Foreign Affairs Committee on May 11th, 2009

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, just to put it in summary, right now we've invited Mr. Abdelrazik, and you're waiting for translation, etc.

Fine. I'm telling you that there has been an acceptance of the invitation for him to appear here before committee. What I'm hoping is that we will have the usual protocol whereby we make arrangements to have the witness travel to be before the committee and that the request for travel documents be made.

The opinion that you receive from the clerk would tell you what our powers are. But I would like to have us go ahead with the procedure whereby we invite a witness, we work out travel arrangements, and the only thing that may or may not be an issue is whether he can access the travel documents. That is my sense, on which the law clerk would, at the appropriate time, provide an opinion to us. That doesn't in any way delay our going forward in the regular conduct of the committee, and that is, invitation made, travel arrangements made. I would hope that this committee would provide—

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We don't make travel arrangements.

[Angela Crandall, Procedural Clerk]

The witnesses make their own travel arrangements, normally. We would pay for them.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

We would pay? I guess, then, the question is—

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

That's the point. We've offered the invitation; I haven't seen the response. I want to see the response. I want everyone to see the response—

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

That's fair enough. That's absolutely understood.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

I'd like to deal with this at the next meeting or at the steering committee. We don't have it translated. I haven't seen it; I don't know what they're asking for. My intention is not to wait until I see it, but to draft a letter for the clerk and then proceed.

[The Clerk]

What exactly do we want a legal opinion on?

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Well, I wanted a legal opinion on whether the committee can request that Mr. Abdelrazik appear before the committee and that the government cooperate with that. It's basically asking for the parameters of the committee having, in this case, a Canadian citizen appear, and what the boundaries are for us as a committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We asked the very same thing of the department. It was the department that asked that it be referred to the law clerk.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Are there any obstacles preventing the committee from requesting that Mr. Abdelrazik appear before it? What compliance must government--in this case, the Department of Foreign Affairs--have to allow us to have Mr. Abdelrazik in front of committee? In other words, providing travel documents....

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

That's a fairly long wish list for the law clerk. Take a look and see what we asked the department, and that's what we want to ask. And if you ask some of these others as well, I guess that's....

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Simply put, can he appear before committee, and can the committee call him to appear before committee--

[The Clerk]

We've already done it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Yes, we've done that.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

But the question is, as a committee, can we oblige the government to provide the necessary travel documents? That's a better way of putting it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Ms. Brown.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Should the response be in the affirmative when you get the translation, I would make the motion that the committee also explore whether teleconferencing or video conferencing is available.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

All right.

In the meantime, until we get the motion back, I'm not going to deal with any more on the motion. But I want you to know that I'm not going to stall it here either. I'm going to send that letter, that request, and do what we can do now, and then at the next meeting....

Is there any other committee business?

Seeing none, we will adjourn.

Thank you, folks.