Finance Committee on Aug. 13th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I want to release the witnesses, but I will allow a point of order.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

I'm just wondering if the witnesses might volunteer to give us another half an hour of their time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I will ask the witnesses. The clerk had asked them earlier, and they were limited to the one hour, but we'll ask the witnesses what their opinion is here.

Go ahead, Ms. Al-Waheidi.

[Dalal Al-Waheidi]

I do appreciate the request. We wanted to come here to be helpful and provide answers. We have child care duties, and I hope you understand that. I need to attend to those. I hope you understand this.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We understand. We had one of our members on here originally starting off the meeting with child care duties.

With that, I want to thank you for appearing before the committee and answering our questions. Just personally, I do want to wish you well in what I know are very stressful times. It doesn't matter if you're a business, a charity, a farm or a fisherman; when you're going through strenuous times on the financial end, sometimes due to things beyond your control, it's very stressful. We understand that and we wish you well in that regard.

With that, we will—

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Go ahead, Mr. Fortin.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before the witnesses leave, could you ask them when they are going to meet the commitments they made during this meeting?

I noted, among others things that I had to obtain the names of employees in Quebec and the percentage of time spent lobbying. I'm wondering when they are going to meet those commitments.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

There were several items that were noted that they committed to get back to us on, so the more haste to get back to us on that information the better, if I could say that to the witnesses. We need that information as soon as possible. We have a document that we're waiting to be translated and redacted right now, and we would like all that information as quickly as possible.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Can a deadline be set or the witnesses asked how soon they think they can provide us with the information?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Mrs. Al-Waheidi.

[Dalal Al-Waheidi]

I'm writing down all the requests, and we will do this as soon as possible. I can't give you a timeline right now, but we're committed to this process in order to provide this information as soon as possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We will also ask the analysts to make a note of the request for information that you were asked. I made a note of a few, and we'll get that to you as well, so nothing is missed on your end. We don't expect you to keep tight notes of all the requests.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

We will suspend for three or four minutes to bring on our next panel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I recall the meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 51, panel two of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. We're meeting on government spending, WE Charity and the Canada student service grant.

With us this afternoon for the next hour, we have John-Frederick Cameron, chief executive officer at Katimavik. We've had you before as a witness. I believe you have an opening statement, and we will go from there.

[John-Frederick Cameron, Chief Executive Officer, Katimavik]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and honourable members.

Upon receipt of your request to participate in your inquiry and to attend today's hearing, though I do not have any direct knowledge of some aspects of your inquiry, our organization, Katimavik, takes the view that a publicly funded organization, as we are, and a recipient of taxpayer dollars, should respect the request of any parliamentary committee. In that spirit, I am pleased to be here with you today, albeit virtually.

Our organization brings a very unique perspective to what has become a meaningful and important national conversation. Katimavik has been at the very centre of that spirit of youth volunteerism since its founding in 1977. Through a model based on experiential learning and through our flagship program, the Katimavik national experience, young Canadians are encouraged to embrace diversity, become active and engaged citizens and evolve into leaders and change-makers in their communities.

As this program did in the seventies, eighties, nineties and today, we bring young Canadians together who may not yet have found their fit in society. From a diversity of backgrounds and experiences, we introduce them to their country and their country to them. They explore parts of our great country that they likely have not seen before, and they form a collective in a sense.

Katimavik today has evolved from being primarily a bridge between what was referred to at the time of its founding as “the two solitudes”, referencing the divide between English and French Canadians at that time. Today, the diversity among our youth is broad, with some representing different religions and cultural backgrounds, some from the LGBTQ2+ community, and very importantly, some youth from indigenous communities. They live together, learn together, play together, serve together and they bond together.

In doing so, the differences and prejudices they had perceived between each other prior to the program disappear and they form lifelong friendships. They become advocates for truth and reconciliation with indigenous communities. As importantly, they develop life skills and employment skills through this program.

We place these phenomenal youth in communities where they volunteer with non-profits and charitable community organizations and thereby contribute to building those communities. They learn about and embrace the priorities of the different regions of our country as youth from the east travel to western communities and vice versa. Through that journey, they very often find themselves and become active and engaged citizens.

They come into our program often not being very confident, and some not so sure what to do with their lives and how to contribute. They leave our program with a renewed sense of confidence, self-aware and committed to becoming contributing members of society. Their love for this great country is enhanced, and we are better off as a result.

I am so very proud to be able to share with you that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, our participants volunteered with local organizations across the country. In fact, for decades, Canada's young people have enthusiastically and wholeheartedly volunteered their time and effort for the betterment of the greater society.

The fact remains that Canadian youth were undeterred by the obstacles brought forth by a global pandemic, instead focusing on how they could give back to the country while strictly adhering to all health guidelines and protocols. In so doing, they demonstrated tremendous bravery. Their contributions through our program included activities such as picking up garbage in their neighbourhoods, making artwork for their communities, contributing to food security initiatives, talking to socially isolated seniors and delivering groceries to Canadians in need.

We saw this first-hand, since in just the first two months of the pandemic, young Canadians participating in Katimavik's national experience program volunteered nearly 7,000 hours in total. They also inspired hundreds of others to follow their lead and make an impact of their own.

Furthermore, the degree of their enthusiasm and commitment was demonstrated when, this summer, Katimavik received almost four times more applications than opportunities available for the national experience cohort that began in July. We were both stunned and elated that so many fearless and inspiring young Canadians from around the country responded and applied to volunteer with community organizations from coast to coast to coast.

As Canadians face our new realities as a result of COVID-19 and its longer term implications, we have come to terms with the fact that our world has experienced transformative changes. Some of these changes have already created division among us as we debate how to confront these new challenges. Every aspect of our lives, from how we eat to where we work, to what we wear, looks different. While many aspects of our country seem unrecognizable from a few short months ago, and as so many things we took for granted disappear, it is truly inspiring to remember that one constant has prevailed: Canadian youth and their commitment to building a better country.

In our opinion, the proposed Canada student service grant program was and is an innovative way to assist students who were facing the elimination of job opportunities. At the same time, this program sought to leverage the tremendous spirit of volunteerism in support of non-profits across the country. The opportunity provided by the proposed program to mobilize even more young Canadians to volunteer for many causes, some directly affected by COVID-19, and thereby simultaneously contribute to their education, is, in our view, an honourable and valuable goal.

Given our organization's commitment to youth empowerment, it would not surprise you that we were and remain strong supporters of the proposed program. We were therefore delighted to be asked to contribute to the program by doing simply what is in our Katimavik DNA: connecting Canadian youth with non-profit and charitable organization placements across our great country.

Through this pandemic, Canadian youth have led and will continue to lead the way, if we continue to provide them the opportunities to do so. Katimavik can attest to the fact that they have already demonstrated the capacity, courage and bravery necessary. Our hope is that Canadians will continue to support, encourage and empower them.

In closing, on behalf of Katimavik's board of directors and our staff team, we thank Canadians for their ongoing support and are grateful for the support provided through the federal government, and to all members of Parliament who have supported this important work since our founding in 1977 and up to today. It is an honour to sit before you today.

We appreciate the opportunity to share this information with you. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Mr. Cameron. I had neglected to give the speaking order before you started. We're starting with Mr. Cooper, followed by Mr. Fragiskatos, then Mr. Fortin, and then Mr. Julian.

Mr. Cooper, you're up.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be splitting my time with Mr. Morantz. When three minutes come up, cut me off.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

All right.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Cameron, for being here.

Did I hear you correctly that Katimavik is involved in or was involved in the administration of the CSSG?

[John-Frederick Cameron]

We were invited to participate through a partnership arrangement.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Could you provide some details of what that arrangement was?

[John-Frederick Cameron]

It was a fairly detailed agreement, which I'm happy to share with the committee if you'd like. Essentially, it mapped out our role. It was provided to us through a telephone conversation with WE Charity executives. We were asked to participate in attracting some of our alumni, some of our youth cohorts that we had run and were running, who happened to be students and who might be eligible for the program. The partnership agreement spelled out, for lack of a better word, the terms of how we would do that and what we needed to provide to WE Charity.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

The agreement was entered into. There was a formal agreement that had been entered into.

[John-Frederick Cameron]

There was a formal agreement that had been presented to us. We asked for a number of amendments. We were back and forth quite a few times on the amendments. In fact, by the time we got to the signing day, it was announced that the program would not be forthcoming.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

When were you contacted by WE, or when was Katimavik contacted?