Yes, Mr. Chair, and let me acknowledge the member for Fleetwood—Port Kells for her involvement in many of these issues and her strong voice for new Canadians in particular in the government caucus.
As I mentioned, we have processed some 163 ex gratia payments. We have received several hundred more. We are in the final stages of approving the details of the community historic recognition program and the national historic recognition program.
I would like to remind the House, as I did just a moment ago, that these measures that occurred between 1885 and 1947, the head tax and exclusion act that was introduced by the government of Mackenzie King, made many Chinese Canadians feel that they were not full participating members of our society. Many of them came to call Dominion Day, Canada Day, humiliation day.
All of that ended in the House last June 22 with the full and final apology on behalf of the Government of Canada offered by the Prime Minister, who had the courage to do the right thing after 13 years of inaction from our predecessors.
I, to this day, would like to know why the current Leader of the Opposition and half of his caucus did not think that apology, that historic moment in the history of this Parliament, demanded their presence to show respect to the Chinese Canadian community. Can they explain why they chose absence over participating in that historic apology?