Honourable senators, this past Friday I had the pleasure of taking up Senator Woo's suggestion to attend celebrated Cree playwright Kenneth T. Williams' one-woman play, Café Daughter. Café Daughter is the story of Yvette Wong, a young woman living in Saskatchewan in the 1950s and 1960s, whose dreams of becoming a doctor are repeatedly challenged by those who believe her race, class and gender disentitled her to harbour such hopes.

Tiffany Ayalik, the actress who movingly and skillfully brings to life not only Yvette, but a dozen other characters, more than lived up to the promise made on the play's poster that by the end of the show, we would feel like we knew all these characters. However, in this chamber, we are fortunate enough to have some extra insight into one character in particular, the main character, Yvette, who is based on none other than our honourable colleague Senator Lillian Dyck.

On stage, this young character's sharp wits, drive, compassion and sense of justice were immediately familiar to anyone who has had the privilege of working with Senator Dyck. I wish to thank her for her courage in sharing her personal history with the same courage that she has shown throughout her life, not only in persevering with her childhood dream of becoming a doctor — and a very famous doctor in Saskatchewan — but also in claiming her Cree heritage and becoming a fierce and tireless advocate on behalf of and alongside indigenous peoples, particularly indigenous women.

In the words of Ms. Ayalik on Café Daughter's 1950s setting today, she said, "I like period pieces because we with think we've come a long way but the point of period pieces is, have we really come that far?" As we reflect on the eve of Canada's one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Confederation, the answer that we must give ourselves is no, we have not come that far in rectifying Canada's shameful continuing legacy of colonialism, racism and entrenched discrimination, particularly vis-à-vis indigenous women.

Ms. Ayalik speaks of the "lift" she had gets from playing the "thinly veiled racist people in the play. To be able to take control of that voice is highly effective."

As we embark on a new relationship of respect and reconciliation, we in the Senate, following the leadership that Senator Dyck has shown, have an opportunity that cannot be missed to support and promote all indigenous peoples, particularly women, by ensuring that they have the voice, the authority and the self-determination that our country has denied them for too long. Thank you. Merci. Meegwetch.