Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 1st, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I call to order meeting number 14 of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, on February 1.

Before we get into it, I would like to talk about the public health safety guidelines.

Given the ongoing pandemic situation and in light of the recommendations from the health authorities as well as the directive of the Board of Internal Economy on January 28, 2021, to remain healthy and safe I ask all those attending the meeting in person to please maintain a physical distance of at least two metres from others. Wear a non-medical mask when moving in the meeting room, and preferably wear a mask at all times, including when you are seated. Please maintain proper hand hygiene by using the provided hand sanitizer at the room entrance and regularly wash your hands well with soap. As the chair, I will be enforcing these measures for the duration of the meeting. I thank members in advance for your co-operation.

The first item on the agenda is considering the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure's report number two.

The committee is considering the motion by Mr. Dhaliwal to adopt the second report of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure, and the amendment by Ms. Dancho. The text of Ms. Dancho's amendment is published in the minutes of meeting number 13, which happened on January 27, 2021. On January 28, the clerk distributed a message on my behalf to clarify the matter of the last meeting's adjourned debate. I instructed the clerk to plan for a resumed debate as the first item of business at today's meeting. I've also asked the clerk to reschedule one of today's panels due to the voting in the chamber and to allow the committee to dispose of committee business.

The second report of the subcommittee was distributed to the committee on the House of Commons website.

Just so you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.

The first item on the agenda is the consideration of report number two of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure, and the amendment that was proposed by Ms. Dancho on Wednesday of last week.

Ms. Dancho.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I did notice that the “raise hand” function isn't available. I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I was going to raise my hand with the little function. I'm not sure if everyone's affected, but I know some Conservatives don't have it either.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Yes, I don't see—

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

Madam Chair, it wasn't working this morning either when I was on another committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I will ask the clerk to look into it.

You can raise hands, and the clerk and I will try to keep a list. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Ms. Dancho, the floor is yours.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Following several very productive conversations with members from all parties on the committee, I think we'll have agreement for the following.

I would ask the committee for unanimous consent to withdraw my original amendment. Should we receive that unanimous consent, I have a new motion to put forward that I hope will be amenable to the committee. It was amenable to the members we spoke with over the last couple of days.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Do I have unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment proposed by Ms. Dancho?

(Amendment withdrawn)

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to put forward the following amendment. It is that the report of the subcommittee be amended in paragraph 1 by replacing the words “and invite witnesses to appear for three hours” with the following words:

invite witnesses to appear for five hours, and invite the minister to appear for 1 hour and apply this testimony to the studies of Special Immigration Measures for the People of Hong Kong, and of Labour Market Impact Assessments, and that relevant witness testimony from the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations in the 43rd Parliament be used as evidence for the Special Immigration Measures for the people of Hong Kong study draft report;

I hope that makes sense.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Dancho has proposed an amendment to report number two of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure. Is there any debate?

We have Ms. Martinez Ferrada and then Ms. Kwan.

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Hochelaga, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank my colleague Ms. Dancho and the opposition members for the fruitful discussions we've had.

We are pleased to support my colleague's motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

Ms. Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thanks very much, Madam Chair.

I will also be supporting the motion with the amendment.

I also want to note for clarity for our committee that it is the intention of the committee that, whenever we have committee business, it does not take away from those hours of the witnesses' presentations. In the case of today, for example, our committee meeting is going to be reduced by one hour. The second panel will not be appearing before us. That does not eliminate that panel of speakers and that one hour of committee business. It will be made up in a future meeting. I just want to make sure that is understood, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Kwan.

Yes, I will clarify that. Because of the vote, we started the meeting late today, and because there are more meetings happening after our meeting, which ends at 5:30, and we don't have the services available on Mondays, especially after 5:30, it's a hard stop at 5:30. That's why I asked Mr. Clerk to.... Because we had this committee business and only one panel was possible, that second panel, which is not happening today, which was scheduled to happen earlier from 3:30 to 4:30, will be scheduled for the next meeting. The panel is not cancelled. It will be rescheduled for the next meeting.

I hope that clarifies, Ms. Kwan, your question.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you. It doesn't reduce the number of overall witness panels for this study.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

No. It will not reduce that. We will have those panels. With the amendment that has been proposed by Ms. Dancho to have five hours of witnesses, we will have that.

Madam Normandin.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to add my voice in support of my colleague Ms. Dancho's amendment.

By the way, I'd like to mention that it seems to work well when women collaborate and talk to each other. This may be an incentive for even more women in Parliament in future parliaments.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Madam Normandin. That's exactly right.

There seems to be consensus on the amendment that has been proposed by Ms. Dancho.

(Amendment agreed to)

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I just wonder, in light of the fact that we will have additional meetings for the Hong Kong study, whether or not there would be some casual agreement from committee members to provide more room for opposition witnesses in the additional meetings. I'm wondering whether the committee members would be amenable to that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We will be getting to that, but first we have to adopt report number two of the subcommittee on agenda and procedure. Once we do that, we will go into those further details.

Madam Martinez Ferrada, you wanted to say something.

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Hochelaga, QC]

I'd simply like to make a comment about my colleague's proposal.

To avoid taking time away from our witnesses today, I'd like to suggest that we discuss it at the subcommittee for future meetings. I'd like it if we could move quickly to our witnesses, who are already here and are waiting for us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Madame Martinez Ferrada, but first of all, we have to adopt the second report of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure.

We have a motion, as proposed by Mr. Dhaliwal, to adopt that report.

(Motion as amended agreed to)

I just want to let everyone know that the “raise hand” feature is now available, if you want to use that feature.

The report is adopted, and based on that, five hours of witnesses will be scheduled for the study on Hong Kong. Today we will have one panel, scheduled to happen from 4:30 to 5:30. Based on the amendment passed today, I will work with the clerk on the calendar, which will be circulated to all members.

In regard to the witness list, I will ask Mr. Clerk to please let everyone know how many additional witnesses can be submitted and what the breakdown is of those witnesses. Earlier we were scheduled to have three hours of witnesses. We have now added two more hours for witnesses, which means six new witnesses will be added to the list.

Mr. Clerk, I will pass the floor to you. Please inform the members when you would like to have the list of witnesses and what the breakdown of that would be.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Leif-Erik Aune]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

With six additional witnesses, the breakdown is a little difficult because of the small number. Ordinarily the Liberal Party gets 50% of the witnesses, the Bloc and the NDP each get 10%, and the Conservative Party gets 30%. With six witnesses, the committee has a couple options. If three go to the Liberal Party, then one each would go to the Conservatives, the NDP and the Bloc. The committee can agree to whichever allocation of witnesses it wishes.

At this time, the existing witness list has enough extra witnesses to fill one panel, so I would go back to you, the members, and ask that you please submit between two and four additional names, just in case some witnesses are unavailable to appear when they're invited. The committee can set its own deadline to supply that information to me, but as soon as I receive the names I will begin sending invitations that same day.

I hope that answers your question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mr. Clerk, for clarifying that.

I see some raised hands.

We will start with Ms. Dancho.

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

I'll speak after Ms. Normandin, who raised her hand first.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Madam Normandin.