I now call this meeting to order. I welcome everyone to meeting number 14 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health. Pursuant to the orders of reference of March 24, April 11 and April 20, 2020, the committee is meeting for the purpose of receiving evidence concerning matters related to the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today's meeting is taking place by video conference, and the proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. As at the last meeting, the website will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.
I will go through a bit of housekeeping in order to facilitate the work of our interpreters and ensure an orderly meeting.
I will outline a few rules. Certainly, interpretation in this video conference will work very much as in a regular committee meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of either floor, French or English. The bottom of the screen applies if you are using a personal computer; if you are on an iPad, it's slightly different.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When you are ready to speak, you can either click on the microphone icon to activate your mike, or you can hold down the space bar while you are speaking. When you release the bar, your mike will mute itself just like a walkie-talkie.
As a reminder, all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair. Should members need to request the floor outside their designated time for questions, they should activate their mike and state that they have a point of order.
If a member wishes to intervene on a point of order that has been raised by another member, they should use the “raise hand” function. This will signal to the chair your interest to speak. In order to do so, you should click on “participants” at the bottom of the screen if you have a PC. When the list pops up, you will see next to your name that you can click “raise hand”.
When speaking, speak slowly and clearly. When you're not speaking, your mike should be on mute.
The use of headsets is strongly encouraged. If you have a microphone on your headset that hangs down, please make sure it is not rubbing on your shirt during your questioning time.
Should any technical challenges arise, such as in relation to the interpretation, or if you are accidentally disconnected, please advise the chair or clerk immediately and the technical team will work to resolve the problem. Please note that we might need to suspend during these times as we need to ensure that all members are able to participate fully.
Before we get started, could everyone click on their screen, in the top right-hand corner, and ensure they are on gallery view? With this view, you should be able to see all the participants in a grid arrangement. It will ensure that all video participants can see one another.
During this meeting we will follow the same rules that usually apply to opening statements and questioning of witnesses during our regular meetings. Each witness will have 10 minutes for an opening statement, followed by the usual rounds of questions from members.
I would now like to welcome our witnesses.
From the Department of Indigenous Services, we have Ms. Valerie Gideon, senior assistant deputy minister of the first nations and Inuit health branch; Dr. Tom Wong, chief medical officer and director general of the office of population and public health; and Chad Westmacott, director general of the community infrastructure branch.
From the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, we have Natan Obed, president; and Aluki Kotierk, who is a member of the board and president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
From the National Association of Friendship Centres, we have Christopher Sheppard-Buote, president; and Jocelyn Formsma, executive director.
Finally, from the Southern Chiefs' Organization Inc., we have Grand Chief Jerry Daniels.
Welcome, everyone. We will now commence with statements from the panel.
We'll start with the Department of Indigenous Services.
Ms. Gideon, please go ahead.