CANADA House of Commons Debates VOLUME 137 Ï NUMBER 153 Ï 1st SESSION Ï 37th PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Monday, March 11, 2002 Speaker: The Honourable Peter Milliken CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) All parliamentary publications are available on the ``Parliamentary Internet Parlementaire´´ at the following address: http://www.parl.gc.ca 9441 HOUSE OF COMMONS Monday, March 11, 2002 The House met at 11 a.m. He said: Mr. Speaker, this is the second time I have had the privilege of bringing the bill forward to the House for consideration. Prayers I regret that it does not have votable status because it has received more petition signatures in its support than any other legislation by the government or private members in this parliament. Ï (1100) [English] In December I had the honour of tabling some 65,000 petition signatures in support of Bill C-297, a bill that has been endorsed by BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE virtually every major veterans organization in the country, including The Speaker: It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 81(14) to the Royal Canadian Legion. inform the House that the motion to be considered tomorrow during consideration of the business of supply is as follows: The bill formally calls upon Canadians to properly recognize the That this House condemn the government for its failure to implement a national customary two minutes of silence at 11 o'clock on November 11 as security policy to address the broad range of security issues, including those at our moment of remembrance. Canadian ports of entry and borders, and call on the government to reassert parliament's relevance in addressing these and other public policy issues. Many Canadians might say that if this is already a custom why do [Translation] we need legislation to formalize it. I would argue that the reason I This motion, standing in the name of the hon. member for brought forward the legislation was at the behest of organizations Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, is votable. Copies of the such as the Royal Canadian Legion. motion are available at the table. Over the past decades Canadians have seen a significant *** diminishment in our remembrance of the sacrifices of our war dead Ï (1105) and a troubling growth in ignorance about our military history which is definitive to what we are as a nation. [English] POINTS OF ORDER What initially provoked me to draft the bill was reviewing public opinion survey results that were conducted by an excellent new ALLOTTED DAY MOTION organization dedicated to promoting remembrance of Canadian Mr. Randy White (Langley—Abbotsford, Canadian Alliance): history called The Dominion Institute. In 1998 the institute Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to clarify the conducted a survey in which it found, shockingly, that 65% of opposition motion scheduled for tomorrow. It should be non-votable Canadians could not identify the significance of D-Day and that only and not votable. Its allocation of votable motions has already been 11% could name two countries that Canada fought against in the first used up. world war. This was among younger Canadians aged 18 to 24, The Speaker: I will take the point under advisement and the Canadians who had presumably graduated from high school and matter will be examined with great care. If the Chair is in error, we many from college. Sixty-nine per cent of Canada's youth did not will rectify the error later this day. know that Vimy Ridge was an important Canadian victory and 67% did not know that November 11 was the end of the great war. In more recent survey data conducted by the same organization, PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS among the general population only 38% of Canadians could identify [English] the War of 1812 as the military incursion by the United States into Canada, and only 47% could properly identify the event of D-Day in OBSERVANCE OF TWO MINUTES OF SILENCE ON 1944. That is to say that 53% of Canadians in the general population REMEMBRANCE DAY ACT could not identify arguably the most significant day of the most Mr. Jason Kenney (Calgary Southeast, Canadian Alliance) significant war of modern history and Canada's role in it. moved that Bill C-297, an act to promote the observance of two minutes of silence on Remembrance Day, be read the second time This growing ignorance about our history and our sacrifices we and referred to a committee. see in a diminished recognition of that moment of remembrance. 9442 COMMONS DEBATES March 11, 2002 Private Members' Business The two minute moment of silence on Armistice Day began as a because we came of age in that first world war. The Peace Tower was custom in South Africa following the first world war when citizens constructed as a commemoration of the war dead. looked for a way to honour the many thousands of South African war dead who sacrificed themselves for the British empire. It was It is encouraging to see some small renewal of the symbols of our suggested that they stop all commerce, business and activity for a national sacrifice such as the entombment of the unknown soldier at couple of minutes at 11 o'clock, the moment of armistice on the war memorial two years ago. Nevertheless we as a nation are Remembrance Day. losing our hold on our collective memory about these, the most significant events in our history. That custom quickly spread throughout the empire, the Common- wealth and to Canada where in the 1920s and 1930s the entire nation I invite all members to join with me, the Royal Canadian Legion, stopped for two minutes. If we speak to people who remember that and with all the remaining veterans of past wars in doing everything custom or read the history, the factories would blow their whistles we can symbolically to rekindle a serious, deep, profound, and and the workers would stand at rest for two minutes. The radio lasting national remembrance. broadcasters would broadcast dead air for two minutes. Public There is no single symbol that can accomplish that. However I spaces would be still and quiet for that moment. This was a custom suggest that across the country at 11 o'clock on Remembrance Day that was very widely observed until the last two or three decades. people should pull to the side of the road and broadcasters should Ï (1110) broadcast silence for two minutes on every television and radio station. Places of work should broadcast a moment of remembrance While it is true that many Canadians do gather at cenotaphs in and ask people to stop, be quiet and reflect. their communities on November 11 to observe the moment of silence, it is equally true that many millions more go about their Ï (1115) daily activity without recognizing the sacred moment. I remember last year I was at my local legion cenotaph at 11 o'clock and a city transit train went careening by just at that moment What the bill seeks to do is remind Canadians on behalf of when veterans and their families were engaged in that moment of parliament that this is a sacred moment that we must all observe. It is silence. If Bill C-297 were to pass we would invite public transit not an idea that I have come to on my own. The bill is modelled on authorities not to insult us but rather to respect that moment of similar legislation that passed the mother parliament at Westminster silence by terminating service for a couple of minutes at 11 o'clock. several years ago and the Ontario legislature in 1996. Can members imagine how significant a symbol that would be, if There is nothing more important we could do as Canadians than to the whole nation came to a silent moment of reprieve for a couple of recognize the sacrifice of our war dead. This is more relevant now minutes? It would be a symbol that would cause each of us to reflect than ever. For the first time since Korea Canadian troops are in upon the sacrifices made by the 117,000 Canadian war dead and the forward, frontline positions in offensive actions in a real ground war. 1.4 million Canadians who served in wars in the last century. The This calls to mind for our own generation the risks which hundreds sacrifices were not just for themselves and their families in their own of thousands of Canadians took for their country in the last century. time but for generations that followed including ourselves. Over 300,000 Canadians served in the first world war and 65,000 I was born in 1968. I am of a generation for whom these things are of them did not come home. Every small community in this country not even memories. That is precisely why the new generation of has at its heart a cenotaph in remembrance of the young men who Canadians must take leadership in promoting a renewal of left those communities in 1914 through 1918 to serve and ultimately remembrance. That is what the bill seeks to do. die for their country. In the second world war a million Canadians served in a variety of capacities and some 50,000 gave their lives in I remind the House once again that the bill received more support that war against tyranny. in terms of petition signatures than any other bill. I am distressed with the process for the designation of votable status for private When we use those numbers, they are so large: 65,000, 50,000, members' bills when 65,000 Canadians indicated their support for a 117,000 Canadian war dead in the last century.