Skip to main content

Bill 223 Ukrainian Heritage Month Act.

 On Tuesday May 17, I spoke in the Manitoba Legislature on Bill 223, Ukrainian Heritage Month Act, at third reading.  My comments are below: 

Bill 223 Ukrainian Heritage Month Act  

Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Madam Speaker, Manitoba Liberals, we support this bill, and we look forward to September being a time to recog­nize, to celebrate and to honour Ukraine and the con­tri­bu­tion of people who have come from Ukraine.

      And there are many–I think about 180,000 in Manitoba. And people from Ukraine are living and working all over Manitoba; they are living and working in all variety of occupations, public and private. They are making an in­cred­ible con­tri­bu­tion to our province. Ukraine is a part of who we are in Manitoba, and we want to celebrate that and recog­nize it.

      At the same time, we want to recog­nize the dif­fi­cul­ties that Ukraine has been through–the in­cred­ible struggles at the time of the Holodomor, the in­cred­ible struggles that are happening right now with the war between Ukraine and Russia. It is a tumultuous time at the moment. We are doing every­thing that we can as individuals, as a Province, as a country, to support Ukraine and Ukrainian people.

      We look forward to receiving many Ukrainians shortly coming, and we welcome them as new refugees and hope they will decide to stay in Manitoba. But we–it hurts, because we don't want to be, you know, taking people who would make a con­tri­bu­tion in Ukraine. We want to make sure that the fun­da­mental continuance of Ukraine as a country is there, and we are supporting that all the way.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dougald Lamont speaks at Meth Forum last night to present positive ideas to address the epidemic, while exposing the lack of action by the Pallister Conservatives

Last night at the Notre Dame Recreation Centre in St. Boniface, at an Election Forum on the Meth Crisis in Manitoba, Dougald Lamont spoke eloquently about the severity of the meth epidemic and described the Liberal plan to address it.  The Liberal Plan will make sure that there is a single province-wide phone number for people, or friends of people, who need help dealing with meth to call (as there is in Alberta) and that there will be rapid access to a seamless series of steps - stabilization, detoxification, treatment, extended supportive housing etc so that people with meth addiction can be helped well and effectively and so that they can rebuild their lives.  The Liberal meth plan will be helped by our approach to mental health (putting psychological therapies under medicare), and to poverty (providing better support).  It will also be helped by our vigorous efforts to help young people understand the problems with meth in our education system and to provide alternative positive
3 comments
Read more

Manitoba Liberal accomplishments

  Examples of Manitoba Liberal accomplishments in the last three years Ensured that 2,000 Manitoba fishers were able to earn a living in 2020   (To see the full story click on this link ). Introduced a bill that includes retired teachers on the Pension Investment Board which governs their pension investments. Introduced amendments to ensure school aged children are included in childcare and early childhood education plans moving forward. Called for improvements in the management of the COVID pandemic: ·          We called for attention to personal care homes even before there was a single case in a personal care home. ·            We called for a rapid response team to address outbreaks in personal care homes months before the PCs acted.  ·          We called for a science-based approach to preparing schools to   improve ventilation and humidity long before the PCs acted. Helped hundreds of individuals with issues during the pandemic including those on social assistance
Post a Comment
Read more

The Indigenous Science Conference in Winnipeg June 14-16

  June 14 to 16, I spent three days at the Turtle Island Indigenous Science Conference.  It was very worthwhile.   Speaker after speaker talked of the benefits of using both western or mainstream science and Indigenous science.  There is much we can learn from both approaches.   With me above is Myrle Ballard, one of the principal organizers of the conference.  Myrle Ballard, from Lake St. Martin in Manitoba, worked closely with Roger Dube a professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology, and many others to make this conference, the first of its kind, a success.  As Roger Dube, Mohawk and Abenaki, a physicist, commented "My feeling is that the fusion of traditional ecological knowledge and Western science methodology should rapidly lead the researchers to much more holistic solutions to problems."   Dr. Myrle Ballard was the first person from her community to get a PhD.  She is currently a professor at the University of Manitoba and the Director of Indigenous Science
Post a Comment
Read more