Mr. Speaker, last Friday night, while the Acadien II was being towed by a Canadian Coast Guard vessel, it struck ice and capsized off the coast of Nova Scotia, throwing its six crew members into the sea. Although two crew members were rescued, three others died and one is still missing.
It is with sadness that I acknowledge the tragic loss of these four seal hunters who disappeared in the performance of their duties: the fishing boat owner, Bruno Bourque, captain Gilles Leblanc and the hunter who was also a talented hockey player for the Restigouche Tigers, Marc-André Deraspe. The missing hunter is Carl Aucoin.
The Bloc Québécois extends its most sincere condolences to the families and friends of these four sailors and to the Magdalen Island community and it commends the two survivors, Bruno-Pierre Bourque and Claude Deraspe.