Mr. Speaker, December 10 will mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It is with pride that I rise today to honour a great Canadian and former resident of my riding of Fundy—Royal, John Peters Humphrey.
The principal author of the declaration was raised in Hampton, New Brunswick and graduated from RCS Netherwood High School.
Mr. Humphrey was also the first director of the Human Rights Secretariat at the United Nations. He was part of the team that launched Amnesty International Canada and was instrumental in creating the Canadian Human Rights Foundation.
In 1988, on the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he was awarded the United Nations Human Rights Prize, the first Canadian to receive such an honour. In 1974 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
I would also like to pay tribute to another New Brunswick son, Gordon Fairweather, Canada's first Human Rights Commissioner and a former member of the House of Commons as MP for Fundy—Royal.
I am very proud of these two New Brunswickers for their contribution to the advancement of human rights, both here in Canada and on the world stage.