Madam Speaker, today I rise to pay tribute to Chief Leonard George, a great man and inspiring leader, who passed away in December. After his passing, I asked the parliamentary poet laureate, George Elliott Clarke, to draft an elegy in his honour, and I am humbled to share that poem with everyone in the House today:
To act is not only to make pretend;
To act is also to make a difference,
To make change, to reform, and to amend:
It is to teach governors Governance.
Leonard George defined Action doubly well:
To act on camera, to dramatize roles,
To document Resistance, to excel
Also at inspiring a people's souls.
His Tsleii-Waututh Nation has prospered,
According to his vision, joining eco--
“Nomics” and “logy”: Neither word's absurd
When both prescribe how a nation should grow.
North Vancouver activist Leonard George
Had no peer: The original broke the forge.
May my friend Leonard George rest in peace.