Debates of the Senate 1st SESSION . 41st PARLIAMENT . VOLUME 148 . NUMBER 129 OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Tuesday, December 11, 2012 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 on the Internet: http://www.parl.gc.ca 3028 THE SENATE Tuesday, December 11, 2012 The Senate met at 2 p.m., the Speaker in the chair. [English] Prayers. MR. KEVIN MACLEOD, C.V.O., C.D. [Translation] USHER OF THE BLACK ROD SENATORS' STATEMENTS Hon. David Tkachuk: Honourable senators, today I want to acknowledge the work and contribution to the Senate and to Canada of our Usher of the Black Rod, Kevin McLeod, who is soon to leave us. After serving the Senate since 2008 with THE LATE FATHER distinction, Kevin will assume a new assignment early next year. ROGER GUINDON, C.C., D.TH., O.M.I. Last month, the Prime Minister announced the creation of a Hon. Marie-P. Charette-Poulin: Honourable senators, permanent, non-partisan Advisory Committee on Vice-Regal tomorrow, the University of Ottawa community will hold a Appointments that will provide the Prime Minister with ceremony to commemorate the life and contributions of Father non-binding recommendations on the selection of the Governor Roger Guindon, who transformed the institution during the 20 years General, Lieutenant Governors and Territorial Commissioners. he served as the university's rector, from 1964 to 1984. These viceregal nominations represent the Crown in our constitutional system of government, and it is important that The University of Ottawa has become the largest bilingual the best qualified candidates be appointed. university in the world. Founded as the College of Bytown in 1848, today, the University of Ottawa has over 40,000 students The committee will have three permanent members together and offers over 450 programs in ten faculties, including the largest with a fluctuating membership, depending on the jurisdiction of law school in Canada, my alma mater. the position to be appointed. Kevin has agreed to be the advisory committee's permanent chair and will serve for a period of Father Guindon died on November 17 at the age of 92. A six years. He will be joined by Robert Watt and Jacques Monet. modest man, this oblate Catholic priest dedicated his life to The Prime Minister could not have made a better choice. serving others. He spent 50 years at the University of Ottawa, first as a student, then as a professor, a dean and, finally, as rector. After obtaining his education at Boston University, Carleton and the Université de Dijon, Kevin served for 10 years in various Loved by all, Father Guindon always had time for students and capacities in the House of Commons, beginning in the office of teachers alike. He was an active listener with an exceptional sense the Opposition Whip and including service as chief of staff to a of humour. minister. He then began a 22-year association with the Department of Canadian Heritage, becoming, in due time, the Chief of Protocol. While with the department, he wrote A Crown A natural leader and skilled negotiator, Father Guindon had of Maples, an exposé of the Canadian Crown and constitutional what Allan Rock, the university's current president and vice- monarchy in Canada. This is in addition to his historical novel A chancellor, described at the priest's funeral on Saturday, Stone on Their Cairn: Clach air An Carn, focused on the lives of November 24, as, and I quote: Scottish Highland settlers in rural Cape Breton, the place Kevin was born and which he still loves. Reflecting a personal heritage . a powerful intellect and a keenly strategic mind. of which he is very proud, the novel was written with an English narrative but with many of the conversations in Gaelic, the language of his ancestors. Mr. Rock recounted how Bill Davis, former Ontario minister of education, felt when he had to negotiate with Father Guindon. According to Mr. Davis, whenever he saw a meeting with Father While at Canadian Heritage, he became involved in preparing Guindon on his agenda, he began immediately to calculate just several royal visits to Canada, and his successful efforts have been what it was going to cost him. acknowledged by the Queen. In 1992, Her Majesty invested Mr. McLeod as a Member of the Royal Victorian Order for personal service to the sovereign. In 2002, the Queen promoted As a Franco-Ontarian, I wanted to pay special tribute to Father him to the rank of lieutenant and, in 2005, to the rank of Guindon, a man of vision who firmly believed that the French commander, the highest level of the Order available to Canadians, language and culture could flourish in Ontario and help to make making him the only Canadian to have been promoted through the province a better place to live for all Ontarians. all three ranks. On behalf of all honourable senators, I would like to offer our Kevin will retain the position of Canadian Secretary while sincere condolences to the oblate community, the Guindon and serving as chair of the advisory committee. As Canadian Morrisset families, and the University of Ottawa community. Secretary he is well placed to advise the Prime Minister on December 11, 2012 SENATE DEBATES 3029 matters related to the Canadian Crown, including heritage-related would like to say ``thank you'' to all Canadians who welcomed my commemorative initiatives, high-level coordination of royal tours, family, along with many others just like ours, for giving us the and state ceremonial and protocol functions. opportunity to call Canada our home. I know all honourable senators will join me in thanking Kevin I would also like to personally thank my mentor, to whom I for his work and dedication as Usher of the Black Rod and in will always be indebted, the Honourable Thomas Anthony wishing him all the best in his new duties. Dohm, Q.C., who taught me what it meant to be Canadian. Hon. Senators: Hear, hear! Honourable senators, I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank my fellow Canadians for opening up their minds, their hearts and their homes to Ugandan Asians. Thank THE HONOURABLE MOBINA S. B. JAFFER you. EXPRESSION OF THANKS COMMUNITY OF FEDERAL VISIBLE MINORITIES Hon. Mobina S. B. Jaffer: Honourable senators, as we all come Hon. Donald H. Oliver: Honourable senators, a brand new together this holiday season to celebrate peace, love and unity, I national organization that brings together visible minorities in would like to take a moment to reflect on what I am grateful for. the Public Service of Canada was recently created. It is called the Community of Federal Visible Minorities. I was honoured to be As many of you know, 40 years ago my family along with the keynote speaker at their inaugural meeting last night at thousands of other Asians sought refuge from Idi Amin's Ottawa City Hall. Uganda. In August 1972, when Idi Amin declared that all Ugandan Asians had one month to leave the country, our lives The CFVM seeks to ``help create a barrier-free, inclusive, and began to crumble. As fear filled the streets, my family and many representative federal public service where visible minorities can others had to come to terms with the reality that we would soon individually and collectively realize their professional aspirations, be forced to flee the only home we had ever known. based on the principles of merit and in full respect of their rights.'' Not only was Uganda the country where we were born, it As honourable senators know, a few years ago the National was the country where we were educated and the country we Council of Visible Minorities in the Federal Public Service helped to build. In fact, as a young girl, I remember admiring collapsed after more than 10 years of existence. This left my father, Sherali Bandali Jaffer, a politician who dedicated his thousands of visible minority public servants without a voice to life to creating a peaceful, prosperous and, most importantly, represent their concerns at the national level. The CFVM will help independent Uganda. replace the void created by the death of the NCVM. (1410) The group was officially created in September 2012 on the recommendation of an ad hoc committee on visible minority However, despite the fact that we lost our homes, our issues that was initiated in July 2010. More than 80 visible businesses and everything that we had spent our lives working minorities from various federal departments and provinces for, Ugandan Asians were very fortunate. Under the leadership of attended the inaugural meeting last night. Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, many countries welcomed us. Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Australia, Honourable senators, the CFVM is in a unique position to United States and Canada — all were willing to give us asylum. contribute to advancing the causes of visible minorities in the public service. The group is not seeking money or any government funding. Rather, its members, who serve on a volunteer basis, His Highness Karim Aga Khan worked with Prime Minister want to become a cross-Canada organization that will represent Pierre Elliott Trudeau and helped thousands of Ugandan Asians the interests of all federal public servants from the visible minority find a home in Canada. Ugandan Asians will always be grateful community. to these two people for rescuing us.