Statement made on 29 March 2010 by Senator Lillian Eva Dyck
Hon. Lillian Eva Dyck:
Honourable senators, I had the pleasure of attending the seventeenth annual National Aboriginal Achievement Awards Gala held in Regina on Friday, March 26. The gala recognizes 14 outstanding Aboriginals from across Canada for their work in various areas, such as lifetime achievement, youth, health and so on.
The award recipient in the law and justice category this year was Don Worme. Don was the only recipient from Saskatchewan. He was raised on the Kawacatoose First Nation, about 100 kilometres north of Regina.
Over the years, Worme was involved in the Ipperwash Inquiry that placed blame on the Ontario Government and police in the death of protester Dudley George; he represented an inmate at the Kingston Penitentiary Inquiry where cruel practices were deemed to have been undertaken; and he represented the family of Neil Stonechild in the Neil Stonechild Inquiry, which investigated the freezing death of the Saskatoon teen.
More recently, Mr. Worme has been appointed as the chief counsel for the residential schools' Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He stated:
The injustice that is faced by many in our society — and not just First Nations communities — deserves to be responded to. The sense of social justice I was raised with, that my grandfather instilled . . . his view of the world was that if you see wrong, then you must speak out about it. If you can do something about it, beyond speaking, then you must do it. That is our duty.
Honourable senators, congratulations to Don Worme, his wife Helen Semaganis and his family on receiving this latest honour.