Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 17th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Excellent.

[Brad Vis]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Thank you, Mr. Vis.

Thank you, Ministers and your officials, for your great exchange.

Ms. Romanado, five minutes go to you.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here today.

Through you, my first question is to Minister Tassi. Welcome to PROC.

As the minister responsible for the long-term vision and plan, what we heard a little bit about was Sparks and Wellington, but I have a question. When looking at the map that was provided by PPS, between the Prime Minister's office and the Senate building, there is a very important piece of land. It's very important to me. It is the War Memorial. What we saw happening to the War Memorial during the illegal occupation was absolutely devastating to those who have military families, and to Corporal Nathan Cirillo's memory.

I'd like to know if there are any plans for the jurisdiction that is currently responsible for the War Memorial, to make sure that what happened during the occupation never happens again.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Through you, Madam Chair, thanks for that very important question.

Nathan Cirillo, of course, was from Hamilton, so we know the importance of this specific site, what it means to people and how important it is. This is a perfect example of why this committee is doing extremely important work, and we need to look at pathways forward. The War Memorial presents an interesting case, because as I have said, it used to be owned by four different landowners, but now it's three. The memorial itself belongs to PSPC, but think of the jurisdictional challenges when you have three landowners having to make decisions on moving the pathway forward. Ultimately, we were asked in PSPC to construct a barrier, a fence. It took time, because we had to ensure that everyone was supportive of that, that it was respectful and that was the pathway forward.

That's why I see an opportunity here in this study to look at what the parliamentary precinct should entail. Should it be expanded? Should ownership be streamlined? How can everyone work collaboratively so that we ensure the safety and security of people, but also recognize the importance of these monuments to Canadians across this country?

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you very much, Minister.

I'll now go to Minister Mendicino. In that same vein, you mentioned the Rideau Centre and the LRT line. We also know that National Defence headquarters is above the Rideau Centre. I'd like to get any comments from you on the impact of the occupation, the shutdown of the LRT and the shutdown of the Rideau Centre, in terms of National Defence employees being able to do their work. Is that something we should be thinking about in terms of the expansion of the precinct?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Madam Chair, through you to Mrs. Romanado, I can do no better than to adopt the words of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, in saying they were responding to an “unprecedented [set of] demonstrations, protests, occupations, and acts of civil disobedience.” When they said “unprecedented”, what I take them to mean is that never in the history of their professional experience had they seen a public order event of the size, scale, magnitude, and impact on people.

I think it is terribly important that we never ever forget what occurred in the months of January and February. It is still very difficult to describe the consequences of the illegal blockades and occupation not only in the nation's capital, but at ports of entry in border communities across this country. I remember being engaged by our colleagues, like Mr. Naqvi and Minister Fortier, so we can't underestimate the impacts on the residents of this city.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you very much.

Minister Mendicino, you referred to the 2014 attacks on Parliament Hill. I'd like to ask the analysts if they could circulate to this committee the “October 22, 2014: House of Commons Incident Response Summary”. I think it's helpful for us to see what actually happened the last time there was an incident on the Hill. I believe it already exists in both official languages. If we could have that circulated, I think it would be beneficial for this study.

Thank you very much, ministers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Excellent. Thank you so much for that.

I'm sure the analysts look forward to circulating that around.

On behalf of PROC committee members, I want to thank both ministers for appearing. You have now become ministers two and three who have joined this invigorating committee, and we appreciate any insights you've provided. Please feel free to provide anything in writing should any thoughts come to mind that you think the committee should consider.

Mr. Thompson and Mr. Wright, thank you for your time and attention as well.

Please all keep well and safe.

I declare the meeting adjourned.