Good morning, everyone. This is Thursday, October 8, 2009. The Foreign Affairs and International Development Committee is meeting to discuss and hear testimony on Bill C-300, An Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries.
We're very pleased to have with us this morning Ms. Catherine Coumans, the research coordinator for the Asia-Pacific program at MiningWatch Canada. Thank you for coming, Ms. Coumans. We also have Richard Janda, a professor at McGill University. He is accompanied by research assistant Rachel Doran. We thank all three of you for being here today and we look forward to your comments.
I'm not certain if you've had the privilege of appearing before committee before, but we look forward to your opening comments. Try to keep them within a ten minute range, and then we'll be able to have more time for questions.
I would invite Ms. Coumans to open.