Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me today to rise to say a few words about our friend, Chuck Cadman.
Chuck was an ordinary guy who was born in Kitchener, Ontario, but grew up in North Bay. His dad was a stationary engineer. His mom emigrated from Holland in 1946 to marry his dad, whom she had met during the war.
After high school, Chuck spent a year or so making his living as a guitar player before heading west and ending up in Vancouver. There, in 1968, he met his wife, Dona. They were married in Clinton, Ontario, in August 1969 and returned to live in Vancouver in 1971. Daughter Jodi was born in 1973 and son Jesse in March 1976.
There is nothing special here: an ordinary guy from Ontario travels west to Vancouver, meets a girl, falls in love, marries and raises a couple of kids. I can relate to all of that, right down to being born in Ontario, having a wife in Vancouver and a father who was a stationary engineer, but on October 18, 1992, Chuck's, Dona's and Jodi's world fell apart. Sixteen year old Jesse was stabbed to death in a random attack.
The ultimate tragedy, the violent death of a child, has destroyed families, but not the Cadmans'. Through their sorrow, they reached out to help others devastated by similar hurts. They created the group called CRY, Crime, Responsibility and Youth, and worked tirelessly and selflessly to help those in need.
I did not know Dona and Chuck and Jodi at the time of Jesse's death, but I saw the news item on TV, heard the outrage on radio talk shows and read about it in the paper. Some months later, I invited Chuck to speak to a breakfast meeting put on by my constituency association, the first public meeting he spoke at after Jesse's death.
The impact of his words was profound. Here was a guy who spoke from the heart about the worst pain a parent can endure and he did it without bitterness and without the meanness of revenge. He spoke with the softness and firmness of a real Canadian hero who wanted to make this country a better place for everyone.
Chuck did not do it alone. He did it with the strength, determination and love that flowed from his dear wife, Dona, and his lovely daughter, Jodi.
At an election rally in 1997, Chuck told the crowd he was ready to go to Ottawa and fight for them but the jeans and ponytail would stay. Ottawa was not going to change Chuck Cadman.
Well, Chuck came to Ottawa, he fought for what was right, and the jeans and the ponytail stayed. Chuck did not change, but we who knew him have. We are all the better for knowing a great man, a great husband, a great father and a great Canadian.