Mr. Speaker, on St. Patrick's Day, the national celebration of the Irish, I as a Quebecker of Irish stock am pleased to have this opportunity to pay homage to those women and men who have made such a great contribution to what Quebec and Canada are today.
I am a descendant of those proud Irish who, after centuries of English domination, fought to make Ireland a sovereign country in 1921; of those proud Irish who, with the Belfast agreement, committed Northern Ireland to a process giving their country greater independence from the government in London; of those proud Irish who left their native land to settle in America, to build new lives and to build a country; of those proud Irish who, in 1837 and 1838, took up the defence of the people of French origin to establish an independent republic in Lower Canada.
Yes, I am a descendant of those proud Irish, whose culture and history ought to help them understand just how much they have in common with the destiny and national aspirations of the Quebec people.