Mr. Speaker, I rise with a very heavy heart and much sadness to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who committed and dedicated her life to selfless duty and service. I also hold in my thoughts King Charles III, the Queen Consort and the royal family, who are not only grieving the loss of their Queen, but also their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
There will be many opportunities in the times to come to more fully reflect on the Queen's extraordinary life and service, but today I would like to speak very personally about how Her Majesty impacted one family far across the Atlantic.
In 1939, there was a young Ukrainian Canadian mother. She was a widow at 22 with two children under five. She was heartbroken and struggling. Her family were farmers in Alliston, Ontario, and there was very little money. That woman was my grandmother. Throughout her life, she talked about how a young princess had inspired her and kept her going through the darkest time of her life.
My Nanny admired that the young princess had urged her father to allow her to serve her country during World War II. She had volunteered in the women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of the British Army, where she became a driver and trained in auto mechanics. She understood what it meant to put on a uniform and serve. It was a pioneering move. The sight of a woman taking apart engines and changing tires also signalled a sea change in gender roles in society that would continue throughout the future Queen's lifetime.
My grandmother was inspired by the then princess and followed her lead. She found work. When Dominion Small Arms Limited munitions factory started in Mississauga, my grandmother found work to do her part for the war effort, inspired by the young princess. While these two women came from different worlds and had very different lives, my grandmother felt a connection with the princess and later Her Majesty, a princess who saw young people her age who went to war, who fought and who gave their lives. She wanted to serve the war effort against her father's wishes.
This was at a time when young men in Toronto from regiments like the Queen's Own Rifles, the 48th Highlanders and the Toronto Scottish were leaving their homes for service overseas. Families were regularly receiving bad news from the front. Princess Elizabeth understood that families were making terrible sacrifices for the war effort and for freedom. It should be remembered that today she was the only head of state that had served in the Second World War. This was a princess who did not mind getting her hands dirty maintaining different types of heavy-armoured vehicles, who operated in a man's world and who did it cheerfully, a princess who comforted the children of the nation when they were evacuated from the bombing.
Later on, my grandmother took every opportunity to stand in the crowds whenever Queen Elizabeth came. She wanted to show her support for a leader who dedicated her whole life to service and who had an impossible job. She hoped that maybe, just maybe, she might have the opportunity to say “thank you”. While she never got that chance to express her gratitude, those who did meet her were made to feel they mattered.
When we were children, our Etobicoke neighbourhood moms got together, packed us up in cars and drove us downtown so that we could get a glimpse of the royal couple and remember that moment all our lives. In grade 7, I chose to do a speech on her.
Among a sea of men in business, Parliament, radio and television, and the running of the world she stood out, as did her compassion, grace and warmth. She showed generations of women and men that women could be leaders and that they are.
In a world of continuous change, from the devastation of the Second World War to COVID-19, Her Majesty was a constant, an example, a stateswoman. Across generations so many felt that personal connection. The women at the Legion talked about watching her coronation. The women at the church looked forward to her annual Christmas message. I heard from young women how they enjoyed watching her Platinum Jubilee celebrations on their phones. I heard how people felt personally connected to her. She was also known for how she could bring people and countries together. She fostered enduring bonds among the Commonwealth of Nations.
Today is our opportunity to express our gratitude for the life and service of Queen Elizabeth II. She did not choose her life, but inherited a life of duty. At the young age of 25, she pledged her life to the service of others. Everyone in this chamber knows what it is like to serve, but all of us had a choice. She fulfilled her promise with unwavering dignity, grace and faithfulness for 70 years.
I humbly thank Her Majesty and thank her on behalf of my grandmother for the extraordinary life of a Queen who served for seven decades, who worked right up until her final moments at age 96, a woman who will remain in the hearts of many.
Today my thoughts and prayers are with the people across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. I send my deepest condolences to the royal family.
