Evidence of meeting #51 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was youth.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
It may be in the wording throughout that contract. It may be in the “lawyer language”.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
You mentioned in response to questions from Mr. Fortin that you are unaware of National's being involved. Were you aware.... I know Katimavik. I have worked with Katimavik students. There's a fierce adherence to bilingualism across the country. Were you aware that the WE scheme actually didn't provide services in Quebec and wasn't going to provide bilingual services for francophones?
Chief Executive Officer, Katimavik
No, I was not aware of that. Although Katimavik, if the program had been executed, certainly would have been attracting our cohort members from within and without Quebec. No one ever had a conversation with me to say that wasn't going to be permitted. It was basically that if you have the placements, you have the youth and you can link them together, then those youth would benefit as long as they fit the criteria.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Was there nothing in the contract that carved out Katimavik in Quebec from Katimavik elsewhere in the country? It's a very complex organization, it seems. It's been a surprise to everybody that National was actually given this contract. It seems to be something that has escaped any sort of due diligence.
You saw Katimavik contributing right across the country, including in Quebec, and were unaware of the fact that its services weren't being provided by WE in Quebec.
Chief Executive Officer, Katimavik
That's correct. We would certainly have provided services in Quebec, in both languages, in our part of the role.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Can I ask you about Katimavik as a whole and your board of directors? I assume that if the chair of your board of directors asked for financial statements, they would be provided to the chair. We heard very important testimony from Michelle Douglas, who was the former chair of WE. She was basically sidelined and asked to resign after she endeavoured for weeks to get copies of financial statements.
I come out of the non-profit sector myself. I've never heard of a chair of a board of directors being refused financial statements. I assume it's a matter of course that board members are automatically provided with financial statements at every board meeting. Is that not true?
Chief Executive Officer, Katimavik
In our case, Katimavik provides a financial report at every board meeting, which are monthly. The board of directors is given a hard copy cash flow statement and budget actuals report every quarter.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
My last question is with regard to Canada summer jobs. Canada summer jobs, in my part of the country and right across the country, has been underfunded. In fact, the number of positions was reduced because the terms were extended, so we actually have fewer students employed this year during the pandemic than we do normally.
Do you believe that an important investment should have been made in Canada summer jobs, which has an impact, of course, on Katimavik students, but also on students right across the country?
Chief Executive Officer, Katimavik
In my role as a youth advocate for a youth empowerment organization I would say, and I don't mean to be flippant, there's never enough support to do the work we want to do. As much as it's responsible and affordable for governments, yes, we would welcome that investment.
Conservative
James Cumming Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Thank you, Mr. Cameron, for appearing today and for the very important work you do in this sector. I very much appreciate it, and I appreciate the work of the not-for-profits in Canada, particularly the work that your organization is doing. It sounds very intriguing.
Conservative
James Cumming Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Had you ever worked with WE before this specific contract came up?
Conservative
James Cumming Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Do you know with which WE organization you were going to have the agreement? Did WE share which one of its groups you'd be contracted with?
Chief Executive Officer, Katimavik
We understood it to be WE Charity.
Conservative
James Cumming Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
WE Charity, thank you.
When ESDC was calling.... It suggested that it spoke to your organization on April 15 about capacity. Do you recall that conversation it had with you? ESDC has submitted a document that suggests it was speaking to a variety of groups to see what capacity they would have to deliver a program like this.
Chief Executive Officer, Katimavik
I may not have been on that particular call, but I'd like to clear up that date to see, in fact, if I was. I don't believe I participated in that particular call. To answer your question directly, we didn't have any conversation with ESDC about Katimavik's potential capacity. It wasn't asked of us at any time to determine whether we had the capacity to deliver the program.
Conservative
James Cumming Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Thank you for that.
In your existing programs where the students are involved, are they volunteers? Do they receive some form of funding, or are they strictly volunteering in these programs?
Conservative
James Cumming Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
They're volunteering. This program would be quite a bit different by providing capital to volunteers, so providing grants to them versus the pure volunteerism that your organization does a great job with.
Chief Executive Officer, Katimavik
Yes, the program would be different in that, but we were very supportive of it because it did a number of things in a very innovative way. I think it addressed the issue of students, particularly, who would be disadvantaged from continuing their education potentially, by providing them with an income that they wouldn't otherwise have had, due to the impact of COVID-19. It also, therefore, benefited more and more non-profits and charities across the country with support and so forth they would otherwise not have had. In that sense we felt that it was an innovative approach to supporting our sector, which had also been very hard-hit by the impacts of COVID.
Also, it introduced students to some involvement with non-profits and community capacity building, and they would be paid something for it. We didn't see a disconnect or anything improper about that. It was the time, in our view, for some innovation like that.
Conservative
James Cumming Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Have you ever applied under the Canada summer jobs program? Has your organization applied under that program?
Chief Executive Officer, Katimavik
Yes. We apply for and bring on board staff, youth, from Canada summer jobs.
