Fisheries Committee on March 13th, 2008

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just want to thank you, Claire, for coming, and Mr. Hegge and Mr. Bevan as well. I appreciate getting to know a bit more about you and what you're planning to do.

I want to conclude with one final question for you. How do you see your work at Indian and Northern Affairs contributing to the files and the work that you're going to be doing in fisheries?

[Claire Dansereau]

Thank you for the question.

I consider myself to be in a permanent state of development, always, until I die, and every job that I take I hope to contribute based on what I bring, but I also learn while I'm there. I think it was quite fortuitous that I spent the last year at Indian and Northern Affairs, because there was a hole, I think, in my own development on the very significant and important files as they affect first nations in Canada.

So it was a very intensive learning experience for me while I was there, and that knowledge of course is now going to be, I think, beneficial to everything that we do, because the work with Canada's first nations is ever-increasing, and our ability to incorporate those concerns into our decision-making is going to grow.

My hope is that what I learned there will be of significant value to the work that we are doing increasingly at Fisheries and Oceans.

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Fabian Manning]

Are these all of our questions?

I want to thank our witnesses once again for your time here this morning. Somewhere in the future we may have you back, either all of you together or separately. We'd just like to leave that door open.

Thanks again.

We're going to take a five-minute recess, folks. We have a little bit of committee business to take care of and then we'll finish up.

Thank you very much.

[Proceedings continue in camera]