Mr. Speaker, February is Black History Week, a week in which we take some time out to celebrate the contributions by people of black heritage to Canada; people like Matthew Henson, the pioneer who discovered the North Pole; or M. Nourbese Philip, the poet who in her poems empowered women and gave self-esteem not only to women of colour but all women.
I urge all my colleagues to take some time out across this great country of ours to celebrate our diversity, to take time in their communities to pay tribute to a people who are sometimes not talked about in history.
What would our society be without air conditioners, refrigerators, the elevator, and blood transfusions? These are all contributions by people of black heritage.