Evidence of meeting #1 for Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vice-chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
The Clerk of the Committee Ms. Erica Pereira
Honourable members of the subcommittee, I see that we have a quorum.
I must inform the members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk can't receive other motions and can't 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 government party.
I am ready to receive motions for the position of chair.
Mr. Fonseca.
Liberal
Peter Fonseca Liberal Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON
Thank you.
I'd like to put forward a motion to nominate Marwan Tabbara as the chair.
The Clerk
Are there any further motions?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried and Marwan Tabbara duly elected chair of the committee.
I would invite Mr. Tabbara to come and take the chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Marwan Tabbara
First of all, thank you for nominating me as chair.
I want to thank all the members of this committee.
I hope we can have a great committee, as we did in the last Parliament. There are members who have been here for 15 years who can provide us with insight on the great work that this committee has done. In the last Parliament, I know that we did some excellent work on raising a lot of issues. Although sometimes we can't do the same type of work that the foreign affairs committee does, it's great for us to really shed some light on places in the world that are oftentimes seeing human rights abuses and don't get the same amount of media attention. This group can really focus and zone in on certain places and areas with a lot of consensus and really get a lot of great work done.
I want to thank the two past chairs as well, Anita Vandenbeld and Michael Levitt, for their hard work.
I want to move on to a couple of things first.
One is that the foreign affairs committee has brought forward David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme. He will be visiting Ottawa on March 12, and this visit will be hosted by the Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of International Development. Due to a scheduling conflict of the foreign affairs committee, it is unable to host Mr. Beasley, but it has been asking if this committee would host Mr. Beasley in a meeting here.
I would like to formally request that the Subcommittee on International Human Rights invite Mr. Beasley to appear on March 12, 2020. I think that we can get a great discussion from him. As Canada was the seventh-largest donor to the World Food Programme in 2019, I think it's important that we host Mr. Beasley here. I'm just wondering if committee members would be agreeable to that.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON
Mr. Chair, can I propose a couple of things?
I'm fully in support of Mr. Beasley's being here. What was the date you mentioned? Was it March 12?
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON
Could I also ask, because of our past work...? I know Mr. Fonseca and other members from the Bloc and NDP are not familiar with this, but because of the Herculean work that we've done in the past with regard to the persecuted Rohingya, we have two members of Parliament, Rachael Harder on our side and—I apologize, I can't remember your member who travelled with the—
Liberal
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON
They had some significant observations on the ground in Bangladesh. It would be a great update on what's happening with the Rohingya and Bangladesh if they could testify before the committee. It's non-partisan, as well, with both of them here.
Then the next meeting would be our business meeting.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Marwan Tabbara
Perhaps I'll just start with a couple of things. I'll go in order, and then we'll decide on them. First, perhaps we can decide on having Mr. Beasley here. Second, we'll decide if we want to have Rachael Harder and Gary Anandasangaree. I think that's a great idea. Third is the election of the vice-chairs. Perhaps we could go in that order.
Do I have agreement on inviting Mr. Beasley here on the 12th?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Marwan Tabbara
Okay, it's unanimous.
By way of a little background for some members, we've discussed the Rohingya conflict that has been going on for a couple of years now. The committee has studied it a bunch of times. I think it would be great to have two members of the party give us an update on what they've seen on the ground. The monsoon season is fast approaching, and this could cause more hardship for some of the individuals there.
Do I have agreement—
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
It's more of a clarification. We're not sure that it's Gary, so should we just ask for the members who travelled to....
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Marwan Tabbara
Yes, we'll say “the members who travelled”. It's more accurate.
Do I have agreement?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Marwan Tabbara
I'd like to take requests now for vice-chairs. I think it's two opposition members.
The Clerk
I'll preside over the election of the vice-chairs.
Pursuant to the motion adopted by foreign affairs and Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.
I am now prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair.
Mr. Genuis.
Conservative
The Clerk
Are there any further nominations?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried and Mr. David Sweet duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.
The Clerk
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2) and the motion adopted by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.
I am now prepared to receive a motion for the second vice-chair.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
I'm going to nominate Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, please.
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
I nominate Ms. McPherson for the position of third vice-chair.
Is that possible?
