It looks like a unanimous vote. Thank you for that.
Today, we will continue our fourth study, which pertains to sovereignty, security and emergency preparedness of indigenous peoples in the Arctic.
On today's first panel, we will be hearing from Mr. John McKearney, fire chief and president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, and he is accompanied by Tina Saryeddine, executive director of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs.
We are expecting another witness who may or may not be on with us yet, but we're going to proceed right away anyway: Chief April Martel of the K'atl'odeeche First Nation. Hopefully, she will be online very shortly.
I wish to remind all participants of the Board of Internal Economy's requirements regarding physical distancing and the wearing of masks.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I'd like to outline a few rules to follow.
Members or witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services are offered in English, French and Inuktitut for the meeting today. Please be patient with the interpretation. There may be a delay, especially since the Inuktitut has to be translated into English first before it can be translated into French, and vice versa. The interpretation button is found at the bottom of your screen in English, French or Inuktitut. If interpretation is lost, please let me know and we'll fix it before we carry on. The “raise hand” feature at the bottom of the screen can also be used at any time if you wish to speak or to alert the chair.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. For those in the room, your microphone will be controlled as normal by the proceedings and verification officer. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly to help the interpreters. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.
May I remind you that all comments must be directed to the chair of the committee.
We shall now begin.
As usual, the witnesses will each have five minutes for their presentation. We will then move on to a question and answer period.
Without further ado, we'll call our first witness, Mr. John McKearney.
I don't know how you plan to speak or whether you're going to share your time with Ms. Saryeddine, but the two of you combined have five minutes for your opening comments. The floor is yours.