Justice Committee on June 4th, 2019

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Good morning, everyone.

Welcome to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, as we resume our study on online hate.

We have a couple of procedural things to start with. We are going to be naming a Conservative vice-chair of the committee, and I'm going to turn it over to the clerk to do that.

Mr. Clerk, you have the floor.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Marc-Olivier Girard]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am ready to receive nominations for the position of first vice-chair of the committee.

Are you making a motion to that effect, Mr. MacKenzie?

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

I nominate Lisa Raitt.

[The Clerk]

Are there any other motions?

It has been moved by Mr. MacKenzie that the honourable Lisa Raitt be elected as first vice-chair of this committee.

Is the committee in agreement with this motion?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Mr. Garrison.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Do we have an indication from Ms. Raitt that she's prepared to accept? Has the committee received an indication?

[Some hon. members]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

I have received an email from her saying she is prepared to accept.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thank you very much.

[The Clerk]

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt this motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare The Honourable Lisa Raitt duly elected first vice-chair of the committee in absentia.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

She is nominated in absentia, but we will be welcoming her on Thursday.

Mr. Boissonnault.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Chair, I know that we want to get to the Conservatives' witnesses in due course, but I have a motion to put on the table, which I'm asking a colleague to send around. I'll read it into the record so it can be in both languages. The document that I'm sending around is in both languages. It states:

Whereas the treatment by Mr Cooper of the President of the Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council was discriminatory, hurtful and disrespectful; and

Whereas reading into the record the comments from the terrorist attacker in Christchurch, New Zealand, was inappropriate;

Be it resolved,

That the Committee recommends that the name of the attacker in the Christchurch, New Zealand, massacre, as well as any quoted portion of his manifesto, be expunged from the Committee's Hansard, and that the Committee report this recommendation to the House.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

I believe this motion is receivable and it's related to the online hate study we're doing right now, since it relates to a meeting that we did on online hate, so the 48-hour rule wouldn't apply. I will rule this as receivable.

Mr. Boissonnault, the floor is yours if you want to speak to your motion.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Chair, I think the motion speaks for itself. We've had conversations here, both in camera and in public on this matter. It's a sensitive matter. We expect Canadians to be able to come to this committee and be heard and to not receive the kind of treatment that Mr. Suri received.

At the same time, we also play a role in Canada and the international community, and I think it's important that this reference be expunged from our committee's record.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Thank you, Mr. Boissonnault.

Mr. Garrison, then Mr. Brassard.

Mr. Garrison, the floor is yours.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Mr. Chair, I certainly welcome this motion.

I think what we have before us is not just in order but is very important. We have seen the Government of New Zealand trying very hard to make sure that the manifesto of the Christchurch shooter and his name not become infamous.

We live in an era of social media. We live in an era when things spread like wildfire. We live in an era when sometimes people confuse free speech, which is about the rational exchange of ideas, with throwing gasoline on the fires. We've just seen another shooting incident this morning in Australia, in Darwin, and we don't know anything about the reasons. We certainly live in what I would call incendiary times. I think we have a responsibility as a committee of Parliament to make sure that we do not contribute to that, and that we respect the wishes of the New Zealand government in trying to make sure that those who engage in violent acts based on extremist ideologies do not get a public forum to spread their ideas.

Just to be clear, I'm not opposed to people having ideas or people thinking things. What I'm opposed to is giving a public platform for the spreading of those violent ideas and for the spreading of hatred. I think by excising this testimony, we would contribute in that manner.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Thank you.

Mr. Brassard.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Chair, just for the record, the Leader of the Opposition has dealt with this. Mr. Cooper has apologized for his comments. This is nothing more than a stunt, and I call the question.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Thank you.

You can't call the question—I'm just going to point that out—but I didn't see anybody else who had their hand up to speak.

Mr. Garrison, I'm sorry....

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

I guess I would say, with respect to Mr. Brassard—Mr. Brassard and I have a long history of working together on things—that I disagree quite firmly this morning. It's not up to the Leader of the Opposition to decide when this is over. There was an attack on a witness before the committee. It's up to this committee to decide when and if things are over.

While I respect the limited action that the Leader of the Opposition took, it is clearly the responsibility of the committee itself to make decisions for itself about the right thing to do on this occasion.

I will not take the time to restate my remarks, but quite simply the Leader of the Opposition must himself deal with his own caucus members and whoever speaks for his caucus. If he wishes to have Mr. Cooper continue being a spokesperson for him on justice, that's his decision, as are all the consequences that flow with that, but this is a decision that the committee must make itself.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Thank you.

I saw Mr. Boissonnault's hand and Mr. Barrett's hand. We also have witnesses. I'm just pointing it out.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Chair, nothing in the motion calls for any additional sanctions on Mr. Cooper. This is simply about doing the right thing here at the justice committee and cleaning up the record from something that's regrettable and should never have been part of our record.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Thank you.

Mr. Barrett.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Chair, opposition members have a limited amount of time to call witnesses during the study. The study has been going on for some time. This is our last witness panel. These witnesses are under limited time to testify.

I would again ask that the chair call the question so that we can proceed with hearing the testimony to complete our study.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Mr. Barrett, I appreciate that. The chair can't call the question as long as there's a member who wishes to speak.

I don't see any other members who wish to speak at this point, so we can move to the question.