Evidence of meeting #1 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
12:50 p.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
I just want to share what I saw. Hopefully we can get to a place on this.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
Let's get to it right now.
Mr. Powlowski, I'm sorry if I missed that, but I believe we have unanimous consent to allow a vote to take place on Mr. Melillo's motion.
Mr. Melillo, would you repeat the motion once again? Then we'll go to the committee.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Eric Melillo Conservative Kenora, ON
Absolutely. It is:
That the committee recognizes the immediate need for investment in broadband in Northern Canada to ensure remote communities are not left behind during this pandemic, and this be reported to the House.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
Adam van Koeverden Liberal Milton, ON
I would.
When we're sitting in the same room, we can often edit these together and come to an agreement on the wording. This being extraordinary in terms of the circumstances, where we are sitting in, presumably, different provinces and territories right now, I think an opportunity to expand on Mr. Melillo's motion is prudent.
Quite frankly, I don't want to vote it down. I think it's worth exploring. To Mr. Battiste's point, his community is indigenous and not northern but does also experience issues with broadband, as do communities very close to my riding in the Six Nations. It's a good motion that requires an edit from all our members so that it suits everybody's issues.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
To that point, perhaps we can go off-line with the motion, have it tabled, and then at our next meeting have an amendment discussion. It sounds to me as though there is some positive consideration, but maybe the edit is required. Certainly the around-the-table format works much better for that than what we have here, which is the Hollywood Squares format.
Mr. Melillo, would you consider tabling the motion?
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Eric Melillo Conservative Kenora, ON
Yes, Mr. Chair. I'm certainly not opposed to that.
I wonder whether my colleagues on the committee would be interested in adding that wording now, if possible. We could add “rural communities” and “indigenous communities”, and really broaden the scope of it. I'm not opposed to that. As well, perhaps we want to make the change now and get it done. I think there's a lot of agreement on what those amendments should be.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
It won't be that much longer for this matter to move forward, if that's the committee's wish, if we take the time to take it up as the first item of the new meeting, the next meeting. I know you forwarded the material, but my feeling is that we could find solid agreement to move forward with a bit of discussion off-line, because we've spent some time on this.
I just wonder if we could table it for the next meeting and bring it up as the first item. As the chair, I'd like that, but it's up to you. If you agree with that, we'll do it. If you wish to consider hearing amendments, we can do that, too.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Eric Melillo Conservative Kenora, ON
I wonder what the thoughts are of my colleagues. I think we could add to “broadband in northern Canada”, “indigenous communities” and “rural and remote communities”, and add that amendment now. I'm not sure if anyone is looking for anything different in terms of broadening the scope. If we want to have that discussion, obviously we can table it for the next meeting, but from the sounds of it, we're all on the same page about how to amend it.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
I think we're close, but once again, you never want to move something that is faulty, because then you're stuck with what you've said.
Mr. Powlowski, go ahead.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Marcus Powlowski Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
There is something else you could add. I think a lot of people recognize that there are also economic barriers to Internet access. For example, urban indigenous people often don't have access because they don't have money for Internet or for a computer. That isn't in there. That's a problem with these broad statements. There are always things that could be changed.
in my opinion, it's better left to next week.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Eric Melillo Conservative Kenora, ON
Yes, Mr. Chair, I'm in agreement with that. We could table that at the next meeting.
I would just add that, in general, these types of motions, although not launching studies and not necessarily as substantive as some of the others, are important to show where there's some agreement in the committee and to bring that forward to the government and to all Canadians. I just want to make that point on the record, but absolutely I agree with the decision.
(Motion allowed to stand)
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
I want to assure you that in the spirit of the mandate of indigenous and northern affairs, we're all working toward positive outcomes for the people we're representing.
We'll leave it at that, and I'll ask if there's any other business that we need to consider at this moment.
If not, Mr. Clerk, do you have anything more that I've skipped over?
12:55 p.m.
The Clerk
Just to recap, all motions that have been recorded for this meeting, with the exception of the motion from Mr. Melillo, are going to be referred to the subcommittee for consideration and prioritization. Also, the first item of business for the next meeting is the motion moved in the name of Mr. Melillo.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
I need just a quick clarification. Our next regular meeting is for the motion, not the subcommittee meeting.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
No, it's the regular meeting. We'll go right to it at the regular meeting.
12:55 p.m.
The Clerk
That's correct.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
Thank you, all, and Mr. Clerk, thank you for joining us. It's a brave new world. We have serious issues to confront on this committee, and I appreciate everyone's concern and candour.
See you next time!
The meeting is adjourned.