Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Oct. 14th, 2020

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Sorry, Madam Chair, I was cut off by a point of order before I finished all of my comments. May I finish?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Yes, please.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much.

Speaking again on my amendment, I'm aware that the Canada-China committee has also resumed its work. However, with respect to this amendment that I'm proposing, I only want to focus on the immigration aspects related to the people of Hong Kong. As we know, there is an urgent situation happening in Hong Kong. I think it would be appropriate for our committee to study this aspect within the larger context of the refugee resettlement programming so that we can put a clear immigration focus to—

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Madam Chair, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Yes, Ms. Normandin.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I just wanted to know where we are at in terms of the receivability of both the Liberals' motion and the Conservatives' motion, which have not been distributed in both official languages. That has not been clarified. I only want to make sure that we are debating correctly, as, to my knowledge, only my motions have been distributed officially in both languages. I would not want something to be applied to one party, but not to the others.

In short, two motions are not being distributed in both official languages. Either they should both be accepted, or neither one of them should be accepted. I just want to know where we are at right now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Normandin.

I want to clarify what I said before. The clerk has clarified that notices are permitted before the election of the chair. However, there is no notice period and motions may not be moved until after the election of the chair. The two motions that have been moved by the Liberals and the Conservatives are thus okay.

I will ask the clerk to comment on this.

It's over to the clerk. Please clarify this.

[The Clerk]

I hope to.

Members may place motions on notice. Until the election of the chair there is no notice period, because requiring a notice period is a routine motion that the committee adopts for itself.

However, it is also the practice—and the committee has adopted a routine motion—that provided that it relates to the ongoing debate, members may move motions without notice. Presently, the committee is considering committee business, and so motions to propose studies for future business are in order even if they are moved without notice.

It is understandable that members would want to have text of the motions. Our practice is also to distribute them only when they're available in both official languages.

I recall Ms. Dancho's question inquiring how long it would take for the translation. I don't know precisely, but we've made the request. Our intention, our plan and our instruction is to distribute them to all members as soon as they're available in both official languages.

I don't encourage it, but if the committee agreed by unanimous consent to distribute a document in one official language, then I would be compelled to do so. It would, though, take the unanimous consent of the entire committee to do something like that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I hope that clarifies the situation.

We have Mr. Dhaliwal on the list, and then Ms. Normandin.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I agree more with MP Normandin than with Madam Kwan when the latter is talking about the Hong Kong part of the topic.

However, when it comes to MP Dancho's motion, it's wide open to studying almost everything that this department has ever done and will probably ever do. There's no focus—

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

On a point of order, Madam Chair, the member is making generalizations about my statement.

I just want to be clear that the 10 clauses in here are the ones that are supremely affected by the pandemic. It is the duty of the committee and the department of immigration to cooperate and study these matters that affect human lives.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

Mr. Dhaliwal.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Madam Chair, I fully support saving lives so that Canadians can be healthy. There is never an issue with that. However, her motion is so wide open that we would study, as I said, almost everything this department, the IRCC, has ever done and will ever do.

I think we should have motions that are focused and time-sensitive, saying in this motion, as number one, that “this is the time we are going to spend on this study”.

That's the way I would like to see it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mr. Dhaliwal.

I want to let all the members know that right now we have an amendment proposed by Ms. Kwan. We can only speak to that amendment.

We have Ms. Normandin on the list.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you.

As a member of the Bloc, I'm troubled by something. In fact, it makes me a bit uneasy. It's not the substance of the motions; it's the fact that the French versions aren't available in either case. If I weren't bilingual, I might have trouble following the discussion right now. I understand the motions, and I'm able to comment on the basis of what I've received and what's been said in English, with the help of the interpreters, but that isn't an official translation. If I spoke only French, I'd feel as though my ability to do my job as a parliamentarian had been thwarted.

This is my question: if we don't receive the translated versions of the motions very soon, wouldn't it be appropriate to postpone this debate? I won't make it a motion, but I am asking the question. I feel I must address the issue of bilingualism. Both official languages have to be on equal footing.

I'd have no problem carrying on with the debate if we had a better sense of how long it's going to take before we get the translated versions. If it's in the next few minutes, I'm fine with extending the meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Normandin.

We have a speaking order, so please, Ms. Dancho, we will come to you.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

We have a translated version that's available and will be sending that around shortly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We have a speaking order, so please raise your hand and I will recognize you.

We have Mr. Serré on the list.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just wanted to comment on what Ms. Normandin said. I appreciate how important Ms. Dancho's motion is, as is the need to prioritize. It's difficult to do that, however, when it comes to Ms. Dancho's motion and Ms. Kwan's amendment, since we don't have the French versions of what was distributed in English. I, myself, understand English and French, but I tend to read the French for content.

Could we not put the debate on hold today, as Ms. Normandin suggested, to make sure we get the translated motions and have the opportunity to really digest the content at another meeting? There's no rush, and we need to be sure we have all the information in hand. I don't want members to start submitting unilingual motions on the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. This isn't a precedent we should be setting. Having the French versions of both motions is important so we can look at them in detail and make sure they're consistent.

I therefore move that we suspend debate, as Ms. Normandin suggested, to give the committee a chance to digest the content in English and in French.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Yes, Mr. Serré.

There is a motion by Mr. Serré.

Are you moving this motion, Mr. Serré, to suspend the debate?

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Madam Chair, we still have to vote on MP Kwan's amendment. I move to vote on her amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Dancho.

We have an amendment by Ms. Kwan on the floor. Would anyone like to speak to the amendment?

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Madam Chair, can we vote?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We can vote on the amendment proposed by Ms. Kwan.

(Amendment agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

We have Ms. Dancho on the list.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Madam Chair, further to the study, I would point out that it has more specifics than the Liberal motion had when it was proposed. Moreover, no member had a copy of the Liberal motion, aside from the Liberal members. At the very least, we have distributed our motion in English to the opposition party members, as well as a French translation that we have just finished. It's not the official translation, but hopefully my Bloc colleague will appreciate our efforts in this regard.

I would also like to point out that we are operating in this Zoom virtual committee setting per the direction of the Liberal government, and should we have been in the same room as in normal circumstances, it would have been easier to distribute paper copies to everyone in advance and currently, as we're getting the translation.

I'd appreciate it if we could move forward. I move to vote on my motion.