Evidence of meeting #17 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was recommendation.
A recording is available from Parliament.
7:40 p.m.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
I know that with the Zoom platform, folks can call in and just have audio of the proceedings. That might be a nice alternative so that the images don't distract from the discussion among members.
It's just a thought.
7:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Yes. There is a calling option for all of the staff. I know that my staff has used that.
7:40 p.m.
The Clerk
Madam Chair, that's right in the information that was emailed to all members of the committee. It includes emails for staff members as well. The emails list a phone line, called Resolve, that staff members can use to call in. There are code numbers for them to choose the floor feed, the English feed or the French feed.
That could be an option for them in order to listen in.
7:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Is that in the reoccurring emails that we get in order to log in to these meetings?
7:40 p.m.
The Clerk
That's exactly right. That's where the information would be. The distribution list contains staffers of the different members.
7:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Yes, we got a reminder today, just before this meeting, with the link to log in. That same reminder lists how to watch and listen to the meeting.
Mr. Richards, are you able to inform your staff about that?
7:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Okay. Perfect. Does anybody else need to inform their team? No? Okay.
In the meantime, we're still going to try to get the ParlVU option up as well.
Mr. Turnbull, you were about to give us some proposed language.
7:40 p.m.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
I agree with Mr. Richards that one of the recommendations captured this quite nicely. However, I feel that it might be important for our recommendations to reflect some of the concerns that the interpreters provided.
I would propose that we change LIB 15 to say “To ensure the best-quality audio for enabling quality interpretation during virtual proceedings, the Speaker of the House and chairs of parliamentary committees shall provide a headset or microphone with a minimum standard set in consultation with the Translation Bureau.”
I would suggest that we eliminate all the rest of that paragraph, which gets into very specific, prescriptive details about hardware. I'm not sure that's necessary. Then the recommendation could continue.
I would also suggest, based on Ms. Blaney's comment, that written text must be provided to the interpreters in advance whenever possible. I think that's a really important suggestion, because it's not always going to be possible.
Did that come through okay?
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
I'm sorry; I was on mute, and I'm trying to tell Mr. Brassard he's on mute.
Mr. Brassard, would you have something to say?
Oh, you can't get off mute. Okay.
7:45 p.m.
Conservative
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
You can unmute?
Let's see if there are any remote issues.
There we go, Mr. Brassard, you're unmuted now.
You're unmuted, but we can't hear you.
7:45 p.m.
The Clerk
Madam Chair, we're going to get an IT ambassador to call Mr. Brassard to see if they can address the technical issue.
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Okay.
Mr. Brassard, you may have heard that. An IT ambassador is going to contact you to resolve this issue.
We will just pause so that Mr. Brassard can participate fully.
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Okay. I think we were at the point where we were hearing from the analyst as to how you can take the suggestions that Mr. Turnbull has just given, the rough outline. Could you perhaps read that out so that we all have a better understanding of what the full recommendation would look like?
Mr. Alghabra, do you have a suggestion?
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
Omar Alghabra Liberal Mississauga Centre, ON
Yes, with respect to my friend Mr. Turnbull, perhaps for simplicity's sake, I kind of agree with some of the comments mentioned earlier by Mr. Richards that NDP 6 is a good, concise recommendation that covers, in a broad sense, what we're trying to achieve, so perhaps we could drop LIB 15.
7:45 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
If we remove the LIB 15 recommendation, little bits will be missing, especially when it comes to written texts and coordinators' support. It seems to me that we would lose some useful elements if we removed it.
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Yes, we can hear you, Mr. Brassard. I think it's sounding good now.
The recommendation reads, “Interpreters must have the assistance of an interpreter coordinator and onsite technician at all times.”
Yes, Mr. Alghabra.
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
Omar Alghabra Liberal Mississauga Centre, ON
Perhaps this will satisfy Madame Normandin. The fact that NDP 6 talks about collaborating with the interpreters and the translation bureau means that it would cover the needs in making sure that throughout this process their needs are taken into account.
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
Omar Alghabra Liberal Mississauga Centre, ON
No. In NDP 6, the fact that it says, “in consultation with the Translation Bureau” implies that all of the needs of the translation bureau and the interpreters are taken into account, without necessarily specifying. The risk is that if we start specifying which needs the interpreters may have, we may miss some or overemphasize others.
