Justice Committee on Nov. 23rd, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Good evening or afternoon, everyone. I call this meeting to order. This is the 10th meeting for the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

For some very quick housekeeping, if members would like to speak, please unmute yourself. If you're not speaking, please make sure that you're on mute. When you are speaking, please speak slowly and clearly so that's there's no lag in interpretation.

We'll get right into it. We have our witnesses, as we consider clause-by-clause for Bill C-7, from the Department of Justice and the Department of Health. Members are obviously welcome to ask questions of them. I will name them very quickly. We have Carole Morency, Joanne Klineberg and Caroline Quesnel. They are from the Department of Justice. From the Department of Health, we have Abby Hoffman, Sharon Harper and Karen Kusch.

Very quickly, before we go into clause-by-clause of Bill C-7, there was a question that the clerk had asked me with respect to Mr. Cooper's motion to allow for briefs past the November 12 deadline. I am seeking clarity from members as to when we should stop receiving briefs. Right now we don't have an end date.

Mr. Cooper, would you like to speak to that?

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Madam Chair, I think we should continue to accept briefs until these hearings conclude.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Okay. Thank you. That was the direction I needed.

Are there any members who want to say something?

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

I have a point of order, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Just give us one second, Mr. Moore. We're just dealing with a technical challenge here.

Thank you very much for that.

Just to clarify what Mr. Cooper said, the written briefs for Bill C-7 should be allowed until the end of our consideration of clause-by-clause. Is that correct, Mr. Cooper?

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Actually, I don't see any reason briefs couldn't continue to be submitted even after.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Okay. Does anybody have any—

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

I don't know that I have a specific date, other than to say that we should continue to allow briefs to be submitted to the committee for our benefit. Even after clause-by-clause, if it's going back to the House, I don't know that there would be any prejudice in.... Why would there be any issue with briefs continuing to be submitted for members to reference?

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Specifically, the briefs we're talking about are in reference to Bill C-7.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Right.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Once a brief is submitted to the clerk, there's a whole process of translation that also has to happen.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Yes, I understand that, but I guess at this point I'm just suggesting we allow maximum flexibility.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Right, and that's exactly why everybody voted in support of your motion at the last meeting. The question from the clerk was whether there was going to be an end date to the briefs that were submitted on Bill C-7.

Mr. Moore, is that on this question?

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

No, Madam Chair, it's on another matter.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Okay.

Then we'll go to Mr. Virani, if that's okay.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Madam Chair, I would submit that we should receive the briefs until we have concluded the clause-by-clause review of the bill. Presumably, the purpose of submitting briefs to the committee is so that the committee members can use them to inform the positions they take on the various amendments. After that time, this is reported back to the House and obviously stakeholders can submit whatever information they want to all 338 members of Parliament. They can also avail themselves of the study that will take place in the Senate on the bill.

Sending them to the committee after the bill has left the committee and been reported back to the House, to my mind, would not be useful.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thanks, Mr. Virani.

Mr. Maloney, is this on the same issue?

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Yes, it is, Madam Chair.

Very simply, Mr. Virani said what I was thinking. I agree with Mr Cooper's intention. I agree that there is no prejudice. The flip side is of course that we don't want to be disrespectful to anybody who is submitting a brief. If it's submitted after the clause-by-clause examination is concluded and there is an expectation that the committee is still in a position to review it, I don't want them to be misled. That's all. I think, therefore, we need to be conscientious regarding their intent.

Thank you.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

I think that's reasonable. I will leave it at that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you.

Is it the will of the committee, then, to stop receiving written submissions once we have completed clause-by-clause?

Let me see a thumbs-up from everybody, if that's the case.

Perfect. Thank you very much, everyone.

Mr. Moore, I believe you had a point of order.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Yes. Our staff are to be able to phone in. Apparently there is a phone line they use to follow the proceedings, and we're each able to have one staff person on it. I am told by a couple of them that they are unable to connect right now.

Could someone look into the technical issue they are having in trying to follow in real time with us? I know there are two or three from the Conservative party. I don't know whether the other parties are experiencing the same thing.

Could we get that addressed so that we can have them fully engage with what's happening?

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you, Mr. Moore.

Are there other members whose staff are experiencing the same problems?

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

My staff member also says the line is dead, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

IT is looking into it right now.

The phone lines have been activated. If you want to have them try again—

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Yes, it's working now.