findings should be contextualized in today’s setting. Rising inflation means that low-income families are struggling even more. It means that families living in poverty, many of them Black and Indigenous, need more support from government, not less. It means there is still a lot of work to be done.

Why does this matter? A democracy is only as strong as the belief citizens have in its ability to meet their needs. Having children and families struggle to make ends meet is not only a failure to meet our human rights obligations; it speaks to a need for deep change in our systems to ensure its survival. In an era where democracies are threatened, this issue cannot be ignored.

So what should we be doing, colleagues? I will highlight what Campaign 2000 proposes, namely, the advancement of a national strategy for children and youth, so that we can have a vision of the country we want for our children. They also support a deep poverty supplement to the Canada Child Benefit, which I support wholeheartedly.

Ultimately, we must recognize that child poverty is a policy choice. It is not inevitable. And we can make a choice to end it, once and for all. Thank you.

Hon. David M. Wells: Honourable senators, the night of February 14, and into the early morning of February 15, 1982 — 41 years ago — the semi-submersible drilling rig named the Ocean Ranger capsized and sank 175 nautical miles east of St. John’s. Before going down, a mayday was sent out, and the rig was abandoned. Back then, it was almost impossible to safely launch life boats and get people into them in a raging North Atlantic storm. That night 84 men, mostly Newfoundlanders, died in the dark, stormy, frigid waters. The cause of deaths for most of them was found to be drowning while in a hypothermic state.

The Ocean Ranger was the world’s largest semi-submersible drill rig and it was only six years old. The joint Federal-Provincial Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger Marine Disaster found that the crew lacked proper safety training, had inadequate safety equipment, and there were no safety protocols for the supply ship. The inspections of the rig by the U.S. and Canadian regulators and agencies were also inadequate, and the rig itself had a number of design and construction flaws.

Colleagues, accidents usually occur because of failure of more than one system. In the case of this disaster 41 years ago, all things conspired against it. It was literally and figuratively the perfect storm.

In this case, the Royal Commission determined that the specific reason was that a rogue wave smashed through the ballast control room porthole, and the sea water rendered the ballast control panel inoperable, leading to the listing of the rig, where the wave action took over and delivered the final blow. The ballast control porthole that had been smashed was 8.5 m from the waterline, and the waves were approaching 20 m. The wind was 190 km/h.

There have been significant improvements in the safety culture in the Newfoundland offshore since then. Those who were here in this chamber in 2014 may recall that I introduced the Offshore Health and Safety Act in our chamber, which updated requirements for safety in the offshore. It passed unanimously in both chambers and is now the law in Canada’s offshore. Training is better; equipment is better; processes are better, as is forecasting, but dangers always remain.

I had the honour of attending a play in St. John’s on Saturday evening called RIG: An Oral History of the Ocean Ranger Disaster, written by Mike Heffernan and adapted for the stage by Joan Sullivan. I spoke to them both over the weekend and met the cast. Of the dozen or so people portrayed in the play who were intimately involved in the aftermath of the disaster, I personally knew four of them.

Our province becomes a smaller place when tragedy strikes, and there isn’t one community that wasn’t touched by this one. There are books, songs, plays and monuments, and there are those who still grieve. This evening and tomorrow, our province will commemorate the loss. I invite all colleagues to do so as well. Thank you.

Hon. Amina Gerba: Honourable senators, I’d like to continue with the series I announced as part of this year’s Black History Month by introducing you to another African Canadian, a young leader with an unconventional journey who chose to settle in a part of the country that many of us in this room are probably not familiar with. His name is Jean-François Kacou, and I affectionately refer to him as JFK. He served as the town manager of Percé, Quebec, until February 10.

The first time he visited Quebec as a tourist, JFK was charmed by Quebecers’ warm welcome, Montreal’s vibrancy and the many opportunities Canada had to offer.

JFK was a graduate of the Université de Bordeaux and a young entrepreneur. After returning to France, he decided to come back to Quebec to work. He started out as a consultant before joining my team at Afrique Expansion Inc. as a strategic advisor in 2015.

That was when I got to know this young man, who is as passionate about Quebec’s economic potential as he is about the need to forge ties between our country and Africa. He is a hard worker, a meticulous project developer and a very ambitious intrapreneur.

In 2019, a recruitment process highlighted his diverse skill set, and the mayor of the City of Percé, Quebec, hired him for the position of general manager. Percé’s charms include its landscape and tourist attractions, such as the iconic Percé Rock.

Jean-François Kacou left his mark on Percé. The city diversified its economic development thanks to a new tourism levy and green tax, the creation of the Val-d’Espoir permaculture school, and the city’s new culture and convention space.

Esteemed colleagues, the purpose of my series of speeches this month was to draw these young African-Canadian builders to your attention. There are a lot of them, and they have been contributing to our country’s economic development for over 400 years.

Please join me in recognizing Jean-Francois Kacou’s contribution to economic and tourism development in Percé, Quebec. Thank you.

Hon. Mary Coyle: Honourable colleagues:

Stolen from the plots of quixote Pierrot and the troubled Muddy Waters, these elegiac flowers of Whylah Falls, the Black Mississippi village banished to Jarvis County, Nova Scotia, in 1783, droop with the heaviness of history. Irrigated by liquor and tears and dessicated by blistery blues, they bloom in direct moonlight. Though intended originally for the garden of Whylah Falls, these loose flowers are freely planted here.

The “here” of this poem is Africadia, Acadia, Nova Scotia, the birthplace of former parliamentary poet laureate George Elliott Clarke, the place where Africans first came to Canada. Clarke’s “elegiac flowers” represent the over 3,000 people of African descent who came to Birchtown, Nova Scotia in 1783, like the fictional Aminata Diallo of Lawrence Hill’s Book of Negroes.

I quoted this poem when I spoke in support of Senator Bernard’s Emancipation Day bill. Today I rise to celebrate African Heritage Month, as we call it in Nova Scotia. I want to highlight our province as the birthplace of African culture and heritage in Canada.

African people and people of African descent came to Nova Scotia in a number of ways, including the earlier mentioned Black Loyalists at the time of the U.S. War of Independence. Some ended up leaving to help establish Freetown, Sierra Leone.

In 1604, Mathieu Da Costa, said to be the first Black person in Nova Scotia, is recorded among the founders of Port-Royal, established by Samuel de Champlain on traditional Mi’kmaw territory, close to the town of Annapolis Royal.

The Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island was home to 200 Black slaves during the French regime of 1713 to 1758, most coming from the French West Indies.

In 1796, 600 Trelawny Maroons were exiled from Jamaica to Nova Scotia, and many moved on to Sierra Leone.

After the War of 1812, roughly 2,000 Black refugees came, and from the 1920s on, hundreds of Caribbean immigrants came to work in the coal and steel industries in Cape Breton, and today people of African descent continue to enrich our province in so many ways.

As I conclude my remarks, I want to congratulate three important beacons of education in our province: the Black Cultural Centre with its African Nova Scotian Museum in Cherry Brook, the Africentric Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute in Halifax and the unique Black Loyalist Heritage Centre in Birchtown. Thank you for shining your bright lights on African Nova Scotian history, heritage, culture, people, communities and accomplishments. Your work is important. Thank you, wela’lioq.

Hon. Leo Housakos: Honourable senators, as we continue to recognize the stories and accomplishments of so many incredible Black Canadians as part of Black History Month in Canada, I’d like to take a moment to pay tribute to someone very special to me and to many people who love the game of hockey: John Paris Jr.

He was a talented hockey player from Windsor, Nova Scotia, who was scouted by none other than Scotty Bowman to play junior hockey in Quebec in the 1960s. In a cruel turn of events, John’s playing career was ultimately cut short by his battles with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other health challenges. However, he went on to an amazing coaching career, blazing a trail every step of the way.

He was the first Black coach in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League; the first Black scout in the NHL; the first Black general manager in a professional hockey league; and the first Black coach in pro hockey, leading the Atlanta Knights of the IHL to a league championship in 1994. But perhaps John’s proudest hockey moment was in 1987 when he guided the Richelieu Riverains to an Air Canada Cup championship. He broke ceilings and overcame barriers with class and excellence.

Let me tell you a little something about the character of the man. When I was playing minor league hockey in and around Montreal, I never had the privilege of being coached by John, but I certainly knew the legend of John Paris Jr. in Midget AAA and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. My own playing career never panned out either — for much different reasons, of course — but I did do a little coaching. That’s how I met John Paris Jr. in 2004 during a lockout-shortened season in the NHL. Like everyone else in the league, John was trying to keep himself busy, so he coached a North American Hockey League team in Laval. I introduced myself to him at the rink in Laval and asked if he would be willing to come out on a weekend to run a couple of practices with my spring AAA hockey team, a group of eight‑year-old hockey players, including my son. Of course, when I approached Mr. Paris, very humbly I asked him what remuneration would be required for someone of such experience and professional background, and he said, “Leo, I would be happy to come out. You can pay me whatever you want or nothing at all.” He came out that weekend, and he didn’t leave for six months.

Colleagues, let me tell you, I have never seen someone with the ability to captivate, motivate, communicate and teach children like John did. Their eyes would light up at the mere mention of his name and his coaching ways. Even as they went on to play, many of them in junior, college and a couple in the NHL, they still remember their time as eight-year-olds with “Coach John.” He wasn’t just the best Black hockey coach, he was the best coach, period, and more importantly, an incredible, decent human being.

Colleagues, I hope you’ll join me in recognizing John’s contributions on and off the ice by supporting an online movement to have John Paris Jr. inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder and a coach. Colleagues, I encourage you to learn more about this Canadian hockey legend and to sign the petition and get him where he belongs: the NHL’s Hockey Hall of Fame. Thank you.