The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien’s life of service to Canada was celebrated on Parliament Hill on this date in 2010, seven years after his retirement from elected politics. MPs, Senators, Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper, Indigenous leaders and supporters of the 20th Prime Minister all gathered for the special ceremony dedicating Chrétien’s official portrait.
“Is there any other country- any other country which offers the same guarantees, the same opportunities as we give to people in Canada?” the Little Guy from Shawinigan told his audience. “Is there any other country in the world which has shown the same generosity as Canada? You know we are a family. First francophone and after that anglophone, but I am happy that I have two (Indigenous Canadians) here- two of my good friends; Max Gros-Louis and mon ami Phil Fontaine du Manitoba- because I wanted to have people the first on our land here. And we have welcomed people from all around the world to come and share the advantages and the responsibility of being Canadian.
“So indeed, it was for me a great honour first to be a Member of Parliament, it was a great moment for me. Eventually I became Prime Minister, but as I said to you, coming under the Peace Tower today again, I could not help but to remember all I have learned here- but it’s all about Canada.”
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.