Mr. Speaker, it is a real honour to speak this morning in memory of Queen Elizabeth II and her service to Canada.

I want to begin by mentioning her last public statement just a day or two before she died. It was a statement of condolences to the James Smith Cree Nation and the town of Weldon, Saskatchewan, communities that were impacted by unspeakable violence in recent weeks. I want to extend my condolences to those communities. We hold them in our hearts.

I was raised in a family of English and Scottish heritage, and while my parents and grandparents were really far from being monarchists, we did honour the Queen. I remember every Christmas Day we would stop all revelry to listen to the Queen's message to the Commonwealth on the radio.

I only saw the Queen once, briefly, as part of a crowd in Penticton when she visited during the centennial celebrations in 1967. My father was a photographer. He had trunks of negatives and slides. I was going through some of them literally two weeks ago and found a box of slides of the Queen and Prince Philip in some other place. I was not sure, and with a bit of digging I found out that she had visited British Columbia in 1959, when I was only four years old. I did not attend this event, but my father and my older brother drove up to Vernon as part of a big group of Scouts and Cubs that filled the park there to see the Queen and Prince Philip. It was an indication of how important those visits of the royal family were to Canada. She made many of them, and many people I have talked to spoke of those visits.

My only stronger connection to the royal family was that I actually met Prince Philip some years later. He was a noted conservationist and birdwatcher. I am a bird biologist, and I was actually brought in to help the Prince. He was doing a birdathon to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund.

I guided him around parts of Vancouver a few years ago. That was a great honour. It was quite interesting to hear his comments. I was trying to show him some rare birds and I remember him saying he could see those from his bedroom window. They were interesting to us, but apparently not in downtown London. It was just a fact that Prince Philip was acting to promote conservation around the world while being non-political. The royal family has always played a role in supporting causes it thinks are important. I appreciate that, and it can influence politics while remaining non-political.

I was interested to hear former prime minister Brian Mulroney's comments about the Queen and the part she played, especially with regard to South Africa and the ending of apartheid. He was at a Commonwealth meeting where Prime Minister Thatcher opposed the boycotts and opposed the freeing of Nelson Mandela, but the Queen quietly supported these actions. While being very tactful and diplomatic, the Queen made it clear that she thought it was important that the Commonwealth get behind the ending of apartheid and move on. That really changed history.

I will close by mentioning the historical role the British monarchy has played with regard to the indigenous people of Canada. One of the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is to issue a royal proclamation on reconciliation.

I was also listening to the radio the other day and heard my friend and neighbour Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, grand chief of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. He was asked to comment on the passing of Queen Elizabeth and the accession of King Charles. He finished his comments by saying that he was cautiously optimistic about the possible role that King Charles could play in reconciliation, saying, “I think he'll surprise us.”

I will close by saying that it is no surprise that the passing of the Queen has brought on such a sense of loss for so many Canadians. She served for 70 years, serving each day with a strong sense of duty, and always served with such impeccable dignity. May she rest in peace.

Richard Cannings

$554,545.00