Hon. Patricia Bovey: Honourable senators, I’m not sure I have any words. I don’t know how to say thank you. I am quite overwhelmed, colleagues, by your really thoughtful, personal and unique tributes. So thank you very much.

I have to say, having my daughters and one of my sons-in-law here from the U.K.; my brothers, one from Florida and one from Winnipeg; a cousin from Connecticut; and friends from various spots, I have to say, having you with me today has made this even more special. Thank you all for coming.

Thank you all for your truly generous comments and those expressed by senators and the committee administration over the past few weeks.

I would also like to thank you for your support of my work over the past six and a half years.

It has been an immense honour to have served Manitobans and Canadians as a member of the Senate of Canada. The issues and ideas we have discussed and debated in this place have been rich. The experiences I have had across Canada and abroad have been truly memorable.

I want to welcome our new colleague Senator Petten. I wish you all the very best for your time in this place and I’m sure you will find it as enriching and interesting as I have.

I have often said that effective change is imperceptible in the moment. We can see the impact of such a change when we look back. Colleagues, that is certainly true for me as I look back on these six and a half years and reflect on the work of everyone here in the Senate, both the senators and the administration staff.

This place has progressed in every way, and from my perspective, the quality of the speeches is, in so many cases, inspiring. The independence of thought, the wide range of professional experiences embraced in this place and the varied perspectives certainly enrich our debates. I hear that from Canadians all across the country.

Speaker Furey, I owe you a very special thank you. Your guidance, wisdom, friendship and generosity will be sorely missed as you retire from this place. Personally, I thank you for the many doors you have opened for me; that of acting as Speaker in your absence in both this chamber and in Centre Block was a true honour, as was representing you internationally at the G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit in Argentina and the Canada-Mexico meetings where you trusted me to sign agreements on your behalf, as well as at the Halifax Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference and, of course, travelling with you to Latvia and France. Thank you.

Senator Ringuette, thank you for the work you do as Speaker pro tempore and for the way that you do it.

Senator Harder was so welcoming when I first arrived and throughout my time here, especially as my Progressive Senate Group — PSG — colleague, and he has continued his wise counsel. I thank him.

Senator Gold, you and the Government Representative Office have also been pillars. Thank you for what you do.

Colleagues, at my peril, I want to thank three other people in particular who have helped me immeasurably at my outset in this chamber.

Senator Mockler, do you remember that breakfast we had in the Sheraton Hotel when I was a brand new senator and the railway in Churchill was flooded? You knew I was concerned as it rendered Manitoba’s Port of Churchill on Hudson Bay cut off from the South. You knew my desire to help in whatever way I could, and you told me how, because I didn’t have a clue. And you told me the opportunities we had as senators. Thanks to you, I launched that inquiry.

I am incredibly proud of the fix — the purchase of the railway by First Nations communities along the line and the way they have maintained it since, despite increasing challenges of melting permafrost. The trains do run. I can see them in the distance from my Winnipeg condo. The rail line is so vital as there is no road to Churchill.

Senator Cordy, you championed my quest at the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade to study cultural diplomacy, and we weren’t even in the same group then. I admit I was dogged, as I knew it was so important, but without your regular interjections, it would not have happened. So thank you, Jane. The resulting study, Cultural Diplomacy at the Front Stage of Canada’s Foreign Policy, as I said yesterday, has borne real fruit, but I believe it could bear much more fruit with formal endorsement.

I sincerely thank again the 2017-19 Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee; its chair, Senator Andreychuk; and the staff and our clerk and analyst for their unanimous endorsement of this initiative and their active participation in that work, especially Senator Oh, Senator Ataullahjan, Senator Dean and Senator Massicotte. I thank today’s committee and chair, Senator Boehm, and deputy chair, Senator Harder, for including this goal in their current work.

As you have heard me say before, Canada does need to be understood internationally. Other parts of the world do need to know who we are, our values, roots, diversities and ethics, and that is done through cultural diplomacy. And the work of artists of all disciplines does tell the world who we are, where we come from and our courage in where we are going.

May Canada’s international profile be strengthened in the months to come. Incidentally, I can assure you, from my arts and Senate experiences over decades, the financial returns from government funding of cultural diplomacy will be far greater than the expenditures themselves, and the rewards in every dimension will be significant.

The third person I want to thank is former senator Dennis Dawson. While he was still on sick leave, I was told that I needed to talk to him about the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications, and that I would need his support to move the Portrait Gallery of Canada idea forward. To be perfectly honest, I was intimidated. I was familiar with his career and his connections. Despite feeling discouraged, I followed his advice, and he was very encouraging and interesting, as always.

To the Senate Administration staff, it was a real privilege to work with all of you. I admire the knowledge, professionalism and support of our capable Senate staff, including the clerks, the legal and finance personnel, the procurement, HR and communications staff, the researchers and analysts at the Library of Parliament, and the Senate archivist and her staff.

Thank you to everyone.

To the security personnel, words fail. You are everywhere. Always friendly, helpful, professional, whether posted indoors or out in the worst of weather, winter cold and snow, rain, sleet and summer heat. I thank you.

To our cleaners, building services, cafeteria staff, postal workers, translators, Hansard staff, printing and all those who make our meetings happen so smoothly, even when there are occasional hiccups, I applaud you.

And Black Rod, what can I say? You, too, are everywhere and have been so helpful for issues I have worked on in this chamber and in my own community. We may see each other at the end of July at Winnipeg’s World Police and Fire Games honouring our first responders, the second-largest games globally after the summer Olympics. As you are a former Manitoban, I hope yours and my paths may cross there.

To our pages, you are such inspiring young people — helpful, intelligent, gifted and dedicated. Thank you for all you do. I wish you all the very best as you pursue your ongoing education and careers. Please know how proud I am of every one of you. With people like you as our upcoming leaders, I have no fear for the future.

To my Progressive Senate Group colleagues and staff, words fail here too. That poem was amazing. This small but special and mighty group of senators has been so embracing of all my work. I thank each and every one of you for the depth of discussion and fun at our caucus meetings. Your candour and your embracing of the true meaning of the word “independent” is to be heralded. Thank you for your belief in me and for supporting me when I was a member of the PSG leadership.

And with all my heart to my staff, Archie Campbell, my Director of Parliamentary Affairs, and Christine Sentongo-Andersen, my Director of Issues Management, thank you. Archie and Christine have been at the core of all I have worked on since I came here, and any achievements I may have had are because of them.

Archie and Christine, words really are inadequate to thank you for all you have done to make our work so much fun, substantive and so much more. You really do know how the Hill works. Your advice has been wise and helpful, as has your diligence in our endeavours. Thank you.

I will say this, though: You almost became Manitobans, but I know you didn’t embrace the minus 40 and worse degrees and the bracing winter winds. Colleagues, I now need to win a huge lottery so that I can continue to have Christine and Archie working with me.

To my provincial and regional compatriots, thank you for your belief in me and for your candour. It has been a privilege to work and serve Manitobans and bring your voices into our deliberations. I cherished my trip to northern Manitoba and the engagements I have had with citizens throughout the province. It was an honour to go out with the Bear Clan Patrol on a number of occasions as well. Their work in troubled communities in our city has made a really positive difference.

I also want to acknowledge the tremendous support and input I have had on many issues from Canadian artists, arts organizations, arts workers and audiences all across the country, including my work on the parliamentary visual artist laureate, cultural diplomacy, artists’ resale rights, art fraud, fraud and my declaration on the essential role of artists and creative expression in Canada. Those are only a few of the things I’ve heard about from our creative colleagues.

That last item, the declaration, may be stalled at the moment following the passing its sponsor in the other place, Jim Carr, but I know that its intent and provisions will rise to the fore, as the support and need for it everywhere in Canada is not only understood but critically embraced.

Remember that arts and cultural industries are Canada’s third-largest employer, with artists being the largest percentage of working poor living below the poverty line, and with artists with disabilities at the very bottom of that ladder. Together, all parts of society need to address that dichotomy and recognize the constructive role the arts play in every aspect of contemporary life.

When I was called to be in the Senate, the Prime Minister said I was to be independent. I have been. He said I was to work on everything. I have. That includes our report on autonomous vehicles, Driving Change: Technology and the future of the automated vehicle, a study I found fascinating and one I wholly embraced, although at the outset I thought, “What am I doing this for? I don’t have a clue.” We learn fast in this place.

Sponsoring Bill C-55, the so-called Oceans Protection Act, and being part of the first steps of protecting Canada’s oceans, increasing its protected areas from 7% to 20% was important. I support moving that target to 30%.

Being a member of the National Finance Committee was very informative, as were all the truly important societal issues before the Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee. I thank the three chairs I worked with in that committee: Senators Eggleton, Petitclerc and now Omidvar. The Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration and its Subcommittees on Human Resources, Diversity, Senate Estimates and Committee Budgets and, for a short time, Long Term Vision and Plan gave me real insights into the internal workings of the Senate.

Of course, dear to my heart was the Artwork and Heritage Advisory Working Group, which I had the honour of chairing and about which I will say more in a minute.

The work of the Special Committee on the Arctic, chaired by Senator Dennis Glen Patterson — it was an honour to be your deputy chair, senator — was transformational. As you know, the North has been key in my pre-Senate and Senate work, both on committees and individually. I think our report Northern Lights: A Wake-Up Call for the Future of Canada was a seminal piece of work that has laid the groundwork for the future.

My subsequent trips to Cape Dorset, Yellowknife and Gjoa Haven were memorable, and each underlined for me the challenges we all face regarding the North. Issues of climate change in our North are particularly alarming and critical, with the projections that the melt of sea ice will see 40 communities submerged, like ancient Alexandria but for different reasons.

COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh last November was a major step in including the creative sector in the final cover discussion paper for the first time at any COP. I thank my colleagues, our Indigenous folks who were there pushing for that and I thank Minister Guilbeault for his push for that recognition. I sincerely hope that our creative sector will be at the table looking for solutions going forward.

My engagement and work on climate change with the international creative community are ongoing and will continue, Senator Coyle. You might hear from me.

As we all know, our role is to represent Canadians when we study, amend and adopt bills and we develop bills of public interest for the Senate. We all take our work very seriously.

In appointing me, the Prime Minister also made it clear that in addition to being independent and working on everything, I was to do all that through the lens of arts and culture. I think you know I did that — or at least tried to do that — to the best of my ability. As you’ve heard, I came here as the Senate’s first art historian and museologist, and I have to say it was daunting at the outset. I know some eyebrows were raised.

I thank you all for your openness to that creative world and how colleagues from all groups in this chamber have embraced those important issues. I am proud to have represented Canadian artists, arts workers and audiences, and thank the more than 600 across the country who were part of my consultations for my declaration on the essential role of artists and creative expression in Canada. As I said, I know that one day those realities and the essence of the declaration will be recognized.

The supportive and encouraging calls, emails, texts and notes I receive from the creative community across this country are amazing. The arts are core to every aspect of society — the economy; jobs; health; education; climate change, environmental awareness and solutions; tourism; crime prevention; and rural revival — the eight tentacles of the octopus I speak of so often. I do sincerely appreciate the support from you all in that work.

I also thank you for your encouragement and support of our in‑Senate arts and heritage work, from developing our policy for Senate arts and heritage, to our Honouring Canada’s Black Artists program. Yisa Akinbolaji is in the gallery today. He was one of the first artists in that first installation.

I also thank you for your support for Visual Voices, Galleries and Museums in the Senate, Cultivating Perspectives and the work we did to set a future for proper representation of Indigenous nations in our Indigenous Peoples Room. Indeed, I hand-carried two donations back from Manitoba for the Senate the other day by the Indigenous artist Elvis Antoine.

If only transport costs had not risen as they have and remained as projected, we would have been further along with the next iteration of Honouring Canada’s Black Artists from Nova Scotia and Quebec and with the Visual Voices, next time heralding the work of the Human Rights Committee on Islamophobia. After that, it would be celebrating artists with disabilities. But thanks to the Internal Economy Committee, that is now moving again. I have three more days to take it the next steps. So stay tuned for the ongoing work of the committee.

Senator Furey, I thank you again for your encouraging insights and support of this internal Senate work.

All that to say I am delighted with the steps that the Senate and every group in this chamber have taken in reflecting the voices of artists across the country and their insights into our past and present, with the portraits of our Speakers, aspects of our landscape and their calls for action on critical issues today.

Colleagues, the Senate also presents us with out-of-the-box situations, such as that passed on to me by Senator Greene Raine: lighthouses. Enjoying kayaking, I kayaked out to the Trial Islands Lighthouse off McNeil Bay. Fortunately, I went with truly experienced kayaking friends, as winds and heavy tides came up on our return trip. We had to lash our kayaks together. It was a dramatic afternoon. How lucky I was that I was with pros, as the situation was far beyond my kayak competency level.

Then there was my visit to Sheringham Point Lighthouse while it was under renovation. I climbed it and went out onto the ledge to see the recording equipment for the work the lighthouse was doing for Oceans Canada. They were monitoring the whales that were in some trouble in the straits that summer. I didn’t realize the questionable stability of the railings until I had to come in off that ledge and look down at the rocks below. I can honestly commit to my family, as they sit in this chamber, with all of you as witnesses: I won’t do that again unless I know the railings are solid and safe.

Now to look forward and build on the foundations we have achieved together these past few years. On April 11, I hosted an overflow crowd of about 130 at my Winnipeg open arts forum to let the community know the status of my Senate work and initiatives as I age on from this august chamber. I wanted to share how they might work more effectively with members of both houses, and let them tell me their ongoing needs and concerns. I thank Senator Cardozo for accepting my invitation to Winnipeg for that session, and I thank Senator Osler for attending as well. I know the community felt heard by the Senate that day.

At that session, artists’ resale rights came up, as did the need to mitigate the fraud and fake issues now so prominently at the fore. I will continue to work on those complex fraud issues. Attendees raised questions about artists’ estates and the taxation on the art remaining in their studios on their passing, an issue that is being addressed now by Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens, or CARFAC. Fraud and copyright is a complex issue deserving attention going forward. Another issue raised was around public art and the need for consistency in processes and finances of competitions. While many art competitions are municipal and provincial, there are important federal public art competitions, such as the recent one for the national monument for the 2LGBTQI+ competition won by a Winnipeg team, and I believe another has been committed to honour paramedics.

Honourable senators, I have learned from my lifelong experience that the circles we live become ever more apparent as we age, as do the connecting ribbons across Canada. This building epitomizes those ribbons of history in many dimensions. We sit exactly where the platforms for the old Ottawa train station once were. These rails — ribbons of steel — have connected east and west for almost a century and a half, just as this building did in its next life as a government conference centre and now again as the Senate of Canada. Our debates, discussions, Senate studies and witness testimonies from across Canada further those critically important national links.

My personal circle in this building includes two of its histories. We, as a family, moved to Ottawa when I was in my mid-teens, arriving by train right here, perhaps even alighting forth from the train at the spot where my desk is now. Our tours during the construction and transformation of this building were remarkable, and I thank Senator Tannas. Our foyer is the old waiting room. The murals depict the country through which both the tracks and our legislation travel. It is interesting to remember that radio in Canada started on the railway, and just several weeks ago, we hotly debated Bill C-11, the revisions to the Broadcasting Act. Circles continue.

My last day physically in this chamber is tomorrow, May 11, and I can’t leave without squaring another circle — my professional one. My first day as a curator in the Winnipeg Art Gallery was also a May 11, in 1970. Housed then in Winnipeg’s Civic Auditorium, my first task was to take down all the exhibitions. A wrestling match was to be on stage that night, and the gallery’s director was concerned about crowd rowdiness. The wrestler was Jesse Ventura. He returned to the gallery about 30 years later as Minnesota’s governor; I had returned to the Winnipeg Art Gallery as director, and had just negotiated a memorandum of understanding with the Minneapolis Institute of Art to enable the sharing of collections and exhibitions. That is cultural diplomacy in action.

I am proud of the Senate’s role and its international efforts through various parliamentary associations, especially the unanimous motion we got passed by all 780 international parliamentary delegates at the Organization for Security and Co‑operation in Europe, or OSCE, in Birmingham last summer.

I would like to highlight the need to protect the security of the Arctic. In this area, and with the help of international parliamentary associations where I served and with which I travelled, I can say that we have rich opportunities, as senators, to make our world a better place through better understanding.

I have learned so much from programs in other countries, which — if repurposed for Canada — could have the ability to make a positive mark here, such as the U.K. social prescribing program. In it, people in psychological, health or financial need engage with others in public activities like garden plots, the arts and other community endeavours. As I have mentioned in this chamber before, the program of Montreal’s doctors in prescribing visits to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is one to emulate in other parts of the country. I thank Senator Mégie as one of those Montreal doctors for her work on that impressive initiative.

Honourable senators, the circles and lives we weave are indeed the platforms and foundations of our futures — personally, professionally and for our communities and country. I am only sorry that almost one third of my time as a senator was while COVID-19 raged. While it meant the chamber experience was online, it also created opportunity for a number of very informal, effective working groups involving people from every Senate group on a number of issues, including one on the Arctic and another on the arts.

Unfortunately, COVID took the life of one of our colleagues, Senator Forest-Niesing. I am pleased that, in her honour, we were able to exhibit the ribbon skirt that she designed and that was made by her mother. Those sorts of connections are very important.

I know that the friendships and collegial relationships that I have had the privilege of developing in this place will continue. Again, I thank you for all your tributes this afternoon, they mean so much. With all my heart, I wish you all the very best going forward in continuing your work of representing your regions and your specific sectors. As my late husband said, “We are all better off when we are all better off.” I know you will work to make our country better off. As I leave this place, I will try to do the same, as my involvement in many of the issues on which I have worked on in this chamber will continue. I will never forget the honour it is to have had the opportunity and responsibility to serve Canadians through the Senate. What a privilege.

Thank you all, but also thanks to my colleagues who were sworn in on the same day I was: Senator Cormier, Senator Hartling, Senator Boniface, Senator Pate and Senator Woo. We had a special group.

Your Honour, as you and I age on in this place — I don’t want the word “retirement” or “age out,” so I decided I’m aging on and I hope that’s what you’re doing — to start new chapters at the same time, I thank you again, and I wish you a very happy birthday and all the best in your next chapter. I do count you as an honorary Manitoban, but I haven’t tested you at minus 40 yet.

Thank you all, and I thank my family again for your support and patience during these past years. Our miles may be many, but our hearts are close. I appreciate your support very much.

Thank you again to all my colleagues, to all the Senate staff and to all senators. Thank you, everyone.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!