Thanks.
First, I'd like to move the motion that I had put on notice on Monday. It reads as follows:
Given that:
a. During a recent Remembrance Day ceremony at Sir Robert Borden High School, the school played an anti-Israel protest song associated with the ongoing war in Gaza instead of playing music associated with the service and sacrifice of Canadian service members; and
b. The principal of the school defended the choice, complaining that Remembrance Day is too often about “a white guy who has done something related to the military”.
The committee report to the House its opinion that the principal of Sir Robert Borden High School should be terminated for his actions.
I don't want to spend a lot of time on the motion, as I do have some questions for our witness, but I would like to say something in relation to it.
When I go and speak to schools in my riding and elsewhere, one of the most important things I do is teach the students about how important it is to honour and remember the service and sacrifice that has given them the right to be there in school and learning, about how some children in other parts of the world don't get those opportunities and about how important it is for them to remember that the very opportunity for all of us around this table to be here to serve, to be representatives of the people in our communities, is because of that service and that sacrifice.
I can't imagine anything more damaging to ensuring that the next generation remembers and understands that than for a school to dishonour the Remembrance Day service and to make anything other than the sacrifice and service of those veterans and those still serving as the theme and the importance of that day. There's nothing more dishonouring to that memory than to make it about something else—some kind of protest or political message or whatever it might be. It should be focused only on service and sacrifice. That's all it should be focused on.
With that, I certainly hope that all members of this committee will be joining with me in condemning that terribly disgraceful kind of behaviour, standing up for our veterans and standing up for honouring the importance of remembrance.
I'll move that motion. I hope we can vote on it quickly and get to the witness.