Mr. Speaker, we are here today to debate upon one of the most venerated animals in the ancient assembly of divine creatures, one of the most widely celebrated over the breadth of the earth and the reaches of time.
The horse has captivated the imaginations of people young and old since the two species first came into contact. It was a monumental prehistoric moment I am sure and one that some believe occurred in North America. In fact some scientists have said that just as the early humans were coming over the land bridge from Asia, the ancestors of the horse were leaving, heading the other way. It would be many thousands of years before horses made their way back to North America on the ships of the Europeans.
As it migrated over the ancient world, the horse became a figure in most of humanity's oldest religions. Some religions made the horse their earth god. Others tied it to the creation of the universe itself. The ancient Greeks watched as the fiery horses of the sun pulled their blazing chariot across the sky. They told stories of the white wild stallions of Poseidon that could race across the oceans without getting their hooves wet. The Pegasus, an immortal winged stallion that could summon water from the ground with the stamp of his hoof, is a child of the horse, as is the unicorn which appears in the art and legends of India, China, Islam and medieval Europe where in Christian nations it was often associated with Christ himself. More important, to this day the unicorn lives on gracing our own country's coat of arms.
The centaur is yet another mythological creation resulting from the bonds between horse and human. Half man and half horse, the centaur was renown in legend for its powers of prophecy and healing. It is a figure of our fantasy and of our imagination and through its symbolic fusion of our two species, the centaur represents within itself the close relationship that humans and horses seem always to have shared.
The horse has also been immortalized in art as well as in legend. In the world of sculpture, bronze horses have stood stately under bronze nobels since the inception of statuary. In portraiture I think immediately of the image of Napoleon on his magnificent rearing white stallion. Kings, queens, emperors, conquerors, generals, sheiks, sultans, chiefs, mandarins and samurai have all had effigies of their horses placed beneath effigies of themselves, so great was their love for their mounts.
In literature tales of horses are found in the earliest manuscripts known to man. Horses are inseparable from the stories of the Arabian knights, the chivalry of medieval European tournaments and the buffalo hunt of native Canadians.
In Gulliver's Travels , his grand satire on the follies of mankind, Jonathan Swift used horses to represent and embody the virtues of nobility, serenity and honour that he believed humans lacked. In Timothy Findley's classic, award winning novel, The Wars , this great Canadian author gives us insight into the dismal and thankless duties of horses of the great war. These horses carried men into battle on their backs, hauled guns to the trenches at the front and pulled wagons filled with the dead and wounded back from the slaughter. Like Swift before him, Findley portrays horses as the most noble creatures in history. Horses bring redemption, hope and escape from the madness of man.
Of course not all horse stories have been so heavy. If we are to talk about horses and their veneration in literature, we would be absolutely remiss if we did not mention those beloved children's tales, Black Beauty and The Black Stallion. How many lifelong love affairs with horses have these two tales been responsible for? The number no doubt is staggering.
Love is the right word because the bond between humans and horses goes well beyond the fields of labour and war and sport. It is certain that the emotion that most people feel toward their horses is love and it is difficult not to imagine that the sentiment is being returned, especially when one considers the timeless, tireless, companionship and support that this animal has provided us. I think now of the wonderful work that is being done in the disabled community with kids and horses.
All of these demonstrate the point that the horse is one of the animals of the earth most near and dear to the hearts and minds of people everywhere, people of all backgrounds and all ages. This fact cannot be overstated and should make it very clear that the prospect of a national horse for Canada is one which will capture the imagination of Canadians far and wide, young and old.
It is true that the prospect of a new national symbol is a weighty one but I am confident that the strong back of the Canadian horse can bear that weight.
From the time it arrived in Canada, the Canadian horse was essential to the development of this country. As was said by the member for the Alliance, it was given to Canada by Louis XIV in the mid-1600s, which makes it the first breed on Canadian soil and one of the first breeds ever to come to North America. From the outset it provided tireless labour, transportation and entertainment in the form of horse racing.
Tough and resilient, the Canadian horse played a role all across our young nation. From Nova Scotia to Manitoba this assiduous animal could be found hauling lumber, ploughing fields, carrying riders, pulling merchants' wagons, carriages, sleds, sulkies and stumps out of the ground.
Today the Canadian horse can be found in every province across Canada.
In its name and character, the Canadian is also symbolically very appropriate. It is prized for its calm courage, its friendly disposition, its hardiness, its endurance and its intelligence, all of which are characteristics that represent the Canadian people as well.
One can see that by its history and its symbolism, the Canadian horse makes a fine candidate for the status of national horse.
The Canadian horse was certainly not the heavy horse breed used in Canada. A number of the other heavy horses that arrived later also became very popular. However it must be remembered that the Canadian breed literally cleared the way for all the others.
Since no horse breed is indigenous to Canada, and since every horse in North America traces its ancestry to a horse brought here from elsewhere, and since the Canadian horse has been here the longest, and since it so well represents Canadians and the characteristics we all hope to find in ourselves, it is my firm belief that the Canadian horse would make a perfect national horse, a Canadian symbol of which we will all be proud.
The French historian, Faillon, described the horses as:
--small but robust, hocks of steel, thick mane floating in the wind, bright and lively eyes, pricking sensitive ears at the least noise, going along day or night with the same courage, wide awake beneath its harness, spirited, good, gentle, affectionate, following his road with the finest instinct to come surely to his own stable.
The little iron horse, as it has been nicknamed, is a fine specimen of the species. It deserves to have its numbers increase and to be appreciated for all it can offer to so many different types of horse owners and horse lovers. It deserves the title of national horse of Canada.
I urge my colleagues and friends in the House to support the bill, to preserve this truly Canadian breed and to give Canadians this new, positive national symbol.