Bill
232–The Emancipation Day Act
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Mr. Deputy Speaker, I thank the member for St. Vital for putting forward this bill.
It is an important bill and it should be passed. Our Manitoba Liberals' caucus supports it. As the member has suggested it, I will have a party in River Heights, when appropriate to the COVID situation at that time, and I will invite the MLA for St. Vital and the MLAs for Southdale and Union Station.
I was fortunate. My father grew up in Africa, in what is now Zambia. In his early life, all his friends were Black. He had a great admiration for Black people. He used, for example, to tell the story of the chief of a village located not far from Kanchindu in the valley of the Zambezi River.
During the influenza epidemic of 1918-19, this chief, Chief Syatiminda, saved his village while other nearby villages were ravaged by disease and many deaths. He did this by mandating that everyone in the village had to leave their homes at sunrise and not return until sunset. For some reason, he knew or suspected what we know today, that it's safer outdoors than indoors, for the virus spreads poorly outdoors. He also used a traditional medicine from the sap of a baobab tree. Perhaps this sap should be studied this time, too.
My father also spoke highly of
Nelson Mandela in the 1950s and '60s, long before it became popular to do so.
When I was growing up, one of my
heroes was John Ware, a Black cowboy who had an amazing skill with horses
and became a very respected and successful rancher in Alberta. I always thought
he was symbolic of the Canadian spirit of succeeding against long odds.
Many times, I've spoken to audiences
about another Black Canadian, Elijah McCoy, a mechanical engineer and inventor
who contributed immensely to the development of lubricants for engines. I like
to think, as has been suggested, that the phrase the real McCoy came from
people demanding that they get the real Elijah McCoy lubricant, because it
worked so much better than anything else.
As well as being proud of the
contributions of Black Canadians, which are enormous, we need to remember
that we, as humans, evolved from early humans in Africa. In this context, we
should all know the story of Marina Elliott, a Canadian biological
anthropologist who became an underground astronaut, going into a small cave
through a narrow opening.
She was not Black herself, but she
was an important part of a team that explored the cave and found extensive
remains of a new early hominid, Homo naledi, which lived 250 to 450 thousand
years ago in South Africa, not far from Johannesburg. We owe much to people who
came from Africa, including our own species, and to those like Marina who had
contributed to this understanding.
In Manitoba, we recognize many
extraordinary Black Manitobans. Gerry Atwell, an amazing musician and mentor
to many, is being celebrated each year in mid August at the St. Norbert Arts
and Cultural Centre. Last year, out of the celebration came a poster, messages
of hope for a world without racism, with each MLA receiving a copy, and it was
widely distributed, also, in Manitoba schools.
In Manitoba, we're also making
progress with back–Black politicians being elected, the most recent being
Sunday Frangi in the city council in Brandon.
We do need this bill. We need it to
remind us of our own heritage and of the incredible contributions Black
Canadians have made.
It is true that there has existed,
and still exists, much racism in Manitoba, and we need to acknowledge this. I
hope, working together, we can change this and improve the lives of those who
are Black in Manitoba, for in so doing we also improve our own lives and the
life and culture of our city, our province and our country.
As the MLA from Tyndall Park says,
reconciliation and understanding one's own privilege is a part of this, and
it's everyone's work.
Emancipation Day, August 1st, 1934
was an important day in our history, and we need to recognize its
significance.
Thank you, the MLA for St. Vital.
Thank you all. Merci. Miigwech.
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