Hon. Diane Bellemare: I’ll be quick. This report does not require a vote. I tabled the report, but it is about an important issue. It is short, so I will share it with you and read it quickly so you’re aware of it:

The Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament has the honour to table its

SECOND REPORT

Your committee, which is authorized pursuant to rule 12-7(2)(c), to consider the orders and practices of the Senate and the privileges of Parliament, has considered practices of the Senate relating to the use of displays, exhibits, and props in Senate proceedings.

[English]

On June 10, 2021, a point of order was raised and subsequently withdrawn in the Senate respecting a senator holding an eagle fan during debate. On June 15, 2021, the Speaker invited this committee to review this issue and consider how the Senate should adapt and modernize its rules and practices to respect the importance of cultural and religious beliefs. This request was formalized by letter the following day. On March 21, 2022, your committee heard testimony from the Honourable Senator McCallum, who explained the significance of the eagle fan to Canada’s Indigenous peoples.

As noted in Senate Procedure in Practice, “Parliamentary usage does not allow the use of exhibits – physical objects used with the goal of reinforcing a point.” This was emphasized in a ruling from the Speaker on November 6, 2012, where the Speaker cited House of Commons Procedure and Practice, “Speakers have consistently ruled out of order displays or demonstrations of any kind used by Members to illustrate their remarks or emphasize their positions. Similarly, props of any kind, used as a way of making a silent comment on issues, have always been found unacceptable in the Chamber.”

[Translation]

Your committee notes that this prohibition relates to items used “as a way of making a silent comment” or in “reinforcing a point.” After Senator McCallum’s testimony, it is clear that this was not the case with respect to the eagle fan, and as such would not have been subject to that prohibition. Items of cultural and religious significance are not tools of debate, but an outward reflection of the identity of the holder, and should be welcome within an inclusive Senate.

[English]

Your committee further notes that this prohibition is not codified in the Rules of the Senate, and that its application relies on the application of precedent. This means that practices on this point are inherently flexible and subject to evolution. In practice, the Speaker would only rarely, if ever, proactively raise the issue; senators would instead have to raise a specific concern as a point of order. This is in keeping with the fact that the Senate remains a chamber in which senators themselves are largely responsible for order in proceedings.

[Translation]

Your committee is of the view that this approach provides the necessary flexibility to allow the practices of the Senate to adapt and reflect cultural norms of the day. Your committee does not favour developing an exhaustive list of items, or amending the Rules in relation to this point, since such prescriptive approaches would introduce undue rigidities into the operations of the Senate.

[English]

Finally, your committee notes that should any senators have any questions or doubts, as to whether an item they intend to hold or wear in debate may be perceived as a display, exhibit or prop, they are encouraged to contact the Speaker’s office or the Table in advance in relation to their intervention to ensure the Speaker is aware of the significance of the item, and can provide guidance accordingly.

Respectfully submitted . . .

Thank you.

(On motion of Senator Martin, debate adjourned.)

The Senate proceeded to consideration of the third report (interim) of the Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament, entitled Amendments to the Rules — Committee mandates, presented in the Senate on April 6, 2022.

Hon. Diane Bellemare moved the adoption of the report.

She said: This report has been unanimously adopted by the Rules Committee. It has been subjected to consultation with every group and is in relation to amending rule 12-7(2)(a) with a stylistic change and to have uniform presentation of the mandate of committees, and it amends the presentation. It’s very simple. If it is adopted, it would be in force in July or the beginning of September.

(On motion of Senator Martin, debate adjourned.)

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the inquiry of the Honourable Senator Boyer, calling the attention of the Senate to the positive contributions and impacts that Métis, Inuit, and First Nations have made to Canada, and the world.

Hon. Patricia Bovey: Honourable Senators, I speak from the unceded territory and traditional lands of the Algonquin and Anishinaabe.

It is an honour to speak tonight to Senator Boyer’s inquiry drawing attention to the positive contributions and impacts that the Métis, Inuit and First Nations have made to Canada and the world, especially after the visit of Indigenous leaders to the Vatican. Seeing the Indigenous treasures in the Vatican Museums was truly moving.

Colleagues, the contributions and impacts of Canada’s Indigenous people are huge and impossible to overstate. I will keep my remarks to what I know best — First Nations, Métis and Inuit visual artists, the North and the West, contributions not adequately known, celebrated or even understood. I thank Senator Boyer for this opportunity to shine light on some of the world’s truly significant creators.

Indigenous artists created important work long before contact with Europeans — carvings, stonework, petroglyphs, quillwork, birchbark biting — all with natural materials — porcupine quills, plants for dyes, stone, wood, hide, bone and cedar bark.

In the 1880s, the Winnipeg Women’s Art Association made the presentation of First Nations art a key priority, a priority they honoured. It was not until 1967 when First Nations art was first presented in the National Gallery of Canada. Inuit art had primarily been considered as ethnographic and anthropological artifacts, but not art, until the early 1950s when the Winnipeg Art Gallery became Canada’s first art gallery to seriously collect and exhibit Inuit art. It now has a major international collection of modern and contemporary Inuit art housed and presented in Quamajuq, its new Inuit art centre.

Inuit exhibitions have gone to Washington and Europe. Indeed, Inuit art for many years was the face of Canada abroad. Artists like Pitseolak Ashoona, Kenojuak Ashevak, and Shuvinai Ashoona have been proudly acclaimed in major international institutions. An exhibition from Cape Dorset is in Warsaw now, and receiving great headlines — “West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative art exhibition in Warsaw opens to great response amid political turmoil.” I learned last night that this exhibition has been extended.

In 1972, the Indigenous Group of Seven was founded by famed artist Daphne Odjig, who passed away in 2016 at 97. Odjig, Norval Morrisseau, Jackson Beardy, Alex Janvier, Eddie Cobiness, Carl Ray and Joseph Sanchez developed the Woodland style of painting. That year, the Winnipeg Art Gallery presented their first major exhibition — the first totally devoted to Indigenous art in any art gallery. These artists’ works were shown across Canada and overseas, and Jackson Beardy travelled to Paris with artists from Winnipeg’s Grand Western Canadian Screen Shop for their exhibition in the mid-1970s.

Inuit, Métis and First Nations artists at home collectively and singly have drawn attention to key societal issues, to their and our histories, and they have developed innovative means of expression and ways of creating. The work of Indigenous artists is prescient, poignant, celebrated and leading edge.

I have spoken before about Indigenous artists and art, including Robert Houle, Joane Cardinal-Schubert, Arthur Vickers, Art Thompson, Faye Heavyshield and others. I won’t repeat what I have said before. Many accomplished works are now being widely published and seen globally. Some international art history programs are now introducing courses in North American Indigenous art. This, colleagues, is recognition of the importance, substance and scope of work by Inuit, Métis and First Nations artists. Their work is changing the world in a good way.

Indigenous art embodies spirituality, lifestyles, history, place and contemporary issues enhancing past and present understandings and future hopes.

A major work by Michif artist Christi Belcourt is in Centre Block. Her multi-panelled residential school legacy window titled Giniigaaniimenaaning (Looking Ahead) was unveiled in November 2012. She describes it this way:

It is a story of Aboriginal people, with our ceremonies, languages, and cultural knowledge intact; through the darkness of the residential school era; to an awakening sounded by a drum; an apology that spoke to the heart; hope for reconciliation; transformation and healing through dance, ceremony, language; and resilience into the present day.

The broken glass also represents the shattered lives, shattered families and shattered communities . . . . The drum dancer sounds the beginning of the healing. The circles moving up . . . paving the way for an apology. . . . The dove with the olive branch brings an offering of hope for the beginning of reconciliation and the renewal of the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canada.

Métis artist Rosalie Favell explored her adoption into a White family in her poignant 1999 series “Longing and Not Belonging”. She has also turned her visual attention to aspects of art history leading to the inclusion of Indigenous art and artists in art lexicons. Joseph Tisiga, originally from Yukon, visually voiced the family experience of his mother being scooped. Not afraid to cite their own experiences, they created work that is raw and deep, important contributions to the whole as to who we are as a nation.

The spiritual is within the work of many Indigenous artists. Haida artist Robert Davidson explores his spirituality in his two- and three-dimensional works. His sculpture “Supernatural Eye” in the National Gallery of Canada collection is a prime example. Fabricated from aluminum, he cut the graceful, linear contours using a waterjet process, evoking cut-outs in appliqué blankets — the blankets which spread smallpox, devastating the Haida nation. Davidson combines traditional visual iconography with his own contemporary aesthetic. Inspired by his Haida spiritual, supernatural and historical roots in Haida Gwaii, the eye, the dominant feature, forces us to look within and without.

Anishinaabe artist Scott Benesiinaabandan works in photography, video and printmaking and explores his interest in dreams and celebrates his sense of ancestral pride. Delving into his roots and futures, he maps his cultural history and the accomplishments of his First Nations ancestors. In his residency in Australia, he superimposed images from there and here.

Alberta’s Terrance Houle’s work is both humorous and direct. In his “Urban Indian Series”, dressed in traditional powwow regalia, he goes about daily activities — grocery shopping, riding a bus, in a contemporary office — highlighting the changing ways of life of Canada’s Indigenous peoples. More blatant, “Iiniiwahkiimah” was in Mass MoCA’s Oh, Canada Exhibition in Massachusetts 10 years ago. A large decal of a bison dripping oil is on the wall. Four oil cans are on the floor below. He told me the First Nations had to learn how to get by without the bison, which for centuries had provided food, tools, housing and clothes. Now they will be able to teach the rest of society how to adapt without oil.

Internationally lauded, much honoured Cree artist Jane Ash Poitras also depicts Indigenous history, spiritual beliefs and personal lives of First Nations people. Her visual directness empowers Indigenous nations, while unsettling viewers who are ignorant of the history. Her work “Preservation Reservation 2020,” commissioned by the Alberta government, refers to residential schools. Full of details elucidating decades of past difficult and often buried histories, she included ephemera, as she calls it: collage clippings, photographs, a 14-cent stamp of Parliament Hill, the alphabet, and the Hudson’s Bay Company’s characteristic blanket stripes. Divided into segments, her paintings tell multiple stories covering multiple time frames and situations. She emphasizes that the story has to be completely told.

Val Vint, Métis artist and knowledge keeper, unveiled her “Education is the New Bison” at Winnipeg’s The Forks in 2020. Tying the past, present and future together, as Poitras’s art does, it is made of steel books and films, by Indigenous authors and artists and, as she says, allies of Indigenous people.

The titles on the spines show past and recent books, demonstrating the depth and extent of intellectual pursuits, ideas and accomplishments of Indigenous writers. Vint quotes Louis Riel, former senator Murray Sinclair and artist Robert Davidson in the three polished, open volumes. The bison faces across the river to the gravesite of her grandfather and looks forward.

This is what Vint told me about her work:

People begin meaningful conversations around the bison. Conversation is critical in any healing work. When people talk to each other usually they see each other’s eyes and are no longer ‘the other.’ When there is no other it changes how we see each other, how we think of each other. We soon discover that nobody is the ‘other’; we are all the same; we are all related.

This powerful message impacts all of us.

Robert Boyer, Saskatchewan Cree and Métis artist, and founder of the Society of Canadian Artists of Native Ancestry, or SCANA, holds a significant role in Canadian art. A leader through his art and SCANA, he did much to foster an awareness of Indigenous art and challenged its paradigm in Canadian art galleries, collections, exhibitions and research. His vivid and visceral paintings address colonialism, environmental destruction and Indigenous culture. Boyer overlays and intersects Indigenous and non-Indigenous visual traditions, an approach that highlights the depth and poignancy of his message. In his compelling blankets series, part of an important touring exhibition, he says he used “geometric design to reflect personal experiences, social issues, and spirituality.”

Rebecca Belmore has likewise played a truly significant role in leadership in the visual arts, expanding the awareness, rights and representation of First Nations artists’ work. She was the first female Indigenous artist to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale, which she did in 2005. She has had residencies, teaching positions and many solo exhibitions over her career. Her multi-storey clay installation, “trace,” was at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Coast Salish artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun’s exhibition in Canada House, London, received great acclaim. Modern art, surrealism, pop art, abstract expressionism and his native Coast Salish imagery combine to portray the stark reality of the subjugation of First Nations. He simultaneously underlines the power and strength of Indigenous people. He frequently portrays suited businessmen wearing West Coast First Nations’ masks, suggestive of boardroom and corporate confrontations and meetings. He marks the importance of the environment and the spirituality and heritage of West Coast trees. He dubs his approach as “visionist.” His painting style, strong colour and symbolic imagery are gripping and transformative to the viewer.

Winnipeg-born First Nations artist Kent Monkman has had significant national and international acclaim with recent exhibitions and installations at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Washington’s Hirshhorn.

Dana Claxton, recipient of the 2020 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, is a University of British Columbia visual arts professor. Her spiritual roots are core:

My work has been about spirit-ancestors-NDN ways of knowing—Lakota teachings—generosity / wisdom / fortitude / courage / and more spirit / celebrating and honouring ourselves / and never surrendering / showing our NDN beauty.

Multi-sensorial and using mixed multimedia, her videos, installations and performances overlap the visual and audio, bringing the viewer into her art. She writes:

I’m influenced by my own experience as a Lakota woman, a Canadian, a mixed-blood Canadian, and my own relationship to the natural and supernatural world.

KC Adams, recipient of our Senate 150 Medal, meaningfully addressed Winnipeg’s racism with her series of dual, black and white, side-by-side portrait photographs of Indigenous people, done after the Idle No More movement. They were presented outside, on Winnipeg’s streets, on bus shelters, billboards, walls and posters. They were fully accessible. The positive engagement was significant.

Just yesterday, the Victoria Times Colonist showed Coast Salish artist Maynard Johnny Jr.’s design of a Salish heron on the side of a B.C. ferry.

Colleagues, I won’t go on. You get my point. The art of Canada’s Metis, Inuit and First Nations artists is indeed powerful, important and has — and is — making a positive difference. Their unique visual vocabularies convey deeply felt messages. I hope society listens. Their talent and innovations are groundbreaking. The results at home and abroad emphasize cultural goals, understandings and actions. They all have had significant roles in moving the needle towards reconciliation.

I honour and respect them. Thank you.

Hon. Senators: Agreed.

Hon. Nancy J. Hartling: Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-5(a), I move:

That, notwithstanding rule 12-15(2), the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights be empowered to hold in camera meetings for the purpose of hearing witnesses and gathering specialized or sensitive information in relation to its study of human rights generally, specifically on the topic of forced and coerced sterilization of persons in Canada.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question today is for the government leader in the Senate. It concerns the Trudeau government’s plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer use on farms by 30% by 2030.

Last fall, Fertilizer Canada commissioned a report showing that the government’s plan would cost farmers nearly $48 billion over the next eight years. Fertilizer Canada stated:

When the federal government announced a 30 per cent emission reduction target for on-farm fertilizer use, it did so without consulting — the provinces, the agricultural sector or any key stakeholders — on the feasibility of such a target.

Leader, why didn’t this NDP-Liberal government work with farmers on its 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan before imposing a target that would devastate this entire sector?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. I am not aware of the extent of the discussions that took place or continue to take place with various stakeholders, but I can assure this chamber that the government’s emissions targets are taken in the spirit and on the basis of advice and reflect Canada’s commitment to do its part to reduce greenhouse gases and climate change.

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. The government’s plan to combat climate change touches every aspect of our lives and our economy and is a necessary and welcome initiative in order to address this existential threat to our planet. Thank you.

[Translation]

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): The answer is yes. As you know, Ministers Anand and Joly have travelled to Europe to talk to our allies. They went there to find out what more we can do to help the Ukrainians and the Ukrainian forces fight the illegal invasion. We have also learned more about how we can continue to work with our allies to do our part and provide the equipment and essential supplies that the Ukrainian forces need in order to successfully fight off the Russian invasion.

Senator Gold: No.

[English]

Senator Gold: Thank you, senator, for the question. As I just mentioned, the government believes it is on track to reach the recommended target as set out in the Barton report. In the last budget, as you pointed out, the government has put in place many measures to support the agricultural sector, and that can be found in Budget 2022, which I tabled in this chamber today.

Of course, I want to remind colleagues that the minister’s mandate letter includes an obligation and mandate to help foster and strengthen the agriculture industry generally.

[Translation]

Senator Housakos: Senator Gold, I appreciate that, but it has been a while since the government has made that commitment with regard to the app. I appreciate that the ArriveCAN app can be a useful tool for some, and I have no doubt that Canadians of certain generations appreciate it more than others but, the truth is, it should be optional. We have agents at entry points for a reason. Their responsibilities shouldn’t be entirely relegated to an app, especially one that has been prone to technical issues. Moreover, Canadians should not be turned away from entering their own country under any circumstances. I remind honourable senators that the Prime Minister, once upon a time, said that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.

Can we get a commitment that this will be rectified? It has been a while now. I have asked this question in the past, and the minister has publicly given directives to CBSA. Canadians are still being penalized at the border, especially elderly Canadians who don’t have access to this app.

Hon. Jane Cordy: Honourable senators, I would like to take a few moments to remember my dear friend Joyce Fairbairn, who passed away on March 29. Journalist, trusted adviser and legislative assistant to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, member of cabinet as Senate government leader, regional minister for Alberta, Minister with Special Responsibility for Literacy, chair of the Paralympic Foundation of Canada and honorary Kainai Chief of the Blackfoot Confederacy. These are just some of the highlights of a remarkable career.

In her own words, Joyce came to the Senate:

. . . to work . . . to provide a voice that connects Ottawa and Alberta, that connects their interests and tries to explain them to each other . . .

She believed that people truly mattered. Almost every weekend, even while in cabinet and even though her husband, Michael Gillan, lived in Ottawa, she would travel to her hometown of Lethbridge to meet with people and participate in local events.

Though an avowed Liberal partisan, she said:

. . . if you are working on the ground at the community level you are working with issues that concern not just one political party but everybody. . . . You park your partisan affiliation on the sidelines and get out and work on the issue.

It is fitting that the Lethbridge Conservative member of the House of Commons would refer to her warmly in public as “our senator” because that is who she was.

The people of Lethbridge mattered to Joyce. And because of her constant presence and attention, they knew it. Those people included the Indigenous community, to whose aspirations she was particularly sensitive.

Senator Fairbairn said:

If there is a black mark against this country, it is the treatment of aboriginal people . . . It is absolutely ridiculous to say that Canada was settled by two founding races. It was not. As my aboriginal friends will say, they had a very generous immigration policy.

One of Joyce’s proudest achievements in the Senate was successfully fighting for the establishment of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. She believed our chamber had:

a real role to play in providing a forum for wide ranging discussions on aboriginal concerns and the fundamental position of the aboriginal people in Canada today . . .

She was one of the founding members of that committee in 1989, and continued to serve on it for many years.

When, for health reasons, Joyce chose early retirement from the Senate in 2013, she was welcomed home by the people of southwestern Alberta. In 2015, she was invested into the Order of Canada, and in 2018, the Senator Joyce Fairbairn Middle School opened in Lethbridge, honouring her work in literacy and in her community.

Despite all her accomplishments throughout her life, what I will remember most is Joyce’s kindness because it is how we treat people that is remembered best.

Though we will all miss Joyce, she will be missed most by her niece, Patricia and her partner Martin, and her two great-nieces, Jessica and Natalie. They provided Joyce the safe refuge of family that all those in public life need, especially after her life partner died in 2002. To them I extend my sincerest condolences. Thank you.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, I also rise today to pay tribute to our friend and colleague the Honourable Joyce Fairbairn.

Over the years, our colleague wore many hats and she did so with grace and influence. I join many others in recognizing that Senator Fairbairn was an incredible woman and a true trailblazer for not only the people of Lethbridge, but for all Canadians.

Over the years, she had multiple careers. In each and every one of them, she demonstrated her drive and determination in advancing the issues that were near and dear to her heart. Her energy and passion captured everyone’s attention, yet she remained grounded, regardless of the important leadership roles that she played.

Of note, she was the first woman journalist in the national press gallery, as well as the first woman to fill the position of government leader in the Senate. She was an effective communicator, one that understood politics. Her five decades on Parliament Hill stand as a testimony to the value of her significant contributions to public policy. Senator Fairbairn also held many positions in the Liberal Party of Canada. She wore her red-coloured blazer with confidence and loyalty to her political affiliation.

Beyond partisanship, she was an advocate for literacy amongst adults, a fundraising champion for the Canadian Paralympics team and a defender of Indigenous peoples. While awarding her the Order of Canada, the Governor General summarized Senator Fairbairn’s life achievements by saying she was “. . . devoted to improving the lives of Canadians and helping individuals overcome obstacles.”

Colleagues, there is probably no better tribute any of us could hope for at the conclusion of our public service.

I had the pleasure of sitting on the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry with Senator Fairbairn. I remember fondly travelling with her to New Brunswick. We attended a tree-planting ceremony. Senator Mercer was there as well. I enjoyed this event, but I must say that my favourite memory of that trip was when we both — Senator Fairbairn and I — crammed together on the seat of one of the huge pieces of equipment that cut down trees. It was a small seat, but we managed to find room for both of us sitting there. I cherish the photo of that still to this day.

In closing, although my loyalty is blue and hers was red, I wish to add my voice of gratitude for Senator Joyce Fairbairn’s many accomplishments in public life. On behalf of myself personally, but also on behalf of the opposition in the Senate, I wish to convey our deepest sympathies to all of her friends and family members. May God bless all of you in these difficult times. Thank you.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I rise today also to pay tribute to former senator Joyce Fairbairn, who passed away on March 29. I never had the pleasure of meeting Senator Fairbairn, but I am told that her diminutive stature did not take away from her very large presence.

Joyce Fairbairn began her career as a journalist with the Parliamentary Press Gallery and was subsequently hired as a legislative assistant in the office of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and became the Prime Minister’s communications coordinator.

[Translation]

She was appointed to the Senate in 1984 and later joined Prime Minister Chrétien’s cabinet, serving as government leader in the Senate from 1993 to 1997. Former senator Joyce Fairbairn was the first woman to serve as government leader in the Senate and the first minister with special responsibility for literacy. She also chaired the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry and the Special Senate Committee on Anti-terrorism.

[English]

I will leave it to colleagues who knew her personally to convey their special memories of Senator Fairbairn, but there is one story told to me by our former colleague Hugh Segal that I would like to put on the record.

In 1979, former prime minister John Diefenbaker, still an MP, was living alone in Ottawa. Joyce was legislative assistant to Prime Minister Trudeau and the country was in the midst of an election campaign. Mr. Diefenbaker’s health was failing and, while his housekeeper made sure his meals were ready, he complained to a staffer that he missed his regular lunch of “hot, hearty soup.” Joyce heard about this and the next day, she personally delivered a container of hot, hearty soup to Mr. Diefenbaker at his home in Rockcliffe. From that day forward, she made sure that soup was delivered to him most days of the week, and she personally made the delivery as often as possible. And they became friends.

When asked why she would extend this kindness to a former prime minister of the opposing party, she stated, “I sure didn’t vote for him, but he was still my prime minister.” Prime Minister Diefenbaker died a few weeks later.

I never met Senator Fairbairn but I know I would have liked her. I offer my sincere condolences to all of her family and friends.

Hon. Chantal Petitclerc: Honourable senators, I have always been very fond of the Honourable Joyce Fairbairn, who was a long-time passionate and dedicated supporter of the Paralympic movement in Canada.

In 1998, in her role as a senator, she attended the Nagano Paralympic Winter Games. After learning that there may not be enough funds to send a Canadian team to the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, she founded a group called Friends of the Paralympics to make sure that the team would be able to go.

This group became a game changer for elevating the paralympic movement in Canada. Shortly after the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Senator Fairbairn was instrumental in founding and becoming chair of the Paralympic Foundation of Canada, the first official charitable foundation connected to the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

[Translation]

I spent a lot of time with the Honourable Joyce Fairbairn at the Sydney Paralympic Games. I have fond memories of her gentleness, her charisma and her great kindness toward the entire Canadian team.

[English]

Honourable senators, let me share this quote from the president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee, Marc-André Fabien, who introduced me to his dear friend Senator Fairbairn. He said:

It is with extreme sadness that we have learned of the passing of Senator Joyce Fairbairn. She was a pillar of the Paralympic Movement in Canada for many years, including in critical years of growth, and her leadership, passion, and determination to strengthen Paralympic sport made a world of difference. . . . She will be greatly missed.

As I read this, I have images of myself warming up in a stadium somewhere in the world and spotting the biggest Canadian flag. Who was holding it? It was always her, looking great with a red Team Canada t-shirt, smiling and cheering very loudly in the stands. That is how I will remember Senator Joyce Fairbairn — an amazing woman who made a difference and a role model for the paralympic movement. May you rest in peace, dear Joyce. Meegwetch.

Hon. Larry W. Campbell: Honourable senators, four weeks to this day, my office received an email to say that after two glorious spring days, the snow came last night and whisked Joyce away.

I’m privileged to rise today to pay tribute to one of the most remarkable humans to grace this chamber, Senator Joyce Fairbairn, who, upon her death, was characterized by fellow Albertans as being inspiring, as being a powerful advocate, as being a builder and a trailblazer, as being a passionate, thoughtful and caring person.

The Canadian Paralympic Committee characterized her as “a pillar of the paralympic movement in Canada for many years.” They said she was “a pillar.” That is the perfect word to describe Joyce’s presence in this world.

I won’t reiterate the many accomplishments that she realized in her 50-year career. Instead, I want to celebrate and remember the kind and gentle person that she was. I only met her upon my appointment to the Senate and only had seven short years as a Senate colleague, but in that time I knew her to be tough, but fair, and always inclusive — a trusted colleague to every one of us, regardless of political affiliation.

I’m fortunate to have a member of my staff who was considered family by Joyce. As a result, I have had the privilege to see a side of her reserved to her closest circle. She had the biggest heart. Although she had no children of her own, she treated many as though they were hers. She loved animals and had an affinity for stray dogs and cats, as she couldn’t bear the idea that a living being was alone or unloved.

She felt the same about plants, and her beloved husband Mike was usually in support.

She was an amazing cook and loved to bake. Her cookies were treasured by many of us on this Hill. It was quite amazing for a lady who was so dedicated to her work to also be able to devote so much time to caring and supporting anyone who needed it.

Joyce was a decent and kind leader whose actions were rooted in who she was at heart. Her best skill was putting the focus on others. She was always at ease, be it in a meeting with top-level executives or in a Grade 4 classroom. At every interaction, regardless of who they were, she made sure that people felt exceptional and that their voices were heard.

I was elated to hear that a new middle school was named after her in the SunRidge area of Lethbridge, Senator Joyce Fairbairn Middle School. For generations to come, Albertans will learn of the amazing things she accomplished and she will continue to inspire Canadians for decades.

Following her retirement from the Senate, Joyce returned home to her stomping ground, as she so fondly referred to southern Alberta, from where she and three generations of her family before her hailed.

In her care home in Lethbridge where she lived for over eight years, Joyce was known in the early years for accompanying the caregivers on their rounds and during their breaks and giving those famous speeches throughout, always dressed in red, of course.

Later, she would follow them around in her wheelchair, paddling feverishly with her feet. Ever the Energizer Bunny was Joyce.

Her niece Patricia recounted to me that, when visiting her aunt, she would play Joyce’s favourite Frank Sinatra songs and that Joyce would sing or hum along happily. This connection to music continued throughout her last days.

Thank you, Senator Joyce, for your many years of public service and for the example you have set for those who follow in your footsteps. Canada is a better place thanks to you.

To paraphrase words of her glorious Frank Sinatra, she did it her way.

Thank you.

Hon. Terry M. Mercer: Honourable senators, I rise today to pay tribute to my dear friend and former colleague, Senator Joyce Fairbairn.

In thinking about what to say today, I first thought of the fact that Joyce was the first female Leader of the Government in the Senate. But she was so much more than that. She was a trailblazer for women in journalism and communications, culminating in a job in former prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s office.

She was a guide to me and others as chair of the Agriculture Committee and others. She brought out the best of us — and especially our clerks — in her Senate work.

She loved to ride horses. She was passionate about literacy and the Paralympic movement in Canada. She was a proud defender of the West.

What struck me the most was that she called herself the girl from Lethbridge, and the people of Lethbridge called her “our senator.” That’s right — in southern Alberta, a Liberal. That was a remarkable testament to how much people loved her and how much she loved and supported them, and all her fellow Albertans and Canadians.

While her career may have ended early, she remained steadfast in her work for as long as possible and she continued to live her life to the fullest. Our sincere condolences to her family and the many friends she leaves behind.

I find it fitting that it was her wish that the celebration of her life be held in the warmth of summer because that is who she always was in everything she did, warm and bright.

We will miss you, Joyce.

Hon. Paula Simons: Honourable senators, I never knew Joyce Fairbairn but, as a fellow Albertan and a fellow journalist, I’m grateful for this opportunity to honour her memory.

Joyce Fairbairn was born on November 6, 1939, at the old Galt Hospital in Lethbridge. I mention that because the building is today the Galt Museum & Archives thanks, in part, to her vision and to the funding she secured for the project.

Her father, Lynden Eldon Fairbairn, was a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. He was later a Crown prosecutor, a judge and an active Liberal. Indeed, he sat as a Liberal candidate for Lethbridge in the 1935 and 1940 federal elections, which he lost to a Social Credit incumbent.

Lynden Fairbairn died in a riding accident in 1946, not long after Joyce’s sixth birthday, so she was raised primarily by her widowed mother Mary.

She landed her first job in journalism while she was still a high school student, writing a column for the Lethbridge Herald called “Teen Chatter.” She earned a BA in English literature at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and then headed to Ottawa to take a degree in journalism at Carleton University.

A true journalism pioneer, she was the first woman to be a member of the Ottawa press gallery where she worked until 1970 when she joined the staff of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

Others have spoken about her accomplishments as a political staffer and a senator, about her work as a champion of the Paralympic movement and of literacy charities.

Let me talk about the way Lethbridge will remember Morning Bird Woman as she was named by the Kainai First Nation when they inducted her as an honourary chief in 1990.

In Lethbridge, they remember Joyce Fairbairn as a politician who showed up to public events, parades and festivals, large and small; as someone who fiercely championed their city and region; as someone respected by politicians from across the political spectrum and from every order of government.

David Carpenter, who was mayor of Lethbridge from 1986 to 2001, spoke to the Lethbridge Herald after Joyce Fairbairn’s death.

I remember every year she used to do as many of the parades in the surrounding towns as humanly possible and then come back and smile all through the city’s Canada Day ceremonies. A ferocious speaker, never using notes, she could capture your attention even if you were one of a thousand listening.

David Carpenter added, “My biggest nightmare was to find out that I was scheduled to speak after her.”

In the end, Joyce Fairbairn’s memory failed her in the most treacherous and tragic of ways. But in Lethbridge, her memory will endure as a blessing for generations to come.