Foreign Affairs Committee on March 20th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

I'd like to call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 99 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the Standing Orders. Members are therefore attending in person in the room and remotely through the Zoom application.

I'd like to make a few comments.

First of all, please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking.

This room, as you are all aware, is equipped with a powerful audio system. Feedback events can occur, and these can be extremely harmful to the interpreters. I'd like to highlight that the most common cause of sound feedback is an earpiece worn too close to a microphone.

With regard to a speaking list, the committee clerk, as always, has graciously made one. We will endeavour to maintain a consolidated list to provide everyone an opportunity to ask questions.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee will proceed to a briefing on the war in Ukraine. I'd now like to welcome—

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Chair, can I bring up a point of order, please?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Yes.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you.

I apologize. I talked to the ambassador beforehand.

I want to raise a point of order very quickly before we get started, because I think this is very urgent. I raised this with committee members last week and again on Monday, and I want to make sure that a decision is taken in public today.

Global Affairs sent us a letter and an annex about our motion to compel documents on arms exports to Israel. Given the urgency of this issue, I ask for the committee's consent to instruct the clerk today to put this letter and annex up on the public FAAE website.

I would further ask that we, as a committee, take five minutes today in public to instruct Global Affairs to do the following: “That we understand that providing all documents between 2006 and 2024—”

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

I have a point of order on the point of order.

You're asking the committee to do something. That does not sound like a point of order. It sounds like a motion, and a motion may not be moved on a point of order.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

This is a point of order. I am asking us to instruct the clerk and providing details on that. I think it is very important that we are able to do this—

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Chair, that is not a point of order. We can't ask anybody to do anything.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Ms. McPherson, as you know, we have set some time aside for committee business later in the evening. Given that we have the ambassador here, would you be okay with us dealing with that then?

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

My issue is that we have tried to bring this forward, and the committee has not dealt with the motion already approved by this committee. This committee already approved the motion demanding and compelling documents from Global Affairs Canada—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Yes, but this is now a new demand, if I may—

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Global Affairs Canada has not provided those documents, so I would like to make sure that what has been provided is made public and that we instruct the clerk to do that so the information is public.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Would you do it in committee business? That's all I'm asking you, Ms. McPherson.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Is committee business going to be public? We are getting so many questions from people who are very interested in the answers the government is providing to this, so I would like to make sure it's going to be in public, not in camera.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Is there unanimous consent to do committee business in public?

[An hon. member]

No.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I would like to go forward with my point of order then.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Committee business is private, but you're saying you're going to take up the ambassador's time and you're not willing to wait until the end of—

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I think this is very urgent, particularly considering what I see as backsliding by the government with regard to sending arms to Israel. I think people are very interested in having an answer to this, and I think it's fair for us to make sure that those documents are—

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I think it's been made very clear that this is not a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Yes, members have pointed that out several times.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

The order of the day is to listen to the ambassador. This is not a point of order.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Can I please just ask that we instruct the clerk—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Would you concede that this is not a point of order?

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

No. It is a point of order. I'm asking the clerk to put documents that have been compelled by this committee up on the website.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

It's not a point of order. Would you concede that, Ms. McPherson?