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December 10, 1997
(Executive Council)

The following statement was issued today by Premier Brian Tobin. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

I am pleased to rise before the House today, to declare this, December 10, 1997, to be Human Rights Day in Newfoundland and Labrador. When the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 49 years ago, it marked a milestone. And here in Newfoundland and Labrador today, through amending our own Human Rights Code, we mark a milestone of our own.

According to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, all people must be treated equally before and under the law. But the Charter does not govern the attitudes and actions of people, and the hurt and loss of opportunity that can result when discrimination is practised by a fellow citizen. That is why we have legislation in the form of the Human Rights Code, enforced and administered by the Human Rights Commission.

It is an important safe guard, but we cannot ignore issues as they arise in our society. In fact, until yesterday there was an important area in which the Human Rights Code of Newfoundland and Labrador was lacking. Until an amendment was passed through the House of Assembly yesterday, sexual orientation was NOT identified as a prohibited ground of discrimination under the code. An entire segment of our population was without protection. Why should gays and lesbians lose opportunities and be subject to discrimination when other minority groups are not in this society? How could we let this situation continue?

Several years ago, Supreme Court Justice Leo Barry ruled that based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, sexual orientation must be "read into" the code so that gays and lesbians could avail of its protection. We could not leave this to the interpretation of the courts, so we took the appropriate measures to include this important issue in legislation.

The amendment has now received Third Reading and has passed through the House of Assembly. The next step is Royal Assent.

I want to say to members of the House, and through the House to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, that I am proud to be a member of this legislature which has given, unanimously, its consent to this important evolution in the human rights of this province.

Today I have been made aware, in the shadow of yesterday's progress and step forward, of another issue in this province which reminds us that we must remain vigilant when it comes to human rights. There was in "The Aurora", a Robinson-Blackmore paper, two days ago, an editorial called, "Then Give Em the Keys". The editorial reminds us that we must remain vigilant in the area of human rights. It was given to me and brought to my attention by the members from Labrador, both the Labrador Coast and Labrador West.

This is a main editorial in a newspaper in our province, and it is something we are not familiar with and something that we cannot allow to pass unchallenged in particular on this day, Human Rights Day. Let me read a couple of lines:

"The day an aboriginal group agrees to take a dollar for dollar reduction in government pay-outs will be the day gravity ceases to exist and we will all float off into never, never land. The Europeans who settled this country were arrogant, murdering pigs. They exterminated whole races solely because our ancestors were too blinded by religion and conquest to understand another race of people in their old age ways, but Canada and her people have been paying for these sins long enough."

"Jail terms end, loans are paid-off, but it seems this country will burn in the financial fires of eternal damnation if the aboriginals have their way."

It goes on to say:

"Yet if we are to give such natural resource control to aboriginal groups, the federal government must retain ultimate control, at least, from an environmental stand point."

"Allowing them free rein of the forest and lands would be akin to starving a grossly obese person for days and then letting them run loose through a chocolate factory. There would be little left for the rest of us to enjoy and the damage would be irreversible."

This is a main editorial in a newspaper in this province. In a pejorative way it describes an entire valued segment of our population in terms that are unacceptable in 1997.

I ask that you on behalf of this House, and I ask the House, to join me in sending a letter to Robinson-Blackmore. I am not interested in who wrote the editorial, it is unsigned, but I am interested in the House measuring its disgust with the tone of this editorial, asking for an apology. And, I am interested in the House joining me in expressing to the aboriginal people of Newfoundland and Labrador, our solidarity when these kinds of racist comments are made about the character and quality of the people who make up that community.