Mr. Speaker, many in the House are familiar with the story of Jordan River Anderson from Norway House Cree First Nation.
He was born with complex medical needs, but bureaucratic in-fighting about home care fees kept him hospitalized. Jordan died at the age of four, never having spent a day in his family home.
Maurina Beadle of Nova Scotia faces a similar jurisdictional battle as she seeks help in caring for her 15-year-old special needs son, Jeremy, but thanks to Jordan and the principle that bears his name, she is fighting back.
Along with Pictou Landing First Nation, she is taking the federal government to court for failure to implement Jordan's Principle, a child first private member's motion unanimously supported in the House in 2007. It calls on the federal government to pay medical bills first and determine who pays later.
Maurina Beadle's landmark court case set for next week could create the legal precedence to entrench Jordan's Principle in law so that sick kids are no longer caught in the middle of jurisdictional squabbles.
Today I salute Maurina in her quest for justice, not only for her son but for all first nation children.