Hon. Raymonde Saint-Germain: Colleagues, I want to begin by greeting our colleague Dan Christmas’s visitors who are with us today: his three children and two grandchildren. I also want to tell them how proud they should be of their father and grandfather.

It is with a heavy heart that I rise today to pay tribute to my esteemed colleague, Senator Dan Christmas, on his last day in this chamber.

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It is indeed with a heavy heart that I speak today — heavy, because everyone who got to know Senator Christmas throughout the years can testify to the greatness of his spirit and his profoundly human character.

Dear Dan, for this, as well as for your undeniable qualities as a senator, you will be greatly missed. Since your appointment to the Senate in 2016, you have proudly represented the Mi’kmaq community as well as your province of Nova Scotia. However, we all know that your commitment to both go back far beyond your years as a senator.

Prior to your life in the Senate, you were already a leader and an organizer for the Membertou community and your people of Cape Breton Island. Indeed, they are happy to have you back full-time, and so are your three children and two grandchildren, who have many reasons to be proud of you as their dad and granddad.

If I had to describe Senator Christmas in only a few words, it would be as a man of heart and family. Due to fate, you had to make the choice to stay close to your people and fulfill your most important responsibilities — those to your family. While we are saddened to see you go, we can only admire the decision that you are formalizing today. As a very committed member of the Independent Senators Group, you have been a great pedagogue, a man of dialogue and mediation who, with a good reading of the environment, helped us work towards reconciliation and the understanding, as well as recognition, of important Indigenous issues.

Always a team player, a sound advisor and a very patient senator, it was truly a pleasure working alongside you. Please know, Senator Christmas, that you will be remembered within our group as a great connector between peoples.

As a member and Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples, you have contributed to impactful studies that are more than necessary on the difficult road to reconciliation in this country. You will have left your mark on this committee, and we will do our best to pursue your legacy, knowing full well that we have big shoes to fill.

Senator Christmas, while we understand and respect your decision, it is still a loss for the Senate. However, I would rather see it as a gain for your family and your community. Today, they regain a natural leader and a great family man. I wish you, on behalf of all of the members of the Independent Senators Group, a happy retirement from the Senate of Canada.