Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Sept. 26th, 2023

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Vanessa Davies]

Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.

I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions, entertain points of order or participate in debate.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the governing party.

I am ready to receive motions for the chair. Are there motions?

Go ahead, Mr. Battiste.

[Jaime Battiste, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

I would like to make the motion to nominate John Aldag as chair.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Battiste that Mr. Aldag be elected as chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Seeing none, is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Colleagues, thank you for your support.

We have one item that I need to speak to the clerk about. She's asked that it be dealt with today. We're going to suspend just for a moment, and then I'll come back and we'll dispense with the item. The plan then is to adjourn for today, and we'll send out a notice of motion for Thursday with the items for that meeting. If you can bear with us for just one moment, we'll suspend and be back momentarily.

Now that we're back in session, I want to welcome everybody to meeting number 73 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. I acknowledge that we're meeting on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

I'll read out the urgent business item we have.

It was brought to my attention that a report had been readopted on November 21, 2022, but was inadvertently not presented—it was a motion by Madam Gill—and thus a government response was not requested.

The Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs report entitled “Food Security in Northern and Isolated Communities: Ensuring Equitable Access to Adequate and Healthy Food for All” was originally tabled on June 16, 2021, in the 43rd Parliament, but because an election was called that year, a government response was never provided. Last November the committee unanimously readopted the report, with the intention of requesting a government response.

That was the only item of business. I just wanted to give that update. This is to inform you that I will present the report at the earliest opportunity. The intention is to present it during Routine Proceedings tomorrow in the House, which will then trigger the response that should have occurred but hasn't happened yet.

That's the only business I have.

Go ahead, Mr. Zimmer.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

If we're going to address the current business now, that's fine. I would just like to be the first speaker after that's been dealt with.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

It was for your information only, so there's no action to be taken.

It's over to you, Mr. Zimmer.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Welcome, John. Thanks for stepping up to be our chair.

I would propose that on Thursday, instead of having the full committee meet, we have just the subcommittee. It has worked well in the past. Certainly we don't all need to be here if decisions can be made with just our vice-chairs.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Mr. Schmale brought that to my attention as well. I'll talk to the clerk.

There are a number of items we need to get through to sort out our work plan for this fall session. Whether we do it at the subcommittee or in the full committee, I need to sort that out.

We'll try to get the notice of motion out sometime today, and it will specify that. I'd like to talk to Madame Gill, the other vice-chair. Watch for that notice, but the point is taken.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

It was actually a motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Oh, was it? I didn't realize it was actually a motion.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

If we want to have that informal discussion and that's sufficient for the vice-chairs, just give me the nod and I'll be fine with retracting the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

I'm happy to take it either as a motion or as the will of the committee.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Do you want to support the motion?

[Jaime Battiste, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Thursday we'll meet as a subcommittee. We're agreed. We can agree by consensus or go to a vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

We'll check with Lori and see if she's good for meeting on Thursday. She's giving the thumbs-up, so that notice will come out.

Thank you, everybody. I look forward to working with everyone. It is, from what I've seen, a very collegial group—

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Just to clarify, I don't remember the vote. Did we just vote that we're going to have a subcommittee meeting instead?

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

We're taking it as unanimous consent.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Okay, that works for me.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

With that, colleagues, the meeting is adjourned.