I call the meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number seven of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the House on May 26, 2020, the committee is continuing its study on the impacts of COVID-19 on fishing industry stakeholders.
Today's meeting is taking place by video conference, for the most part. The proceedings are public and will be made available via the House of Commons website. Just so you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entire committee.
To ensure an orderly virtual meeting, I would like to outline a few rules to follow.
Interpretation in this video conference will work very much like it does in a regular committee meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of “floor”, “English” or “French”. As you are speaking, if you plan to alternate from one language to the other, you will need to also to switch the interpretation channel so that it aligns with the language you are speaking. You may want to allow for a short pause when switching languages.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When you are ready to speak, you can click on the microphone icon to activate your mike. I remind everyone that all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair.
If a member wishes to intervene for usual committee business or on a point of order that has been raised by another member, I encourage him or her to use the “Raise Hand” function. In order to do so, you should click on “Participants” at the bottom of the screen. When the list pops up, you will see next to your name that you can click “Raise Hand”. That will signal to the chair your interest in speaking and will keep names in chronological order.
When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. I might be guilty of going a bit too fast myself at times. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute, because we get background noise being fed through. The use of headsets is strongly encouraged.
Should any technical challenge arise—for example, in relation to interpretation—or should a problem with your audio arise, please advise the chair immediately, and the technical team will work to resolve the issue. Please note that we may need to suspend during these times, as we need to ensure all members are able to participate fully.
Before we get started, can everyone click on their screen in the top right-hand corner to ensure that they are on gallery view? With this view, you should be able to see all participants in grid view. It will ensure that all video participants can see one another.
Finally, I would like to mention that contrary to a regular on-site meeting, we do not need to suspend after we hear the witnesses and go to committee business that is still in public. We can just wait a few seconds for the witnesses to leave the Zoom meeting, and we are good to continue the meeting without a suspension.
I would now like to introduce the witnesses we have before us virtually today.
From the Canadian Coast Guard, we have Mr. Chris Henderson, deputy commissioner of operations. From the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, we have Jean-Guy Forgeron, senior assistant deputy minister, strategic policy; Dominic Laporte, assistant deputy minister, human resources and corporate services; Sylvie Lapointe, assistant deputy minister, fisheries and harbour management; and Jen O'Donoughue, assistant deputy minister and chief financial officer.
Mr. Forgeron, I believe you're going to speak for the group. You'll have six minutes.
I remind everybody, both speakers and questioners, that I will be very strict on time. I'll cut in if you're going over your allotted time.
When you're ready, sir, please start.
