Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As you said, I'm the last person, and I'm going to ask for your and my colleagues' indulgence. Today is a very special day for me. We'll get to that shortly.
I want to start by congratulating and thanking Sherry. Often, we say we are honoured and privileged to represent our riding, but through this bill and through your advocacy, we—as the 338 members of this House—are truly honoured and privileged to be able to represent 126,000 firefighters and their families and, on that note, most probably the whole of Canada. Thank you very much.
I'm quickly acknowledging the 189 members of the Richmond Hill Professional Fire Fighters Association, local 1957, led by fire chief, Bryan Burbidge, and Tim Sparks and Jeff Voisin who are the secretary and president of the IAFF local 1957.
Every night or early morning when I arrive in Richmond Hill on my drive from Ottawa, as I turn from Highway 404 to Highway 16, one of the very few lights that is on is at my local firefighters' station. Every Monday morning when I leave, at 2 or 3 in the morning—to make sure that I'm here for 9 in the morning on Mondays—one of the few lights that is always on is at the firefighters' station. I want to thank them. Indeed, they are in the heart of our community.
My experience with the firefighters is a bit different from dealing with fire itself, but indeed has to do with cancer and with the support that I received. It's a funny thing; today, it is 19 years since I lost my father who was in palliative care and didn't survive his cancer. It was around 9:30 at night, when I was sitting beside him, that he fell to a heart attack. We called 911, and guess who was the first one at our door? The firefighters were the first ones who came to our door.
At that time, they immediately proceeded to start with the resuscitation process. I later on noticed they were in full contact with the paramedics who were driving to our house, who arrived probably five minutes after them. The firefighters were there within a minute. Then, we had the police come—because there was a death, and it was in the home—probably about a half an hour later. When the paramedics arrived, the resuscitation process was handed to the paramedics, but the firefighters did everything they could.
I can tell you that later on they provided all of the supporting information on the circumstances of the passing of my father to the police, and they were very supportive. I can tell you this: I'll never forget that. They were the first ones in my house helping me, and they were the last ones who left my house. For that, I'm indebted to all firefighters, especially those firefighters who were there with me and with my family on that day. I salute their families for supporting them every day and every night.
As I'm celebrating the memory of my father, I would like to ask you if you can talk about the memorial grant program that has been rolled out since 2018, and the impact that it has on this bill?
Thank you.