Thursday, February 1st 2018 - Statement - Tribute to the Honourable Claudette Tardif

Hon. Rose-May Poirier: Honourable senators, today I am paying tribute to our colleague, Senator Claudette Tardif. I have had the opportunity and the privilege of sitting on the Official Languages Committee with Senator Tardif since 2011 or 2012, but it was in the past few years in particular, since she and I became chair and deputy chair of the committee respectively, that I was lucky enough to get to know this extraordinary person better. I got to watch up close as a fire and passion took hold whenever she defended official language minority communities and protected their language rights. She always made sure that the various stakeholders from different sectors across the country, such as French teachers from British Columbia, cultural representatives from Ontario, and anglophones from Quebec, got their chance to be heard.

Senator Tardif, you have certainly left your mark on the Senate. Your voice, your passion and your knowledge will be sorely missed in the Senate and on the Official Languages Committee. In my eyes, your departure is a great loss not only to the Senate, but to every official language minority community across Canada. I have a feeling that you will keep working on certain files and that we have not heard the last of you. I certainly hope that will be the case, but I hope you will also get to spend lots of quality time with your family and friends, because you have definitely earned it. We’ll miss you.

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