OTTAWA, Ontario – Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry MP Guy Lauzon presented a petition to the House of Commons on Wednesday, Nov. 8. The petition was created by Cornwall’s Little Historian Sara Lauzon to gain recognition for those who lived in Canada’s Houses of Refuge.
The petition is asking the government to make April 14, of every year, as Poor House Commemoration Day in Canada. This day will commemorate and celebrate the lives of Canadian Citizens and Immigrants that died or lived in an Asylum, a House of Refuge, or a Poor House facility in Canada.
“Mr. Speaker, Sara Lauzon, a young, dynamic constituent in Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, asked me to present a petition, calling upon the House of Commons to pass a motion recognizing April 14 of every year as poor house commemoration day in Canada,” MP Guy Lauzon said before the House of Commons on Wednesday. “This day would commemorate the lives of Canadian citizens that died or lived in an asylum, a house of refuge, or a poor house facility in Canada. The suggested date for the holiday is April 14 due to the act respecting mentally incompetent persons and their estates passed in Alberta in 1937,” he continued.
“I was pleased to rise in the House yesterday to present the petition created by our local historian, Sara Lauzon,” Guy Lauzon wrote on his Facebook Page on Thursday, Nov. 9.
In a statement to Seaway News Sara Lauzon said that she was thrilled with the result of her summer long campaign to promote the petition.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” she said. “It was a lot of hard work trying to tell everyone about the petition, and asking them to sign. In order for the petition to go through to the House of Commons, it needed 500 signatures minimum. I was floored to have 150 over that.”
