Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank all of our witnesses for being here today.
Senator Wells, I seek a little bit of clarification.
Our committee studied the changes to the Fisheries Act back in 2016. There were statements by the minister that first nations were being consulted face to face and that we would receive input from those consultations for the completion of the study. Many times there were requests for extension of the study by the committee. The government simply voted down those extensions time and again when it was first nations, when it was we on this side who were asking for extensions to do a proper study.
There were submissions and briefs. Collectively over $900,000 was paid by DFO for these briefs, and they were received after the committee had drafted the study. Could some of these issues have been addressed with the proper extension of that study some two years ago, in 2016?