Hon. Pat Duncan: Thank you, minister, for your visit to the Yukon to learn first-hand about the decline in chinook salmon stocks and the low return of other salmon resources.

Discussions of salmon in the Yukon and in all of Canada’s West Coast are complicated. In the Yukon, it’s multi-layered with international components of the commercial Alaskan and First Nations subsistence fisheries, the Yukon River Salmon Agreement and the Pacific Salmon Treaty. Mandate letters require a whole-of-government approach mindful of Canada’s commitment to First Nations. The management of the salmon in the Yukon is in critical need of a whole-of-governments, whole‑of-ecosystems approach, supported by Indigenous knowledge in the face of climate change and other challenges.

Minister, would you outline your approach to ensuring that there continues to be several species of salmon for future generations of Yukoners and of Canadians?

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Minister, last month, your department provided a response to questions on the Senate Order Paper related to the procurement of two Polar-class icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard. One of the questions concerned the budget for this project. Your department refused to provide any estimate as to what this project would cost, despite the fact that the Parliamentary Budget Officer provided an estimate of more than $7 billion. The Trudeau government has said that the first ship will be in service in 2030 — seven years from now — yet you don’t even have a budget estimate that you can share with Parliament and the people of Canada.

Minister, you are either unwilling or unable to provide that number, and neither option is acceptable to Canadians. Do you have an estimate as to what that project will cost, and will you share it with us today?

Hon. Joyce Murray, P.C., M.P., Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard: Thank you for that question. No, I don’t have an estimate with me, but I’m happy to ask my department to forward you any information that they may have.

I would like to add that the Canadian Coast Guard is expected — by Canadians — to have modern capabilities. We, as a government, have chosen to stand up a new shipbuilding industry. We have shipyards on the West Coast and the East Coast, and we are in the process of adding a third shipyard in Quebec. That decision has meant some delays and some challenges, but we have already delivered quite a number of the Coast Guard ships — some 15 of 20 small ships, and 3 large ships — so I’m pleased to be welcoming this new fleet as it rolls out of the shipyards. We’ll continue to do our very best to have this happen in a timely and effective way.

Hon. Joyce Murray, P.C., M.P., Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard: Thanks for that question. Racism in any of its aspects is completely unacceptable. My ministry has a number of programs to increase the sensitivity of DFO’s staff to potential racism and to ensure that that’s not something we’re bringing into the communities. There does need to be compliance and enforcement of rules, and it needs to be done in a culturally sensitive way.

Conservation is my number one responsibility as the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard because if we are not conserving our stock, we are doing a disservice and injustice to the next generations, who count on being able to enjoy the economic benefits of stock. That’s what enforcement is all about.

We work closely with the Indigenous communities to ensure that our approach is appropriate to the situation and to their culture in order to avoid any racism or perception of racism.

Hon. David Richards: Minister, I will ask a question about another predatory animal.

Is there any consideration of a seal cull in the waters of the Northumberland Strait or the Gulf of St. Lawrence? Both the seals and the predatory bass now number in the thousands. Even limited seal culling is desperately needed at this time to protect the mackerel and salmon stocks and, in fact, to protect the seals themselves.

Is there any information you can give me in that regard, minister?

Hon. Joyce Murray, P.C., M.P., Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard: Thank you for that question. I am very aware that seals eat fish and I have been quite public on my views on that. It’s why I hosted a Seal Summit in St. John’s last year and brought together Indigenous communities, seal harvesters, fish harvesters, as well as the product developers and marketers to explore how we can actually harvest the sustainable natural resource which is the seal population.

As the senator is probably aware, a cull creates a great risk of having the United States apply the Marine Mammal Protection Act and block imports of our seafood and fish from going into the United States. The U.S. is a very important market for our fish harvesters, so we cannot take measures that risk that market.

What I am doing is encouraging that we develop the seal harvest and product industry. That’s why I joined the seal celebration in Gaspé just a few days ago, where I met with some of the seal harvesters, including a young emerging group of seal harvesters, and enjoyed a seal hamburger in their celebration of the seal harvest.

Hon. Michael L. MacDonald: I want to go back to the science, minister. Again, before my brother-in-law was on the Alfred Needler, he was the fishing captain on the Gadus Atlantica, which did all the research on the decline of the North Atlantic cod. He knows very well the importance of data collection when making decisions.

It’s well known that DFO has not conducted many stock assessments in Atlantic Canada for many years. For example, in November, CBC reported that your department missed most of last year’s spring survey off Newfoundland, with Cape Breton and eastern Nova Scotia getting no coverage at all in the 2022 summer survey.

How can you competently manage the Atlantic Canadian fisheries when you don’t have any current data on the biomass in order to justify your decisions?

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Honourable senators, the time for Question Period has expired. I am certain that you will join me in thanking Minister Murray for joining us today.

We will now resume the proceedings that were interrupted at the start of Question Period.

Thank you, Madam Minister.

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, pursuant to rule 4-13(3), I would like to inform the Senate that as we proceed with Government Business, the Senate will address the items in the following order: second reading of Bill C-39, followed by all remaining items in the order that they appear on the Order Paper.

[English]

Hon. Peter M. Boehm: Honourable senators, I rise today to address the shameless, unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine by Russia. A year on, this is a war with great loss of life on both sides and horrific atrocities committed by Russian military and paramilitary forces at the behest of their dictator, Vladimir Putin. The ramifications of this cynical war are global: strains on the global economy, grave impacts on food security, massive movement of Ukrainians beyond their homeland and, yes, an exodus of Russians who want no part of Putin’s war.

The global community voted convincingly at the United Nations two weeks ago, condemning the Russian Federation for its aggression. It has often been said that Putin is a master strategist, always a step ahead in his calculations as to how to garner advantage. But now, to use the direct vernacular, he has blown it. The Russian military has sustained significant losses, and its weaknesses have been exposed. NATO is more united, coherent and stronger than ever, with Finland and Sweden on the cusp of joining the alliance. Europe has turned its back on Russian energy imports, business connections and commerce. We have all stood together to impose the harshest economic and individual sanctions ever undertaken. We have provided arms and financial assistance packages to Ukraine. Was this part of Putin’s calculation? Probably not.

I have attended two major security policy conferences over the past year. The first was the Halifax International Security Forum in November, and the second was the Munich Security Conference just two weeks ago. At both, the predominant focus among leaders, policymakers, experts and parliamentarians like ourselves from around the world was the war in Ukraine. Our solidarity is palpable and strong.

Putin is increasingly cornered. In fact, I believe that his continuity in office will depend on achieving small victories that his propagandists can spin for domestic consumption. The chances of a dangerous escalation in this war are high, particularly if Putin receives some foreign help beyond that already proffered by the Iranian regime.

As for how to proceed, as leaders said at the Munich Security Conference, now is the time for us to double down. It seems to me that neither side in this conflict is ready for negotiations any time soon. Canada has a great role in this conflict and its aftermath, and, in my opinion, should continue to take all the right measures. Political leaders and ministers are in dialogue with their counterparts, including those in Ukraine, and are providing every assistance to Japan in its G7 presidency this year.

When this war is over, Russia will almost certainly be one of two things: a diminished global power with fragile institutions, subservient to its raw material outputs, or an isolated dictatorship considered a pariah by much of the world and at continuous odds with the rest of us. Perhaps it will be both.

Colleagues, the aftermath will be long and not easy. We, as other parliamentarians, must be firm in our resolve to support Ukraine and its people to the utmost of our abilities, particularly in what will be the parlous and difficult months ahead.

Thank you.

[Translation]

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.

[English]

Hon. Pamela Wallin: Honourable senators, today I pay tribute to the people who, against all odds, try to keep the voice of their community alive. However, after more than a century in business, the Wadena News has had to close its doors. It’s the latest casualty, but it won’t be the last.

Community papers are particularly disadvantaged because they must compete with larger, well-subsidized players who can capture bigger audiences, charge more for ads and attract government help.

The federal government has long ignored the power of community newspapers except when there is a crisis or a federal election. They might well remember that nearly 8 out of 10 Canadians still read their community newspaper — the hard copy. But governments have stopped advertising in these papers, then turned around and offered subsidies to larger competitors.

To quote Alison Squires, the last publisher of the Wadena News:

Newspapers don’t want subsidies, but if Maclean’s magazine gets $1.5 million, then those who are at the grassroots of their communities recording local history as it happens, sitting in council meetings and following the local hockey scene should get a cut as well.

She went on to say, “. . . but we would rather have the advertising.”

They are businesses and they are looking for a level playing field. When you buy an ad, you are paying for a service and getting your message out. When you offer a subsidy, you are buying — or trying to buy — favour.

If the government really wanted to help our local papers, it would do better to get out of the way and buy an ad. It would be a more genuine expression of support, and it would also show an understanding of community when you make a point of speaking to people where they live.

I am proud to have presented the paper with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for service to community. They are deserving. These papers are the connective tissue of our communities. Their archives that tell our story will be lost — the births, the deaths, weddings and anniversaries, good crop years and bad, the successes of our sons and daughters, and the impact of policies dreamed up in that faraway place called Ottawa.

I would like to thank Alison Squires, her father Bob, Jim Headington and Ethel Keele who built the paper. They were people of and for their community.

And to all those who have contributed and supported this paper over the years, thank you for 115 years of service to your fellow citizens, thank you for reporting our stories and thank you for taking up the task of writing down the first draft of our local history as it happened each and every day in our hometown. Thank you.

Some Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.

Hon. Patricia Bovey: Honourable senators, Canada recently lost two internationally and nationally acclaimed icons — both with Winnipeg roots — Peter Herrndorf and Gordon Pinsent. Canada claims to have six degrees of separation. I contend that in Winnipeg it’s only 0.6 degrees.

While Pinsent hailed from Newfoundland, his acting career began in Winnipeg. He stayed in our city after his Royal Canadian Air Force career. He talked about Winnipeg’s quality of life, where he had sandbagged during the 1950 flood. His early jobs there included that as a ballroom dance instructor. But at 24, in 1954, he found the world of theatre, and soon met John Hirsch and Tom Hendry. That meeting changed his life. He had roles in their Theatre 77 productions of An Italian Straw Hat and Death of a Salesman.

Hirsch and Hendry then went on to found the Manitoba Theatre Centre, and in that inaugural year Pinsent starred in A Hatful of Rain, Cinderella, Of Mice and Men and The Glass Menagerie. He returned in 1972 for Guys and Dolls. We all know the heights and multi-dimensions of his career and will be forever grateful.

Peter Herrndorf, a lawyer with a Harvard M.B.A., had a legendary career in television and as CEO of the National Arts Centre. He grew up in Winnipeg, arriving from his native Netherlands when he was 8. Always curious, with a quick and generous mind and determined nature, this avid reader charted a unique path. We go back decades. As students, he and my older brother had a summer job selling encyclopedias door to door together. They once hit a bit of a speed bump in Steinbach, but that’s a story for another day.

An inspiration to many Canadians, Herrndorf’s love of and pride in Canada was truly evident throughout his career. In television, he became vice-president of the CBC. He grew audiences through new programming like “The Fifth Estate” and by moving “The National” to 10 p.m. Not dumbing down programming, he made it more accessible.

He was TVOntario president before his 19 years at the helm of the National Arts Centre. There he put the “national” back into the organization. I was thrilled when he started inviting organizations from across Canada to perform on these magnificent stages in Canada’s capital city. He also commenced Indigenous programming.

He and I met frequently, and we spoke of our goals for artists and audiences. We had both inherited troubled cultural institutions at the same time. Our lunches were always fascinating, and our discussions covered myriad topics, from growing up near each other in Winnipeg to challenges faced by the arts and how to solve them, and our futuristic dreams of a time when all society would realize and support the true importance of the arts in every sector of society.

May these two passionate, inspirational icons rest in peace.

Hon. Joyce Murray, P.C., M.P., Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard: Thank you for that question, senator. First, I want to assure all senators that we make the decisions at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, or DFO, based on the best available science. In the case of the turbot stock, there was a temporary gap in the science due to the fact that the ship that had been doing the assessments, which was provided by Greenland because we have a shared stock, was temporarily not in service.

For that year, we were still able to utilize the data from the time series of assessments over the past 10 years as well as fish harvester data to have an assessment, albeit the trawling had not been done that year. We were slightly more precautionary because of the absence of the trawling data, but this was a temporary issue and Greenland’s vessel that was out of commission has now been replaced.

We made a one-year decision on the tack rather than the normal two-year decision because we knew that we would be able to fill that data gap when Greenland provided the vessel, again, a year later. I’m confident in our ability to manage the stock, and I will continue to make sure that conservation underpins everything we do.

Hon. Joyce Murray, P.C., M.P., Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard: Thanks for that question. My primary concern is the wild Pacific salmon stocks on the coast of British Columbia. Those stocks are in deep trouble. Many of them are listed under either the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, or COSEWIC, or the Species at Risk Act, or SARA. Those wild salmon stocks have long been an absolutely critical source of food security, but also food, social and ceremonial use by literally dozens of First Nations in the interior of British Columbia.

I did wide consultation with First Nations both on the coast and in the interior, as well as with industry. Based on the fact that there are many pressures on the wild salmon — some of which we can do nothing about, like climate change, warming Fraser River waters and habitat loss — what we can control, we need to control because it is simply not an option for us to lose wild Pacific salmon. So there’s that, as well as the fact that the Discovery Islands were identified as a vulnerable area because of the migration of salmon through that area. Justice Cohen spent two years examining this situation and recommended that it be a priority area to consider not allowing salmon aquaculture. Consider also the fact that more recent science was showing that there are risks that bad pathogens and parasites can affect the juvenile salmon. Altogether, these were my reasons that I felt compelled to not renew the licences in the Discovery Islands.

Hon. Mary Coyle: Honourable senators, former parliamentary poet laureate George Elliott Clarke asked me to read his elegy for Alexa Ann (Shaw) McDonough on this eve of International Women’s Day.

A Kindergarten is what a proper

Legislature is, where the Treasury

Is Sharing. How else do humans prosper

If not by Charity beyond measure?

To parcel out fairly peanut butter

Cookies, sluiced down by lemonade, and teach

That Policy is Rhyme — never stuttered —

And Law is verses versus what pirates preach,

So the bee may hop-scotch, dipsy-doodle,

And songbird serenade (like Portia White),

And poutine mash well with apple strudel,

And finger paints mirror stained-glass delights . . . .

So did you model such Wisdom, Beauty,

O Miss Shaw, sprightly and winsome, laughing

In your lessons, the chalked-letter duties

Lightning cross blackboards, sea chanteys puffing

From a record player, or flared spirituals

Hymning out of sing-song mouths and cherry

Or ebon cheeks? Pure, Mother Goose minstrels —

Our alphabets sloppy, dictionaries

With crayon-crazed pages half-torn-out —

We well-versed citizens are, who do trust

That Magic is possible when we vote,

And abracadabra rhymes with must.

O my teacher, an essential element

Of the Superb, so you were — in plaid skirt,

Working daily such endless astonishments:

Crafts to soothe bruised egos, kiss-salves for hurts;

So intrinsically sensitive, or stern —

To cure misdeeds with sharp look or a hug,

As you could, so we civil rites would learn

And our human rights never would we shrug.

You always said I was a rascal boy

In that pre-school legislature of yarns,

Tall tales, short naps, where ideas were toys —

Pixie-dust dreams, such Nonsense that discerns

Better ways of thinking, being, doing,

While Charity ushers Euphoria.

(What’s a rainbow save all colours hewing

To-and-from gilt phantasmagoria?)

O my teacher, the first politico

To breathe my Poetry into Hansard,

News of your passing stirs my vertigo —

Til tear-cracked eyes and tear-wracked voice (censored

No more), now weep for you — liberator

Of gulag-tortured man or downpressed mom —

Opponent of each troop-backed dictator;

Sister to each feminist from-the-womb!

O my teacher, to the assembly born —

The whole people’s parliamentarian —

You took my mom and me boating one morn

On waters smooth, egalitarian.

After, as the sun washed its beams in froth —

And you and my mom talked of schoolbook things —

I spooned clam-chowder’s buttered broth,

And chewed cookies, slurped juice, and soared on swings.

That was one day distinct from thousands since —

One moment of momentous radiance!

The lesson taught? O Joy is Insolence

Upsetting all vile, petty governments.

The House of Commons’ most uncommon Sense —

Intransigent, insurgent Eloquence —

O my teacher (Grammar all future-tense) —

You taught — I witnessed — deathless Magnificence.

Hon. Fabian Manning: Honourable senators, today, I am pleased to present Chapter 73 of “Telling Our Story.”

I am confident that when most of you hear me tell the stories of Newfoundland and Labrador, the French are not who you would expect me to talk about. However, it is a fact that the French played an important role in the early exploration and settlement of our province. Although not always obvious at first glance, the French roots in Newfoundland and Labrador run very deep.

The abundant cod fishery was the major factor in attracting French settlers to Newfoundland and Labrador, and they were among the earliest Europeans with the first documented fishing trip taking place in 1504.

Up until 1713 and the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht, the French were able to use any part of the colony they wished to, and they established several communities on the island, the most prominent of which was Plaisance, now known as Placentia. In the early 1660s, France established a garrison and colony at Plaisance to provide shelter and protection for the fishermen while they stayed in Newfoundland. Plaisance developed into the largest and most prosperous French settlement on the island and became the site of the ancient French capital of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Placentia has many features that make it a popular tourist attraction in our province. It has a unique lift bridge named the Sir Ambrose Shea Bridge. There are many archaeological sites that reflect the deep history of the area. You can step back in time to the 18th century with a visit to the Castle Hill National Historic Site and imagine cannons and muskets blazing as the British and French forces battled on the shores of Newfoundland, vying for control of the lucrative fishery. There, you will explore a chapter of our history that determined the fate of a continent.

Then there is the story of the will of a Basque region seaman that was discovered in an archive in Spain in which Domingo de Luza asks in 1563:

. . . that my body be buried in this port of Placentia, in the place where those who die here are buried.

It is believed to be the oldest original civil document written in Canada.

While at Castle Hill, take in a performance by the Placentia Area Theatre d’Heritage troupe who, through their very popular shows, depict the lives of early inhabitants of Placentia under the leadership of Governor de Broullion.

In 1893, Harry Verran, a mining engineer from Cornwall, England, built a historic house that now operates as a bed and breakfast called Rosedale Manor, a must-see for any visitor.

In 2009, the Placentia Bay Cultural Arts Centre was opened, and I am proud to say that I played a part in securing the funding for that beautiful state-of-the-art facility. It is a place that hosts presentations and performances of some of our most gifted musicians, actors, playwrights and a host of other performers.

O’Reilly House Museum, the boardwalk and St. Luke’s Cultural Heritage Centre are just some of the other many unique attractions you can explore in the town of Placentia. As well, one of the two Marine Atlantic ferry links from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland is just minutes from Placentia, located in Argentia.

While you might be more than bienvenu in Placentia, it will be difficult to say au revoir.

Thank you.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2020-21 Annual Report of the Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime.