The post STATEMENT: Let This Mother’s Day be a Cry for Peace appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Speaker: Ms. May
Time: 06/12/2022 10:26:18
Context: Statements by Ministers

Mme Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, PV): Madame la Présidente, je veux dire un grand merci à tous mes collègues de m’accorder cette permission et aussi de leur soutien. Nous sommes tous ensemble en ce moment.

Je veux dire un grand merci à ma collègue la députée de Toronto-Centre, qui est ministre des Femmes et de l’Égalité des genres et de la Jeunesse de ce gouvernement. Je remercie mon cher collègue le député de Sarnia—Lambton, qui est ingénieur et qui a partagé un message touchant. Je remercie aussi mes collègues la députée de Shefford et la députée de Winnipeg-Centre.

All of us here as women in this place do work in an environment that is traditionally male dominated. All of our society is dominated by the notion of patriarchy. Men are usually in charge.

Il est particulièrement difficile, en cette Journée nationale de commémoration et d’action contre la violence faite aux femmes, de penser aux événements du 6 décembre 1989, un jour dont je me souviens comme si c’était hier.

For all of us women who were alive, conscious and politically aware, the deliberate killing of 16 women, so young, their only crime was being in a classroom to study to become an engineer, their only crime was to be a woman.

Margaret Atwood said, “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.”

We are in a time, as many of my colleagues have mentioned, where violence against women is on the rise. Women who are intimate partners are at risk. There is no question that the words of the member for Winnipeg Centre should ring out clearly across Canada that women are particularly at risk when they have two crimes, that they are women and are indigenous.

The recent charges brought against a serial killer in Winnipeg for those deaths must again wake us up to misogyny, racism, and the crimes of a toxic culture in which patriarchy is the accepted default position. We have to ask ourselves what more we can do. There is no question that every member of every party in this place is saying it is time we must end violence against women, and here we are 33 years on and violence against women continues.

What we can say is that we need our allies on this day. When so many women turn to each other in sisterhood and solidarity, we embrace especially our male colleagues, the men who will stand and say that they are a feminist, the men who will stand up and say that patriarchy belongs in the dark ages of history.

We must speak out against femicide. We must stand with those women still in Afghanistan and help them to survive. We must stand with all indigenous women and girls across this country, and with the families of those who still do not know where their fallen mommies, aunties, sisters and daughters are. We must say that it is time to end violence, violence against women, violence against each other, and the violence we carry in our hearts.

The killing of the 16 women on December 6, 1989, must never be forgotten, it is of them we think of this day, but we also say we know that ending violence is a job for us all. It does not just fall on women, it does not just fall on governments; it requires that all of us, heart to heart, neighbour to neighbour, pay attention and protect anyone we see as vulnerable. We must step up in the moment when we hear hatred spoken, because words of hate can turn into acts of hate. We must, especially in this place, because we are here and know each other, try harder to take the violence out of our language, to take polarization out of our politics, so that we can say to Canadians that we are a country that takes care of each other, we love each other and, in memory of the16 women who were killed on this day 33 years ago, we banish hate from our hearts.

The post Elizabeth May’s statement on the anniversary of the Ecole Polytechnique massacre appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Speaker: Ms. May
Time: 28/09/2022 14:04:25
Context: Statements

Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP): Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise. As we know, our friends, colleagues and, in my case, being a Cape Bretoner, family are recovering from hurricane Fiona.

We know that five Canadian provinces were walloped with one storm. Now that is a record. We also know that as we show, speak to and, in an emergency debate, declare our solidarity with the people of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec that we do so with a commitment that this is not just a story of the moment. As what happened to my colleagues and friends in interior B.C. from Lytton to Spences Bridge into Vancouver and Abbotsford, we do not turn the page when the story is over. We stay with them until their lives are restored.

May hurricane Fiona confirm our commitment to resilience and communities, and to fighting against the climate crisis.

The post May hurricane Fiona confirm our commitment to fighting the climate crisis appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Speaker: Ms. May
Time: 20/09/2022 10:37:40
Context: Statements by Ministers

Ms. Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge that today, as on every day in this place, we stand on the territories of the Algonquin nation and want to express our gratitude to them. Meegwatch.

I also want to express gratitude to someone else. This may be somewhat unusual for starting this morning, but I cannot say another word without expressing my deep gratitude to the Conservative caucus for allowing me to speak. I then extend my congratulations to the new leader of the official opposition. Some who pay close attention to this place may know, and not to complain, that it has been since the 2021 election that Greens have been allowed to speak in moments of tribute and sadness. I am deeply grateful to the hon. member for Carleton for this change in policy. I appreciate it enormously.

I also want to say that we can all agree with every word that has been spoken. I want to thank the hon. member and Minister of Indigenous Services, the new leader of the official opposition, my friend from Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia for her words and the hon. member for Nunavut. There is not one of us whose heart is not broken.

I thought about taking off my black ribbon of mourning for Her Majesty the Queen this morning, but then I thought that I am still in mourning. Yes, Her Majesty the Queen has parted this earth, but so have members of the James Smith Cree Nation; 10 people, much loved in their communities and much loved by their families, are no longer with us and they died in horrific circumstances. I will leave my ribbon of mourning on for today at least for James Smith Cree Nation, the families of the victims and the families of the perpetrators, all of whom are in a period of deep suffering.

There is much that has been said, and I will not trespass on the time for long, but I just want to say there must be more than words. We speak words in this place of reconciliation, of a cry for justice, of a prayer for healing and that we will do better. In this circumstance, what we must do is what I am so grateful to so many Canadians for, because in the words of so many members of James Smith Cree Nation, they express gratitude and almost surprise at how many Canadians are grieving with them. We grieve together. That is the root word of “compassion”, which is to suffer together. Compassion. We share it across indigenous settler cultures. We grieve together.

Just as in another horrific circumstance, we grieved with the people of Nova Scotia in Portapique. We need to look to all the calls I have heard across the room today for inquiry and for consideration. What must we do better? James Smith Cree Nation is saying maybe it would be better off if it had indigenous police services. The chiefs in Manitoba are saying the same thing.
They do not feel secure in a situation like this. They have the policing that is needed to protect people. We have Gloria and others who were first responders and raced into the scene, like Bonnie. That circumstance of dying while protecting one’s family should not occur. We should have the police services that are needed and at the ready, and local, in my view, may be a solution that is better, whether it is Portapique or James Smith Cree Nation. We need to examine policing and we need to examine, as the hon. leader of the official opposition said, release procedures when people are dangerous and should not be released into our population.

I will not prescribe solutions at this point. We need to commit to listen, investigate and support the people of James Smith Cree First Nation and other places that are still wounded and suffering from events of violence. We can do better. We must do better.

To everybody touched by the tragedy at James Smith Cree First Nation, we send our prayers, our love and our words, and we also say clearly we know words are not enough. We will do more. We will do better. We are with them and their children as they process things that no child should ever see and no family should ever experience. I thank members for their time. Meegwatch.

The post We grieve with members of James Smith Cree Nation. Words are not enough. appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Speaker: Ms. May Time: 14/06/2022 14:00:14 Context: Statements Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP): Madam Speaker, Shireen Abu Aqla. Ghufran Warasneh. Say their names. Women Palestinian journalists killed while doing their jobs: covering what was going on before their eyes. They were killed by the Israeli military and somehow even more shocking, their funerals were attacked by the Israeli military. The pallbearers were blocked as they tried to take them to their place of eternal rest. The Vatican representative in Jerusalem denounced it as brutally violating decades old agreements to hold Jerusalem sacred to the three main theist religions for whom all find spiritual significance in Jerusalem. We must, in this country, say something. We must do something. We call for an independent inquiry into the killing of these two brave, women Palestinian journalists. Canada must step up.

The post Elizabeth May pays tribute to the two female Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli military appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Speaker: Ms. May
Time: 12/05/2022 14:00:15
Context: Statements

Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP): Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise virtually. This is May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, and, hence, the focus on nurses this week and nursing. I want to mention that Florence Nightingale, in the 19th century, was a leader. If she had been a man, she would be known as the father of public health science, she would be known as one of the trailblazers in the use of statistics, but the misogynistic lens of history does not end there.

Fast forward to 2022 and our nurses are struggling. The website of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions states, “nurses and health care workers are experiencing a silent mental health crisis. Short staffing, punishing workloads, widespread violence – these are everyday realities”. That is not good enough.

I know all parliamentarians in this place would like to join me in saying thanks to all the women and men in the nursing profession. We thank them, we stand with them and we owe them so very much.

The post Thank you, nurses and healthcare workers! We owe you so much! appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Speaker: Ms. May
Time: 03/03/2022 14:00:14
Context: Statements

Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP): Madam Speaker, this week’s IPCC report put me in mind of something Al Gore said years ago that if we did not act on the climate crisis, it would be like taking a nature walk through the Book of Revelations. The four horsemen of the apocalypse are all saddled up. We have pestilence, we have plague; we have famine. Now, we have war and we have the threat of nuclear war.

How do we confront these existential threats, which we must, not separately, not sequentially but by recognizing that they are connected, the threat of war, the threat of dictatorships; the climate crisis? We must address them together and fight as if our lives depended upon it, because they do. We must fight for democracy. We must fight against all wars and end nuclear weapons. We must work harder for a livable planet.

I close with these words from the head scientist from Ukraine, heading the Ukraine delegation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Svitlana Krakovska said that climate change and the war have the same root cause, fossil fuels and our dependance upon them.

The post We face multiple existential threats, and we must confront them all together appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Click here to watch the video.

The post Tribute to the late Alexa McDonough appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2021-12-06 14:00

Mr. Speaker, 32 years ago, 14 women were killed at École Polytechnique in Montreal. We remember Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz.
We must end misogyny, end patriarchy and stop violence against women.

The post End misogyny. End patriarchy. Stop violence against women. appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2021-06-08 10:36 [p.8068]

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for putting my request forward, and I thank all my colleagues for this opportunity to speak to this horrific event.
Assalam alaikum.

I start with these words: “ Our hearts are broken, our minds are numb.” This could speak for all of Canada. These are the words of Omar Khamissa, who works in community outreach with the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

To everyone on that council, to everyone who is a regular visitor to the Islamic Centre of Southwest Ontario, I have had the great honour to meet with imams, to speak of the true Islamic spirit and to talk about the enormous contribution to Canada from our Muslim community.

The Muslim community and Muslim families are an integral part of Canada. We are one, big Canadian family. This is a time of great sorrow unlike any other.

We say these words over and over as we experience this. I have heard them from my hon. colleagues, the right hon. Prime Minister, the hon. leader of the official opposition, the leader of the Bloc Québécois, and the leader of the New Democratic Party, who so movingly reminded us of all the ways that our society is not the one we think it is.

We have been holding a mirror up to ourselves for some time now, and it is hard to like what we see, especially when Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir announced the preliminary findings of the 215 children who had long since died, but not that long ago. They were the bodies of little children from the Kamloops residential school.

This event reminds us of how we stood together. Many of us here today in this chamber will remember standing in the bitter cold of Quebec City in 2017 with the Islamic community of Quebec City after the shooting in the Quebec City mosque and saying, “Never again.”

What strikes me now, as we gather together again to repeat our frequent calls that we do better, is that I think of the hon. member for Mississauga—Erin Mills and her Motion No. 103. I think of her courage because I know she was targeted. There were some very nasty messages after she stood up and said that we have to do something about Islamophobia, as well as anti-Semitism and hatred of all kinds. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out what we will do about it.

One thing that Motion No. 103 did for many of us in this place who were serving when it was put forward, was it exposed us to Islamophobia. Many of my constituents are dear, sweet people who I know. I had to write back to them saying they had misunderstood, that Motion No. 103 will not elevate Islam above Christianity.

They were afraid of that. I had to say that Motion No. 103 would not mean that we are going to have sharia law in Canada. There is a level just below the surface. Constituents sent me links to websites, by the way, with news sources that they wanted me to read, which said that Motion No. 103 would do all these things.

I wish I had taken notes yesterday when the minister of heritage, before the ethics committee, rattled off a bunch of statistics of how many hate crimes had been fuelled by an increase in hatred online, along with how many police chiefs are reporting an increase in incitement and radicalization to hate people based on their faith or the colour of their skin.

I am at a loss. I am the former leader of the Green Party, of course, and our leader has expressed the deep, deep sorrow of all of us. However, all of us together as elected people, I think, have to actually stop for a while and listen, maybe just invite people from the Islamic community to come and talk to us, because there is something very, very wrong in a beautiful community like London. I have had the honour to spend a lot of time there.

I want to send my condolences to our former colleague in this place because, of course, the mayor of London used to be the MP for London West. I also want to send my condolences to the current MP for London West, the current MP for London—Fanshawe, the current MP for London North Centre and all of the MPs touched by this personally. I know their hearts are broken, and they do not understand how this could happen in their community. Neither do I.

I just know that as Canadians, we have to do much, much better. That starts with acknowledging that we are broken, that we allow people to be infested by a seething hatred that would look at a beautiful family out for a Sunday walk and with premeditation, according to the police, try to wipe out that whole family.

We will never as a country be able to tell young Fayez how sorry we are, how much we hope for his future and how much we mourn the loss of the people of his family, the Afzaal family.
With that, I do not think it helps us much as politicians to pretend we have answers, but I do agree with the hon. leader of the New Democratic Party that, if we ever again see a political party trying to divide us based on someone wearing a hijab, we must call them out.

Let us make sure that we say to all of the Islamic community of this country that, from the bottom of hearts, we ask for their forgiveness for letting this hatred live among us. We love them. We care for them, just as we do for all the members of this human family, which is so very broken. Our hearts are broken. Our minds are numb.

The post “Our hearts are broken. Our minds are numb” appeared first on Elizabeth May.