Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House during the last hour of debate on Motion No. 241, moved by the hon. member for Verchères—Les Patriotes and amended by the member for Laval Centre.
I also wish to acknowledge the presence on the Hill today of Équipe Francophonie 2001. This team is composed of about 70 French speaking Acadians from across Canada, who came here to meet members, ministers and senators and make them aware of their reality.
I recall that the ancestors of what would become the Acadian people were the first Europeans to settle in North America in 1604. As a matter of fact, Acadia will celebrate the 400th anniversary of its foundation in 2004.
Even though the hon. member does not wish to live in the past, I am convinced that he will be present in 2004, during the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Acadia and that he will be proud to take part in the festivities honouring the forefathers of the Acadian people. However, he will not be living in the past.
In the middle of the 18th century, Acadians were treated horribly by England who imposed one of the worst treatments that can be applied to a vanquished people, expulsion. The systematic deportation of French and Catholic subjects between 1755 and 1763 was organized and realized by the British authorities, in a savage and brutal way. Those are the facts.
Families were dispersed and many never could come back to their ancestral lands. The results of this expulsion can still be felt today and this event influences the way Acadians see themselves today.
Motion No. 241 does not ask us to rewrite history, as someone said earlier, but to simply acknowledge the harm done and the terrible consequences of those tragic events on the development of the Acadian society.
On June 7 last, Mr. Hector J. Cormier, author and editorial writer of the Moniteur Acadien , wrote the following about Motion No. 241:
There are some among us who will speak against this initiative.
We saw that earlier.
The main argument: avoid living in the past.
We also heard that earlier. He goes on:
It is smoke and mirrors. Acadians are undoubtedly living in the present. This does not mean that they do not recall the past. This argument was also used by the senior public servants who prevented us from learning our history. It was not only important that we ignore the past, but we also had to act as if nothing had happened.
Members of the House of Commons who have a chance to speak to motion No. 241 and who forget about party affiliation have been able to demonstrate on a number of occasions that they can speak with one voice when it is necessary. And it would not be the first time.
On several occasions, whether the motion was tabled by the Tories, the Alliance or the Liberals, we have obtained unanimous consent from the House, even if they are now trying to convince us that they cannot support the motion because it was tabled by a member from the Bloc Quebecois and those are bad separatists. It is a dishonest way of refusing to support this motion.
A vast majority of Acadians are in favour of motion No. 241. Approximately 92% of them have said to be in favour of this motion before an advisory committee established by the Société nationale des Acadiens.
We know that all members of the House of Commons can unite on this issue, since they have done it in the past on other matters. Parliamentarians now have to make a choice: they either respect the wish clearly expressed by the various organizations representing the Acadian people and the overwhelming majority of those who participated in the proceedings of the advisory committee established by the Société nationale des Acadiens; or they refuse to recognize the prejudices endured by Acadians because of the 1775 events, and they accept the consequences of taking such a stand.
Nothing can change the minds of the hon. members who wish to oppose this totally legitimate motion.
All possible arguments used so far against it have been dismissed, not only by the MPs of the Bloc Quebecois and other parties, but also by the respective Acadian communities of the members who wanted to divert this debate.
We have, for example, been accused of “paternalizing the debate”. I believe that today they are the ones doing this, offering as a little “goody”, pardon the expression, a little enticement to the Acadian communities, the acknowledgment of a holiday they already acknowledge. Then they accuse us of paternalism.
As for the matter of petty politics, my friend and colleague, the hon. member for Verchères--Les-Patriotes,has offered on a number of occasions to transfer his motion—and it is worthwhile for the Acadians to know this—to a Liberal MP, an Acadian MP, or to a member of another political party, such as the New Democratic Party. Each time, this was turned down.
It has been proposed that the motion be amended—provided it was not watered down too far— in accordance with the wishes of the Liberal Party. Each time, this was turned down.
We are accused of petty politicking on this motion. It is worth pointing out that several attempts were made to transfer this motion, or to make it acceptable to all hon. members. Each time, this was turned down.
As for the lack of consultation, my colleague has acknowledged that. There was perhaps a problem with consultation initially. Afterward, though, since 140 groups or individuals were consulted on the motion, and 92% of them supported it, it can be seen that there was consultation.
I would ask the Liberals whether they did any consultation to find out how many groups were in agreement with their position against the motion. The only argument that can continue to hold for the Liberals is a very weak one: the fact that it was presented by some “wicked sovereignists”, “separatists” as they call us. The Acadians will know how to pay them back for this in due course.
All of this has been debated and resolved. Now we must choose: either we accept to recognize the wrong or we refuse. We accept to right the wrong to Acadians, or the members who are supposed to represent their constituents in the House will have to shirk their responsibility of representing them in the House and say to them: “No, despite the fact that you have asked me to support motion No. 241, out of respect for my government, because I want to become a minister some day, or because I do not want to lose my minister's portfolio, I will have to vote against motion M-241”. That is how constituents will see it.
I am not trying to be mean, but some other people might say “Father knows best”. But that is not very nice, and I am nice, so I would never say this to another member.
I would like to read from an article written by the president of the Société des Acadiens et des Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick, published in L'Acadie nouvelle on October 29. The article states the following:
Acadians will not soon forget the steps that have been taken to garner the support of the Canadian government and the Acadian members in their efforts to obtain the apology they deserve from the British Crown following the deportation of 1755. Is it asking too much—
This message is aimed at the Liberal members who are Acadian. It goes on to state:
for you to reconsider the terms and the value of motion No. 241? This is a rendezvous with history that you must not miss. Voting against this motion because it was proposed by an opposition party is a red herring and may well be a strategic error that could backfire against the government.
This is what Jean-Guy Rioux, the president of the Société des Acadiens et des Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick wrote.
We hope that in the end there will be an effort made by our Liberal Acadian colleagues and by all of the Liberal members to demonstrate goodwill by supporting this motion of such historical importance for the Acadian people.