Queen’s Park ON – On June 1st, 2011, MPP Jim Brownell’s Private Members’ Bill, Bill 185- An Act to Proclaim British Home Child Day, received Royal Assent by the Chief Justice of the Province of Ontario, the Honourable Mr. Justice Warren K. Winkler.
In a brief ceremony in the Lieutenant-Governor’s suite at Queen’s Park, Chief Justice Winkler signed his name to the bill.
MPP Brownell presents Bill 185
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP-1Uj107D4
British Home Child Day will be celebrated on September 28th of each year in Ontario. Bill 185 received second and third reading in the Legislature of Ontario on May 19th, 2011, and was then sent to the Lieutenant-Governor’s office for Royal Assent.
Bill 185 was co-sponsored by MPP Cheri DiNovo (Parkdale-Highpark) and MPP Steve Clark (Leeds-Grenville).
“May we long remember and honour the courage, strength and determination of our British Home Children ancestors, and celebrate their wonderful legacies,” said Jim Brownell, MPP for Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry.
QUICK FACTS
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Last year, the same bill was introduced twice, as Bill 241 and Bill 12. Both Bills passed second reading, with unanimous support from all parties; however, they have either died or stalled in the Justice Committee.
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On December 7th, 2009, The House of Commons in Ottawa passed, with unanimous consent, a Private Members’ Bill (M-438) to recognize 2010 as the Year of the British Home Child.
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In addition to Parliament recognizing 2010 as The Year of the British Home Child, Canada Post issued a stamp commemorating the Home Children and Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration plans to include recognition of their story in Citizenship ceremonies.
