Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to serve the people of North Island—Powell River.
It is the Local Hero Awards that happened in several communities in my riding, and the fact that the community of Woss was awarded the courage and bravery award, recognizing the incredible power of a community that faced the worst of tragedies with courage and bravery.
It is the totem pole raised at North Island Secondary School in Port McNeill. Over 1,000 community members came together, indigenous and non-indigenous, to celebrate reconciliation. It is the tears of the elders who watched, many of them residential school survivors, who never thought the day would come when their grandchildren would dance around a totem pole that stands in front of their school.
It is all the cadets in my riding who support their communities so well, most recently the Powell River Royal Canadian Army Cadets, who recognized their cadets and shared the challenges of rural and remote community cadets programs.
What an honour it is to represent people who work so hard, who care about their communities so much, and who remember one another during the hardest of times. I am proud and humbled to serve them.