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CANADA Debates of the Senate 3rd SESSION . 40th PARLIAMENT . VOLUME 147 . NUMBER 76 OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Thursday, December 9, 2010 ^ THE HONOURABLE NOËL A. KINSELLA SPEAKER CONTENTS (Daily index of proceedings appears at back of this issue). Debates Services: D'Arcy McPherson, National Press Building, Room 906, Tel. 613-995-5756 Publications Centre: David Reeves, National Press Building, Room 926, Tel. 613-947-0609 Published by the Senate Available from PWGSC ± Publishing and Depository Services, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0S5. Also available on the Internet: http://www.parl.gc.ca 1557 THE SENATE Thursday, December 9, 2010 The Senate met at 1:30 p.m., the Speaker in the chair. COMMISSIONER OF YUKON MR. DOUGLAS GEORGE PHILLIPS Prayers. Hon. Daniel Lang: Honourable senators, I rise to mark the appointment of Douglas George Phillips as the twenty-ninth SENATORS' STATEMENTS Commissioner of Yukon. Prime Minister Harper met with Commissioner Phillips last week to make the announcement here in Ottawa, and the commissioner will be sworn in formally in UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA Whitehorse on December 17. For those senators who are not aware, the position of CANASSIST PROGRAM commissioner in the Yukon is akin to that of the lieutenant- governor in a province. Commissioner Phillips brings an é Hon. Sharon Carstairs: impressive resum to his new position. He genuinely represents Honourable senators, two weeks ago, a love of the outdoors and a commitment to public service that I had the great privilege to visit CanAssist at the University of endears him to all Yukoners. Victoria. This incredible organization is dedicated to improving the lives of those with disabilities, young and old alike, and it is A lifelong Yukoner, Mr. Phillips in his past life served as a engaged in a wonderful partnership at the university. member of the Yukon Legislative Assembly as well as in the cabinet of the Yukon Government. I met the staff including engineers and computer technicians who work together to create and distribute customized assistive He is well known for his work with the Yukon Hospital technologies and devices. Let me describe some of the projects Foundation of which he is a co-founder. He is known as a that I observed. conservationist and someone willing to volunteer his time for worthy community causes. I am sure Commissioner Phillips will do an excellent job. An iPod had been enhanced to allow brain-damaged individuals to function by prompting them as to how to While I am on my feet, I want to commend the work of retiring perform certain tasks — for example, how to use the coffee Commissioner Geraldine Van Bibber. She represented the Queen maker — press the iPod; how to make the coffee — press the and the Governor General in the Yukon in an exceptional way iPod; how to get to the office — press the iPod; and how to get to that brought great credit to her, to Yukon and to our people. the gym. Honourable senators, I salute these two great Yukoners. I saw the same iPod adapted to be used by quadriplegics so they THE LATE MR. JAY ROBERTS can enjoy the music they want by simply raising their eyebrows. The client in this case wears a chic headband with sensors invisible Hon. Jim Munson: Honourable senators, I stand today to pay to others, but these sensors are so sensitive that they can detect tribute to my old friend Jay Roberts who died this past October. the raised eyebrow. He is best known to Canadians as the legendary Ottawa Rough Riders tight end who, in the late 1960s, helped carry the team to I saw another device that allowed a severely disabled man to two Grey Cup wins. play catch with his dog. By a simple movement, he could fire balls 100 metres by activating a simple device on the side of his My friendship with Jay dates back to the 1970s after he retired wheelchair. from professional sports, and worked with the federal government and, of course, with many Aboriginal groups. On Saturdays, we would get together with a bunch of friends for I saw a project that enabled a non-computer-literate 90-year-old touch football and followed by perhaps a pint or two. to use Skype simply by touching a picture image of the person with whom she wanted to speak, thereby enhancing her ability to Jay was a soft-spoken and humble man. He liked to laugh and remain in contact with family and friends and, similarly, they can have a good time, and he looked out for his family and friends. contact her. His son Jed was born with a severe hearing impairment and had to wear hearing aids in both ears. Those hearing aids were big and Technology is becoming so much a part of our everyday lives. It obtrusive, and growing up, Jed took a lot of teasing from his was a delight to see how these technologies can be adapted for the peers. disabled by making products that enable these Canadians to lead lives similar to that of able-bodied Canadians. It was Jay who helped Jed get beyond the hurt and realize his dreams. When Jed decided to give football a try, Jay backed him all the way throughout an amazing Grey Cup winning career with I congratulate the University of Victoria and CanAssist for this the Edmonton Eskimos. The names of father and son were etched remarkable program. on the Grey Cup one over the other, Jay in 1968 and Jed in 1993. 1558 SENATE DEBATES December 9, 2010 My own son Jamie had to wear hearing aids, and when he was The family returned to Manitoba, the birthplace of Gran E.'s younger, I hated seeing him growing resentful and insecure about mother and where her father served as a minister in the United them. I turned to Jay for advice. Church of Canada. Gran E. and her siblings spent their childhood playing and dreaming under the expansive prairie sky. He arranged for Jamie and me to meet Jed. It was in Montreal about 12 or 13 years ago at Molson Stadium after an Alouette- In Manitoba, they all received a good education. Gran E. Eskimo game. I remember walking across the field with my son earned her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Manitoba in 1940 and approaching this huge imposing player. Jed removed his and her Diploma in Education in 1941. Her first teaching post helmet, greeted us with a smile, then casually slipped on his was in Cardale, Manitoba, where she also met her husband to be, hearing aids. Elvin Kingsley ``Bud'' Elliott. I should note here that his mother was Martha Jane Ireton Elliott, a formidable political activist and For Jamie, seeing this was life changing. In that moment, he a leader of the United Farm Women of Manitoba during the understood he was not alone and that a hearing aid was only a suffragette years and member of the Manitoba Agricultural Hall device to help him participate in the world. It could be that of Fame. simple. In 1943, they would marry in Port Simpson near Prince Rupert, Wisdom, humility and determination were all qualities that B.C. and settled in Richmond, B.C. by 1948. There they raised four children: Merle, Elaine, James and Jeannie. Her eldest characterized my friend Jay, all qualities he passed down to his daughter, Merle, is my late mother-in-law and the only one to son Jed. Jed now works at an Edmonton group home, helping follow in Gran E.'s footsteps as a teacher. children with behavioural issues. My mother-in-law told me once that she remembers her mother . (1340) routinely vacuuming while reading. Gran E.'s passion was indeed reading — fiction, non-fiction and, most of all, the romantic After years of battling dementia, blood clots, circulation issues poets; those famous ``rebels and romantics'' whose poetry remains and, finally, lung cancer, Jay — or, as we knew him, ``Hawk'' — is unsurpassed to this day. She had an impeccable memory gone, but his will to help others persists. He is the first CFL player and could quote at length from Shakespeare, Milton, Keats to donate his brain and spinal cord to medical research so that and Shelley. doctors can study the effects of head trauma. His gift to science is also raising awareness of football-related concussions, which, I am sure, will help many people in the future. Gran E. had a great mind, one that enabled her to conjugate French irregular verbs in all their tenses, even in her final days. She was a wonderful conversationalist, a lively debater and a I will miss my big, lovable friend. fierce Scrabble player, a champion at all costs. In fact, in her honour, our family will hold an annual Gran E. Scrabble tournament on her birthday. THE LATE MRS. MARJORIE KATHRYN ELLIOTT Hon. Yonah Martin: Honourable senators, there is a place in MR. JOHNNY MAY Hope, British Columbia, that my nephew once described as ``a little piece of heaven on earth.'' Even time seems to slow down, Hon. Charlie Watt: — for as long as she can, to breathe in the clean mountain air, listen to the rush of Silver Creek and, in the spring or summer, marvel at [Editor's Note: Senator Watt spoke in Inuktitut.] the fruits and flowers that grow with abandon in the garden: roses, lilies, tulips, creeping jenny, forsythia, bergenia, sedum, Honourable senators, today I would like to pay tribute to grapevines, apple trees and a plum tree. Johnny May, the first Inuk pilot in the Eastern Arctic Region.