Evidence of meeting #28 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was decision.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:05 a.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Graeme Truelove
Good morning, honourable members of the committee. I see a quorum. We can now proceed to the election of the chair. I am ready to receive motions to that effect.
11:05 a.m.
Conservative
11:05 a.m.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Mr. Payne that Mr. Stanton be elected chair of the committee. Are there any further motions?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
Mr. Stanton is the duly elected chair of the committee.
Before inviting Mr. Stanton to take the chair, if the committee wishes, it can now proceed to the election of vice-chairs.
Are there any motions for the election of vice-chair?
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
11:05 a.m.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Mr. Bagnell that Mr. Russell be elected as vice-chair. Are there any further motions?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
I declare Mr. Russell vice-chair of the committee.
I can also receive motions for a second vice-chair.
Mr. Lemay.
11:05 a.m.
The Clerk
Mr. Lemay nominates Ms. Crowder.
Do I hear other motions?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
11:05 a.m.
The Clerk
I declare Ms. Crowder vice-chair of the committee.
I will invite Mr. Stanton to take the chair.
11:05 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
First of all, thank you very much for your confidence in the chair for yet another session. My congratulations go to the two vice-chairs for our committee, Jean and Todd.
D'accord. Members, this is a little bit awkward for our committee, because your subcommittee met in the previously constituted form approximately two weeks ago on September 15 to consider committee business going forward into the fall session. With this in mind, what we would like to do, if the committee is agreeable, is receive the subcommittee report on the work plan for this fall.
I would remind members that we are still in public. If it's the wish of the committee, we can go in camera for this committee discussion. My own view is that there's nothing on this agenda that would necessitate that. We would have to vacate the room and so on. So if the committee is okay, we will proceed in public for the consideration of committee business. Agreed? Okay.
The report has been circulated and the principal issue for our subcommittee discussion was the consideration of business for the fall session.
You will see in the report that we have proposed that we undertake four meetings/briefings on four different topics, which are in front of you there, to hear from the newly elected chiefs of both the AFN and NWAC. I shouldn't say both; it's three organizations, each of which has newly elected leaders: AFN, the Native Women's Association of Canada, and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. That would be one meeting.
The second would be a briefing on the issue of child and welfare services and, in particular, the action plan that had been commented on, and the government response given to the committee on public accounts.
Third, this was brought forward by Monsieur Bélanger with regard to the issue of the honour of the crown, and that would be a one-meeting briefing. I'll have some updates to talk about that when the time comes.
Then a briefing on the issue arising from the court challenge brought by McIvor in respect to Bill C-31 and the issues around Indian status.
Those were the four topics. After those four, briefings would be held, and we would then proceed to a more comprehensive study on the topic of northern economic development, specifically to hear from witnesses on the issues they believe are confronting the country with respect to obstacles or barriers to the advancement of economic development in the north, with a view to establishing a set of recommendations for policies and programs for the government to consider with respect to improving and advancing those issues in the north. That study would proceed from the time after we finished the four briefings.
The one exception would be that on the issue of the honour of the crown, we had asked noted author Timothy McCabe to appear on that issue. He was unavailable to meet in the timeframe we had set out, so we would like to call him back, I hope in middle to late November, but at a time that suits him.
Monsieur Bélanger.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Does that mean that we would still receive the departmental briefing in October and then have a second session with Mr. McKay?
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
In fact, at this point we're just considering having the department officials, Justice and the department, so both departments would be here, oui.
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
That would be the plan, in essence, so is there any discussion on the work plan?
Mr. Bagnell.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
Larry Bagnell Liberal Yukon, YT
Yes, I move we accept it, including the study on northern economic development, but I just wanted to ask a question for clarification.
On the first meeting, and this was not specific, I assume the committee wasn't specifying any particular topic. These new people could give their views on anything they wanted?
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
Larry Bagnell Liberal Yukon, YT
No, no, number one, the briefing from the newly elected chiefs. That wasn't on any of these particular topics. It was on their views.
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Absolutely. These are new leaders in their respective areas of aboriginal people, and this is an invitation to them to come and give us their take on what lies in front of them and their organizations. It's more informative, but the subcommittee felt it was highly appropriate to do that, especially considering that all within the space of about two months we have three new leaders. Understood?
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Mr. Chairman, I don't want to cause any difficulties here. But in terms of the appropriate protocol of meeting with them, are we going to meet the three of them simultaneously or are they going to be subsequent? If so, we may wish to consider an hour each at least. That would mean a three-hour meeting or having two meetings.
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
One of the advantages we have now with our time slot from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. is that there are no committees meeting immediately after us at one o'clock. We could effectively have a three-hour meeting and run right through to QP on that day. You're absolutely right, it would certainly be appropriate to have an hour for each.
At this point, maybe I should ask the clerk, is NWAC confirmed at this point? They're confirmed for that Thursday. We could do three hours, one hour each, and go from eleven until two o'clock.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
11:15 a.m.
Conservative
