Human Resources Committee on Feb. 4th, 2014

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Caroline Bosc]

I see a quorum.

Honourable members of the committee, I must inform you that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions, cannot entertain points of order, nor participate in debate.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.

I'm ready to receive motions for the chair.

Ms. Sims.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

I'd like to nominate Phil McColeman to be chair.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Jinny Sims that Phil McColeman be elected as chair of the committee.

Are there any further nominations?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Phil McColeman duly elected chair of the committee.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

Before inviting Mr. McColeman to take the chair, if the committee wishes, we will now proceed to the election of the vice-chairs.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.

[The Clerk]

I am now ready to receive motions for the position of first vice-chair.

Mr. Armstrong, you have the floor.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

I'd like to nominate Jinny Sims as the vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Armstrong that Ms. Sims be elected first vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further nominations?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Jinny Sims duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.

I am now ready to receive motions for the position of second vice-chair.

Mr. Armstrong, you have the floor.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

I nominate Roger Cuzner.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Armstrong that Mr. Cuzner be elected as the second vice-chair of the committee. Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Cuzner duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

I now invite Mr. McColeman to take the chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Phil McColeman]

I'll begin by saying happy new year to everyone. Thank you for your confidence in bringing me back into this newly constituted committee.

I'll recognize you in a second, Mr. Armstrong.

I noted in the review, coming into this session, that we've got a busy schedule and we've got a lot to accomplish. It's an exciting time actually for this committee. I think we can accomplish quite a bit in the next while, up to June. I'm looking forward to everyone working together and your cooperation in making sure we're as productive as we can be.

Now I'll recognize Mr. Armstrong.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

I move that we go in camera to discuss committee business.

[The Chair, Conservative, Phil McColeman]

The first item on the agenda is committee business. We'll proceed to a vote on moving in camera, unless there's unanimous consent.

(Motion agreed to)

[Proceedings continue in camera]

[Public proceedings resume]

[The Chair, Conservative, Phil McColeman]

We're back in open session for the second hour of meeting nine of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.

We're continuing our study concerning employment opportunities for aboriginal peoples, and we have a number of witnesses who have joined us via teleconference to provide their testimony.

First, from Syncrude Canada Limited, we are joined by Ms. Kara Flynn, vice-president of government and public affairs.

We are also joined by Mr. Ian Anderson, president of Kinder Morgan Canada, and although we are not able to see on our video screen, I believe he is with Martha Matthew, the consultant for training and employment, Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project.

From Cameco Corporation, we are joined by Mr. Russel Mercredi, human resources specialist and northern recruitment coordinator.

I'll now turn the floor over to our witnesses for their opening presentations. I would ask that you keep your remarks to five minutes due to our limited time with you.

Let's start with Ms. Flynn from Syncrude.

[Kara Flynn, Vice-President, Government and Public Affairs, Syncrude Canada Ltd]

Good morning, and thank you very much for allowing us the opportunity to present to you today.

I am Kara Flynn, the head of government and public affairs for Syncrude. Within that portfolio I am responsible for our aboriginal strategy, and all of our consultation and oversight for activities in the employment and business development areas.

I'll take you through the first slide in our presentation.

Syncrude actually established six key commitment areas with the five first nations that we engage with directly in formal consultation with the five chiefs. You can see those commitment areas in front of you. I'll focus mostly on the education, employment, and business development areas in my remarks this morning. We have been doing this for a long time. We are 50 years in business this year. Aboriginal relations was the second department formed at Syncrude, right behind our research and development department.

Moving quickly to the next slide on achieving success, focusing on the education and training area, we take a long-term view to developing—

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Excuse me, Chair.