 of guests, so therefore it's time for member statements to the member from Helleburden, Cortholicksbrock. Thank you Mr. Speaker. With over 30 branches across the province from Sault Ste. Marie, Windsor, Ottawa, Niagara Falls, Kingston, Barrie, Toronto, and many more, St. John Ambulance is present in our communities. Established in Canada in 1883, the First Ambulance Division was soon formed in London. Since then, St. John Ambulance members have dedicated countless hours to fulfill their mission of enabling Canadians with improved health, safety, and quality of life. In fact, last year alone, St. John Ambulance members contributed over 600,000 community service hours in Ontario. Whether for campus teams, youth programs, concerts, festivals, or at the Pan Am Parapan Games, volunteer medical first responders have provided first aid training and emergency response support at 4,400 public events truly invaluable. Through their therapy dog program, they help bring comfort to many in times of need. These four-legged furry friends have helped brighten the days of many university students, hospital patients, and seniors. In commemoration of national victims and survivors of crime week, several groups were honoured for their dedication to helping victims of crime, and I would like to commend the support dog program for giving victims of child abuse and sexual assault the option of having a highly trained comfort dog. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to our province. Speaker, I rise today to speak to a vital issue for me, for the people of my riding line in Fanshawe, and especially for smaller communities like Woodstock and Oxford County, who are challenged by the lack of proper mental health supports in this province. For years, we've been telling this government that London and surrounding communities are facing serious shortage in mental health supports and services. In my riding alone, mental health patients are sleeping on emergency floors, facing shuttered facilities, over capacity clinics, and group home deaths. Last year, I introduced Bill 95, Improving Mental Health and Addiction Services Act in Ontario 2015, as a means of implementing the extraordinary work accomplished by all party select committee on mental health and addictions. Their final report heard from more than 300 groups and individuals from across the province, all calling for greater supports for mental health and addictions programming. Yet this government has let my Bill languish in committee while it continues down a path of their own, at the expense of people suffering from mental illness, including our children who took to the streets to demand you listen and provide the supports they need. Speaker, we can't help but ask what mental health services and supports in Ontario would look like today if this government hadn't blown billions of tax dollars in scandals like orange, e-health and gas plants. Too many Ontarians are living without proper mental health supports. Now is the time to deliver. Not one more death is acceptable. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. 2016 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Canada's first member of parliament of Polish heritage, Alexandra Eduard Kierzakowski. Raised in a patriotic family, Kierzakowski was forced to emigrate from Poland after fighting in the 1830 uprising against Russian rule. Arriving in Canada in 1841, he continued his military career, honourably serving as Lieutenant Colonel of the Richelieu district and then commander of the Second Militia Battalion of St. Hyacinth. Kierzakowski was elected in 1867 to our nation's very first parliament as a liberal MP. He was an extraordinary individual who helped to build the very foundations of our country. Next year, as Canadians celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation, Polish Canadians will be observing the 150th anniversary of the election of Kierzakowski. Speaker, the legacy of Alexandra Eduard Kierzakowski shows that Polish Canadians have significantly contributed in building our great multicultural nation since Confederation. As a Polish Canadian myself, I am especially proud of this legacy that continues today. Later this evening, we will celebrate the work and legacy of Alexandra Eduard Kierzakowski with a special exhibition on his life. I want to thank the Canada Polish Congress Toronto District and the Polish Canadian Business and Professional Association of Windsor for organizing this special reception and exhibition, and I invite all to join us at 6 p.m. Dziękuję, merci, miigwech. Thank you. Thank you very much, Speaker. I, too, rise today to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Alexandra Eduard Kierzakowski, the first Canadian parliamentarian of Polish heritage. He was first elected to the House of Commons in the first parliament at the birth of the Dominion of Canada in 1867. He was a Polish patriot, a civil engineer, a military man, and an advocate of a new land credit system. Kierzakowski was born in 1816 in the Dusci region of what is then Prussia, a partition terry of today's Republic of Poland. He came from an accomplished military family. He served as an officer of the Polish Army and participated in the November Uprising, also known as the Polish Russian War in 1830-1831. Following a defeat, he was forced to flee. In 1842, he immigrated to the United Provinces of Canada and worked for the Department of Public Works as a civil engineer. He championed land banks to improve agricultural practice and pressed for reforms in the mortgage system. He also served as a Justice of the Peace and a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Rielusz Miu District Militia. On July 1, 1867, Canada became a Dominion of four provinces, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia through Confederation. Later that year, he was elected to a newly formed House of Commons as a member representing the St. Hyacinth Riding. He played an important role in politics for Canadians, Polonia, and Poland. Mr. Speaker, Polish Canadians such as Kierzakowski and many others have made significant contributions to the cultural, educational, political, and economic fabric of Canada and of Ontario. Being a Polish heritage myself, I am proud to celebrate his legacy and I'm looking forward tonight to joining members of this legislature and members of Polonia at a reception honoring his 200th anniversary of his birth. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. Well Mr. Speaker, I think most of us will know that education on reserves across Ontario leaves a lot to be desired. Our federal government, surprise, surprise, is not in the business of education and as a result of all of our schools on reserve are run independently as local education authorities and are funded about half of what students get in any other community across this province. So we wonder why do we get the outcomes that we get out of those schools because quite frankly the federal government does not support those schools in the same way that the province supports schools and community across Ontario and that's why I've been consulting for over a year now along with our caucus with First Nations in order to bring a bill forward that would allow First Nations if they choose to be able to opt into the provincial school system so that they can have an effect when it comes to education by getting the expertise that the province provides and the level of funding needed that other kids get to be able to make sure that those kids are able to compete on the level playing field. I'm looking forward tomorrow to bringing that bill forward. I know that there's going to be some contention with that because many First Nations are worried about treaty rights and say will this affect my treaty rights? Well I'm pleased to say as a result of the consultation I did last summer I've put an amendment to the bill that gives a non-derigation clause that ensures that First Nations treaty rights are not in any way affected and I look forward to those consultations and for the debate later on this fall where we'll have an opportunity to do something when it comes to really doing reconciliation in this province and providing kids on reserve with an education that is equal to all other children in this province. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker. This past Saturday I laced up my skates, carried a Canadian flag and joined in welcoming some of the newest members of my community of Cambridge at the World Refugee Day Skating Party. Since 2013 June has become a Waterloo region community wide celebration for refugees with events held by numerous organizations to recognize World Refugee Day. The Skating Party at Cambridge Centre Mall was a way to celebrate and welcome our new members from Syria and beyond. Skaters from the Press and Skating Club volunteered to as to help as they encouraged the first time skaters, children and adults, as they hit the ice for the first time. Many timidly held on to the boards for the first laps but were enjoying skating without help before too long. Hot chocolate, Timbits and much laughter concluded a very enjoyable event in what was truly a new Canadian experience for our new neighbours. I want to thank Sandra Sidor from ID Exchange, Alam Mohamed from the Islamic School of Cambridge, YMCA of Cambridge, Cambridge Heights Centre of the United Way, the Press and Skating Club Champions Training Centre and Tim Hortons, all of whom partnered to put on this fantastic event. Speaker, my region of Waterloo has a proud history of welcoming refugees and has provided both a safe haven and a fresh start. Families from all parts of the world have made this community their home and I am very proud that so many of my community have done so much to help them feel truly at home. Thank you. Thank you for the member's say, Mr. Member from Nipissing. Thank you, a speaker. I want to use this time to say thanks and farewell to a great friend of mine. Clint Thomas has been my Executive Assistant here at Queens Park since first being elected in 2011. We met when Clint was News Director at Rogers Radio in North Bay. He commanded attention as a respected and authoritative voice. He did his research and was the voice of our community that our community turned to to understand the important issues. Clint hosted the Mayor's Phone-In Show, which is where we really got to know each other when serving as Mayor of the City of North Bay. He then took his talent to Toronto where he worked at CP continuing to hone his many skills and that led him to Queens Park where he and I built a real and lasting friendship. Here he certainly rose to the many challenges becoming a subject matter expert on energy and then Ontario's finances. But more than just business, we've been friends. Patty and I watched as his newborn sons Asa and Colton grew into wonderful young boys. Clint and I gulfed together and, Speaker, he has never, ever let me win. We spent hours driving together chatting. With Clint, it was always about his beloved sports. For me, not so much. As Clint moves on, Patty and I wish him all the best and we look forward to the next chapter in his life. Thank you, Clint. Thank you. Thank you. Further member statements, the member from Davenport. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a proud Portuguese Canadian, I am honoured to rise today to speak about Portugal Day or I was known throughout the Portuguese diaspora via the Portugal de Camões e das comunidades portugueses. Mr. Speaker, Portugal Day is celebrated worldwide on June 10th and let me tell you the celebrations and festivities are in full gear this month throughout Ontario and in particular in my riding of Davenport, which is home to the largest Portuguese community in Ontario. The first Portugal Day commemorations in Toronto were organised in 1966. Since then, for the last 50 years plus, we've been celebrating Portuguese heritage and the community's accomplishments. It is a yearly reminder of the distinguished contributions that Portuguese Canadians have made and continued to make to the social, cultural and economic fabric of our province. Portuguese Canadians helped to create a more vibrant, dynamic and cosmopolitan society, a society that draws strength from the celebration of our different heritage and embraces our common hopes for a better and more prosperous future. Mr. Speaker, many Portuguese immigrants came to Canada to seek a better life and in the process, they have made life better for all Canadians. The Portuguese community in Ontario is one of our great success stories as a nation. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to celebrate the rich history of Luzo Canadians in Ontario and I encourage all members of this house to attend the Portugal flag raising ceremony tomorrow, which will take place at 3pm on the south lawn of Queen's Park. Finally, I would like to remind everyone about the annual Portugal Day Parade considered the largest Portugal Day Parade outside of Canada and is in its 29th year, organised annually by the Alliance of Portuguese Clubs and Associations. Obrigado, Mr. Speaker. Hello. Same to you. If a member sleeps, Mr. Member from Durham. Thank you, Speaker. Last Saturday, I was pleased to attend the annual Walker Myliners Shoes event in Bowmanville. This event is especially important because I believe that we need to get a message across that violence will not be tolerated in our community or in any community, Mr. Speaker. And to prove that point, we are willing to walk a Myliners Shoes. Well, by a Myliners Speaker, I mean that as far as my body would let me in red high heels, but you get the point, Speaker. I am proud to support this event as it increases community awareness about issues such as sexual and gender violence. This event also helps to raise funds to support cost of services provided in the Baceta House, which is a shelter for abused women and their children in Durham Riding. I will take this moment to thank all of the volunteers who not only worked tirelessly to keep this organization going strong, but also for their ongoing advocacy on this issue. Not only does this event open up dialogue about sexual assault and gender violence, especially among the men participating in this event. It also allows the community to unite and continue to work together to fight this very important issue. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. I thank all members for their statements.