Cloverdale-Langley City MP John Aldag’s first private members bill passed key stages in Parliament on Wednesday (April 18).
Bill C-374, which passed unanimously in the House, would amend the HistoricSites and Monuments Act to add “much-needed Indigenous representation to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board,” according to a release.
It is drawn from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 79.1, which recommended including First Nations, Inuit, and Métis representation on the board.
“I am excited and humbled to have received unanimous support for Bill C-374,” said Aldag in a release. “Bill C-374’s passage reflects the fact that reconciliation with Indigenous peoples is a crucial, non-partisan issue for Canadians. I am thankful to my colleagues for supporting this small, but important step towards reconciliation.”
The bill will return to the House of Commons for one more hour of debate before being voted on a final time, following which it will likely go to the Senate for consideration.
Bill S-210, originally sponsored in the Senate by Senator Mobina Jaffer, is the second bill that Aldag sponsored this week. It passed with a vote of 293-1.
That bill, if officially adopted, would remove the “unnecessary, divisive short title ‘Barbaric Cultural Practices'” from Canadian statutes, notes a release.
It will be sent to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights for consideration before returning to the House in late May for third reading.
“Bill S-210 demonstrates that words are important in setting the tone for the kind of nation we want Canada to be,” said Aldag. “S-210 celebrates the strength of diversity and eliminates the politics of hatred and division that was the hallmark of the Harper Conservatives.”
