The Gerrard Report

 On the morning of Friday April 29th, Naomi and I joined with Cindy Lamoureux, Dougald Lamont and other staff and friends to attend the WISE (Women in Support of Equality) breakfast.  The guest speaker was Kathleen Mahoney, the Chief Negotiator for the Assembly of First Nations for the Residential School Settlement and a major architect of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  She described the processes involved in both as well as providing background in Indigenous principles and their role in Canada moving forward. Below are photos, including three of slides from her presentation, one describing how the outcome was a win for survivors, the second describing how the outcome was a win for defendents and the third talking of the role of Indigenous legal principles as they were applied and as they are likely to play a role moving forward. .  Lessons learned

  On Friday April 29, Naomi and I attended a Rock Benefit Social at the Metropolitan Entertainment Centre to raise funds for Ukraine. 

  On April 28 th , I spoke in the Manitoba Legislature on an Opposition Day Motion to invite Pope Francis to come to Manitoba. My comments are below. Opposition Day Motion:    To invite Pope Francis to come to Manitoba as part of his upcoming visit to Canada to deliver, in person … a papal apology to resi­den­tial school sur­vivors on behalf of the Catholic Church, which should include a visit to the graves of First Nations and other Indigenous children who perished in these in­sti­tu­tions and a blessing of the grave of Louis Riel in St. Boniface, all with the goal of advancing recon­ciliation for Manitobans from all walks of life. Hon. Jon  Gerrard  (River Heights):  Madam Speaker, we have all watched the coverage of the recent delegations going to visit Pope Francis in Rome. We have watched as the delegations and their visits have raised awareness of what happened at resi­den­tial schools in Manitoba and across Canada. We have watched as Po...

  On Thursday April 29 th , I spoke I response to a Ministerial statement on the flood situation for Manitoba. Severe Weather Event Forecast Mr. Gerrard:  Madam Speaker, we are all quite concerned about the possi­bility of ad­di­tional precipi­ta­tion this weekend. We've already had a lot; we don't parti­cularly need any more. But I think it's really im­por­tant that Manitobans around the province are aware of the situation and are preparing as much as can be possible.       I salute those like the RM of Morris, who are taking a lot of precautions at the moment, hoping that the worst doesn't happen but being ready for it in case it does.       There are now six rural munici­palities which have declared state of emergencies. This is a spreading of the state of emergencies, and the impact of the rain that we've had and the snow that we've had.       Madam Speaker, there's a little bit of a tende...

  On Thursday April 29 th , I spoke to a resolution dealing with the lack of attention by the PC government to northern Manitoba.  My comments are below: Res. 12–Calling on the Provincial Government to Resolve Issues Afflicting Northern Manitoba Hon. Jon  Gerrard  (River Heights):  Mr. Deputy Speaker, a few comments on this resolution.       There's no question that the current gov­ern­ment has largely neglected some of the critical needs of the North, and many of these needs have already been discussed. There is a clear need to really take a fresh look at how health care is delivered in the North. We've got too many people, as has already been raised, who are flying in and out. We haven't done the job that we need to do in Manitoba in developing the local health-care providers. Some com­mu­nities have done better than others, but there clearly is a sig­ni­fi­cant way to go.       The supports for th...

On April 28, Bill 234, to have a day dedicated to recognize those who are hurting from the death of a a loved one or a friend who has died from a drug related death.  My comments on this bill are below.  Bill 234–The Drug‑Related Death Bereavement Day Act     Hon. Jon  Gerrard  (River Heights):  Drug-related deaths are disturbing, tragic, sad.       We are discussing today making the Sunday before Mother's Day a drug-related bereavement day. It's im­por­tant to have this day. It's im­por­tant to recog­nize the many who are hurting from the death of a loved one, a friend, who has died. We need to be able to share these stories of those who died, for from this sharing, we can get relief; we can get a wider under­standing of what has happened and what led to the situation, and, as a result, we can dedicate ourselves as MLAs to preventing future deaths.       It is also a time to tell the truth, as we see i...

On April 26, Dougald Lamont introduced, for first reading, The Non-disclosure agreements act limits the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of sexual harassment, intimidation and misconduct.  Bill 225–The Non-Disclosure Agreements Act Mr. Dougald  Lamont  (St. Boniface):   I move that Bill 225–[interjection]–oh, sorry.       I move, seconded by the member of Tyndall Park, that Bill 225, The Non-Disclosure Agree­ments Act; Loi sur les accords de confidentialité, be now read a first time. Motion presented. Mr. Lamont:  Non-disclosure agree­ments, NDAs, in Manitoba and indeed around the world have been used to silence survivors of sexual harassment, inti­mida­tion and misconduct in many instances. Manitoba Liberals have heard from many folks in the com­mu­nity who have been harmed because of being pressured into signing an NDA.       The legis­lation requires that an NDA can only be enforce...

 On Tuesday April 26, I spoke on a Member's Statement to pay tribute to David Barber, an amazing arctic scientist and a wonderful human being.  I had attended the Celebration of his Life on Saturday April 23rd.   Hon. Jon  Gerrard  (River Heights):  Madam Speaker, growing up in Dauphin and helping build the Fort Dauphin Museum, fishing at a cabin on Waterhen Lake and canoeing to Fort York and Churchill, David Barber developed a love of the Arctic and became one of the foremost Arctic scientists in the world. He had an ability to connect with people who were not scien­tists and an ability to write grants and to conceive big projects that was remarkable. Several years into his Arctic research, he recog­nized an extraordinary decrease in the size of the permanent ice in the Arctic, and it was the result of global warming. He found that the Arctic was warm­ing faster than other parts of the planet. He was at the forefront of understanding the impact of c...

 On April 26, I spoke in response to a Ministerial statement on Flooding.  My comments are below. Mr. Gerrard:  Madam Speaker, the sun is out today, which is a good thing after several days of wet and snowy weather. With today's clear skies, we're in a better position to have a look at what's happened, to assess the damage and to plan for the days ahead.       I had hoped that the gov­ern­ment would've pro­vided the best and worst projections of the likelihood of flooding in the next two weeks, with many days of projected rain ahead. We need to be prepared for what could be the worst and make sure that people are ready.       I'd hoped for a more detailed accounting of what's happened with the hydro outages. I gather from the Hydro website today that there's still more than 3,000 people who are out of hydro service, and hope that that can be restored soon.       We don't really know how ...

On April 26th, a Conservative private members resolution was brought forward.  My comments are below.   Res. 11–Strengthening, Rebuilding, Investing, and Recovering in 2022 Hon. Jon  Gerrard  (River Heights):  The hon­our­able member who's intro­duced this motion talked about the real danger of having an NDP gov­ern­ment. Well, I would like to comment here that there is also a real danger right now with a Conservative gov­ern­ment, that we have a gov­ern­ment which, essentially, believes that it can say one thing and that that gives it permission to do some­thing completely opposite.       The gov­ern­ment says that it is trying to strengthen health care, but the health-care system is now at its most problematic that it has ever been. I have talked with health pro­fes­sionals. They talk about the chaos, they talk about a gov­ern­ment which has lost its way, it lost its compass. We have a major hospital in this provi...

 On April 25th I spoke at second reading of Bill 17.  My comments are below.  Bill 17–The Family Law Act, The Family Support Enforcement Act and The Inter-jurisdictional Support Orders Amendment Act Hon. Jon  Gerrard  (River Heights):  Madam Speaker, several comments on Bill 17. In general, this bill is an im­prove­ment over previous legis­lation and we will support it. In part, it replaces the concepts of custody and access respecting children with the con­cept of parenting arrangements, parenting time and decision-making respon­si­bility.       I think the move to have more decisions are–resolved without the courts is a good one but, clearly, where there is disputes, it is still going to have to go to courts. Although, maybe we can have mediators who are better able to get parents working together, but that we shall see.       I think it's too bad that with the major changes being made here there ...

 On Monday, April 25th,  I spoke in response to a Minister's statement on the flood situation in Manitoba.   My comments are below (from Hansard)  Mr. Gerrard:   Madam Speaker, we have very serious flooding and snow events over the weekend: East St. Paul, the RM of Stanley, the RM of Cartier and in quite a number of other areas have been very significantly affected.       Around Rossburn and Onanole there's been very heavy snow. In fact, residents are being told, where there's hydro lines out, that the Hydro people can't even come in until the roads are cleared. April 13th, the Manitoba Liberal leader, the MLA for St. Boniface, raised concerns about flooding and asked for a briefing from the gov­ern­ment, to be sure that the gov­ern­ment was preparing well. April 21st, in response to the budget, I also men­tioned flooding concerns, and the gov­ern­ment MLAs laughed at my raising this but, I'm glad today the minis...

 April 21, Cindy, Dougald and Cecilia and I enjoyed at evening at an Insurance Brokers of Manitoba (IBAM) dinner which featured the Sam Roberts band.  In the photo above we are with Brian and Susan Gilbert.  Susan is the current President of IBAM.   Below - Sam Roberts and his band.