Mr. Speaker, in 1948, Paleo-Indian artifacts were discovered near the airfield in Debert, Nova Scotia. Subsequent excavations have revealed thousands of artifacts, and radiocarbon dating indicates that the community was inhabited around thirteen and a half thousand years ago. This makes Debert the oldest known human settlement in Canada.
This is a special place, a place of national significance both to Canada and to the Mi'kmaq. Unfortunately, many of those important artifacts are now in storage, including at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, unseen by Canadians. It is our goal that a properly curated museum can be created with the help of the federal government and the Mi'kmaq to ensure the story of the first settlement in Canada can be preserved and indeed celebrated.