Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 17th, 2025

[The Clerk of the Committee, Rémi Bourgault]

Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(3)(a), as the clerk of the committee, I will preside over the election of the chair and the vice-chairs.

I must inform members 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 and cannot 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.

Mr. Zuberi, please go ahead.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Good afternoon, Mr. Clerk and all the members who are here today.

I'd like to nominate Julie Dzerowicz as chair of our committee.

Just to sing her praises, she's been a member since 2015 and is a very experienced parliamentarian. I personally feel that she would help us in our work as a committee in a fashion that works across party lines and also ensures that we are advancing the mission and mandate of this committee for our Parliament.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Zuberi is proposing that Ms. Dzerowicz be elected as chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

It has been moved by Mr. Zuberi that Ms. Dzerowicz be elected as chair of the committee.

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

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Ms. Dzerowicz duly elected chair of the committee.

I invite Ms. Dzerowicz to take the chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, colleagues, for nominating me as chair. It's with great pleasure that I serve in this position.

If the committee is in agreement, I invite the clerk to proceed with the election of the vice-chairs.

[The Clerk]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

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

I'm now prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair.

Mr. Redekopp, go ahead.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thank you, clerk.

Congratulations, Madam Chair, on your appointment.

I would like to nominate the Honourable Michelle Rempel Garner as vice-chair from our party. She has been involved in this file for a long time, and I think she will do a great job of representing us on this committee.

[The Clerk]

It is moved by Mr. Redekopp that Ms. Rempel Garner be elected first vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions? Seeing none, I will put the motion to the committee.

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

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Ms. Rempel Garner duly elected as first vice-chair of the committee.

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. Zuberi, you have the floor.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I would like to nominate Alexis Brunelle‑Duceppe for the position of second vice-chair. He has been a member of this committee and second vice-chair in the past. He is also his political party's critic on immigration and citizenship. Therefore, I nominate him for the position of second vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Zuberi that Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe be elected as second vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

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

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

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

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I have a point of order, Madam Chair. It's nothing bad.

For future meetings, can this set-up not be changed here? I don't think you or the clerk can see me. I just tried to be seen, and I wasn't seen. A better set-up would be great.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

It's duly noted.

[The Clerk]

We'll see what we can do, but we need the technology.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Welcome to the first meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in the 45th Parliament.

I'm going to mention a bullet point. Many of us who've been here for many years have heard this a million times, but for those who are new members, I think it's important for me to read it out.

Before we continue, I would ask all in-person participants to consult the guidelines written on the cards on the table. You'll see that beside you.

These measures are in place to help prevent audio and feedback incidents for our interpreters and to protect the health and safety of all participants. You will also notice a QR code on the card, which links to short awareness videos if you would like to learn more.

With that, I have some additional comments for those on Zoom, but since we have no one on Zoom, I don't think I'll read them out.

What I'm going to do, then, which is a usual practice for our committees, is proceed with routine motions. A list was distributed by the clerk yesterday, and so I will begin with the first motion.

The first motion is on analyst services:

That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

Does everyone agree with that?

(Motion agreed to)

Go ahead, Mr. Fragiskatos.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

Madam Chair, in keeping with the form of other committees, could we have a member read out the routine motions? I think we have some interest on this side from one of our colleagues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Mr. Fragiskatos. That is an excellent idea.

Ms. Sodhi, it seems like you would like to take us through our routine motions, and that's an excellent idea.

[Amandeep Sodhi, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

First of all, Madam Chair, congratulations on your recent well-deserved election.

We're all good for analyst services. Is that right? Okay.

Moving forward, on the subcommittee on agenda—

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Hold on a second, Ms. Sodhi.

I just want to make sure of this: Do we want to vote agreement after each one? I'm assuming that we've agreed on this first one on analyst services.

Go ahead, Monsieur Brunelle-Duceppe.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Has the rule been approved? I see nodding. In that case, we can ask our amazing analysts to take their seats now that it's official.

This morning, at the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, we said that we had all received the motions on which the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs had agreed. I asked whether that was indeed the document everyone had received and whether they agreed with it. We then agreed to it all at once without reading the motions in their entirety.

It's at your discretion, but that's how we did it at the foreign affairs committee this morning.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

The first recommendation....

Thank you, Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe.

I would like to ask our analysts to join us up here.

Then in terms of the rest of the routine motions, if everyone's in agreement that we don't have to read them all, we could just approve them. I'll read the subtitle of each one, just to make sure everybody's in agreement and that we're all on the same page. Is that okay?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

The routine motions are subcommittee on agenda and procedure; meeting without a quorum; travel; time for opening remarks and questioning of witnesses; document distribution; working meals; travel, accommodation and living expenses of witnesses; access to in-camera meetings; transcripts of in camera meetings; notice of motion; orders of reference from the House respecting bills; technical tests for witnesses; whips' access to digital binders; and maintenance of order and decorum.

If everyone is in agreement, we could just agree to these motions en masse. I'd be happy to consider that.

Go ahead, Ms. Rempel Garner.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

That's acceptable, but just to clarify what Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe said, it would be the routine motions as agreed upon and distributed by PROC. Is that correct? It's to the clerk and the analysts.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Yes, that is true.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Okay. I so move.

(Motions agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])