Hon. Colin Deacon: Honourable senators, I rise today to bring attention to what I believe is Nova Scotia’s best-kept secret. Now, you might ask, “What is deserving of that illustrious moniker?” Might it be Nova Scotia’s geographic grandeur or our fabulous seafood? Of course not. Those are not secrets.

As is often the case, Nova Scotia’s best-kept secret is hiding in plain sight. It is none other than our friend and colleague Senator Dan Christmas. Senator Christmas’s efforts as a champion for Mi’kmaq nations in his home community of Membertou, Cape Breton Island, precedes his appointment to this august chamber by decades. Five years ago this month, Senator Christmas noted in his very first speech in this chamber, “There was no economic development and no employment prospects of any kind. No hope, no future.”

The community was in deep trouble, completely shackled by the oppressive measures in the Indian Act. Consider the facts: In 1995, Membertou had 37 employees, a budget of $4 million — 99% of which originated from government — and $1 million in operating deficit annually. Twenty-five years later, Membertou employs nearly 600 people — up sixteenfold — has a $112 million annual budget — up twenty-eightfold. Three quarters of which is commercial revenue — and has famously led the transformative billion-dollar acquisition of Clearwater Seafoods.

How did they do it? Well, Membertou unlocked the most powerful natural resource that they had, the only resource they had actually been left with: they unlocked the power of their people. Through this remarkable and hard-earned transition, Dan served as senior adviser to Membertou’s Chief Terrance Paul, his Director of Operations Bernd Christmas and his band council. The Membertou miracle, a complete economic and social turnaround, is now seen as very best practice in community economic development and Indigenous affairs.

Dan was very close to retirement when his community leaders asked him to consider applying to become a senator. Sure enough, shortly thereafter he received a call from the Prime Minister and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now, as we all know, Dan is a man of very few, very carefully chosen words. He is a devoted family man, who reliably exhibits calming wisdom, grace and kindness. He is dedicated to preserving Indigenous customs and laws with dignity and honour. He serves as one of the very best mentors many of us have ever had. Dan is also allergic to self-promotion.

In that light, I hope that he will forgive me for my words today, but I felt it important to acknowledge that the secret is getting out. This week, Cape Breton University will confer a Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, on Senator Dan Christmas.

Our deepest, heartfelt congratulations for this long- and well-deserved recognition, Senator Christmas. Your selfless service inspires countless. Wela’lioq. Thank you.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

[Translation]

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate.

Leader, in June 2021, during the debate on Bill C-208 by Manitoba Conservative Member of Parliament Larry Maguire, you stated:

Bill C-208 would provide considerable benefits to some taxpayers in the form of tax-free distributions of corporate surplus without adequately ensuring that a genuine intergenerational business transfer has occurred.

In the recent NDP-Liberal budget, the Minister of Finance announced that her government will consult on changes to be made to the Income Tax Act concerning this legislation that received Royal Assent last June.

Leader, after you urged the Senate not to adopt Bill C-208 last year, your government is now of the opinion that there is no urgency, the consequences are not that important and that a consultation with no set date will be sufficient.

Senator Gold, do you stand by your remarks of last June, and if so, how do you explain that your government doesn’t share your view that it’s urgent to correct this situation? Also, did you overstate the dangers of Bill C-208, or is the NDP-Liberal government leaving a loophole in place? Which is it, Senator Gold?

Senator Plett: Did you overstate of dangers of Bill C-208, yes or no? It’s actually four questions.

Leader, during the debate on Bill C-208, our colleague Senator Harder, who was defending the position of your government, stated, “. . . the bill becomes a substantial fiscal cost to the Government of Canada.”

One year later, Senator Gold, what has been the estimated cost of Bill C-208 to the federal government?

Hon. Vernon White: Honourable senators, I wanted to speak for a few minutes about National Police Week, which we’re in the middle of this week. During National Police Week, we often speak of policing by way of remembrance. We should remember those who have lost and often given their lives in the defence of others and themselves, and that is part of what we talk about during this period. There are other things we should speak to as well.

We have police officers working right now across the country who are willing to lose everything they have to defend the lives of those they serve. They are in big cities, small towns, rural and isolated communities. They are working in Toronto or Grise Fiord, with similar training from their communities’ similar demands.

All too often, the public sees a police officer in a certain light — typically the light that the public is holding — but there are many other things at play: shift work, work-life balance or imbalance, long shifts, violence committed by some against the police and other members of the community, physical relocations — I could go on.

Just as an example, the former minister of public safety Bill Blair stated that policing is not a career but, rather, 10 careers, three years at a time. In fact, looking at the five people in this room who served in multiple police agencies across the country, there have been more than 40 physical relocations in almost every province and all three territories.

For generations, men and women of our nation’s law enforcement community have dedicated their lives to protecting us in those big cities, small towns and isolated communities. It is easy for us to judge when the police are wrong. Like the rest of us, there will be times when they are wrong. It is fair to do so. But it is also fair that we look at the police for what they do right. While we must hold the police to account for their actions, we must as well recognize that living in this country with the policing models we have in place, we live in one of the safest places in the world — something we should celebrate.

This year, Police Week is celebrating the connections between the police and the public. Those connections are seen in their work every day, obviously, but as well in the thousands and thousands of hours, days and weeks that the police in Canada — both civilian and sworn — spend engaged with their communities as volunteers.

So for this week, I, for one, want to thank the civilian and sworn police employees across Canada for their service. Thank you.

Hon. Rose-May Poirier: Senator Gold, on Friday, the federal government appealed the decision recognizing that the position of Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick must be held by a person “capable of executing all tasks required of the Role of Lieutenant-Governor in both the English and the French Languages.” Despite the government’s fine words, its intentions are now clear. The Prime Minister wants to retain the privilege of appointing lieutenant-governors who can’t communicate in French. Senator Gold, why is the Liberal government dragging Acadians through an appeal rather than supporting them and recognizing their rights?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question. That is a fundamental issue. The Government of Canada recognizes that it is essential to appoint lieutenant-governors who are proficient in both official languages, given New Brunswick’s status as a bilingual province.

The decision to appeal the ruling of the Court of Queen’s Bench does not in any way compromise the government’s commitment to protecting and promoting linguistic duality, which includes our modernization of the Official Languages Act. Going forward, the government is committed to appointing bilingual lieutenant-governors in New Brunswick, starting with the next appointment process.

Senator Poirier: Senator Gold, the list of controversies is growing, and they include the appointment of a unilingual Governor General and a unilingual Lieutenant-Governor, a quasi‑appeal as a result of a broad interpretation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act, concerns regarding child care agreements without language clauses for francophones, the unilingualism of CN and Air Canada executives, a press conference given by the Minister of Immigration in English only, and lastly, this decision to appeal Justice DeWare’s ruling. How can Acadians and minority language communities be sure that your government is working to advance linguistic duality when its actions, including the decision it made on Friday to appeal the ruling, prove otherwise?

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. As I said, the decision to appeal the ruling does not indicate a lack of commitment. The Minister of Justice said that there are some important principles at play in the reasons for judgment set out in the ruling that the government decided to appeal. These principles include the process for amending the Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

As for your question, more generally, I encourage you to take a close look at the official languages bill to see how committed the government is to minority language communities, including francophones in your province.

[English]

Hon. Éric Forest: Honourable senators, I would like to take a moment to comment on the hundredth annual meeting of the Union des municipalités du Québec, or UMQ, which took place last week in Quebec City.

It was the first opportunity for the new cohort of elected representatives to meet, and more than 1,500 delegates attended the event. It was refreshing to see so many women and young people from Quebec’s major cities at the table.

The UMQ’s chosen theme also reflects the fact that newly elected officials are particularly aware of the essential role of municipalities in addressing the climate emergency. Discussions focused on optimizing land use, fighting urban sprawl and increasing neighbourhood density.

In order to significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, targeting emissions in the transportation sector is critical. Electrifying transportation is good; designing neighbourhoods that minimize the need for transportation is even better. The municipalities are ready to do their part. They just need the right legal tools and funding.

At this major forum, the UMQ also shared the results of a groundbreaking study on the impact of climate change on municipal finances. According to climate change economist Charles-Antoine Gosselin, the impact of weather events translates into a 30% average increase in security spending, the fourth-largest budget item for municipalities.

According to the study, 75% of Quebec’s population will soon be living in a municipality likely to be exposed to a risk zone, such as flooding or ground movement. Governments need to empower municipalities to deal with the threat of climate change, for the sake of both the future of our planet and our public finances.

For now, all eyes will be on the Government of Quebec and its new national architecture and land use policy, which we hope will provide municipalities with new powers to fight climate change. In the medium term, we must come up with a new way of sharing revenue sources between Ottawa, the provinces and territories, and the cities if we want to effectively fight climate change.

We cannot ask the municipalities to be on the front lines of the fight against climate change and give them property taxes as their only resource. Those taxes don’t even cover the basic services provided by the municipalities.

This year, the UMQ was once again able to prove its worth by advancing the concerns of Quebecers. Municipalities are coming together like never before, and they are determined to fight this important battle against climate change.

Thank you.

[English]

Hon. Paula Simons: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

It’s a question about avian influenza, which I don’t think is a topic we have discussed here before. Alberta is in the midst of an avian influenza outbreak, with 24 farms affected to date and 900,000 — almost 1 million — birds having been destroyed. The hardest hit, primarily, have been turkey producers and hatching-egg producers.

Can the government representative tell us what the CFIA is doing to track and contain avian flu outbreaks, which I believe are happening in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec right now?

Hon. Brent Cotter: Honourable senators, David Milgaard died this past Sunday at the age of 69. David Milgaard was an advocate for justice, but he was no ordinary advocate for justice. His story is well known. At age 17, David Milgaard was convicted of the murder of young nurse Gail Miller in Saskatoon in January 1970 — a crime actually committed by someone else.

He served over 22 years in prison, all the while protesting his innocence. Relentless efforts on the part of his mother, Joyce Milgaard, and on the part of his lawyers — most notably Hersh Wolch and David Asper — resulted in his conviction being reviewed and ultimately set aside by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1992.

After a number of reviews of the case, including one I initiated in 1993, David Milgaard was exonerated and affirmatively found to have been innocent of the murder. His exoneration was achieved by DNA testing — something I hope to return to when we discuss Senator Carignan’s bill in the coming weeks. Our thoughts today are and must be about David Milgaard’s tragic 22-plus-year ordeal — a third of his life — the suffering that should never have been visited upon him, or any of us, and about the man that David Milgaard became.

Almost from the day he was released from prison, David Milgaard began a journey to make the justice system better, and in particular for the wrongly accused and convicted. He spoke everywhere and to anyone who wished to hear his own story. He acknowledged his own suffering but, in a powerful and selfless way, called upon us to work harder to make the system better, fairer and more committed to identifying and addressing the wrongful convictions that will inevitably occur in our justice system.

He spoke many times at our law school, always to standing-room-only audiences, always to standing ovations and always bringing tears to the eyes of the attendees. He became a hero to my students. He became a hero to me. How could he not? Someone who had suffered so grievously, surely with such pain, turned not into that pain and darkness but to the light to try to make the system that took so much from him a better one for others.

There are others who have been wrongly convicted and who have suffered greatly for it. I think of one other from Nova Scotia, Donald Marshall Jr., again aided by courageous lawyers. Donald Marshall pursued a similar path, and the review of his case led to significant changes to the administration of criminal justice throughout our country.

A similar honour is possible for David Milgaard and his devoted family. He long crusaded for the establishment of an independent criminal case review commission to review cases of alleged wrongful convictions. We owe it to his legacy to make that commission a reality. Thank you.

Some Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question. Indeed, there was an outbreak not far from where I lived in the Eastern Townships in Quebec.

The government understands that the avian influenza is causing considerable stress to all poultry producers, even if they are — and they are — being vigilant and rigorous in their application of biosecurity measures to protect their animals. I am advised that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is moving quickly to prevent the spread of the disease and to apply depopulation and disinfection protocols to affected facilities. If a poultry flock is affected by avian influenza, the agency follows a protocol to depopulate and disinfect the facility. The government continues to monitor the situation closely and is in continuous contact with the affected provinces and with industry.

Hon. Kim Pate: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

Yesterday, we launched a report representing a collaboration between our office, 12 Indigenous women with lived experiences of injustices and miscarriages of justice in the criminal legal system, Indigenous senators and leaders and numerous other experts and advisers. The report highlights the role of systemic colonialism, racism and misogyny in marginalizing, victimizing, criminalizing and institutionalizing women, including by failing to protect women experiencing violence and then subjecting them to a mandatory life sentence when they use force to try to protect themselves or others. The report calls for a group review of the convictions and sentences of these 12 Indigenous women by the Law Commission of Canada or the anticipated miscarriages of justice commission.

In light of the role that mandatory life sentences play in the miscarriages of justice for Indigenous women, will the government commit to amending Bill C-5 prior to referring it to the Senate in order to ensure that judges can do their job of assessing all circumstances when sentencing so that they are not unfairly handcuffed by mandatory minimum sentences, as they were in the cases of many of these 12 women?

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

The government introduced Bill C-5 to address Indigenous overrepresentation, systemic racism and discrimination in the justice system. The bill aims to restore access to community-based sentences and repeal unnecessary mandatory minimum penalties that have unfairly affected Indigenous people, as well as Black and marginalized Canadians. The government is also making important investments in this regard, including $9 million announced recently to support and expand the Indigenous Justice Centres in British Columbia.

Indeed, Bill C-5 is part of an overall justice strategy, particularly with respect to addressing systemic racism, which I note is an undertaking included in the minister’s mandate letter. Further, my understanding is that the minister had positive discussions with Indigenous senators last week and that such engagement will continue. I’m further advised that the minister is open to broader discussions on justice strategy.

Senator Gold: As I have said, the government is committed to addressing Indigenous overrepresentation, systemic racism, discrimination and the injustice that flows from that in our justice system.

With regard to your question, senator, I’m advised that the government is carefully reviewing the report to which you referred and its recommendations. As a result, I cannot provide information on timelines at this time. I am advised further, however, that the government is working to establish an independent criminal case review commission relying on the report received from former justices LaForme and Westmoreland-Traoré.

The government wishes to thank everyone who participated in the proceedings and consultations, including those who have been wrongly convicted, for sharing their insights, first-hand experiences and expertise.

[Translation]

Hon. Amina Gerba: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Senator Gold, last week the governments of Quebec and Canada welcomed Louise Mushikiwabo, the Secretary General of La Francophonie. She was visiting Quebec City to inaugurate a new office to represent the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie in the Americas, cementing Quebec’s importance within the Francophonie.

Although the Government of Canada is very active in the Francophonie, it seems to overlook the importance of having representation in francophone countries.

Senator Gold, can you tell us why the government has yet to appoint ambassadors to 14 francophone countries, including France and Senegal, two very important embassies that have been without a head of mission since 2021?

Hon. Leo Housakos: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Senator Gold, most if not all of us have seen the coverage of increasingly long lineups at major airports across Canada, most notably at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Recently, your government’s transportation minister blamed the delays and congestion on travellers themselves by saying, “They’re out of practice,” which is quite unbelievable.

The truth is, Senator Gold, with the processing time of incoming international passengers having quadrupled amid vaccination checks, pre-clearance security kiosks and the use of the ArriveCAN app, these delays are squarely on the shoulders of your government and the pandemic measures that are unnecessarily remaining in place. It has apparently become so chaotic today that your government is considering the cancellation of flights to alleviate some of the burden.

My question for you is simple: Why doesn’t your government stop the political posturing and do the right thing instead of cancelling the flights of millions of Canadians who have been unable to travel and unable to see family and friends for two years? Why doesn’t your government cancel their erroneous and unnecessary travel requirements?