Mr. Speaker, this May, Canadians mark Asian Heritage Month, and someone who comes from a city like Vancouver, as I do, does not have to look far to understand why that matters.
There is no one Asian story in Canada; there are tens of thousands. They are written in many languages, carried through many faiths, shaped by many histories and lived through families that crossed oceans, built lives from nothing, endured exclusion and still chose to give this country their labour, their hope and their children's future. Those of us who grew up in Vancouver know this story well. We know it in the restaurants that feed us, the businesses that raise up our neighbourhoods, the music and festivals that fill our streets, the athletes who carry our pride and the volunteers who show up for community day after day.
Asian Canadians did not simply arrive in Canada. They have helped build it. They have established communities, preserved culture and built bonds across differences. This month we honour that legacy and this commitment, not as a footnote to Canadian history but as a critical story in that history and in Canada's future.
I invite all members of the—