Hon. Raymonde Saint-Germain: Colleagues, I want to begin by greeting our colleague Dan Christmas’s visitors who are with us today: his three children and two grandchildren. I also want to tell them how proud they should be of their father and grandfather.

It is with a heavy heart that I rise today to pay tribute to my esteemed colleague, Senator Dan Christmas, on his last day in this chamber.

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It is indeed with a heavy heart that I speak today — heavy, because everyone who got to know Senator Christmas throughout the years can testify to the greatness of his spirit and his profoundly human character.

Dear Dan, for this, as well as for your undeniable qualities as a senator, you will be greatly missed. Since your appointment to the Senate in 2016, you have proudly represented the Mi’kmaq community as well as your province of Nova Scotia. However, we all know that your commitment to both go back far beyond your years as a senator.

Prior to your life in the Senate, you were already a leader and an organizer for the Membertou community and your people of Cape Breton Island. Indeed, they are happy to have you back full-time, and so are your three children and two grandchildren, who have many reasons to be proud of you as their dad and granddad.

If I had to describe Senator Christmas in only a few words, it would be as a man of heart and family. Due to fate, you had to make the choice to stay close to your people and fulfill your most important responsibilities — those to your family. While we are saddened to see you go, we can only admire the decision that you are formalizing today. As a very committed member of the Independent Senators Group, you have been a great pedagogue, a man of dialogue and mediation who, with a good reading of the environment, helped us work towards reconciliation and the understanding, as well as recognition, of important Indigenous issues.

Always a team player, a sound advisor and a very patient senator, it was truly a pleasure working alongside you. Please know, Senator Christmas, that you will be remembered within our group as a great connector between peoples.

As a member and Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples, you have contributed to impactful studies that are more than necessary on the difficult road to reconciliation in this country. You will have left your mark on this committee, and we will do our best to pursue your legacy, knowing full well that we have big shoes to fill.

Senator Christmas, while we understand and respect your decision, it is still a loss for the Senate. However, I would rather see it as a gain for your family and your community. Today, they regain a natural leader and a great family man. I wish you, on behalf of all of the members of the Independent Senators Group, a happy retirement from the Senate of Canada.

Hon. Colin Deacon: Honourable senators, I rise to pay tribute to this chamber’s first Mi’kmaw senator, Senator Dan Christmas. Senator Christmas once reminded us of where he had come from and described his focus:

As an Indigenous Senator, I can tell you that realizing true reconciliation is a key component to Senate modernization and an increasingly independent Upper Chamber. For many of us, beginning real, frank, and open dialogue about the critical and destructive laws, conventions and institutions in Canada’s history is essential to reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous peoples.

Senator Christmas knows of what he speaks. His home community of Membertou struggled to overcome the destructive constraints of the Indian Act and other systemic barriers. Their success was thanks to the fact that Senator Christmas, together with Membertou’s other entrepreneurial community leaders, dared to opt out of the Indian Act and create their own self-governance and regulatory capabilities. The opportunity created by Membertou’s leadership is often said to be a miracle. It was not a miracle. It was a product of leadership committed to adaptability, perseverance and accountability.

Here are just three examples from a countless list: First, to initially encourage major corporations to build facilities and services in their community, Membertou did the hard work of becoming ISO quality management certified. This foresight and overcoming the complex challenge of achieving this certification demonstrated the leadership’s commitment to hold themselves accountable to global standards.

Second, just over 100 years ago, the people of Membertou were expelled from their ancestral land on the Sydney Harbour called the Kings Road Reserve due to the efforts of a member of Parliament. Remarkably, the community bought back their land in a commercial real estate transaction in 2016. I marvel at the perseverance and strategic brilliance that resulted in the community reacquiring its ancestral home.

Third, with the support of an innovative charity called Oceans North, Membertou is now leading the net-zero transformation of the fisheries sector. They recognized that about 70% of the inshore lobster fleet works within 20 kilometres of the shore and so can be powered by battery electric systems. Membertou is demonstrating climate leadership by being adaptable.

Colleagues, we have been honoured to listen to, learn from and work with a key architect and enabler of this remarkable transformation.

Senator Christmas, your adaptability, perseverance, and accountability inspires us all, as does your graciousness, humility, and deep humanity. You’ve left a mark on us all. I want to sincerely thank you for your persistent dedication to entrepreneurship and excellence. I look forward to continuing to learn from you. You’re right, Senator Christmas. It’s about the children and the world we leave them. Wela’lin, Dan. Wela’lioq.

Hon. Dan Christmas: What can I say? I wish to thank you, my friends and colleagues, for your many kind words about my time here in the Senate. One of the great benefits of serving in the Senate is the opportunity to meet and to work with so many senators from all parts of Canada, from all walks of life. Each of you is so gifted and talented in so many ways with a multitude of backgrounds and experiences that you are all truly a valuable asset for this great nation.

Before I go on, I would like to take a moment to explain to you my decision to leave the Senate well before my mandatory retirement date.

Three years ago, as was mentioned, my dear wife, Dozay, began her journey to the spirit world. I had at that time seriously considered resigning from the Senate. I had become the single parent of a 9-year-old girl and Wastow the dog. It was unthinkable for me not to be at home during her growing-up years.

However, a dear friend counselled me to take some time to think about it. As it turned out, a few months later COVID happened and we began hybrid sittings. It allowed me to be at home with my daughter and continue my work as a senator at the same time.

Of course, I knew that at some point in-person sittings would resume and then I would have to make that decision. I made that decision a few months ago. But I want to assure you, my dear colleagues, that my decision to resign had nothing to do with the work of the Senate or the opportunity to work with all of you. If my personal circumstances had been otherwise, I would have been very happy to continue to work with you.

Please don’t think that my decision to be with my family is a difficult or challenging one. It is not. There is nothing more rewarding or satisfying in my life than being a father for my three children and a grandfather to my two grandchildren. I thoroughly enjoy being with them, and I look forward to raising my youngest daughter to adulthood.

One of the high points during my time in the Senate was being a member of the Aboriginal Peoples Committee, now called the Indigenous Peoples Committee, and the Fisheries and Oceans Committee. I had the pleasure of working with some outstanding chairpersons: first, former senator Lillian Dyck and, now, my friend and dear colleague Senator Brian Francis at the Indigenous Peoples Committee, and Senator Fabian Manning at the Fisheries and Oceans Committee. I can’t thank each of them enough for their leadership, hard work and their strong sense of fairness. Wela’lioq.

I especially enjoyed working with the Indigenous Peoples Committee. We had the pleasure of working with two outstanding analysts from the Library of Parliament, Sara Fryer and Brittany Collier. The committee had several clerks over the years, but when I assumed the chair in 2020, and Andrea Mugny was appointed as our new clerk, both of us learned on the job together rather quickly. Somehow, we managed to keep our heads above water. I certainly believe that Andrea will be a rising star in the Senate of Canada.

I also enjoyed being a member of the Indigenous Senators Working Group, which was first brought together by former senator Murray Sinclair back in 2018. I want to honour those who preceded me: Senators Patrick Brazeau and Sandra Lovelace Nicholas, and former senators Charlie Watt, Lillian Dyck and Murray Sinclair. I wish to thank the current members: Senators Marty Klyne, Dawn Anderson, Patti Laboucane-Benson, Mary Jane McCallum, Yvonne Boyer, Brian Francis and Michelle Audette. Unfortunately, we lost Senator Josée Forest-Niesing last year.

I thoroughly enjoyed our meetings and our many discussions during those meetings. I will certainly miss them very much.

I also want to express my deep appreciation to my two Mi’kmaq brothers here in Ottawa, Senator Brian Francis and MP Jaime Battiste. They always had my back, and they never hesitated to help when I needed their help — and believe me, I needed it. They are true brothers in every sense of the word. Wela’lioq.

I also appreciated my time with the Independent Senators Group. I joined when the group was first being formed by the late Honourable Elaine McCoy in 2016. Since then, I have also had the pleasure of working with two excellent facilitators, Senator Yuen Pau Woo and Senator Raymonde Saint-Germain. Thank you, colleagues, for allowing me to be part of your group.

I also want to acknowledge my staff who were with me from the very beginning: Alan Fleming, who was more like a brother to me; Carol Pereira, who managed my Ottawa office incredibly well; Karina Matthews-Denny, who looked after our Membertou office; and Rosalie Francis from Sipekne’katik, who provided sound legal advice along the way. How can I thank each of you enough? A senator is only as good as his or her staff. You certainly enabled me to do the best job that I could. Wela’lioq. You are all amazing people.

And how can I thank my family enough for allowing me to do this work? I do not need to explain to you the incredible personal sacrifices that are made to serve as a senator: the long hours, the endless meetings, the many hours of travel and the weeks that we spend away from our loved ones. It is our families who bear the burden of our absences from home.

I lost my wife while I served here. I owe so much to my family: my son Peter; my daughters Lacey and Gail; and my two grandchildren Rawlin and Arya. I worked here with the time that I borrowed from their lives. I can’t repay them for all that they have given me over these six years. The last three years were especially difficult for them and for me, but we made it and we are still very close. I look forward to the next part of our family journey, whatever that may be.

Colleagues, going forward, I wish nothing but the best for each of you. You will always be in my thoughts and prayers. I will continue to check on you from time to time to see how things are going. It is, and has been, the highlight of my life and career to have served with you in this place.

May our Creator bless each and every one of you. Wela’lioq.