Evidence of meeting #45 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was family.
A recording is available from Parliament.
As an Individual
I'd love to add on, but I think Miranda said it perfectly, so I'll let her take the wheel, I guess.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Candice Bergen
It looks as if we have a couple more questions, so we're going to do a very quick two-minute round. We'll just go into the normal schedule, which would mean Mr. Lessard.
Did any of the Liberals have a two-minute question?
Madam Folco actually was first.
Liberal
Raymonde Folco Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Actually, it's not a question. Thank you, Madam Chair.
What you had to say was very impressive, and the way you said it was also very impressive—I'm speaking to all four of you. You have different stories to tell, and yet each one of you made it very clear what your difficulties were. I want to say that you've shown a lot of courage, a lot of fortitude, and a lot of self-awareness also—and a lot of strength. For me the word “strength” is a very important word.
I want to say that as you look around this table, you see all these adults who have succeeded in their careers and to some extent in their lives as well. Pretty well everyone here is a lot older than you are. You don't know what's in their hearts; you don't know what's in their minds; you don't know what all these people around the table have lived through. You don't know that.
When we see strangers, we always think they've had a good life, had an easy life, and that's why they are what they are now. Let me tell you, I know quite a few people around the table...I won't name names, but if you go around the table, there are people who have lived through war in their childhood, who have lived through difficult adoption, who have had absent parents, who have lived through violence from family members, who have lived through intense poverty, and who have lived through discrimination. That's just around this table.
The reason I'm saying this—I'm very emotional, too—is to tell you not to let go; to tell you that even though you've come through so much already, you have come through, I think, the worst of it, because now you are young adults: you are self-aware; you have the strength. You have proved to yourself that you have the strength, and it is your responsibility now to keep going with that strength and with the generation that you have created—some of you have children—behind you.
I want to congratulate you and say, don't let go. Remember, each one of the adults that you've seen and you're going to be seeing has their individual story, and it's never easy for any one of us.
I just wanted to make that comment.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Candice Bergen
Thank you, Madame Folco.
Mr. Vellacott, you may have a quick two-minute question.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
Miranda, Lisa, Alisha, and Jon, I have appreciated your being here today. You're very articulate young people. Some day maybe Jon will be my pilot for Air Canada or WestJet. He's a very incisive guy, but in his comments he doesn't repeat, if somebody else has said it.
But that's what I expect in a pilot, too, so I commend you for it.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
Some of the terms that have been used—forever family, permanence, somebody to go to, connectedness, somebody unconditionally committed to you—terms that you've brought out compellingly to us today, are rather meaningful. I feel in some ways, as we're wrapping the study part up, doubly blessed.
I'm going to throw a curve at the committee here today, because the committee members probably aren't aware that I'm adopted as well. But I also have a loving biological family that I lived all my life with. When I say adopted, I mean I have a Heavenly Father who adopted me, and even when I'm away from my earthly parents through my lifetime, in other parts of the world, other parts of the country, I have been able to have that forever family that has kept me in good stead, if you will.
I say this as well—I'll take my few moments here. We have spoken here before of the faith connection. There's a lot of biblical language, if you ever care to look at it some day, with imagery around adoption. I'm a big fan of adoption for that very reason; it is the precise thing that drives me in being in support of adoption. The Heavenly Father has adopted people for thousands of years, long before.... Which came first, the chicken or the egg, the human or the heavenly adoption? I think it was the heavenly. I would say as well that because of that, I think we as a committee should be individuals who are also promoting adoption, because there's so much at the core, in terms of its principles that drive this.
That's my encouragement to you and appreciation for what you have conveyed to us today in terms of a forever family. I thank you for being here, each one.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Candice Bergen
Thank you, Mr. Vellacott.
Mr. Lessard, you have two minutes, please.
Bloc
Yves Lessard Bloc Chambly—Borduas, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for being here. We have all grown up a little this morning as a result of our contact with you. After hearing your testimony, we realize that the course of your lives will be marked by what you have lived through up to now. You can perhaps shed light on something else for us. What we are trying to do here is to find ways to make adoption easier, to provide better conditions, and so on.
But the fact remains that, as we speak, several thousand children are in foster care waiting to be adopted. Our understanding is that a foster family must be a necessary, but very short step before children are adopted, assuming they want to be.
Foster families are like an institution; they will always be there. Knowing that, what steps could we take to ensure that others do not have to live through the bad experiences you had in foster care?
Conservative
As an Individual
Foster care definitely should be something that's temporary, but as you know from my story and Alisha's, it has been anything but temporary. It was a permanent solution until our adulthood.
To make that not be the case goes back to the supports you can give to people who are willing to adopt. Many of these foster parents who are willing to temporarily help a child would also be willing to forever help a child. It is supposed to be a temporary solution, and I honour foster parents who come forward, but more needs to be done to make sure that no child has only temporary....
I know measures such as the Heart Gallery, in which children make the choice to be a part of a program, to be a part of their own future of being adopted.... It is hugely impactful. It brings results; it brings permanency. It brings older adoption, for a lot of us who don't have that hope of being adopted because we're teenagers—and it is hard to take on a teenager—and it brings forward those people who are willing to take on a teenager. It brings forward people who just want to be parents and maybe don't want to change any diapers.
We should never have temporary and child.... There should always be a long-term, permanent, forever plan for them.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Candice Bergen
Thank you very much.
We've come to the end of this part of our meeting.
Again, on behalf of the whole committee, I want to thank you very much. You have had a huge impact on us. We really appreciate it, and I know we all wish you the very best.
I'm going to suspend the meeting now for two minutes. I would ask that the room clear out very quickly, because we have a lot of business to attend to, and we're going to go in camera.
[Proceedings continue in camera]