Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise and speak to my colleague's motion that he has presented to the House.
Earlier, I asked the member a question about something I believe we need to see a lot more of. At the end of the day, when we talk about issues of racism and the motion that the member has brought forward, two things come to mind.
First and foremost is recognizing Canada's history and our heritage and recognizing that we have done some things that have caused a great deal of harm. It is part of our history. We do need to remember that and we do need to reflect on it.
The second thing is in regard to education. Many years ago during the 1990s, for a portion of my days when I was an MLA, I was responsible for tourism. A cross-cultural awareness report was brought forward by the Manitoba Intercultural Council. The report said that one of the ways in which we are going to combat racism is through education.
When I think of education, I am not just talking about our school system, although that is important. I am talking about our work environment and other types of community facilities that are there. I say that because racism is there. It is very real and has an impact on some communities more than others. The Manitoba Intercultural Council was right in its recommendation that emphasized the importance of education.
We see motions of this nature and days of recognition and we talk about those wonderful attributes of Canada's diversity and what our many cultures have to bring. I suggest that we could all use some form of cross-cultural education.
Mr. Speaker, I will leave it at that until the next time the motion comes up for debate.