Evidence of meeting #16 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Roger Préfontaine
Honourable members, les honorables membres du comité, I see a quorum.
We can now proceed to the election of the chair. I am ready to receive motions to that effect.
Conservative
Rod Bruinooge Conservative Winnipeg South, MB
I would like to nominate Mr. Colin Mayes for the position of chair.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Mr. Bruinooge that Mr. Mayes be elected as chair of the committee.
Are there any further nominations? Seeing none, I declare Mr. Colin Mayes elected as chair of the committee and offer him congratulations from the clerk.
The Clerk
Before inviting Mr. Mayes to the chair, we will proceed to the election of the vice-chairs.
Are there any motions to this effect?
Monsieur Lévesque?
Liberal
The Clerk
It has been moved by Madame Neville that Nancy Karetak-Lindell be elected as vice-chair of the committee. Are there any further motions to this effect?
The Clerk
There being no further motions, I declare Nancy Karetak-Lindell, in absentia, elected as first vice-chair of the committee.
The Clerk
We will proceed to the election of the second vice-chair of the committee. Are there any motions to this effect?
Mr. Lemay.
The Clerk
It is moved by M. Lemay that Madam Jean Crowder be elected vice-chair of the committee.
Are there any further motions to this effect?
The Clerk
There being no further motions to this effect, it is my pleasure to declare Madame Crowder as vice-chair of the committee.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
Thank you for the opportunity to serve once again as your chair.
We have some procedural issues right now. We need to adjourn this meeting, have about a 10-minute break, and then reconvene. We'll then have a new meeting to hear the witnesses. They have to do what's called an “events capture”; it's a procedural thing in order to make sure that we can continue and hear the witnesses.
Regarding the issue we have about visiting the school, the clerk has been advised that we can't have a meeting. Basically, they just don't have the room for us all to be in one room together. They suggested that we could possibly do a walkabout; we'll be separated, but we'll all be able to participate and see what's happening at the school.
The suggestion of the clerk is that we arrange to have taxis pick us up in front of the Justice Building, go over there next Tuesday morning at nine o'clock, and then do a walkabout. Arrangements can be made to have translators for Mr. Lemay and Mr. Lévesque.
Could I ask the clerk for a comment, please?
The Clerk
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The problem with the school is that they don't physically have a room big enough to have a console installed plus an interpretation booth in order for it to be an official committee meeting. They simply don't have a room big enough to accommodate us.
They'd be happy to have the committee members come next Tuesday morning for a walkabout, as the chair mentioned, but it won't be possible to have an official meeting.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
What is the pleasure of the committee? Do you want to proceed with that?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
Okay, we'll ask the clerk to make those arrangements, and we'll leave at nine o'clock sharp for the north end of the Justice Building.
The other order of business we have is our list of witnesses, and we need to review those at steering committee. So we need to set a meeting time as quickly as possible for the vice-chairs and the chair to sit down and review the witness list.
Go ahead, Madam Crowder.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Could I suggest that at the end of this meeting, the vice-chairs quickly get together and select a date--maybe select two to fly by Nancy, since she's not here.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Make it at 11 o'clock so we don't take up the committee's time to set a meeting date.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
Right. Well, maybe because there's a meeting right after this and we can't stay, we'll just advise the clerk to contact us and see if he can work something out on our calendars and get us together as soon as possible.
Madam Crowder.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
This is on another matter. When we were talking about the committee agenda for the next few weeks, we neglected to talk about estimates. The estimates have to be done by November 10, and I'm sure that most committee members would like an opportunity to examine the estimates. I know that's not in our schedule, because we didn't raise it.
On a second matter--and this is of an urgent nature--I wonder if we could ask the chair to write a letter to the minister on the matter of residential school survivors, because I think a number of us are getting letters saying that some people are not eligible for the early payment, the early $8,000, because of a lack of records. We believe that INAC is now saying, or the minister is now saying--I'm not sure who--that they are waiving some of the circumstances, but we haven't been able to confirm that. So I wonder if the chair could just send a letter to the minister to confirm that the early payment is coming to people with more relaxed standards than were initially allowed, because records were missing.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
Would it be acceptable to refer that to the parliamentary secretary and have him report at the next meeting?
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Sure, that would be fine. I think it's just a confirmation that this has changed.
Conservative
Conservative
