March 24, 2005

Hon. Bill Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, 25 years ago today Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador was gunned down by a hired assassin while saying Mass for a community of nuns. Archbishop Romero had had the courage to criticize El Salvador’s American backed military for various murders and disappearances.

For defending his people, and for engaging in such biblically prophetic activity, he paid the price that sometimes, tragically, befalls those who speak the truth to brutal power. Indeed, there were many Christian and particularly Catholic activists, who suffered a similar fate for their commitment to social and economic justice in Central America.

At this time the NDP joins all those in El Salvador, and the tens of thousands of Salvadorans in Canada, who celebrate the memory and sacrifice of this great disciple of Jesus Christ. He continues to be an inspiration to all who seek justice and resist evil.