Hon. Art Eggleton:

Honourable senators, this is a motion by Senator Eaton proposing a study by the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology to examine the promotion of Canadian identity, integration and cohesion with a working title of "Who We Are: Canadian Identity in the 21st Century."

The senator presented this motion back on June 4. I have held it in my name to discuss with her the intent with respect to the motion and to try to flesh out some of the thoughts and ideas about where this might go and, in addition, to discuss it with committee. We did that this morning, and the comments were generally supportive of proceeding with this matter.

Senator Eaton and I personally think it could be a valuable study. When Senator Eaton earlier talked about Remembrance Day, she noted that in fact only four provinces in this country have courses in their high schools in Canadian history. I think that is deplorable, and I believe most of us would. In fact, the occasional surveys and polls that are taken to try to indicate what Canadians know about the history of this country produce some very disappointing results. It is appalling. Few people know who the first Prime Minister of this country was or many of the leaders of governments of the past, including John A. Macdonald and Wilfrid Laurier. They do not seem to know a lot about Vimy Ridge or Frederick Banting or many of the other people and events that have helped shape this country. We need to see some improvement.

I notice the new citizenship guide gets deeper into matters of history, and I think that is good. It can be valuable for new arrivals in this country. If they are now suggesting that they be tested based on the information in that document, new Canadians will end up knowing more about Canada than many people who were born here.

This kind of study can help generate a greater understanding of who we are and our history. Some of that, such as what happens in schools, is essentially a matter of provincial jurisdiction, but citizenship is federal jurisdiction. Citizenship education is a valuable role for the federal government. Some recommendations along those lines may help generate more of an understanding in our school systems in this country.

The matter of Canadian identity raises questions: What is that? We have many people from many different lands. We are, as we say, a country of immigrants. We all have different backgrounds and perspectives. It is not easy to pin down what that identity is. The kind of work that this study could generate would be valuable for giving us a better appreciation and understanding of what we are about in this country, our basic values and a greater knowledge of our history.

The senator knows, as the committee discussed this morning, that this is not something we can do immediately. We do have other mandates from the Senate. Post-secondary education is one of them, and the committee has just completed the first segment on the ongoing study of our cities — poverty, housing and homelessness — and will now enter into further segments of that particular mandate. It is our hope that we can start some parts of it in the not-too-distant future and get it more formally and fully under way upon completion of the post-secondary education study.

I intend to support the motion by Senator Eaton.

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