Lawrence O'Brien

[National Children's Memorial Day, May 29th, 2003]

moved:

That, in the opinion of this House, the government should recognize the second Sunday of December as National Children's Memorial Day.

Mr. Speaker,this is a very special moment for all those people throughout this great country who have lost their children through violence or other reasons and their children are no longer with them.

I would like to make a special plea to the members of the House of Commons to support my motion. The motion speaks well of all and I am asking them to join with other nations to support a national memorial day for children.

Our children are very precious to us and we love them very much. Those of us who are parents certainly know what our children mean to us. It is quite heart-rending when a parent loses a child. The loss of a child is very painful.

The idea for the motion was originally suggested to me by colleagues, friends and constituents of mine from L'Anse-au-Loup, my hometown in Labrador, Betty and Dennis Normore. Betty and Dennis Normore lost a child, Paula, aged 14, two years ago in a very tragic accident. She was riding a snowmobile. The snowmobile did not make the embankment. She slid back down the hill and very unfortunately slid into a waterhole and under the ice. This happened in the month of January. It was tragic indeed. It is my great honour to stand here in this great House to ask that this day be honoured for children like Paula.

Dennis is a teacher and principal at Mountain Field Academy in Forteau, Labrador and has worked with children all of his life. Betty is a health care worker who works with elderly people in a senior citizens home. We are talking about the great bookends of our society, the children on one end and the elders on the other. However, this is about children.

In 2001 the Normores lost their daughter Paula in a very tragic snowmobile accident. Paula was a bright student. A wonderful young woman was lost to us in that very tragic incident. It reminds us of how precious and fragile life is and the lives of our children.

The loss of Paula was felt by the whole community and certainly by many throughout Labrador. Paula's memory is honoured every year by a benefit fundraiser organized by her family and friends and the community. The people she left behind are building something positive out of a tragic loss.

The national children's memorial day is another way in which parents, family and other loved ones are finding their way through the tragedy of losing a child. This concept originated in 1996 in the United States. Through the strength of the Internet it has quickly spread at the grassroots level and has been promoted by many organizations which help parents and families cope with the death of a child.

The Compassionate Friends, an international self-help organization for bereaved parents and siblings, has been instrumental in promoting this event. The Compassionate Friends was founded in 1968 in England. The organization now has chapters in countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, Britain, Belgium, Australia, Russia and New Zealand. It has chapters in 29 countries in all.

The Compassionate Friends is a grassroots organization of and for parents and siblings who are coping with the death of a child of any age from whatever cause. In Canada there are over 50 chapters of the Compassionate Friends providing support to grieving families across the country.

On the second Sunday of December, families come together to remember, to grieve and to celebrate the lives of the children and to help one another. That time of the year is particularly important for bereaved families who have to face the holidays without the child they loved so dearly.

It allows parents and siblings to share their grief, to find comfort, to build strength and to heal, and especially to remember the young life they lost. An especially touching aspect of the day's observation is the “wave of light”. At 7 p.m. local time, in public or in private, in towns and cities around the world, people gather to remember the special children they have lost. They symbolize their lives through the lighting of candles.

This creates a wave of candlelight starting in New Zealand and spreading around the world. Each hour, as the candles burn down in one part of the world, the wave flickers up again in another. The candle flames, like children's lives, are fragile, but by joining with families around the world, every grieving loved one can find strength and healing.

It is a non-denominational, multicultural commemoration that unites families and loved ones from around the world, not only in their grief but in their hope.

While the grief over the death of a child is something that surviving family members must live with every day, the national children's memorial day will give families a special day to come together. It will help whole communities, health care professionals and others to raise awareness of the needs of bereaved families. This memorial day will help families continue to build something positive together out of their own personal tragedies.

In the United States, the Senate has recognized national children's memorial day annually since 1999. The day is also marked in countries all around the world through the wave of light and other acts of remembrance.

This private member's motion would, I believe, be the first case where a national children's memorial day is permanently recognized by a national Parliament. This does not create a statutory or public holiday and does not cost Canadians or the Government of Canada anything financially. It does, however, allow us to recognize and show our support for grieving families and build something positive out of such tragic circumstances.

I would like to commend Betty and Dennis Normore for the strength and courage they have shown after the loss of their daughter Paula. They are helping others in similar circumstances cope in their own way with their own loss.

I would also like to thank them for bringing their valuable suggestion to my attention. It is my honour and privilege to bring it before the House today.

I would like to convey to the House my hope that national children's memorial day will find support from all members of all parties and from all regions of the country. I hope we can work together to help bereaved families and all our communities find strength with one another and honour the memories of the precious children they have lost.

[Fisheries, May 1st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, four years ago the crab quota off Labrador was cut by 30%. This year it was slashed by a further 40%. The cod quota has been cut by 100%. Yet while 60% of Canada's northern shrimp is caught off Labrador, only 5% of it is harvested and processed in Labrador by Labradorians who live in rural and aboriginal communities adjacent to the resource.

My constituents want to know: How does the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans plan to correct this gross injustice, and when?

[Cod Fishery, April 29th, 2003]

Madam Speaker, there has been a great degree of despair from my riding and from the fishers whom I met today. I did something today that nobody else in the House did. I went into my riding on a charter paid for by the taxpayers of the country and met firsthand with the people who are affected by the closure of cod and 40% closure of crab in my riding. I am the most affected MP in all of Canada. Nobody is more affected than I and the people who I serve in the riding of Labrador.

I went into Port Hope Simpson last evening. I met with the crab fishers and despair was the order of the day. I ask all Canadian friends watching tonight to join with me in showing respect, honour, dignity and maybe something a little better than that, support for the cause and plight of these people.

The people who I met last evening in Port Hope Simpson never got to be in the mess they are now because of their own doing. It was because of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans of Canada, starting in 1997 through to this very moment.

Let me explain a few points. In 1997 the Government of Canada brought in an inshore northern shrimp policy to the tune of 110,000 metric tonnes. We have 17 big boats that fish offshore. We have 400 more boats at 65 feet or less that fish and 60% of the shrimp is caught off the shores of Labrador within 60 to 100 miles.

Let me say to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, to his deputy, his ADM and all those officials in the PMO, the PCO and the P of whatever O, and I do not care what O it is, if they were put into a situation like those little crab that lie on the bottom off Labrador and if they had drag boats rolling over them day after day, I do not think they would have had the breath of day to make the kind of decisions that were made this past week. That is a very fundamental point, and I am not saying it lightly. I am saying it with full heart. My heart is beating very quickly and not because I respect the decision that was taken by the government. It is beating because I have passion for the people who I represent.

I am telling Canadians, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, if they are watching, that the people of Labrador deserve better. I am telling the Deputy Prime Minister, caucus, cabinet, members of the opposition and all Canadians that those people deserve better. We have the resources. Canada has mismanaged our resources time and again.

I am absolutely infuriated with what has happened along the shores of Labrador. We have enough shrimp, if a fair share was given to us, to look after every man, woman and child. Instead the Government of Canada would prefer to give more to its great corporate friends. While they have more condos in Florida and more money, my workers and fishers, supporters and constituents are literally dying on the vine. It is just not good enough.

I would like the minister and his department to get a handle on that. When he comes down with the shrimp plan in the next couple of days he should do the right and honourable thing and recognize the adjacency of Labrador, just like the Government of Canada was forced to recognize the adjacency of Nunavut when Nunavut took it to court, won its case and the government had to sit down in the DFO and negotiate a better deal on shrimp for it.

The same sort of thing is required here. We are adjacent and we are aboriginal. We have Inu, Inuit, Metis, settlers and whoever and they are all good hard-working people. Canadians, please consider these people because they have not been given the right consideration to this point in time.

I promised them last evening that I would bring their plight to the House this evening. I have been on the go. I went to bed at one o'clock, got up at five this morning and went into meetings on cod. I travelled all day and made it here tonight. It has been a long 24 to 48 hours for me.

I care and I would like for others to care. I would like the Globe and Mail and the various other editorials of this country to write the right stuff instead of the garbage they are putting forward on the plight of the cod in Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is one thing to play games about species at risk or have the minister make a joke of it like he did yesterday when he said: “Well I'm going to ask the seals to leave”. That is not a joke for the cod fishers who I met with this morning in L’Anse au Loup at the Labrador fishermen's union. It was no joke. It was a dead serious issue. People were crying. People were begging me. People were saying: “Lawrence what can you do to assist? Our way of life is gone. We don't want to go to Toronto. We don't want to go to Edmonton. We have our homes. We're 50 years of age. What are we going to do? We're not trained for anything else? You are humiliating us with make-work projects. We don't want to build walkways or parkways. That's not what we're used to. We're used to fishing. We're used to working in plants. Give us some dignity”.

I am asking Canadians to support me in giving some dignity to the people who I represent. Also, my colleagues throughout the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and Atlantic Canada need to be respected and I do not feel we have been respected. I do not feel I have gotten the respect. I am absolutely dismayed and those fishers have asked me to bring this back and say “please consider”.

I believe very strongly in the FRCC, the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council of Canada. It is an independent body that is made up of corporate, fishers, unions, scientists and the right people. They do the right kind of public consultations. When they came in with 3,500 tonnes I bit my teeth, but 3,500 for me was better than nothing. Now we have a rock in the pond.

The minister has missed the boat, his science people have missed the boat and his officials have missed it. They did not take into consideration the all party committee. They did not take into consideration the plight of the members of Parliament. They did not take into consideration the FRCC. They did not take anything into consideration and they did it without any consultation, and bang it goes, goodbye, never to be seen again. The government will give us 18 months of make-work and “get away from us”.

That is not good enough. If that is what the Government of Canada stands for, I am very unhappy to say that I am a member of this government. I want to be in this for the long haul and I want to be a member of the government for the long haul. I want to help the government that I am part of and I want to be a full participant and full member of Parliament here but members of Parliament will have to rally behind us. If they are listening at all, if they care at all, they should rally behind us, support us and send a different message or help support our message to the minister so he might end up hearing the actual facts. In my view there is enough fish for our fishery.

I want that to be respected. I know it will not change, or I do not feel it will, but I would like to see the science put into perspective. I would like to see some independent scientists review the science of DFO to ensure that it is proper science. If it is not going to be open this year, which I know it is not, I would like to see proper signs, proper reviews, proper constructive representation and so on and maybe we could get a fishery for next year. I am putting my hope in something beyond this year.

Right now we are preparing for make-work. Make-work is not what we want. If we are going to do anything, let us do some buy out programs again. Let us get back to dignity. Let us do some retirements. Let us do something for those who may be younger and have some hope and passion for getting back on the sea some day. They do not want handouts but we are forcing them into it.

It is the Government of Canada's decision, through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, that has put the people of our province and the people of the north shore of Quebec and the southern gulf in this situation. I really feel things can be better.

I was there last evening. My folks in Port Hope Simpson are very gentle, quiet people and in many ways very passive people. The sadness displayed was unreal. They took a 30% cut in crab five years ago. They took a 40% cut in crab right now. That is 70% in the last five years. They took a cut in crab in 1995.

When we ask DFO why 2J north and 3K south are not bad but 2J in the centre is bad and when I, my fishers and all the people along the Labrador coast say that it is bad because there is too much activity from the auto trawls of 400 or 500 boats going 365 days a year, DFO says it is inconclusive. In my view, if we are inconclusive on something, if something is a grey area and Canada thinks it is so great on conservation, why not err on the side of conservation and put no trawl zones in place. All we are asking for are no trawl zones where crab is due. Is that not simple? I think it is simple language, simple words, a simple answer and a simple response, but no.

We asked for a caplin closure. Some people played around with that, split weirs and finally came down with a 40% cut. We asked for seals to be taken out. They are going to study seals to the tune of $6 million. It is not study that we want. We want a reduction in seals. We want those seals taken out. I do not care how they are taken out. Every bloody one of them can be killed. I will go in there myself with a rifle and help shoot them. It is not a problem. I would assist. I am a hunter and have no problem doing that because I am doing something far different than what other parliamentarians are doing.

As far as I am concerned, the House of Commons is scared to deal with seals, not only on this side but on both sides. In my view the reason why it is scared to deal with seals is because the international fund for animal welfare may polarize 5% or 10% of a riding or maybe in close swing ridings will change the vote. We are all a little huddled and cuddled back and frightened of it.

I would ask the entire House of Commons to be very considerate of this. I know members may be a little worried in their own little corners. I am not worried because in my riding I do not think anyone believes in having seven million or eight million seals. We have to bring that down.

Believe or not but the other day I was at DFO, and I really have to bring this point out. I was having a discussion about seals with a senior official. He asked me if I had ever stopped to think that it might be mackerel eating the new spawn from the cod which was causing the problem. I said that I never thought about it and that it was a new one to me. I never heard mackerel being brought into the equation before. Now DFO is trying to bring in anything it can to save the seals because it does not want to deal with that issue. However the seals have to be dealt with.

For us to revive the cod in the north Atlantic, we have to get the seals back to the levels they were in the 1970s. I share the views of my colleague next to me and many of my colleagues around me. We all have similar views. We have to put it into a management plan that brings the numbers down so we can allow the equilibrium of the North Atlantic to be balanced and get some things rolling again, such as caplin.

I can promise that when the increase is finished on shrimp, 140 million tonnes by the way, which is a little fish that the cod eat too, we will end up in 10 years or so with that basket empty, as well as cod, caplin, herring and all kinds of fish. It is a case of mismanagement. It has nothing to do with which party is in power. It started 50, or 60, or 70 or 80 years ago and continues. In my view it has nothing to do with stripes of power. It is the total mismanagement of DFO that has caused these problems.

That being said, what are we going to do about it? Let us get real. Stop throwing money around and start taking action. We can throw the money around and take action too if that is what everyone wants. I do not mind. With $6 million people can do whatever they like. However we need action on predation. We need action on rebuilding stocks. We need action on the little fish that cod and other fish eat, like caplin and so on. Some action was taken but it was not enough. In my view the response of DFO to the all party committee report was a very minor response.

That all party report meant a lot to me. Senators, members of Parliament including the official opposition and the NDP, the two committees in the House, the senate committee on fisheries and the commons committee on fisheries and the premier worked collectively with good science.

In my view, we were assisted by a great scientist, a man who is well known in his field, Dr. George Rose from Memorial University. If George is listening, I want to tell him that he is, in my view, the best. I would build a team around him anytime for independent science.

We had the right political mix, the right union mix and the right industry mix. The FRCC came in very close to the right mix. The question for which I and the people I represent beg an answer is how could anybody come in with a decision and not support it. That is the question that is begging inside all those people in St. John's and Corner Brook who are in the office of the minister responsible for ACOA tonight. They can have my office forever because it is not my office, it is their office. If my constituents are listening, they can take over my constituency office and keep it for eternity because it is their office not mine.

I support my constituents first and foremost. I am a people person. I represent my riding. I will take second place to nobody when it comes to the people who I represent in my riding. I do it with a great deal of passion and hard work.

I am absolutely furious and devastated at what I have witnessed over the last 24 hours in bringing forward the plight here to DFO, the PMO and everybody else. To hear the kind of insults that were slurred at me tonight by the Minister of Fisheries is unreal. I just asked the Minister of Fisheries tonight that if he were from Labrador would he have made that decision. I do not want to repeat in public what he said back to me.

[Cod Fishery, April 29th, 2003]

We are debating the fishery, not statistics.

[Cod Fishery, April 29th, 2003]

Seals, Charles, seals. Tell us about seals.

[Cod Fishery, April 29th, 2003]

This is inside the curtains.

[Cod Fishery, April 29th, 2003]

Yes you did.

[Cod Fishery, April 29th, 2003]

Did you hear what he said to me? He told me to f-off.

[Doris Saunders, February 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, for three decades, Them Days magazine has recorded and preserved the oral and documentary history of Labrador. The driving force behind the magazine has been its founding editor, Doris Saunders, who recently announced her retirement.

The work of Doris Saunders is valued by people in Labrador, across the country, and around the world. In over 100 issues of Them Days, the good times and hard times in old Labrador have come to life in stories, photos, poems and songs. Her work has been recognized through the Order of Canada and an honourary degree, but especially by the loyal readers who treasure every page. More than anyone she has made us aware in Labrador that our own history is worth preserving and sharing with the world.

On behalf of my constituents I wish to extend to Doris Saunders our gratitude and appreciation for a job well done and to Them Days, best wishes for many more years of success, ensuring that Labrador's rich past will have a future.

[Fisheries, February 26th, 2003]

Mr. Chairman, I share the comments made by the hon. member. Certainly our fishers want to fish. Our plant workers want to work in the plants. Our businesses that thrive off of those plants and fishers need to continue to survive. It creates a balance.

Whether it be on the shores of Labrador in the Labrador straits, or on the Newfoundland shores of the northern peninsula, or the north shore of Quebec or Gaspé it is all one and the same. My point is these people want a way of life. Fishing is a way of life. It is an income. It is a pride. They want to continue that pride.

We do not want the kind of make work projects that give six months work, a year's EI and goodbye. We still have to survive.

Creating the balance, utilizing the species that we have, trying to grow the ones that are in trouble, creating a balance in the cod, in the shrimp, in the crab and so on, that is the way to go in the future. That is the challenge for DFO, working with us all collectively to achieve that aim.