Good morning, everyone. I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 104 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. We recognize that we are meeting on the unceded territory of the Algonquin and Anishinabe peoples.
Colleagues, before we start today, the House has introduced a new practice, which we've been asked to share with all members. This relates to avoiding audio feedback for our interpreters.
I'd like to remind all members and other meeting participants in the room of the following important preventative measures. To prevent disruptive and potentially harmful audio feedback incidents that can cause injuries, all in-person participants are reminded to keep their earpieces away from all microphones at all times.
As indicated in the communiqué from the Speaker to all members on Monday, April 29, the following measures have been taken to help prevent audio feedback incidents. All earpieces have been replaced with a model that greatly reduces the probability of audio feedback. The new earpieces are black in colour, whereas the former earpieces were grey. Please use only an approved black earpiece. By default, all unused earpieces will be unplugged at the start of a meeting. When you're not using your earpiece, please place it face down on the middle of the sticker for this purpose, which you will find on the table, as indicated.
They've now given us “put your earpiece here” stickers, so we ask everybody to abide by that. Please consult the cards on the table for guidelines on preventing audio feedback incidents. The room layout has also been adjusted to increase the distance between microphones and reduce the chance of feedback from an ambient earpiece.
I thought my eyesight deteriorated over the week we were away and that the back of the room had become much farther away. I think we have people back there. Welcome.