Hon. Pierre J. Dalphond: Senator Gold, last week, on March 21, Uganda’s parliament passed a new law, which was described as the world’s most repressive sexual diversity legislation.

Possible penalties have been increased — up to and including the death penalty — for, and I quote, “aggravated homosexuality.” Identifying as a member of the LGBTQ+ community will be a crime. In addition, anyone who fails to report a homosexual person would be subject to a six-month prison sentence.

Uganda has become the most homophobic state in the world. What does the government intend to do about such a discriminatory and backward law?

Hon. Marty Klyne: Thank you for the question. AOVS is authorized on its own initiative by the Rules of the Senate to retain the services of internal auditors and to oversee the Senate’s internal audits, among other related matters. As outlined in the Senate Audit and Oversight Charter, the chief audit executive, or CAE, will report to our committee, making it a unique position in the Senate. The new position, the CAE, is crucial for us to be able to fulfill our mandate. As you noted, they will be responsible for drafting and implementing a risk-based internal audit plan under our direction.

The hiring process for the chief audit executive is well under way as the Senate adopted the committee’s budget to hire a recruitment firm in June 2022, which was selected following a request for proposal process last summer.

The AOVS committee will be presenting a budget to the Senate in coming days, requesting approval to extend the contract of that recruitment firm. We have just completed first-round interviews and will now be moving to a second round of interviews. I expect the committee will be making an offer in coming weeks, shortly after the break. I hope we can make an announcement of the new CAE soon thereafter and on board in May.

As colleagues know, AOVS was created by the Senate with the intent to be completely independent from the Senate’s management committee, the Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration Committee, known as CIBA. That said, the CAE will need to align the Senate’s internal audit function with the Senate’s existing governance structure, including the role of the Audit and Oversight Committee. The work will focus on matters of relevancy as driven by an approved risk internal audit plan, and, in that regard, make valued contributions, providing insight and recommendations and serving as a catalyst for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the Senate’s operations. Thank you.

[Translation]

Senator Dalphond: I understand that our policies may be similar to United States policy. John Kirby, the United States National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, said last Tuesday that U.S. foreign policy supports expanded human rights throughout the world. He said that they:

. . . are never going to shy away or be bashful about speaking up for those rights and for . . . individuals to live as they deem fit, as they want to live.

He added, “And that’s something that’s a core part of our foreign policy, and it will remain so.”

Is that the case for Canadian foreign policy?

Senator Gold: Thank you.

Canadian foreign policy has always been — from the very early days — one that promotes human rights. Indeed, the formation of the Charter — a universal human rights charter — was, importantly, a product of many, but also of John Humphrey, an eminent Canadian. It remains a cornerstone of Canadian foreign policy, and our government will continue to speak up loudly and proudly on behalf of all those who are oppressed.

[Translation]

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: My question is for Senator Gold. According to statistics from the Canadian Femicide Observatory, 184 women were murdered last year, in 2022. That is 11 more than in 2021 and 36% more than in 2019. As I said before, Quebec is doing its part by creating courts specializing in cases involving domestic and sexual violence on the initiative of Quebec justice minister Simon Jolin-Barrette.

The minister is just getting back from London, where he presented his project to the legal and political communities, who commended him for it. Minister Jolin-Barrette wants every Quebec district to have its own court by 2026. He said that he is fully committed to shifting the focus of the Quebec justice system to victims. Can you tell me when Justin Trudeau’s government will do the same?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question and for once again pointing out the importance of victims’ rights and continuing to look into that issue in our provincial and federal systems. I commend you for it.

As you know, the government has made a lot of progress and a lot of investments to help front-line organizations that provide essential services to survivors of sexual violence. Over 1,200 organizations receive government support. What is more, the government has implemented a national action plan that will inform the next steps. The government is working with its provincial and territorial counterparts to address this critically important issue.

Hon. Tony Loffreda: Honourable senators, as the saying goes, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”

Tel Aviv University Canada is literally reaching for the stars as it aims to launch its first nanosatellite advancing innovative climate change tools and solutions. Known as the Ilan Ramon Memorial Project, this trailblazing initiative is named after Israel’s first astronaut and a Tel Aviv University graduate who sadly perished in the Columbia space shuttle disaster 20 years ago.

The project is chaired by Sylvan Adams, a world-renowned Canadian-Israeli businessman, and supported by Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe and Canadian philanthropist Mark Pathy, both of whom participated in last year’s privately funded Ax-1 mission to the International Space Station.

We were reminded this week by the UN that climate change remains one of the biggest challenges of our time. Canada can speak with first-hand experience about the devastating impact it has and will continue to have on our nation. The devastation of recent events like Hurricane Fiona in Atlantic Canada, floods in B.C., melting ice in the North and forest fires remind us all of our vulnerability.

For the sake of our collective well-being, we must find urgent and sustainable solutions to fight, mitigate and adapt to our changing planet, so it’s important that we reach for those stars while remaining grounded in reality.

And the reality on the ground is there is some urgency before us. The UN report explained that “. . . limited research and/or slow and low uptake of adaptation science . . .” is a key barrier to climate change adaptation.

Tel Aviv University is answering that call by seeking to become a global academic centre of excellence in the field of space science and engineering, while developing nanosatellites that advance Israel’s edge in climate change action and carbon emission reduction.

Its nanosatellite has the potential of unlocking scientific data that can monitor current environmental problems like plastic pollution in the oceans, forest fires, methane leaks from oil and gas pipelines, melting Arctic ice and urban heat islands for more sustainable cities.

Honourable senators, many years ago, I had the honour to visit Tel Aviv University and was impressed by its state-of-the-art campus and modern research and scientific facilities, which is why I endorse this initiative.

I invite all Canadians to support and learn more about the Ilan Ramon Memorial Project and the immense potential of its climate-change-fighting new nanosatellite as we encourage Tel Aviv University Canada to reach for the stars. Thank you.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Hon. Patricia Bovey: Honourable senators, it’s a real treat to welcome my long-time visual arts colleague Pat Grattan. How many times over the decades, Pat, have we sat and had discussions together, here in Ottawa and across the country, about the arts and the ways they positively affect the world we live in?

Today, colleagues, I want to applaud Pacific Opera Victoria and Vancouver Opera for their joint co‑commissioned and co‑produced B.C. schools touring production The Flight of the Hummingbird. Addressing issues of climate change and reconciliation, this was a collaboration with local knowledge keepers and Indigenous communities. The Indigenous advisers were key to the project’s success.

The opera The Flight of the Hummingbird, as noted by the writer Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, is a call to action based on the book of the same name. A parable for the environment, it is a story of a great fire in the forest — a fire put out by the resilience and persistence of a little hummingbird, a bird symbolizing wisdom and courage. The story’s roots are with the Quechua people of South America and the Haida of Haida Gwaii.

Through the characters of the hummingbird, the bear, bunny, owl and crows, the story and music interweave the history of colonization, the impacts of trauma and the importance of caring for each other, of sharing perspectives and, thus, becoming stronger. The study guide states:

In this way, the story of the Hummingbird is not only a call to action, but an expression of the spiritual and emotional truth of their experience.

I learned last summer that this spring and next, the show will tour all of B.C., including many First Nations communities. To me, this is one of the key reconciliACTIONs, which, along with others, will inspire and add up to real reconciliation. It is number 6 of the 10 principles of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: “All Canadians, as Treaty peoples, share responsibility for establishing and maintaining mutually respectful relationships.”

These two major Canadian opera companies have done that together through acts of consultation and participation by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

Rebecca Hass, an Anishinaabe Métis woman and Pacific Opera Victoria’s Director of Community Engagement, wrote, “We were there. We saw. We heard. We walked this piece forward in a good way. We witnessed.”

Congratulations! I know the experiences in the schools where this is presented will be memorable and significant.

Colleagues, the arts are part of awareness of climate change, heritage is affected by it, and artists and creators must be part of the ongoing solution. Thank you.

Hon. Leo Housakos: Honourable senators, I’m very happy to have joining us today the Honourable Serge Joyal. I think I speak for all of us when I say that this institution is all the richer for having had former Senator Joyal’s service. His constitutional knowledge was unrivalled in this place, and that certainly came through in his insightful and invaluable interventions. Senator Joyal has also left an indelible mark on the Senate through his philanthropic donations of artwork and other artifacts.

And thanks to Senator Joyal, another incredible piece of the Senate’s history will be unveiled today and will take a place of honour in our hallowed halls. I’m referring to the chair of the eleventh Speaker of the Senate of Canada, the Honourable Sir Alexandre Lacoste, who served as Speaker in 1891.

[Translation]

A prominent Montreal lawyer, Sir Alexandre Lacoste played an important role in advising the Conservative Party behind the scenes, but he always resisted pressure to run for office. I admire him already.

He had a great admiration for the Constitution given to Canada by Confederation, and he pleaded many constitutional cases before Canada’s highest court, which was located in London, England at the time. I understand why Serge admired him so much.

Later, after serving briefly on the Legislative Council of Quebec, Mr. Lacoste was appointed to the Senate of Canada on the recommendation of Sir John A. Macdonald, another great Conservative Prime Minister.

[English]

Senator Lacoste believed that the chief function of the upper house was to “. . . form a court of revision, whose vigilance should be untiring.” I like him more and more, colleagues.

[Translation]

Mr. Lacoste was appointed as Speaker of the Senate in April of 1891, but his time in the Senate was short-lived, as he resigned his position to become the Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench in Quebec. He served as Speaker for only five months — and here I thought I held the record.

That brings me to talk about his chair, honourable senators. Many of you may not know that, before a permanent chair was built for the Speaker in 1923, the Senate ordered a new chair for every new Speaker, who then kept the chair when they retired.

[English]

Later today, we will gather in the Senators’ Lounge for the unveiling of Speaker Lacoste’s chair, which is being so graciously donated by our former colleague. This is especially poignant because this chair was used in the Senate in the original parliamentary building prior to the fire of 1915. It is one of the few remaining pieces of furniture or artifacts from the original Senate. We are very fortunate to receive this gift and we will have it on display right here in the Senate foyer for all to see.

Thank you, former Senator Joyal, for your ongoing commitment and preservation of our history and, of course, your commitment to this wonderful institution. Thank you very much.

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Honourable senators, Sergeant Maureen Breau, a veteran police officer with the Sûreté du Québec in Louiseville, Quebec, was murdered on Tuesday night by a violent man with a lengthy criminal record who suffered from very serious mental disorders.

I would like to offer my deepest sympathy to Ms. Breau’s spouse, also a police officer, to their two children and to their family and loved ones, as well as to all her colleagues, who are still in shock from this tragedy.

It bears repeating that the man who stabbed Sergeant Breau to death has been found to be not criminally responsible five times since 2014. He had very strict release conditions; however, no one was monitoring him.

For more than 20 years I have lamented the fact that Quebec is doing a disturbingly inadequate job of managing people with serious mental disorders. Every year in Quebec, dozens of people are murdered by someone close to the family with a serious mental health disorder who is left to cope on their own.

It happened two weeks ago, when three members of the same family, the grandmother as well as the father and mother, were murdered by their son. Three people were murdered about 10 days ago in Amqui. Two children were torn from their families a month ago in Laval. In the last two cases, the acts were perpetrated by men who were ill and chose to get behind the wheel and run over their victims. Nine innocent victims were murdered in one month.

Since the beginning of this year, nearly a dozen people have been murdered in Quebec. The families of the victims and the general public are asking the same question: why?

It’s important to remember that in 1995, the Quebec government closed 50% of its psychiatric hospital beds for budgetary reasons. Since then, society has been paying the price in terms of loss of life, which is all too often predictable.

It should also be noted that managing mental health is the poor cousin in our health care system, in Quebec and in Canada. Resources are not being provided to support families caring for a loved one with a mental disorder that requires close, daily care or to support community groups that could help them, which would reduce recidivism.

I am well aware that mental health is still a very taboo subject. However, after all of these homicides, we must have the courage to act in order to save lives and break the stigma surrounding this taboo, which is no longer relevant.

My home province of Quebec needs to take drastic action to improve its management of the mental health file. The families of those with an illness must no longer be left to pay the price of this monumental failure on their own.

I am convinced that 95% of people who are diagnosed with a mental illness can lead a responsible, independent life. However, we need to adopt a more preventive approach for the few who do not and never will have the capacity and autonomy required to take care of themselves, without posing a risk to themselves, their families and their communities. These people need medical and social support, which would help prevent these kinds of tragedies.

To that end, there are already possible solutions in both the provincial and federal jurisdictions to better support and monitor these people. We need to work together both on the medical side and the legislative side to achieve those goals.

I am committed to doing that, and I hope many of you will join me to ensure we can make it happen.

Thank you.

[English]

Hon. Patrick Brazeau: Honourable senators, today marks the third anniversary of my sobriety.

Senator Brazeau: I have not touched a drop of alcohol for 1,095 days, that’s over 1.5 million minutes. Anyone who has battled an addictive substance knows what a fight every single one of those minutes can be.

According to the World Health Organization, Canadians are drinking almost nine litres of pure alcohol per capita each year. The global average, according to The Globe and Mail, is 6.2 litres.

Thanks to the efforts of health care practitioners and medical researchers, more and more Canadians are becoming aware of the serious health damage caused by alcohol. It’s no easy thing to get this information to Canadians, considering the billions that are spent every year by the alcohol industry, including some boozy receptions right here on Parliament Hill.

Your Honour, whenever I speak about alcohol, I’m not pretending to be anyone’s moral superior. I’m certainly not telling people what to do and what not to do. Instead, Your Honour, I’m inviting this chamber to consider those who at this very moment are fighting alcohol use disorder. These people are in every walk of life. Many of them are what we call high-functioning. Not everyone with alcohol use disorder is living on the street.

In fact, just yesterday, Your Honour, The Globe and Mail ran a timely piece on the increasing dependence on alcohol in Canadian women. The article describes women professionals who have found their careers in jeopardy due to their hidden disorder. The same article tells us that between 2003 and 2016, the rate of alcohol-related emergency department visits by young women in Ontario went up by an astounding 240%. The alcohol‑related death rate for women increased by 26% compared to 5% for men. This issue affects everyone, either directly or indirectly.

The Mental Health Commission of Canada notes that about one in four suicide deaths in Canada involve alcohol use. Heavy drinking increases the risk of suicide exponentially. Three of every four people who commit suicide in Canada are men.

In fact, Your Honour, when we look at the alcohol-related suicide statistics for Indigenous people and men in Canada, it can only properly be called a crisis. This is why we must support those who are battling addiction with everything that we have got. We need to bolster them. We need to encourage them.

[Editor’s Note: Senator Brazeau spoke in Algonquin.]

This is Algonquin for “hope.” We must provide them with culturally appropriate and gender-specific treatment options.

Finally, Your Honour, personally, I’m thankful for my 1.5 million minutes of sobriety and thankful to all of those who continue to encourage and support me. Simply said, I was one of the lucky ones. Every Canadian who has substance abuse issues deserves just as much support and encouragement as I am getting.

Meegwetch.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the Budget 2023 entitled A Made-in-Canada Plan: Strong Middle Class, Affordable Economy, Healthy Future.

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I give notice that, at the next sitting of the Senate, I will move:

That, when the Senate next adjourns after the adoption of this motion, it do stand adjourned until Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at 2 p.m.

[Translation]

Hon. Tony Loffreda introduced Bill S-259, An Act to designate the month of March as Hellenic Heritage Month.

(Bill read first time.)

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I give notice that, two days hence:

I will call the attention of the Senate to the budget entitled A Made-in-Canada Plan: Strong Middle Class, Affordable Economy, Healthy Future, tabled in the House of Commons on March 28, 2023, by the Minister of Finance, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, P.C., M.P., and in the Senate on March 29, 2023.

[English]

The Hon. the Speaker: The vote will take place at 5:08 p.m.

Call in the senators.

(1700)

Motion agreed to and bill read third time and passed on the following division:

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Well, thank you for your question, senator.

The current government has the confidence of the House, and I am convinced that it will continue to have the confidence of the House. The reason it does is because it has delivered and will continue to deliver results for Canadians.

You asked a question about confidence in the fiscal management of the government. This government has overseen strong economic growth — the strongest in the G7 — strong job growth, wherein 830,000 more Canadians are now employed than before the pandemic. Inflation has fallen and has remained flat for the last eight months in a row. Our unemployment rate is near a record low, and the labour force participation rate for women aged 25 to 54 reached a record high of over 85% in February.

This government has demonstrated through difficult times and despite regular challenges from the opposition that it knows how to manage in a time of difficulty, and it knows how to invest in the future of Canadians, which is exactly what this budget does.