Senator Gold: Colleagues, immigration is clearly the key to helping businesses find the workers that they need as they continue to grow our economy and our country. The 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan will ensure that Canada continues to welcome immigrants at ambitious levels to meet our needs. With a focus on regional immigration, this plan will help strengthen our system and spread the benefits of immigration to communities across the country — the Prairies and elsewhere. This includes, of course, and importantly, francophone immigration outside of Quebec.

The government does know that affordable housing has become a barrier to pursuing those opportunities in many communities.

The government’s 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan selects individuals with the skills to build homes and encourages them to settle in parts of the country that have housing capacity issues. Again, the government will do its part in terms of housing capacity. It looks to provinces, municipalities and the private sector to do their parts. It’s crucial that we factor in immigration, as you properly point out, in addressing our housing shortage because newcomers are undoubtedly part of the solution.

[Translation]

Senator Cardozo: We are short on time. I will answer one quick question. It’s always a compliment when I receive a Housakos question.

Hon. Fabian Manning: Honourable senators, today I am pleased to present Chapter 78 of “Telling Our Story.”

Celebrating the unique heritage and culture of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador is something the people of our province take great pride in. We have been blessed with sons and daughters who have devoted their entire lives to this passion. Many of these people have been and continue to be involved in the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Arts Society, whose mandate is the promotion and preservation of the traditional folk arts of the province. Active since 1966, the organization presents educational and cultural events that provide artists with the opportunity to showcase their work, and the society creates opportunities to engage our youth and the general public in the transmission of our intangible cultural heritage.

The society is responsible for the longest continually running live music event in the city of St. John’s, known as Folk Night at the Ship Pub, which began in 1974. What a wonderful way to spend a Wednesday evening in the oldest city in North America, listening to some of our traditional musicians and our many up‑and-coming artists.

Another popular event the society brings to us on an annual basis is Young Folk at the Hall, where support is amplified for young artists between the ages of 7 and 18. This event, held at the infamous LSPU Hall, has been the birthplace of some of our province’s greatest artists and performers.

The Folk Arts Society’s signature event is the annual Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival, which this summer will celebrate its forty-seventh year of production. This year’s folk festival will be held on the weekend of July 7-9. From the start of the festival at the Ship Pub on Duckworth Street in the City of Legends, it will then move to the beautiful Bannerman Park, where the best of our province’s music, arts and crafts will be showcased. Mix all that with our sweet summer air, open jam sessions, traditional dances, a warm and welcoming atmosphere, and you have all the ingredients for the creation of a precious memory that will last a lifetime.

Folk festivals of the past have seen performances by some of our best, including Ron Hynes, Anita Best, Shirley Montague, Jim Payne and Fergus O’Byrne, just to name a few. And who could forget the Cape Shore’s own John Joe English, Gerald Campbell and Patsy and Bride Judge? Great times and wonderful memories.

This year’s festival will continue the tradition of bringing back home some of our favourite traditions from the past and introduce new ones to celebrate our ever-changing and welcoming province. The festival will also showcase performers and artists from outside our province, including Quebec, Acadia and beyond. The Réseau Culturel Francophone de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador will present to us as well. From traditional Newfoundland and Labrador folk music to many new and different genres of music, there is something here for everyone. From the Traditional Stage all the way to the Main Stage, attendees will have the opportunity to hear and see it all. If you enjoy music, dance, recitation, storytelling and learning about a proud and historic past coupled with the acceptance of a changing and diverse future, the St. John’s annual folk festival is where you need to be.

May I offer a little tidbit of advice, though. If you are approached and asked if you would like to have a “scoff,” that means you are invited for something to eat, but if you are invited for a “scuff,” that means you are invited to dance or, as we say in Newfoundland and Labrador, you are being invited to “step ‘er out.” Either way, the best thing to do is say yes.

This year, the very talented and popular folk group Rum Ragged will take to the Main Stage and close out the festival on Sunday night. I am being somewhat biased but I am confident it will be a great time. Then we will all gather together and sing the “Ode to Newfoundland” because:

As loved our fathers, so we love

Where once they stood we stand

Their prayer we raise to heav’n above

God guard thee Newfoundland

Thank you.

Hon. Jane Cordy: Honourable senators, this coming Monday, June 19, will be our sixth year of celebrating National Sickle Cell Awareness Day in Canada. Canada is the first and only country to recognize a National Sickle Cell Awareness Day. This day means a great deal to those within the sickle cell community. It is a wonderful way to come together and to share their stories and to highlight the important work they have been doing to move the needle forward regarding sickle cell disease.

I have been so privileged to hear their stories and share their journeys. I have met so many wonderful people who are incredibly dedicated to this work.

There are many events happening this weekend in order to celebrate and to recognize National Sickle Cell Awareness Day. Just this morning, I had the pleasure of attending a breakfast organized by the African Canadian Senate Group. It was a lovely event. I’m always so delighted to meet new people and to see old friends who are so passionate and so motivated in helping the sickle cell community.

On Saturday, I will be attending the Sickle Cell Awareness Group of Ontario’s annual Hope Gala and Awards in Toronto. It will be nice to meet with old friends and new after years of postponing and doing things virtually due to the pandemic. I know the community is eager to come together again and to celebrate one another.

Finally, on Monday, June 19, the Sickle Cell Disease Association of Canada will hold a sickle cell conference here, at the University of Ottawa. I am looking forward to taking part in what I am sure will be an educational session.

Honourable senators, I encourage you to seek out the sickle cell communities within your own regions and to further inform yourselves on the disease. A national day of awareness seems so simple and yet it is so very important in bringing groups across the country together to get their message out and to celebrate their incredible efforts and achievements. I would like to wish all Canadians a very happy National Sickle Cell Awareness Day.

[Translation]

Senator Dagenais: With regard to judicial appointments, the Prime Minister is not doing enough. For the second time in a month, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court publicly criticized how slow the government has been to appoint judges.

According to the Chief Justice, having so many vacant positions essentially constitutes a threat to security and democracy. We know that a country like Canada is founded on justice, so how can you justify the Prime Minister’s obliviousness and failure to act, especially when it comes to appointing judges?

Senator Plett: Thank you for that advice.

I’ll tell you whom we did listen to again today: We listened to Minister Mendicino again today when he spoke to the media. Minister Mendicino has said that he invoked the Emergencies Act under the advice of law enforcement, but that was not true, leader. The minister then said that Beijing’s police stations in Canada were shut down. Again, that was not true. The minister said his amendments to Bill C-21 didn’t target hunting rifles or law-abiding gun owners. That was not true. Both the Prime Minister and Minister Mendicino said a memo about Beijing targeting Michael Chong never left the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, or CSIS — but again, leader, that was not true. On the morning that the SNC-Lavalin scandal broke, the Prime Minister stood before reporters and said that the allegations in The Globe and Mail story were false. Again, leader, that was not true.

Now we can add when they knew about the jail transfer of Paul Bernardo to that list.

What word can I call this, leader? Aside from a lecture that Erin O’Toole gave about decorum, what word can I call that? What word would be acceptable to you, and what word does not negatively affect your delicate ears, or those of your Liberal colleagues?

Senator Gold: Thank you for your questions. If my ears were as delicate as you pretend, I’m not sure that I would even be able to hear, much less answer, your questions.

With regard to the many statements you’ve made, I’ve answered them on so many occasions — and I know that others are waiting to ask their questions — so I will refer you all to those previous answers.

Let us be clear: First of all, speaking as the son of an English teacher, there is a difference between a statement that is correct, for which corrections were then made, and the allegations of one being misleading or lying.

Second, with regard to the questions surrounding the transfer of Paul Bernardo, once again, our thoughts are with the families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy. As you will now know, and as I will state now — here in this chamber — the minister has issued a ministerial direction to Correctional Service Canada to ensure the following: First, victims’ rights must guide the decision-making process. Second, victims of inmates who are being transferred between maximum-security and medium-security institutions must be informed. Third, the Minister of Public Safety must be formally and directly notified by Correctional Service Canada in advance of the transfer of any high-profile or dangerous offenders.

The minister will also be working with the Privacy Commissioner to ensure the public interest demands are met with regard to the legitimate expectations of privacy, as well as the protection of those who hold such rights. It is imperative that victims’ rights be at the centre of the correctional system, and that is what the minister has instructed his staff and Correctional Service Canada to do.

[Translation]

Hon. Marie-Françoise Mégie: Dear colleagues, I was honoured to see so many of you this morning at the parliamentary sickle cell breakfast. Thank you.

This event, which is put on in collaboration with Senator Gerba and sponsored by the African Canadian Senate Group, gave us a chance to watch a preview of a documentary entitled Silent Suffering, which explores the grim reality facing people with sickle cell disease and their loved ones.

About one in 20 people on this planet carry the sickle cell gene. In some parts of the world, it is one in four. The disease is most common among people with ancestors from Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, India, the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

In Canada, about one in 2,500 children is born with the disease. Unfortunately, health care providers tend to have a poor understanding of the disease.

The shape of a healthy red blood cell is a biconcave disc. In people with sickle cell disease, red blood cells become rigid and stretch into a sickle shape, hence the name. A pin shaped like a hot pepper serves as a teaching tool for patients and an apt illustration: it burns, it hurts, and it causes suffering.

The most common symptoms of this disease are attacks of acute and chronic pain, or even a stroke, all at an early age. These painful attacks are so intense that they can only be relieved with narcotics, and they recur throughout the child’s life. In such cases, when these young people are admitted to a hospital where medical staff are not familiar with this disease, they often don’t get proper care because they’re labelled as drug addicts.

In the 1970s, people with this disease rarely lived beyond the age of 10. These days, many patients live into their sixties.

That’s why it’s so important to increase awareness of sickle cell disease, and of the importance of neonatal screening and the search for better treatments.

Gene therapy research in Canada is yielding very promising results for the treatment of this rare, hereditary disease. Hopefully the potential cure will be accessible to all sickle cell carriers worldwide.

Happy National Sickle Cell Awareness Day.

Thank you.

[English]

Senator Gold: The answer is no. The minister was asked that question, and he said no. Also, to respond to the preamble of your question, it is not true that the minister issued a directive to ensure that the information is communicated to him and the victims.

Senator Gold: The answer is no. The minister was asked that question, and he said no. Also, to respond to the preamble of your question, it is not true that the minister issued a directive to ensure that the information is communicated to him and the victims.

That doesn’t mean that the government issued a directive not to respect victims, as you suggested, if I understood correctly. That is not true, and there is no logical or necessary connection between the fact that the directive was issued at that time and what the government did or did not do in the past.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Senator Omidvar: Thank you for that answer, Senator Gold. The report by Desjardins also points to a solution, and that is the dispersion of immigrants to all parts of our country, not just the hot spots of B.C. and Ontario, in particular, to the Prairie provinces. They note that this would decrease the pressure on housing prices and housing affordability in certain parts of Canada and provide a substantive offset to the impact of higher immigration on home prices.

Can you help us understand the government’s current plan with the current immigration numbers for better distribution of immigrants across the country? Thank you, Senator Gold.

Senator Gold: The ministers in this government are responsible, and they have taken responsibility. With all due respect, Senator Housakos, I do not tell you what questions to ask, and I don’t need you to feed me the answers. Thank you.

Senator Greenwood: — since I have been appointed to this honourable chamber.

I begin by acknowledging the ancestors and unceded territories of the Anishinaabe Algonquin peoples. I express my gratitude for the privilege of working and living on their lands.

I also acknowledge the many people who have supported me on my journey to the Red Chamber. It was only with the love of my family, my community, my friends and colleagues that I am here today.

I rise today to address Bill C-13, An Act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and to make related amendments to other Acts. I recognize the committee and all those who worked so hard to shape this bill.

I also want to personally thank Senator Audette and Senator Clement for their championing of the rights of Indigenous peoples in this bill.

With much of what I’m going to say tonight, I am probably repeating what you have already heard, but so be it.

Esteemed colleagues here have spoken about the importance of language to their culture and their way of life.

During an earlier debate on this bill, Senator Cormier shared a quote from the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on Ford v. Quebec:

Language is not merely a means or medium of expression; it colours the content and meaning of expression. . . . It is also the means by which one expresses one’s personal identity and sense of individuality.

These words from the ruling are quite moving. The ruling goes on to state:

. . . there cannot be true freedom of expression by means of language if one is prohibited from using the language of one’s choice.

Honourable senators, I am here to add to this discussion. There is a richness of linguistic diversity across the lands now known as Canada. Yet not all languages hold the same privileges and protections. This hierarchy lays bare an injustice. Parliament and, by extension, the Senate created many injustices in our nation’s history. The Senate has also fought to address these injustices.

I believe our job in the Senate is to address injustice whenever possible. It is one of the reasons that I am here. Addressing the injustice of privileging some languages over others affords us such an opportunity.

I want to take a moment to reflect on the nature of language. Language is a manifestation of how we think and how we are in the world. Language shapes our realities. Language is culture. Language transmits our ways of knowing and being across the generations. Language creates profoundly different worldviews.

Many Indigenous languages are rooted in ever-evolving verb-based relationships. These are relationships between humans and the natural world. These relationships are sacred. They are relationships characterized by specific sounds, by silence and by mindful words reflective of the land in which Indigenous languages have always been rooted.

Imagine the sound of the great blue heron as she rises from the water. Imagine the sound of the high-pitched whistle of the eagle soaring overhead, the rustle of icy cattails in a spring wind and the sharp yip of the coyote.

These sounds are embedded in Indigenous languages. Our sounds embody the relationship between humans and the land. These specific sounds are unique to specific places and spaces. These are the places and spaces of Turtle Island.

Our languages are the first languages of this land of Turtle Island. But these first languages are in crisis. We are in a moment of losing many Indigenous languages across Turtle Island. When a language is lost, so too is a way of knowing and being in the world lost.

Colonization is responsible for this loss. This bleak history is shared by everyone across Turtle Island. Even before Confederation, generations of Indigenous children and families were exposed to the eradication of their languages in residential and day schools. Often, children were beaten for speaking their language.

Indigenous peoples do not have the privilege of having their languages recognized as official languages in their own lands. Recently, Canada has taken important steps toward reconciliation. There have been apologies for residential schools. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its Calls to Action, which called upon the federal government “. . . to acknowledge that Aboriginal rights include Aboriginal language rights.”

In 2019, the Indigenous Languages Act received Royal Assent and recognized Indigenous languages as the first languages of the land. That same year — and Senator Audette will know this — the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released its final report and Calls for Justice. Call for Justice 2.2 states:

We call upon all governments to recognize Indigenous languages as official languages, with the same status, recognition, and protection provided to French and English. . . .

In 2021, Canada adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. UNDRIP has many articles regarding Indigenous languages.

This brings us to today. This brings us to the efforts of fellow parliamentarians to further the cause of reconciliation. Bill C-13 acknowledges the richness of linguistic diversity. But not all languages hold the same privileges as official languages. The Official Languages Act does not exist unto itself.

Every piece of legislation that passes through this chamber is an opportunity for truth, reconciliation and action. Every piece of legislation that passes through this chamber is an opportunity for a departure from harmful colonial policies of the past. Bill C-13 offers us an opportunity to address some of these policies. Bill C-13 recognizes the existence of Indigenous languages but, unlike the Indigenous Languages Act, does not acknowledge them as first languages. Senators tried to amend Bill C-13 to mirror this acknowledgement. This would have been an important step to advance reconciliation. Unfortunately, this amendment was defeated.

There were also proposed amendments to recognize Canada’s commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or UNDRIP Act, provides a road map for the Government of Canada and Indigenous peoples to work together to implement the declaration. The UNDRIP Act has numerous articles detailing the importance of Indigenous languages, like Article 13, which states:

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons.

This UNDRIP Act was designed to ensure that all federal laws are consistent with the declaration. Unfortunately, this proposed amendment was also defeated.

There have been many arguments that instead of amending the Official Languages Act, we should amend the Indigenous Languages Act. The Official Languages Act must not be siloed from goals of reconciliation. Amending the Official Languages Act could strengthen the use of Indigenous languages here in Parliament. Amending the act could strengthen the use of Indigenous languages in public service. As well, amending the act would let Canadians know that the government takes seriously the advancement of reconciliation.

Implementing Call for Justice 2.2 — recognizing Indigenous languages as official languages with the same status and protection provided to French and English — is a fundamental step toward reconciliation. I hope you do see it, Michèle, in your tenure here and mine. By elevating Indigenous languages, we are not removing French or English. That is not the point as official languages. But by elevating Indigenous languages, we are removing some of those barriers to reconciliation.

It is my responsibility as a senator to further the cause of reconciliation whenever possible, including today and every day.

Where do we go from here? I extend to you an invitation. If senators truly believe that Bill C-13 is not the appropriate bill to amend, and should it be passed, then I invite you as parliamentarians to expedite legislation with me that will create true equality for Indigenous languages of these lands.

Honourable senators, I thank you for giving me this time and I would like to leave you with a final quote from the commissioners of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples:

Canada is a test case for a grand notion – the notion that dissimilar peoples can share lands, resources, power and dreams while respecting and sustaining their differences. The story of Canada is the story of many such peoples, trying and failing and trying again, to live together in peace and harmony.

I look forward to continuing to work with you, my fellow senators, on achieving that justice.

Hiy hiy.

Senator Ringuette: Thank you. I’m looking at the clauses that you want to amend, and these clauses refer to the New Brunswick Official Languages Act, which is a provincial act, and to Manitoba, which also has a provincial act.

In fact, I wish Ontario also had an act recognizing the francophone minority in Ontario. If that were the case, we could have referenced it in Bill C-13 as well.

Senator Loffreda, as far as your issue with references is concerned, I understand that you have concerns, but I don’t see how this reference would be any different from the reference, in the same clauses, to language rights for the people of New Brunswick.

[English]

Senator Dagenais: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. This is on debate.

I do not intend to block something that could become a financial lifeline for some of the country’s traditional media outlets, even though I don’t think they’ll all be saved.

The most recent report on the federal government’s annual advertising spending clearly shows that the government gave 55% of its budget to the digital media targeted by Bill C-18. That represents $64 million, versus $53 million for our Canadian newspapers and radio and television stations.

It made me wonder: How do we reconcile the fact that the government wants to pass a bill to tax web giants like GAFA for the benefit of traditional media, when the government and its advertising choices are largely to blame for making them so poor? That’s my contribution to the debate.

[English]

Senator Housakos: Government leader, thank you for highlighting the problem with your government. You just highlighted — in your talking points — exactly what I’m complaining about. It’s never the fault of the minister or the Prime Minister — it’s the employees in their office, it’s the bureaucrats who didn’t brief them or it’s their email that is too blocked up. That is the problem with your government. This government always has its homework being eaten by the dog before it arrives at school, and it has to stop. Do you know what the concept of ministerial responsibility means? I think, in this Trudeau government, there isn’t anyone left who understands how Parliament works.

I will ask you two simple questions: Can you define for this chamber what ministerial responsibility means as it applies to Parliament? And is the Prime Minister unwilling to apply ministerial responsibility to Minister Mendicino because no one has applied ministerial responsibility to him?

Senator McPhedran: Thank you so much for your work on this bill.

In the event that this bill is not passed rapidly, before we rise, what will be the most obvious consequence of it not passing this chamber?

Senator Omidvar: I will state again — and thank you, Senator McPhedran, for your question — lives will be at risk. Babies will die. Women will be at risk. They will have no food, no shelter, no protection. It is a matter of lives saved today rather than not saved.

Senator Housakos: Thank you, Senator Omidvar, for the speech. Obviously, this is a pressing bill and a pressing situation. Given the fact it got such overwhelming support in the House and was sent to committee in the House for in-depth study, why isn’t there relief to pass the bill right away? Why does it need to go to committee in this chamber and not pass quickly with leave?

Senator Omidvar: That will be the will of the chamber.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of the Honourable Jon Reyes, Manitoba Minister of Labour and Immigration. He is the guest of the Honourable Senator Osler.

On behalf of all honourable senators, I welcome you to the Senate of Canada.