DEBATES OF THE SENATE 2nd SESSION • 43rd PARLIAMENT • VOLUME 152 • NUMBER 6 OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Wednesday, October 28, 2020 The Honourable GEORGE J. FUREY, Speaker CONTENTS (Daily index of proceedings appears at back of this issue). Debates Services: Josée Boisvert, National Press Building, Room 831, Tel. 613-219-3775 Publications Centre: Kim Laughren, National Press Building, Room 926, Tel. 343-550-5002 Published by the Senate Available on the Internet: http://www.parl.gc.ca 160 THE SENATE Wednesday, October 28, 2020 The Senate met at 2 p.m., the Speaker in the chair. Police officers like me were waiting for politicians to do something, but they never did. Maybe it is time to ask ourselves Prayers. what is the point of an apology if nothing changes and they just keep putting things off, hoping it will all be someone else’s [Translation] problem someday. Indigenous affairs and the conflicts involving Indigenous SENATORS’ STATEMENTS communities get a lot of media attention every day. Indigenous peoples are not the only ones waiting for politicians. The people of Oka, hunters in Abitibi and fishers in the Maritimes are THE OKA CRISIS waiting for solutions to conflicts that have gone on for years. THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY Because of the crisis I witnessed and everything I experienced back then, I came to the realization that all of these Indigenous Hon. Jean-Guy Dagenais: Honourable senators, I would like issues will probably never be resolved unless everyone is willing to take a few minutes today to mark, in my own way and based to accept the truth and sincerely willing to stop looking back and on my own experience, the thirtieth anniversary of what is known start focusing on building the future. Yes, there are some things as the Oka crisis. that will never be erased, like the death of my colleague and friend, Corporal Lemay, in 1990. No apology can bring him back Last summer, many people marked the thirtieth anniversary of to life. this event, which I would describe as both historic and tragic. This anniversary helped us to realize that, since 1990, we have [English] been powerless bystanders to a lot of political rhetoric and very little real action on the part of governments to resolve this WAHBUNG: OUR TOMORROWS situation, which again resulted, just 10 days ago, in new verbal clashes and complaints to the police with regard to the famous Hon. Mary Jane McCallum: Honourable senators, the wooded area that was and still is the reason for the conflict. following excerpts are taken from the prologue and message of the Grand Chief in a document called Wahbung: Our Tomorrows One need only reread the 1969 white paper by the Minister of written by the Indian Tribes of Manitoba in 1971: Indian Affairs at the time, Jean Chrétien, under Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s government, to see that we have not come very far. The four Indian tribes of Manitoba — the Cree, Ojibway, Fifty-one years ago, Jean Chrétien proposed that Indigenous Chipewyan and Sioux — by united effort through the affairs become a provincial rather than a federal responsibility, Manitoba Indian Brotherhood, present to the Canadian but that did not happen. He also proposed that the reserves be people through their government our position on policies transformed into municipalities, which did happen in some areas. necessary to achieve a just and honourable and mutually However, nothing was done to regularize land located off- satisfactory relationship between the people of Canada and reserve. Twenty-one years later, the Oka crisis occurred and the Indian people of Manitoba. 50 years after Jean Chrétien published the white paper in 1969, we are still at the same point. Three cheers for efficiency. We, the first people of this land now called Manitoba, are the people of indomitable will survive, to survive as a Let me get back to what I wanted to share with you about what people, proud, strong and creative. happened in Oka, when I was a police officer on duty. It’s important to remember that this crisis claimed the life of a police During the centuries in which we lived on this land, we officer, 31-year-old Corporal Marcel Lemay of the Sûreté du faced many times of struggle, for the land is not always Québec. I can admit today that I never accepted the conclusions kind, and our people like any other people had to find ways of the coroner’s inquest, which found that Corporal Lemay was to adapt to a changing environment. killed by a bullet from a weapon that was different than the ones carried by the officers. Who else but the police officers had guns These last hundred years have been the time of most at the Oka barricades? Of course, the inquest was shut down. No difficult struggle, but they have not broken our spirit nor one was charged, and no one apologized for that man’s death. altered our love for this land nor our attachment and commitment to it. We have survived as a people. I also have this memory of the crisis. During the Oka crisis, I was hit by a Molotov cocktail that set my uniform on fire, and I Our attachment means that we must also commit know for sure police officers were not the ones who threw it. ourselves to help develop healthy societies for all peoples People threw bricks at me, but I was wearing a helmet, who live upon this land. But we will not be able to fortunately. I know for sure police officers did not throw those contribute unless we have the means first to develop a bricks. People insulted me and shouted words I would not repeat healthy society for ourselves. Since the signing of the here, and I know for sure it was not police officers who did that. Treaties one hundred years ago, we have been constantly That is what life was like on the barricades during the Oka crisis. and consistently prevented from doing so. October 28, 2020 SENATE DEBATES 161 Three fundamental facts underlie this paper and are Ms. Brooks is a shining example of how members of East reflected in all aspects of it. Preston work together for the betterment of others. At 13 years old, Ms. Brooks became the primary caretaker of • (1410) her family after her mother died. She would often help her father shovel the road since there was no snowplow service First, we are determined to remain a strong and proud and in the early years of her life. To this day, Ms. Brooks identifiable group of people. participates in social and civic engagements, where she actively contributes to intergenerational conversations by sharing her lived experiences as an African Nova Scotian Second, we refuse to have our lives directed by others woman. One such experience that she shared was of a time who do not and cannot know our ways. when there was no support for the community’s segregated school. The community banded together to supply wood to Third, we are 20th century people, not a colourful the local one-room school in order to keep it warm during folkloric remnant. We are capable and competent and those brutally cold winters. Her courage and resilience perfectly able to assess today’s conditions and develop ways inspire so many of our young women. of adjusting positively and successfully to them. Honourable colleagues, please join me in thanking this Other Canadians must recognize these three facts. remarkable woman, Eliza Brooks, for her many contributions that have helped shape and strengthen our We ask you for assistance for the good of all Canada, and community of East Preston, Nova Scotia. as a moral obligation resulting from injustice in the past, but such assistance must be based upon this understanding. If [Translation] this can be done, we shall continue to commit ourselves to a spirit of cooperation. BRITISH COLUMBIA Only thus can hope be bright that there might come a tomorrow when you, the descendants of the settlers of our OCTOBER 24, 2020, PROVINCIAL ELECTION lands, can say to the world. Look, we came and were welcomed, and then we wrought much despair; but we are also men of honour and integrity and we set to work in Hon. Bev Busson: Honourable senators, today I rise with cooperation, we listened and we learned, we gave our pride to congratulate the people of British Columbia for support, and today we live in harmony with the first people participating in the provincial election held on October 24. of this land who now call us, brothers. [English] We hope tomorrow will come. Elections are the ultimate expression of our rights as free Chief David Courchene citizens and the stability of the rule of law. I know my colleagues in this chamber will join me in celebrating the holding of free and fair elections, regardless of the outcome. Grand Chief of Manitoba Last Saturday, in the middle of a stressful and dangerous WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH pandemic, the people of British Columbia stood up and took their civic duty seriously. They voted in person and they voted by mail. Approximately 500,000 mail-in ballots are in play, which is TRIBUTE TO ELIZA BROOKS one third of all votes cast. Because of this, the final outcome is yet to be proclaimed in a number of constituencies. Hon. Patricia Bovey: Honourable senators, I rise today to read a statement on behalf of our colleague Senator Bernard, who The election has been conducted safely and effectively in is unable to be here due to COVID restrictions.