I call this meeting to order. Welcome, everyone, to meeting number 21 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health. Pursuant to the orders of reference of April 11 and April 20, 2020, the committee is meeting for the purpose of receiving evidence concerning matters related to the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In order to facilitate the work of our interpreters and ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few words to follow.
First, interpretation in this video conference will work very much as it does in a regular committee meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of floor, English or French. Please speak slowly and clearly and hold your microphone in front of your mouth as directed during the sound check. If you will be speaking in both official languages, please ensure that the interpretation is listed as the language you will speak before you start. For example, if you're going to speak English, please switch to the English feed and speak. This allows for better sound quality for the interpretation.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When you are ready to speak, click on the microphone icon to activate your mike. Should members need to request the floor outside of their designated time for questions, they should activate their mike and state that they have a point of order. I will remind everyone that all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair. Should any technical challenges arise, please advise the chair or clerk immediately, and the technical team will work to resolve them. If necessary we will suspend the meeting at those times to rectify the problem.
Before we get started, I'd like to remind you all that if you click—for those operating on a computer—on the upper right-hand corner of your screen you'll see a speaker view versus a gallery view. If you click to gallery view then you should be able to see everyone in the meeting. For those using iPads, it's a little icon in the upper left hand corner.
I'd like now to welcome our witnesses. From the Public Health Agency of Canada, we have Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer, and Ms. Kim Elmslie, vice-president, infection disease prevention and control branch. From the Office of the Chief Science Advisor, we have Dr. Mona Nemer, the chief science advisor. From the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, we have Dr. Michael Strong, president, and from the Canadian Society for Virology, we have Dr. Nathalie Grandvaux, president.
Welcome to all of our witnesses and thank you for being here. The committee and I appreciate your time.
We will start with the Public Health Agency of Canada with, I believe, Dr. Tam.
Please go ahead for 10 minutes.