moved for leave to introduce Bill S-208, An Act respecting National Seal Products Day.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Senator Hervieux-Payette for providing Bill S-208.
The bill proposes to create May 20 as seal products day in this country.
There is a rich history to this particular legislation that stretches back several hundred years for Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec. It all started in a major industry that provided seal oil for the lamps of the streets of London, England, and through hundreds of years it has created a mass industry for Newfoundland and Labrador and for eastern Quebec.
We have seen national seal products in their earliest form through seal oil and through the fur itself.
The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans comes in here every day sporting his tie that proudly shows his indigenous heritage.
I would like to quote from the preamble of the bill: “Whereas Canada’s Indigenous peoples and coastal communities [including my own] have developed traditional knowledge of how to use ocean resources;”
Again, the bill proposes to deem May 20 national seal products day in Canada.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time)