Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 90th anniversary of the historic Winnipeg General Strike and the completion of the Ukrainian Labour Temple, recently designated a national historic site.
The temple stands in my constituency of Winnipeg North as a symbol of the courage needed always to defend the rights of working people who, like today, are often made to bear the brunt of a nation's economic ills.
The spirit of 1919 lives on through Danny Schur's musical, Strike!, and it lives on through concrete efforts today to build community and pursue social justice. It lives on in the Spirit's Call choir, which just donated the proceeds of its annual concert to the North Point Douglas Women's Centre, whose director is Elaine Bishop, a recent recipient of the YWCA's Woman of Distinction Award.
It lives on in this weekend's celebration of the first anniversary of Pollock's Hardware Co-op, which has proven that the spirit of cooperation and collective action can overcome.
Happy 90th Birthday, Winnipeg General Strike, the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians and the Ukrainian Labour Temple.