Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Nov. 17th, 2016

[Vikram Vij]

Okay, sorry.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

—because I know you had a chance to respond to it previously. If you want to add to it at the end, I'd be happy to give you that opportunity as well because they haven't had that opportunity.

[Jeannette Arsenault]

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, but I feel that we were asked here to defend our CVs and I feel we were not prepared for those questions. Had we been given different information....

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

That's fine. That's exactly correct.

[Jeannette Arsenault]

With what's already been said, I feel that is enough.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Mr. Francis, is it the same?

[Brian Francis]

I agree.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Okay, you can go because he has about 15 seconds left.

Go ahead, Mr. Vij.

[Vikram Vij]

I think we do understand that choosing the right person or recommending the right person, whether it is to anyPrime Minister—it doesn't matter which party they belong to—reflects on us. It is our legacies and it is our names that are on it. We are the people who are in the community, day to day, upon whom it will be reflected if we, even remotely, chose somebody who was not up to the qualification. Therefore, our legacy is important. My personal name is very important to me. My last name is very important to me, which I will not allow to be tainted by anything.

To prod a little bit further and say, “Well, the PM can do whatever he wants”, it shows that the people he has chosen were recommended by us in that fashion. I feel that there might be a little too much prodding happening there. I may have stepped over, but I totally agree with my other partners. My role was to defend what I have done for this country and what I do in this country on a daily basis. That was what I was asked to do and that is what I am here for.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Thank you.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Just to be really clear, I was by no means questioning any of your qualifications or your integrity in any way. I do believe that you're doing this as best you can. You're trying to undertake it. I agree that your name needs to be.... I think we would all want to ensure that. It needs to be ensured that its integrity remains. That's actually why I make the points I do. I think it should be your decision, and not something that could be overruled by the Prime Minister. That's what I was trying to get at. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Thank you, Mr. Richards.

Ms. Sahota, you have five minutes.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

This isn't because of any kind of sensitivity; it's because we want to get to know our witnesses well and the contribution they've made to this process. I'm sure they don't view kindly when the whole process they have been through and all the hard work that they have done is called a sham. I really value all the hard work that you have put in. As a member of Parliament this year who's gone through all the processes that we have in committees, I can tell you it's a lot of work. It takes a lot of effort. I can only imagine how much effort you've put into this.

Going back to some of my questioning with you, Mr. Francis, you have a certificate in conflict resolution. I imagine that some of the areas in which you have negotiated with the government as a coordinator for aboriginal programs, as an employment counsellor, and when talking about fisheries and oceans, can become contentious issues at times, and ones that people are very passionate about.

How do you use those conflict resolution skills and the passion that you have in selecting and recommending senators?

[Brian Francis]

I use those kinds of skills on a daily basis in the job I do as a first nations leader. It's a very complex role.

Sorry, could you repeat the question again? I lost my train of thought.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Regarding your skills in conflict resolution, how did you use them within this process? There were some similar questions asked before, but I felt they were asked in a different fashion. How were those skills and the passion that you have towards some of the work you've done applied directly in this process?

[Brian Francis]

I certainly used reasoning skills, decision-making skills, and those kinds of things in critiquing the applications and the support letters. Also, as I mentioned earlier, I was on numerous merit-based competitive processes throughout the 19 years I worked for the federal government, and that has prepared me really well for this merit-based competitive process.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

We had the chance to hear from Mr. Vij about what he was looking for, or what kind of internal process he went through when looking at resumés and the skills of the potential senators. What were you looking for when you were going through that process?

[Brian Francis]

I was looking for someone who had provided a lot of contributions to their province. I looked at people who had professional backgrounds and had done a lot of work for their communities and so on. I rated them, basically on a rating scale. I prioritized and picked out the common elements, and critiqued and assessed them from there.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

One common thing I see from all the resumés is that all of you are very involved in your communities and very active in your communities. How did that affect your judgment as to the candidates you were looking for?

[Brian Francis]

As for me, I'm seen in my community as a person with a strong reputation and personal integrity. I've had many people compliment me on the fact that I was appointed to the role. I was humbled by that because it tells me that people have respect for me in the province. They know that I'm an independent, stand-alone, first nation leader. I think that went a long way.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Does anybody else want to chime in?

[Vikram Vij]

May I?

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Yes, Mr. Vij, go ahead.

[Vikram Vij]

Having a restaurant means that people come to your restaurant all the time, and having the amount of restaurants that I have.... People come to the restaurants, and there were a lot of people who had applied, and I knew they were applying for it because there was an element of.... Okay, I would see this person applying and see that person applying, but to be able to do that pragmatically, to say that I understand that you're applying and that everybody can apply—and that is what democracy is, to apply—and to be able to just put on that hat and ask if this person is the best person for the role, that was the hat we had to wear.

We were the captains of these resumés that were given to us, basically, and we wanted to make sure that the top people, who have contributed to their society and contributed to their own work in their field, were going to be great human beings down the road and were going to be creating legacies for which people will remember them, for the work they have done not only for the community but for British Columbia as such.

That was what I was looking for. Those are all things that we looked through these resumés for. We were honoured to have resumés from the far north of British Columbia right through to Vancouver. It was not just Vancouver- or Victoria-centric. It was British Columbia-centric.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Schmale, you have five minutes.