Mr. Gerry McAlpine (Sturgeon Creek): Do I have leave to make a nonpolitical statement?

Madam Speaker: Does the honourable member for Sturgeon Creek have leave to make a nonpolitical statement? [agreed]

Mr. McAlpine: The Charter of the United Nations is based on the principles of dignity and equality inherent in all human beings, and the universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind, in particular as to race, colour and national origin.

In September 1988, Madam Speaker, ministers attending the federal-provincial-territorial ministerial conference on human rights agreed to commemorate March 21 as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in all Canadian jurisdictions. The government of Manitoba became a signatory to this campaign. Today, March 21, 1997, marks the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa when peaceful demonstrators against apartheid were wounded and killed. In 1996, in memory of this tragic event, the United Nations declared March 21 the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The Minister responsible for Culture, Heritage and Citizenship, my colleague and Minister responsible for Multiculturalism (Mrs. Vodrey), encourages all Manitobans to display posters, put the issues of diversity and racism on meeting agendas, discussion and nurturing of the respect to all our homes, our communities, workplaces, churches, organizations and schools, not only on this day but every day.

We must all accept this challenge without reservation and commit ourselves to demonstrating leadership to ensure that we all understand the benefits of diversity to the wellness of our province.

We as citizens of the province of Manitoba can heighten our awareness of our rights and responsibilities and promote understanding, respect and justice for all Manitobans, because we are united by shared values, rights and responsibilities and can confirm that racial discrimination is a violation of these shared values and rights. While working together to eliminate racial discrimination we can strive for true equality, justice and respect. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Mr. George Hickes (Point Douglas): May I have leave to make a nonpolitical statement?

Madam Speaker: Does the honourable member for Point Douglas have leave? [agreed]

Mr. Hickes: I, too, want to say a few words on March 21 as antiracism day, and I think people around the world recognize and appreciate the efforts of our United Nations when they declared this day as antiracism day.

Madam Speaker, what we see happening today within our school systems is very encouraging to all of us, because our school systems, our teachers and parents involved in all the schools are working very hard and putting forward many very good programs to educate and hopefully benefit the individuals to have a better understanding of one another and a better appreciation to help stop racism in our province of Manitoba.

March 21 should not be the only day that individuals stand up and celebrate it. That should be done with our families, our friends, our neighbours. Any time we have a chance to speak out in public, that should be done every day of our lives, because we know that racism has no place in Manitoba or anywhere in the world. Racism hurts. Racism does not help anyone and it just puts people back. I applaud the schools. I applaud the educators. I applaud all the individuals who have worked very, very hard.

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Madam Speaker, to share with everyone, I would encourage all members to pick up this pamphlet that says Stop the Hatred. It is a very nice pamphlet where it gives a lot of good information and it also is very educational. It is a quiz about racism and potential of hatred. Also, on the back it is a game of snakes of ladders that we could all play with our own children and our own family members and also with a lot of friends. I am sure most of us in this House would never be considered to be racist, but it never hurts to reinforce our beliefs and our commitments to ensure that we share it with everyone we come in contact with.

Anyone who is interested in picking up a copy of this, it says here for information, help or to get more copies, call Choices Youth Line, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, Winnipeg Police Services Hate Crimes Unit, United Against Racism, Western Anti-Racist Network, Anti-Racist Action. I am sure you can just pick up the phone book and you will be able to get any of those numbers. They will be more than willing to help you and hopefully our members would get copies and send them to our schools in our areas to help them with their great education programs.

So, with those few words, I would like to say that I recognize and applaud every individual who is out there trying to do the best they can to eliminate racism in Manitoba, Canada and throughout the world. Thank you.

Mr. Gary Kowalski (The Maples): May I have leave to make a short nonpolitical statement?

Madam Speaker: Does the honourable member for The Maples have leave? [agreed]

Mr. Kowalski: I would like to join with the other members of this Chamber, on behalf of the Liberal members of this Chamber, in commemorating this day for elimination of racial discrimination.

As I have mentioned before in this Chamber, in my constituency, one of the strongest groups is the Unity Group working out of Maples Collegiate. Last year, the students from Maples Collegiate did a march here to the Legislative Assembly where all parties joined on the steps of the Legislature to commemorate their march and their work to eliminate racism in their school. Racism as ageism, sexism or any kind of ism means judging someone by the group that they belong to, whether it is a political group, a political party, an age group, a gender and we must stop judging people by the group they belong to and start judging them as individuals. As the students at Maples Collegiate know, they were not born with racist attitudes. Sometimes it is a learned behaviour. Hopefully, with the next generation, racism will be ended in the world. Thank you, Madam Speaker.