Finance Committee on July 16th, 2020

[Rachel Wernick]

Again, in negotiating and working on a contribution agreement with partners, it is not uncommon that partners begin to reach out to other partners, especially in a third party model, to develop the program, to consider what needs to be in the contribution agreement, and in this case, given the very tight timeline for launch, to basically advance work as much as possible in order to meet the tight timelines required by the government.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We'll have to go back to Mr. Barrett for his last question.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

To your knowledge, was anyone else in government communicating with WE in the days between April 19 to 22, or around that period?

[Rachel Wernick]

I have no direct knowledge of that. I can only speak about my own communications.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, all.

We'll go to Mr. McLeod, and then on to Mr. Poilievre.

Mr. McLeod.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the presenters here. There have been some very tough questions indeed.

I want to start by thanking Gina Wilson for using the word meegwetch. We hear a lot of French and we hear a lot of English, but it's not very often we hear indigenous words. Thank you for that.

I want to also say that I think we're in a very difficult situation with a lot of unknowns. The pandemic has caused a lot of issues to come forward. I heard a lot from the students in my riding initially, so I was very happy to see some very important measures come forward: the moratorium on Canada student loan repayments, the doubling of the student loans program, the increased student loan program funding and the work placement program. I think they were all well received across the country. Our young people are certainly facing their share of challenges.

We've also seen a lot of other programs that are helping young people, especially in my riding. I think a lot of indigenous communities would say the same, with the indigenous community support and the on-the-land program. Everybody wants to get involved; they want to play a role.

I was quite happy that these placements were coming forward. It's really unfortunate that it looks like these placements are going to be on hold for a bit now. I'm hoping that our government's objective remains the same, to continue to try to connect the skills and abilities of young people who are looking to improve their skills with service opportunities to help in our communities, especially when it comes to healing.

I understand there was a lot of uptake of the program. I think the minister mentioned there were 35,000 applications.

As we move forward, as the government moves forward with administering the Canada student service grant, what steps are being taken to ensure that indigenous youth in rural and remote northern communities are able to access this program? That's my first question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Ms. Wernick, do you want to take that, or Ms. Wilson?

[Rachel Wernick]

Yes, Mr. Chair, I can speak briefly to that.

One of the key objectives of Minister Chagger, as she stated in her role as Minister of Diversity and Inclusion, was to ensure that a broad diversity of students would be involved. As part of the program design, we were seeking active outreach into indigenous communities, including funding for digital and technological supports to ensure connectivity, because, as I mentioned, we're talking about the COVID crisis and virtual placements for the most part.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

I always struggle when it comes to decision-making and forming an opinion on a lot of things, because the north never seems to get included in some of the tracking mechanisms of the government and other agencies. I'm wondering what other demographic information on the CSSG applicants the government will be tracking.

[Rachel Wernick]

We had a very robust registration form that was provided to students as they entered the program. Obviously, all of the demographic information is voluntary. We based it closely on working with our Statistics Canada colleagues to capture the maximum amount of information related to background, population, etc.

WE Charity, as part of the contribution agreement, was to provide real-time reports, on a bi-weekly basis, on both the not-for-profits—where they were, what the placements were, what they were of—as well as the students who had registered, with much demographic and other information about the students who had been applying.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

This is your last question, Mr. McLeod.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

We're not talking about WE Charity anymore. I'm talking about going forward.

[Rachel Wernick]

My apologies.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

As the government moves forward with the administering of this, I want to make sure, first of all, that indigenous youth have the opportunity we expected with WE Charity. Are we going to continue with that? Are we going to track some of this?

[Rachel Wernick]

It's the government's decisions that will determine that, but we always provide what we call “diversity analysis” in the work we put forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, all. We'll end that there.

Mr. Poilievre, are you there?

Go ahead.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Ms. Wernick, who told you to call Mr. Kielburger on April 19?

[Rachel Wernick]

As I have mentioned, there were conversations with finance officials, and in that context of those discussions about potential organizations—

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Right. Who? Who asked you to call him, which led to your call of April 19?

[Rachel Wernick]

In those conversations, WE Charity came up. I volunteered to call them because of my prior work with them and because they were an obvious choice as the largest youth-serving organization.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Sorry, I just asked a very specific question: Who brought them up? You said they came up. Who brought them up?

[Rachel Wernick]

We were having conversations with the Department of Finance, and different organizations were mentioned in that context. I said, I know WE Charity; I can reach out to them.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Were you the first person who brought up WE Charity, or did someone else bring it up before you in the conversation?

[Rachel Wernick]

To the best of my recollection, it was raised by the Department of Finance officials.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Do you have a name?