Hon. Margo Greenwood: Thank you, Your Honour, and congratulations on your new role.

Honourable senators, I have a memory from my youth that I want to share with you this evening.

It was on a sunny afternoon, an Alberta afternoon. I came in from playing outside and found my father sitting at the kitchen table writing his name over, over and over again. I could see his signature on the page multiple times. I asked him, “What are you doing?” And he said, “I write good English.”

I have often thought of this memory, and it makes me sad.

My dad only had a Grade 6 education, we think. Life and school taught him not to communicate in his first language, Cree. My dad believed that this was what was best for his own good. My dad believed speaking good English meant the safety of his children.

My dad never taught me to speak Cree. The colonial experience had achieved its goal.

Honourable senators, I am —

[Editor’s Note: Senator Greenwood spoke in an Indigenous language.]

— from Treaty 6. I share my Indian name with you so that you might know from where I speak. I rise today for the first time —