Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise here today to speak to this bill.
It is a bill that is uncommon in many ways, the first of which is the way it came together.
I thank the member for Ottawa—Vanier for his leadership. I also thank my colleague, the hon. member for Ottawa—Orléans, for his support and leadership, and my friend from the Bloc who just spoke.
Beechwood Cemetery is an important acknowledgement to Canada. It means that Beechwood Cemetery would become a national symbol in earnest, and it already is a national symbol in function. As has been mentioned by others, it is the resting place for many important Canadians. It is the final resting place of thousands of men and women who gave their lives for our country: peacekeepers, soldiers and people who worked on humanitarian missions around the world. It is a place that already does honour our nation.
What the bill does that is so fundamentally important is that the federal government, the voice of this nation, puts its stamp on this and acknowledges for all to see that this place is a national symbol, a national place of resting for so many.
It is important to note some of the people who do rest there. We know that one of our prime ministers, Sir Robert Borden, rests there. He was the prime minister who was in power at a time of war and who led this country in so many different ways. It is important that our country, through this legislation, acknowledges a previous prime minister. As he rests there he symbolizes, in my opinion, many of the prime ministers who have served the country so well.
It should be noted that most of the other G8 countries have designated a place of national importance for those who have served their country and who are now resting in peace.
Another important person to Canada and to our party who rests at Beechwood Cemetery is Tommy Douglas and his wife, Irma Douglas. I have had the occasion to be in that place many times. I know that Mr. Douglas would appreciate this legislation not because he is there, in fact, that would be one of the reasons he would not support it, but because of the idea that we should honour this country and note that it is something that every democratic nation should have.
When we look at the contributions of people like Tommy Douglas, both in his home province of Saskatchewan and on the national stage, he brought much to this country. He supplied the ideas that have been developed and have been co-opted by past governments that we can all be proud of. We on this side of the House in the New Democratic Party have been honoured by his legacy and his leadership. Often we hear his voice reminding us of why we are here.
Another important Canadian who rests in Beechwood is Thomas Fuller. For all of us here, we should honour the fact that he was the architect of this very building. Again, he was someone who contributed to the nation and to this place.
Ray Hnatyshyn, the former governor general, also rests at Beechwood Cemetery.
It is also important to note that where this place is set is important in terms of the national fabric, in terms of the viewpoints and in terms of the landscape, as has already been mentioned. It is, without question, the most important piece of real estate, next to the place we are in, because of the people who came before us. For that, the bill is not only an honour but is an important contribution to our national fabric.
Often it is through literature that we capture the essence of an idea. I want to conclude my speech and my contribution today by quoting an author and a poet, Archibald Lampman, who actually was inspired by Beechwood and wrote the poem In Beechwood Cemetery. The poem reads:
Here the dead sleep--the quiet dead. No sound
Disturbs them ever, and no storm dismays.
Winter mid snow caresses the tired ground,
And the wind roars about the woodland ways.
Springtime and summer and red autumn pass,
With leaf and bloom and pipe of wind and bird,
And the old earth puts forth her tender grass,
By them unfelt, unheeded and unheard.
Our centuries to them are but as strokes
In the dim gamut of some far-off chime.
Unaltering rest their perfect being cloaks--
A thing too vast to hear or feel or see--
Children of Silence and Eternity,
They know no season but the end of time.
Let us all come together, pass this legislation and honour those who have come before us.