Mr. Speaker, the recent shootings in Taber, Alberta and Littleton, Colorado have once more awakened us to the issue of violence among children.
What can we do as a nation?
I am reminded of a speech by Hetty Adams, Canada's leading educator in teaching children the skills of peace, which she gave a little over two years ago.
Children are not born with violence in their blood, but their exposure to behaviours of violence have made some desensitized to it.
When we plant the seeds of self-esteem, tolerance, anger management, mediation and conflict resolution in the hearts and minds of our young, we will harvest a citizenry skilled in peacekeeping and peacemaking.
May the federal government, in collaboration with the provincial governments, seek to establish nationwide a curriculum in peace studies at all school levels.
May this be one legacy we leave as a nation as we head into the new millennium: a citizenry of children and youth who live and champion the ethics of peace, not tragedies of school violence.