I can explain it in French, but in broad terms, I have nothing to add to what Madam Chair has said. This is governed neither by an act nor by the Standing Orders of the House. It is really a rule the committee made for itself at the beginning of the parliamentary session. First, the rule states that, when documents are distributed to the committee members, only the clerk can do that. Second, the documents have to be in English and in French. That's the rule.
But, in terms of documents received by the committee, the members of the committee can decide to consider them “exhibits”. This is a technical term meaning that the exhibits are kept in the clerk's office. They are not distributed to all members of the committee, but they can be accessed at the clerk's office. So it is the committee's decision. The committee could decide to take all the documents and label them exhibits. Then, as clerk, I would take all that to my office and the exhibits would be available to the members and their staff.
But let me mention that there is still a point that allows the committee to ask the analysts to go through the documents and determine which ones are relevant to the study. Then the documents are duly translated and distributed to the members according to the usual process and the rule.