Thank you so much, both of you, for being here.
It's a battle, as Tony knows, that for a long time we shared.
The theatre company I ran for six years, prior to being elected, the Black Theatre Workshop, is Canada's oldest black theatre company. It's an anglophone company, in Quebec, that's survived 40 years, which in and of itself is a feat. The dedication to telling those stories is something that's really important.
One of the things that comes out in these explorations is the concept of inclusion. The aboriginal community contribution to this country and the black contribution to this country are not simply add-ons. It starts from the very beginning, with Mathieu Da Costa, and with the black loyalists. Not being taught in schools, it does send a very clear message that it is optional, in fact; it's not something we need to know about. That tells our young people that they are not important. That feeds that disenchantment. That feeds that disconnection with this society, which leads to crime and leads to trying to find something to give themselves value.
With the 150th anniversary, we have an opportunity to rectify that. Part of that is telling those stories. For example, sitting outside the Chateau Laurier, there are bronze busts of people who won the Victoria Cross in Canada. William Hall is not among them. Why is that? What is the message we're sending?
Mr. Sherwood, you put forward some concrete ideas as to how we could recognize that and open the door to all of Canada becoming connected with that history and how it was founded.
I will pose this to both of you. As far as education is concerned, what would be your recommendations as to how we make that an ongoing thing so that we do not need Black History Month? Black History Month would no longer be Black History Month; it would be Canadian Month. It would be Canadian Year. It would be about what everybody has contributed.
That's a hard question.