Honourable senators, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to have worked with Senator Dyck during her time in the Senate. I have learned so much from her over the years; sometimes it was the things she said, and sometimes it was by her actions.

Lillian is a brilliant, hard-working woman who never backs down from a challenge, as we saw with her work on Bill S-3, An Act to amend the Indian Act (elimination of sex based inequities in registration), or on the day she stood in the Senate chamber to tell us of the harassment she received as Chair of the Aboriginal Peoples Committee on June 11, 2019, by several committee members. She spoke of the frustration that parliamentary privilege meant that nothing could be done about what had happened. Honourable senators, that took courage.

Senator Dyck was appointed to the Senate in 2005 by Prime Minister Martin. She felt that she was being appointed because she was an Indigenous woman with a PhD, and there was no guarantee that if she declined the appointment that it would go to another Indigenous woman. On that basis, she decided to accept.

Last week, I spoke to Senator Dyck and said, “Lillian, you have done incredible things in the Senate that have made a huge difference in the lives of so many. Of all the things you have done, what do you want people to remember most?”

She replied that it was the little things that were most important — the things that meant so much but that may not be remembered by everyone.

So I will tell you about some of the “little things” that Senator Dyck has done. Honourable senators, October 4 is the Sisters in Spirit Vigil. It is a day to honour Indigenous women and girls who have been murdered or made missing. On October 4, 2017, Speaker Furey agreed, at Lillian’s request, to have a moment of silence at the start of Senate proceedings. That moment was finally an acknowledgement by the Senate of what really happened to so many Indigenous women and their families. Three years later, as Senator Dyck retold this to me, the emotion was very clear in her voice, because, indeed, it was an historic moment. So, Your Honour, thank you as well.

Senator Dyck also remembered one of our first-ever open caucuses when the topic was missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. At the end of the meeting, Lillian led us in singing the “Strong Woman Song”, which is sung in honour of Indigenous women and as a way to keep women strong. She admitted that it was her last public singing event.

Lillian was the first chair of Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples to have a smudging for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls at the committee. She was also the first senator and chair to ask Aboriginal youth to be witnesses at Aboriginal Peoples meetings. Later, Senate Communications invited Aboriginal youth to spend a day on the Hill to learn more about government and especially the Senate.

Lillian believes in the importance of getting Aboriginal youth involved and seeking their input, because it is their future we are talking about. This is why she has been involved with Youth Indigenize the Senate since 2016. We know that the fastest growing demographic in Canada is Aboriginal youth.

Honourable senators, Lillian Dyck is an incredible woman, and I have to say that her so-called “little things” are extremely important. She continues to work to stop systemic racism against Indigenous people, in particular racism against women. To Senator Dyck, my friend, you have made a difference. You will be missed. Thank you.

Honourable senators, on August 24, Senator Lillian Eva Dyck retired after 15 years of service in the Senate, where she represented, with great dedication and passion, the people of her beloved province, Saskatchewan. She was appointed to the upper chamber on the recommendation of The Right Honourable Paul Martin as the first female First Nations senator. She is a member of the Cree Gordon First Nation, and she was also the first Canadian-born senator of Chinese descent.

I wish to recognize Senator Dyck as an accomplished woman of influence and acknowledge her strength and hard work on issues she believed in. Today I wish to commend her for that hard work. She fought with strength and tenacity, especially on causes that were near and dear to her. It is without a shadow of a doubt that she was a powerful and vigorous voice for Indigenous communities in this chamber. One should never criticize those who fight hard for causes they believe in or causes that they deem harmful.

These words of praise may surprise some of you, but I truly consider Senator Dyck a friend. We clearly had different opinions, and rarely were we on the same side of a debate. We had many vigorous disagreements over the years, but that does not take away from the fact that I have fond memories of some of those exchanges.

There are few senators who have worked as hard and tirelessly as she has, especially as a critic of government bills when the Conservatives were in power or as a supporter of legislation she felt was right: issues such as UNDRIP or the disproportionate Indigenous populations in prisons come to mind.

Honourable senators, I wish to share a childhood memory with you, but first let me confess that I was not always an angel in school, which I know you’ll find hard to believe. As a matter of fact, I was often in trouble with my teachers. One teacher in particular would frequently wag her index finger at me from side to side in disapproval. Truth be told, this teacher was also my aunt.

Honourable senators, this same image comes to mind when I think of Senator Dyck, as we would also wave our index fingers in disapproval across the aisle at each other, but she always did this with a beaming smile. Although Senator Dyck and I didn’t often see eye to eye, I respected her and I will miss her as a worthy adversary.

On behalf of the opposition in the Senate, I wish Senator Lillian Dyck a happy retirement. Senator Dyck, I hope you are watching as I wag my finger at you once more, knowing that you are probably doing the same thing to me right now. Thank you, senators.

Honourable senators, it is my absolute honour to rise today on behalf of the Independent Senators Group to pay tribute to Senator Lillian Dyck. In everything the senator did, she was a trailblazer. As a leader, Senator Dyck laid the foundation for others to walk a path of success after her. As a young girl, Senator Dyck learned of the shameful legacy of residential schools through the experiences of her own mother.

This first-hand knowledge and experience fuelled Senator Dyck’s tireless advocacy alongside and on behalf of First Nations, Inuit, Métis and non-status Indigenous peoples in Canada. Additionally, because of her family’s challenges associated with being Chinese, she understood the lived realities of both vulnerable groups.

The first woman First Nations senator was a driving force behind Bill S-3, which ensured that Indigenous women would not lose their status simply for marrying a non-Indigenous man. Prior to her appointment, Senator Dyck was also one of the first Indigenous women to ever pursue a path in the academic realm of neuroscience, earning her PhD in biological psychiatry.

Senator Lillian, I learned a lot from you, I laughed a lot with you and I will sincerely miss you in this place. I have lost a dear colleague, but I will always have you as a mentor and a friend.

Honourable senators, I will share with you the many lessons I learned from Senator Dyck. Senator Dyck is extremely courageous and she always stood, sometimes alone, for the rights of the most vulnerable, particularly Indigenous peoples. The most important lesson I learned from Senator Dyck is to never be afraid to stand on your own for your values and beliefs.

I am sure, honourable senators, you will all agree that our country is stronger because of her staunch and unyielding leadership. Thank you.

Honourable senators, it is my honour to celebrate the career of our former colleague Lillian Dyck. Her beloved province of Saskatchewan and the Cree Gordon First Nation shared her with us for 15 years, and what a pleasure it is to have had her here.

The first female Indigenous senator and the first Canadian-born senator of Chinese descent, Senator Dyck was a trailblazer in everything she did. She worked as a neuroscientist prior to coming to the Senate and, once here, she made her mark immediately, especially through her work on protecting and advocating for Indigenous women and girls. While she didn’t start out as a member of the former Liberal caucus those many years ago, she eventually saw the light and joined that group with us, where she always provided good advice, always was a team player and always was a good friend.

I have learned so much about your journey and your culture, and I’m grateful we were able to work together for so many years. Lillian, congratulations on your stellar career, both in and out of the Senate. We will miss you and look forward to seeing what you will do next. Happy retirement.

Honourable senators, I rise to fondly pay tribute to Senator Lillian Dyck, who retired from the Senate quietly this past summer. I was privileged to have served on the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples with her since my appointment in 2009. I didn’t always line up with Lillian ideologically as a Conservative senator, but we worked hard to focus on the interests of Indigenous peoples and tried not to let partisan politics interfere, although that was not always avoidable. I firmly believe that with Lillian’s leadership and commitment throughout the years, our committee made great strides on tackling challenging and long-standing injustices and grievances.

Of the many successful campaigns Senator Dyck led, I am struck by one notable victory. Lillian, as chair, and I, as critic, worked together to ensure the passage of an amendment to Bill S-3, an act that amended the rules around First Nation registration to completely remove sexual discrimination and the 1951 cut-off. Remember our rallying cry, “6(1)(a) all the way”? I know that this was a personal and professional triumph for Senator Dyck, and I salute her tireless efforts to ensure that it was done.

Lillian also began an annual event called Youth Indigenize the Senate that focuses on Indigenous youth and doing a smudging in the Senate for the first time. We celebrated approving a number of modern treaties and held a drum dance in the Senate foyer to celebrate the Délįnę Final Self-Government Agreement.

I have fond memories of our journeys to remote locations during our epic studies with regard to on-reserve housing and later in Inuit Nunangat. I remember landing in a Twin Otter on floats at remote Ahousaht; short takeoffs and landings in remote Anishinaabe communities in northern Ontario; flying for hours in another Twin Otter from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, to Nain, Labrador, only to be turned back by fog on final approach and to have to fly all the way back; and being the last airplane to leave in blizzard weather in Iqaluit just before a winter storm shut down the airport for days.

This travel, amongst some septuagenarian senators, was not for the faint of heart, but Lillian cared to do that important work in a credible and effective way.

Thank you for your service, Lillian.

Honourable senators, one of the perks of being appointed to the Senate of Canada was to work alongside the Honourable Dr. Lillian Dyck and most recently as her colleague in the Progressive Senate Group. What an honest visionary and stalwart defender of principle and humanity she is.

As a prairie senator, it was clear to me that the substance of her academic and Senate careers was significant, but the manner in which she delivered her strong principles and the voices of the prairies, Canada’s First Nations peoples and Canadians of multiple diversities was truly inspirational.

I will never forget the first committee meeting I attended as a new senator. It was the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, chaired by Senator Dyck, when Bill S-3, An Act to Amend the Indian Act, was a topic of discussion. Senator, your warm welcome was much appreciated and the role you played as chair was memorable. I thank you.

I have rarely stayed in Ottawa over weekends, but I’m so pleased I stayed for one weekend in particular. Lillian, you know the weekend I mean. It was several years ago when the National Arts Centre was celebrating Indigenous arts and culture and presented that wonderful performance of the play Café Daughter, depicting your life. It was a real highlight. Learning of the mountains you had to scale given your duel heritage as an Indigenous Canadian and one of Chinese roots, not to mention the sudden change in your youthful life with the passing of your mother and the subsequent discrimination you suffered at school, was truly moving.

Your academic determination was not lost on any of us. Few will ever attain your stature as a full professor at the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of Psychiatry with a specialty as a neuropsychiatrist. Your study of Alzheimer’s disease is so important, and I thank you on a personal level.

Your leadership as a role model for youth is admirable. I know that was extended particularly to Indigenous youth, but please know your message is just as impactful to non-Indigenous youth. Your approach is doing so much for the steps of “reconciliACTION,” ensuring reconciliation. I thank you.

Lillian, I’m not going to repeat the heartfelt words from other colleagues about your many accomplishments, but I do wish you all the best and every success in your next steps serving Canadians, which I know you will do. In doing so, I thank you for all the contributions you have made as a senator in this chamber of sober second thought. Thank you.

Honourable senators, I rise to join the chorus to express appreciation to Senator Dyck for all she is and all she has contributed to this place. I also want to thank her for sponsoring me and providing such a warm welcome and fantastic mentorship, not just to me but to so many others here and in the academy and community.

I had the privilege of knowing and working with Senator Dyck before my appointment thanks to her leadership in Saskatchewan regarding issues pertaining to violence against Indigenous women and girls.

It was a privilege to meet Lillian, her gentle giant of a son and dear beloved dog when I was at the University of Saskatchewan. Since then, I have enjoyed the profound pleasure of presenting at and attending conferences or meetings together, collaborating on issues pertaining to women’s and Indigenous equality, walking and picking berries along the river in the “Paris of the Prairies” or joining her to take in Café Daughter, the incredible play Senator Bovey just mentioned, based on Senator Dyck’s amazing life.

And what a life it has been. Before her appointment, Senator Dr. Dyck was a neurochemistry professor and research scientist at the University of Saskatchewan. A member of the Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, she is a beacon of hope for Indigenous peoples and other racialized women, having blazed so many trails and established so many firsts. She is Canada’s first woman First Nations and Canadian-born Chinese senator, not to mention the first and, as far as I know, the only NDP senator.

When our colleague was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 2005, she identified four priorities for herself: reducing violence against Indigenous women, improving post-secondary education, fighting discrimination against Chinese Canadians and supporting women in science. She refused to be silenced, and frequently and courageously led us into challenging and vital discussions, studies, inquiries and legislative reform.

Thank you, Senator Cordy, for mentioning Lillian’s singing of the Strong Women’s Song, a song written and performed in honour of Indigenous women who died in the Prison for Women in Kingston. It has been a great privilege for so many to learn and benefit from Lillian’s passion and perseverance.

Thank you, kinanâskomitin, for all that you have given of yourself in the service of so many. So many more look forward to being the privileged and grateful recipients of your continued guidance and friendship as you write the future chapters of your life. Thank you, meegwetch.

Honourable senators, I rise today to pay tribute to a parliamentarian of distinction, a senator whose work and approach to carrying out her responsibilities and duties as a senator is held in high regard. I speak of my fellow Saskatchewanian, our colleague and a dear friend to many in these chambers, the Honourable Lillian Dyck.

Lillian Eva Quan Dyck was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan in 1945. Having reached the Senate’s mandated retirement age of 75, Senator Dyck retired this past summer on her birthday, Monday, August 24, 2020, ending a 15‑year term in the Senate of Canada faithfully representing Saskatchewan and guarding the interests of Canadians without voices in the Senate.

Lillian is an inspiration and a trailblazer. Yes, she was the first Indigenous woman and the first Canadian-born Chinese person to be appointed to the Senate, but that alone is not why she is referred to as a trailblazer. Instead, it has been her great work ethic that led her to the Senate.

She spent her youth in small towns in Alberta and Saskatchewan where her family ran a local Chinese café. Lillian left the family restaurant business to pursue a career in academia.

Let the trailblazing begin.

After earning a PhD in biological psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan, Lillian worked at that same university as a researcher, becoming a full professor of neuropsychiatry and Associate Dean of the College of Graduate Studies & Research.

In 2005, while working at the University of Saskatchewan, she got the call, and Senator Lillian Dyck was appointed to the Senate by former prime minister Paul Martin.

Unable to establish the NDP caucus in the Senate, she sat as an independent until joining the Liberal caucus in 2009 and retires from the chamber as a member of the Progressive Senate Group.

Senator Dyck’s goal of justice for Indigenous women is reflected in her introduction of Senate Bill S-215, a bill amending the Criminal Code to make violent acts against Indigenous women an aggravating factor in an offender’s sentencing. Although the bill was defeated, she was successful in amending Bill C-5, providing the same effect sought in Bill S-215.

She had many achievements in the Senate. She was a hard-working advocate for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, promoting an inquiry into the atrocity. In June 2019, the National Inquiry released its report.

Some of her highly acknowledged and valued work includes Senate Bill S-3 in the Forty-second Parliament, which removed a gender-based bigotry within the Indian Act; an inequity aimed at First Nations women who married non-First Nations men, stripping the First Nations woman and her children of their status, and hence their treaty rights.

In August 2019, the final provisions of the bill were brought into force, correcting a historical wrong, and restoring the rights and identity of First Nations women as First Nations status women according to the Indian Act.

Colleagues, it is said a founding aspiration of the creation of the Senate was to have a parliamentary body made of individuals who are the best among us, to ensure minority voices are heard by government in the study and examination of proposed legislation.

Senator Lillian Dyck is one of those individuals and dutifully served Canada for 15 years. Studious in her evaluation, humble in her demeanour, Lillian has exemplified a quietly bold leadership that is exemplary of model parliamentarians, demonstrating objectivity without bias or succumbing to political interference.

Saskatchewan Indigenous people and all Canadians were well served by Lillian in the Senate of Canada. We all owe her a debt of gratitude, though she would never ask that of us.

The strength of Senator Dyck’s character is personified in a story from my spouse, Charlene, who was flying from Regina to Ottawa via Saskatoon a year or so ago. She told me that when they stopped in Saskatoon to pick up more passengers, a lady boarded and looked like royalty, and she thought that lady might have been a senator. I acknowledged, saying, “That must have been Senator Lillian Dyck.”

Thank you, Senator Dyck. Your body of work and approach to doing Senate business says it all. Best wishes to you going forward, enjoying retirement and time well spent at home with family and friends. Thank you.

Honourable senators, the time for tributes has expired.