Hon. René Cormier: Colleagues, I wish to extend my deepest condolences to the family and friends of the Honourable Claudette Bradshaw, an Acadian and Canadian politician who inspired us all.

Honourable senators, as Francophonie Month wraps up, and knowing that artists play a more important role than ever in our uncertain world, I would like to pay tribute to an Acadian filmmaker and screenwriter who is using her formidable talent to do good work.

Renée Blanchar was the first Canadian woman to attend the famous Fémis school in France, and in 1989, she was the youngest-ever jury member at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

She could have pursued her career in the big city, but after completing her studies, Renée Blanchar returned to her hometown of Caraquet in Acadia, founded a production company and began to produce numerous documentaries and fiction films. Her two latest projects are particularly important to Canadian cinematography.

Driven by her search for truth, Renée Blanchar made The Silence, a National Film Board of Canada production that sheds light on the abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests against young boys in many francophone towns in New Brunswick from the 1950s to the 1980s. In this shattering documentary, men who are now in their fifties offer emotional accounts of the harms done to them by Catholic priests over decades of abuse.

The NFB describes it as follows:

With The Silence, she takes us as close as she can to the humanity of these broken men, revealing the forces that, today as in the past, have the power to unite or divide Acadian communities.

This film lifts the veil of secrecy on unspeakable abuse and suggests that only a national inquiry could truly break the silence surrounding these events that continue to mark our communities.

This remarkable director’s second recent project work is a television series on the life of the fascinating and prolific Franco‑Manitoban author Gabrielle Roy. Inspired by and adapted from the author’s writings, Le monde de Gabrielle Roy unfolds in eight episodes that tell, and I quote:

The coming-of-age story of celebrated novelist Gabrielle Roy, growing up in the family home on Deschambault Street in Saint-Boniface.

This series was shot entirely in Manitoba with a talented cast and crew from Acadia, Quebec and Manitoba.

Gabrielle Roy’s literary output, consisting of roughly 30 novels, collections, short stories and novellas that are at once imaginative, intimate and autobiographical, is now a cornerstone of Canadian literature. To our delight, the talented director Renée Blanchar has brought Gabrielle Roy back to life right before our eyes.

With these two works, Renée Blanchar has offered us something to think about and celebrate during these difficult times. She has given us two invaluable gifts that do us good and help us better understand the country we call home.

Thank you, Renée Blanchar, for contributing so much passion and talent to Canadian film. Keep making films that provoke and move us.

Thank you.

Hon. Percy Mockler: Honourable senators, it is with great sadness that I rise today to pay tribute to an extraordinary woman, a friend, a proud Acadian, New Brunswicker and Canadian, for her leadership and for always being there to help the most vulnerable. Claudette Bradshaw passed away on Saturday after a long and courageous battle against cancer. New Brunswick has lost a great champion, an unprecedented icon of the Canadian Parliament.

Minister Bradshaw and I had the same social portfolios in the early 2000s, she for the federal government and I for New Brunswick, under the direction of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Premier Bernard Lord respectively.

[English]

Madam Bradshaw was a great ally, and we also had another common denominator with our files: Both of us had personal experience with welfare and its challenges. Claudette Bradshaw was remarkable.

[Translation]

Honourable senators, her desire to help her community began nearly 50 years ago with the founding of Headstart in Moncton. This initiative was aimed at meeting the urgent needs of the region’s most vulnerable residents.

Like me, Claudette Bradshaw always strove to make our region, our province and our country a better place to live, work, and raise our children and, above all, to help the most vulnerable. Claudette Bradshaw was a woman of principle, a woman of strong values. She always demonstrated great loyalty to her community.

[English]

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien described Claudette as a shining example of someone who dedicated her life to the service of others. For my part, I would also add that many people, many families, have benefited from her hard work and dedication. She found it an honour to serve the community. She was a tireless advocate for early intervention services.

Honourable senators, there’s no doubt in my mind that she changed the lives of many New Brunswickers and Canadians. Her lifelong dedication to assisting those in need had an immense impact on countless Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Claudette was very proud of her family: Christopher, Nicholas and her spouse, Doug.

[Translation]

I offer my deepest condolences to her family.

[English]

Honourable senators, as I conclude, Winston Churchill once said:

. . . it is better to be both right and consistent. But if you have to choose—you must choose to be right.

Honourable senators, I have personally witnessed that Minister Bradshaw was always right, and she was always consistent in defending the most vulnerable.

[Translation]

Claudette, I tip my hat to you. Rest in peace.

Thank you.