 or it is now time for Member Statements, the Member from the Elgin Middlesex London. Very much Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm rising today to highlight Daffodil Month and Cancer Awareness during April. Mr. Speaker, as many as you know, April is the month where we proudly wear our Daffodil pins to show our strength and courage to those battling or who have battled cancer. The Canadian Cancer Society has done a tremendous job raising funds for life-saving research, information and support services to help end this terrible disease. In 2015, Ontario saw 76,000 new cancer cases and 28,500 deaths. Prostate cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer and lung cancer are the most prominent in Ontario. Throughout the month of April, the Canadian Cancer Society will be doing Daffodil's pinnings across the province in order to promote cancer awareness. This afternoon, I was pleased to welcome members of the Canadian Cancer Society to the Ontario Legislature and have my Daffodil pinning. For the rest of the month, I will proudly wear my pin provided the House allows me and encourage all members of this house and members of our communities to do the same. Cancer is a devastating disease that affects many Ontarians and their families. Cancer does not discriminate and affects all people of all races, ages and faiths. Each year, I enjoy attending either the St. Thomas or Elmer Relay for Life to help raise funds for cancer research. Until there is a cure that can be found to end this terrible disease, we must ensure we continue to support and fight against cancer. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad the member brought it up, so now I get to say that unless there's unanimous consent to wear any item on your person, you cannot wear that item until unanimous consent is given and my sensitivity to the announcement was stretched and then when you brought it to my attention, I have to ask the member not to wear the pin until unanimous consent is given and that's usually done through a discussion of house leaders. I would not assume that you would ever do that. The correct member statements, the member from Windsor West this afternoon, that's wonderful. Thank you, Speaker. Michelle Halu and her son, Noah, are exemplary citizens in my writing of Windsor West. Noah lives with autism spectrum disorder and for 16 years he received behavioral support services at the Windsor Regional Children's Center, respite services, and out-of-home respite services. However, when Noah turned 18 last September, all the services he enjoyed as a child were suddenly cut off. Noah was then put on a wait list for passport funding, the program that is meant to help ease the transition for families as their children enter adulthood. When he faced an endless wait list for services, Michelle took matters into her own hands. Michelle and parents living throughout Windsor and Essex County organized a petition drive calling on the government to act to eliminate wait times for all families waiting for passport funding, not in the same manner they eliminated the wait list for IBI and ABA services. Speaker, I'm thrilled to announce that on the week following World Autism Awareness Day, I have received over 2,000 signatures on a petition calling on this government to support families by eliminating wait lists for all adult children on the waiting list for passport funding. Michelle Halu and my constituents of Windsor West did their part. Now it's time for the government to act. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you for the number Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following on to my welcoming and introduction and the very gracious reception that the Syrian refugees and the folks that accompanied them from yesterday morning. I would just like once again to salute the many members, not only of the legislature of Ontario, but of the government who have voted and supported the resettlement and integration of these refugees. In particular, once again, Speaker, with your permission, I would like to salute the visitors who came to us, the Lokman Yusuf al-Masri family and their four children, Adnan, Imad, Muhammad and Jury. Little Jury is only four years old. The Bilal Haba family and his wife Marwa and their two little kids, Alian and Miral, and the Yasmin, Musto family and their four children, Rawan, Arij, Malaz, and Mahmood. And in particular, the great people from Costi Immigrant Settlement Services, Bruno, Supa, Mario Cala, Tanaz, Pardivala, Mirna, Alsabak, Linda, Yasui, Mary, Garwal, Yasmin, Dosal, Andrea, Brambila, and as well, the gentleman from the Syrian Canadian Foundation has been instrumental in organizing volunteer efforts, Faris Sultan. Speaker, Ontario, as you know, is committed to bringing 14,000 Syrian refugees to Ontario. That's part of the $25,000 and counting commitment by Prime Minister Trudeau. And I think I'm honored and privileged and grateful and humbled to be part of a government that supports this. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for the members. It's the member from the Hullabrunners' Corps of Lakes Drops. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week, I had the honour of attending Toronto City Council or Council, where Councillor Paul Ainslie brought forward a motion seconded by Councillor Mike Layton in support of my initiatives against human trafficking. Council unanimously passed the motion in support of my private member's bill 158, Saving the Girl Next Door Act, and the report of the Select Committee on Sexual Violence and Harassment. The Select Committee found that Ontario is a major hub of human trafficking, but it doesn't have to be like this. Victims, over 90% of which are Canadian-born and predominantly female, are lured, manipulated, and coerced often over the internet from every part of Ontario. It is in our neighbourhoods and in our communities. Human trafficking targets the girl next door. We must take immediate action in implementing a multi-jurisdictional and coordinated task force of law enforcement agencies, crown prosecutors, judges, victim services, and frontline agencies. We must foster partnerships with community service providers and other stakeholders to share resources and best practices. Bill 158 expands and enhances existing laws and serves as a measure of justice. The girl next door is crying out for our help. We cannot continue to stand idly by. We must be aware of and understand the necessary steps to take in tackling this crisis. Having the support of Canada's largest city is encouraging, and we continue the fight against this heinous crime. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker. Today it is my sad honour to stand in this legislature and pay tribute to a fallen comrade and lifelong activist, Jim Freeman, who passed away on April 4. Jim Freeman has a long history of labour activism and fighting for a better, fairer, and kinder world. At Local 222 he served as the alternate committee person, the chairperson of the Political Education Committee, and member of the Local 222 Flying Squad. He was involved in countless NDP and progressive campaigns. He was one of the founders of We Are Oshawa and was an organiser for the Kingston days of action. He single-handedly banged in thousands of signs, carried hundreds of flags and banners, and championed every important issue to make our society more fair. Jim was a working-class hero. He was the president of our Durham Region Labour Council, served at the OFL, and his lifelong friend Sid Ryan said, he was the best friend that a person could possibly have. Jimmy's love for his community was only out shone by the love for his friends. And Speaker, everyone loved Jimmy, and Jimmy loved them right back. I don't know how to fit Jimmy Freeman into a minute and a half, or how to pay tribute using only parliamentary language, but he was a legend, and he was authentic, and everyone learned from him, everyone laughed with him. He broadened the movement, one personal connection at a time, and he showed us a better way forward, while making sure no one was left behind. Some people blazed trails, and some people widened them for the rest of us, and Jimmy Freeman did both. He inspired us to care, to work and to fight, and with his fiery passion, brilliant mind, fantastic stories, and awesome humor, and often wicked and appropriate humor, how could we not be inspired? Speaker, the ripples of this loss are being felt across the country, but they can only, they can't travel half as far as the reach of his impact. He used to remind us of Tommy Douglas's words, courage, my friend, is not too late to build a better world. He did build a better world, and he made each of us a little better in the process. Brother Jimmy and Freeman will be terribly missed. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the member's statements, the member from Mississauga Streetsville. Speaker, this afternoon I will be tabling petitions on community water fluoridation signed by tens of thousands of Ontarians from all across the province, and there will be many more thousands of such petitions to come. Decades ago, researchers noticed that some regions of Ontario had much lower rates of dental decay than others. They found it was because naturally occurring fluoride in the water protected people from dental decay, and that when added to community drinking water, fluoride did the same thing. Wherever communities that once fluoridated drinking water stopped doing it, rates of dental decay have quickly soared. The egregious stupidity of removing fluoridation from community drinking water is based on junk science and outright superstition. The science and the experts are clear. Community water fluoridation is a proven, safe and effective means of minimizing dental decay. In a 2012 study on oral health by then Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Arlene King, the study's number one recommendation was conduct a review of current policies and mechanisms to ensure that all Ontarians have access to optimally fluoridated drinking water. Ontarians everywhere agree. It's time for legislation to make community water fluoridation mandatory Ontario-wide. It's the right thing to do. Thank you Speaker. Thank you very much Mr Speaker. 25 years have passed since this legislate you declared April 6th as tartan day in Ontario. So I rise today to recognize the significant contributions of the Scottish community to our province's economic, agricultural and cultural well-being. Along with the English, Irish, French and our First Nations the Scottish were among the first to settle and to build this great province into a place that all of us are so proud to call home today. They founded villages and they built churches, sawmills, blacksmith shops and of course breweries and distilleries just as they introduced us to bagpipes, haggis, highland dancing and the official Ontario tartan. My riding is proud to enjoy this heritage gray along with the surrounding counties of Bruce, Wellington and Dufferin were settled by these industrious people the likes of Agnes McPhail and Nellie McClung both of whom had Scottish heritage and were born in the great riding of Bruce Grayle and Sound. And quite a few of them have served as members of provincial parliament. One of them was Bill Murdoch. Murdoch was the MPP who introduced the tartan day resolution which all three parties supported and passed back in 1991. He also introduced and helped pass the official tartan act in 2000. Murdoch, as most of you know, was a colourful and distinctive MPP very much in line with his Scottish culture and heritage. He was proud of anything Scottish, especially wearing a kilt and the interior's official tartan which he donned to express his pride and independence. As most of you are aware the 6th day of April is of historical importance to our Scottish community as it marks the anniversary of the declaration of Scottish independence declared in 1320. I thank all those wearing plaid today for paying their respects to tartan day and invite all members, many of whom come from different heritages and backgrounds, to recognise the significant contributions of our Scottish community. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I rise in the house today to extend my congratulations to the hospice of Windsor and Essex County on the grand opening of their Erie Shores satellite hospice location, the first of its kind in Canada. Mr. Speaker, as you know, I am the proud member for Burlington, however I was born in Windsor and lived there for most of my young life. As someone who calls these two cities home, I am proud to recognise the state-of-the-art palliative and end-of-life care that hospice of Windsor offers. In fact, Karen Candy, the Executive Director of Carpenter Hospice in Burlington, travelled to the Windsor Hospice recently to compare and discuss best practices. As we all know, making end-of-life care decisions is a challenging and sensitive topic for patients, families and healthcare providers alike. That is why we are extremely fortunate to have hospices like the one in my community and hospice Windsor too. For over 37 years, the staff and volunteers at the hospice of Windsor and Essex County have been providing compassionate care to patients and families dealing with life-altering diagnoses. I know this well as my mother, Marie McMahon, has been a volunteer there for over 30 years. Even at age 90, every Thursday, she cooks lunch for patients and their families who are dying. And I know she receives just as much as she gives from doing something so close to her heart. Today, hospice Windsor is taking the next step in serving their community with the grand opening of their new Erie Shores location in Leamington. Now, patients will be able to access the valuable services they provide closer to home in a comfortable and warm environment. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the staff and volunteers, including my mother, Marie, of hospice Windsor for their amazing and compassionate work and wish them great success with their new Erie Shores location. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Member of State, and Mr. Member for Kitchener Centre. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week, I attended the Working Centre's annual mayor's dinner in my community of Kitchener Waterloo. This year, the guests of honour were Erie Ariatnam and Jassi Nariam, and I wish to honour them here today. Erie was born in a small town near Jaffna in Sri Lanka. Growing up, Erie says that she was greatly influenced by her very generous parents. Two decades ago, she came to Canada and received a warm welcome in the community of Kitchener Waterloo. She eventually became the executive director of the KW Multicultural Centre. Jassi grew up in rural Guyana and only had the opportunity to attend school until grade eight. This certainly did not deter her long service to our community. After moving to Canada and getting involved with the YWCA, Jassi assisted with a settlement of refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Latin America. While serving together on the board of the KWYWCA, Erie and Jassi developed a training program for newcomer women, and this is how their organization Focus for Ethnic Women was born, with the aid of other like-minded women in the community. Their mission is to encourage the participation of immigrant and refugee women in our community. In the years since, Focus for Ethnic Women has created programs including occupational training, English language instructions, life skills training, and many more. I'm very proud of these women and for the commitment that they have made to my community of Kitchener Waterloo. Thank you.