Evidence of meeting #11 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was rights.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Ms. Sonnenberg. Thank you, Mr. Morrissey.
We'll now go to Mr. Blanchette-Joncas, for six minutes or less please.
November 30th, 2020 / 4:15 p.m.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First, I'd like to thank all of the witnesses who are here today.
My first question is for Mr. Dadswell.
I listened to your statement carefully, Mr. Dadswell. You shared some pretty damning facts. You said that it can take between seven and ten years before you see an imbalance, a problem situation.
Considering these facts, can you tell us about the importance of science in fisheries management?
4:15 p.m.
Professor of Biology (Retired), As an Individual
Okay, we have a problem. I'm not getting the interpretation. How can that be fixed?
4:15 p.m.
The Clerk
Mr. Dadswell, this is the clerk of the committee. If you can, go down your Zoom screen—
4:15 p.m.
The Clerk
Click “Interpretation”, then “Select”, then “English”.
4:15 p.m.
Professor of Biology (Retired), As an Individual
I don't have that on my Zoom screen anywhere.
4:15 p.m.
The Clerk
Mr. Chair, could you suspend, please, and we'll come back?
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
I just want to let the members know that IT is on the phone with both witnesses. They're on a different system, so they're not in our meeting on Zoom, or whatever. That's why they're not getting the translation. I do apologize to members who want to ask questions en français of these two members. I'm not sure if Ms. Sonnenberg is getting translation or not either.
What I would suggest, with the permission of the committee, is that any questions for Mr. Hutchins or Mr. Dadswell in French we can submit in writing and ask them to give a written response back.
If that's fine with everybody, we can go on to Mr. Blanchette-Joncas and his line of questioning if he has anything for Ms. Sonnenberg.
Mr. Johns.
4:30 p.m.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
I'm only willing to proceed if that's okay with Mr. Blanchette-Joncas.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
I'm not hearing anything back from Mr. Blanchette-Joncas in response to your question, Gord.
4:30 p.m.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Mr. Chairman, if I may, I would like to tell you that the situation is completely unacceptable.
I do not understand that in the Parliament of Canada, where there are two official languages, interpretation in both official languages is not available. Please allow me to express my dissatisfaction very clearly to all members of the committee.
I find it vexing and completely disrespectful to my right to speak today. I understand that we're trying to find solutions, and I'm not trying to blame anyone, but I hope that we can learn from our mistakes for the future, and that we can even check with the witnesses who come to visit us at each meeting. We need to do practice runs with them beforehand. First of all, it would save us time, and secondly, it would save us the kind of problem we're facing today.
I will have to modify my questions, unfortunately, and I will still transmit my very precise complaints to whoever is entitled to them.
4:30 p.m.
The Clerk
Mr. Chair, just to let you know, you can ask Mr. Blanchette.... If the members want to wait, they can wait. If not, they can proceed otherwise. If you have unanimous consent, then we can continue. If not, we can certainly wait.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Mr. Blanchette, I will say thank you for that. I fully understand why you would be upset that this is not available in both official languages, but some things are outside of any of our control when it comes to a witness' signing on. We don't have any control over the system they're using or the method by which they are using it. They're not in the parliamentary precinct and, of course, they're not in either one of our offices per se.
I'm hearing the translation fine in my office, and I'm sure that other members on the committee are hearing it fine as well. However, unfortunately, we have a couple of witnesses who are not hearing it, so it's hard for them to answer a question. I do apologize on behalf of the clerk and the committee for not realizing this until it actually happens. I don't think anybody is at fault, but I will recommend, of course, in the future that we definitely have some way to test if the witnesses can't understand everything in both official languages and not just in the language of their choice.
4:30 p.m.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to hear your comments. However, as I mentioned earlier, I would like to point out, more incisively, that this also happened last week to my colleague, the member for Manicouagan, who sits on the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. It's the same thing, she was unable to get her words interpreted, and today, the same situation is repeating itself. I hope a decision will be made to test the interpretation with the witnesses before committee members are present.
Mr. Chair, I'd like to ask the clerk a question. Is it legal for a committee member to be unable to speak in one of the official languages? Isn't that part of his or her rights as a parliamentarian?
4:30 p.m.
The Clerk
Thank you, Mr. Blanchette-Joncas.
Of course, I can answer your question. Indeed, this is completely unacceptable. Both official languages must be respected in parliamentary meetings. Having said that, when I did the sound tests with the witnesses, I talked about English and told them to choose that language. The witnesses did not mention to me that they did not see this option. So I couldn't know if they had access to it or not. Otherwise, at the time of the sound test, I certainly would have mentioned it.
Committees indeed have an absolute obligation to offer services in both official languages.
4:30 p.m.
Bloc
4:30 p.m.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
For my part, and this is nothing personal regarding committee members or witnesses, I will ask that my rights be respected, and they are to be able to express myself in the language of my choice, which is one of the two official languages of the Canadian Parliament.
I will also ask that today's meeting be adjourned until I can express myself in the language of my choice, one of Canada's two official languages, which we are not able to respect today, in 2020.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Mr. Blanchette-Joncas.
The first hour of our committee meeting today has expired, and I'd like to move on to the next group. Of course, we'll do their sound checks to make sure that they do hear it in French as well.
I would suggest that we could ask the witnesses to come back sometime this week when interpretation is available in both official languages because, Mr. Blanchette-Joncas, I do agree that you should be able to express a question or a statement in the official language of your choice, just as it is my right as an English-speaking Canadian to express myself freely. You should have that right, and we'll make sure that if that is not available, we won't allow the meeting to go ahead in the future.
The time for this hour is up. I'll suspend for a moment to switch out.
Nancy, I will ask if we can find some time somewhere to—
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Red Deer—Lacombe, AB
I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.
I think you are going to get to what I was going to suggest, so I apologize for interrupting, Mr. Chair. Why don't I let you finish your thought, and then if there's something more I want to say, I'll interject then?
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Okay. I was going to make sure that the clerk understands that we have permission to invite these people back again at a time convenient to them and to the committee to reconvene and have a full round of questioning, where all members can ask questions and get to their points in both official languages.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Red Deer—Lacombe, AB
If that doesn't work, Mr. Chair, could we put those questions in writing through you to the clerk, and have the witnesses provide a response in writing? That way, in case they're not able to come back.... I think that, as MPs, we should have the opportunity to hear what these witnesses have to say.
I apologize to the witnesses for the technical difficulties, but we do need to maintain the rights of members of Parliament here.
I would love to have the witnesses back, Mr. Chair—that's just my opinion—but I would love to be able to ask the questions that I wanted to of the witnesses, but that I was not able do.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Exactly. We'll make sure that that's available either in person or in writing, and even in both official languages, for that matter, so that everybody can see the full context of the conversation.
We will suspend now for a moment just to switch out the witnesses, and we'll leave it up to the clerk to line this up at the earliest possible convenience.
Thank you. We'll switch now to the second panel.
Thank you to our witnesses. I do apologize for the mix-up.