Family worries promise to commemorate late N.B. senator forgotten

The family of late senator and New Brunswick cabinet minister Brenda Robertson says they are worried a promise to commemorate her in a prominent and public way may be forgotten.

Robertson's grandson, Wil Robertson, says the Higgs government proposed a fitting tribute more than a year ago to the Progressive Conservative trailblazer, who was the first woman elected as an MLA and the first to serve as a minister.

At first, the family hoped that the new bridge over the Petitcodiac River between Riverview and Moncton would be named for her, but there were problems with doing that.

The province proposed an alternative last year.

Wil Robertson said he didn't want to reveal what the proposal was because it came up in a private conversation.

"We were very encouraged by the idea proposed," he said. "It was still very meaningful and we thought even to some extent more apt and appropriate than the bridge. We were quite excited by it, honestly."

But it's been "a year and a bit" since that commitment.

"We've followed up and not really heard back from them on what progress has been made," said Robertson.

Brenda Robertson was first elected in the 1967 election and went on to serve in the PC cabinet of Premier Richard Hatfield. As health minister she oversaw the launch of the provincial extramural program.

She was appointed to the Senate in 1984 and retired in 2004. She died in September 2020 at the age of 91.

There were tributes from all parties at the time of her death.

A portrait of Robertson was hung at the legislature in 2017 on the 50th anniversary of her first election win.

Robertson says the family appreciated that gesture and the tributes from Premier Blaine Higgs and others when she died.

But the portrait at the legislature is not visible to the public at large.

"Realistically, for someone who had such a legacy and such an impact on the province, of course the portrait is quite an honour, but the reality is, how many people will see that?" said Robertson. "How many people will be impacted and affected by that?"

Premier Blaine Higgs told CBC News Wednesday that his government is still committed to a commemoration.

"It's certainly not lost or forgotten," he said. "We do have a plan in place, one that I can't really reveal here right now, but we will be recognizing Brenda Robertson in the fashion that she deserves."

Higgs said the plan likely won't come to fruition until spring 2023, "but it will be well recognized, and it will be something that I'm sure the family will be very appreciative of."

The Famous Five Foundation, which promotes the advancement of women in Canadian politics, is supporting the family's decision to go public.

Foundation CEO Frances Wright said in a press release that the government should act before the second anniversary of Robertson's death on Sept. 23.

"We call upon the citizens of New Brunswick to join us in this endeavour," she said.

Commemoration would allow for public ceremony

Robertson said a new commemoration would also allow for a public ceremony, given COVID-19 made a large public funeral impossible when his grandmother died.

There's been nothing in the last year that would prevent the specific proposal the government made from becoming a reality, he added.

The family realizes the pandemic has complicated a lot of government decision-making, but "naming something like this doesn't seem like too difficult of a political choice, shall we say," he said.