I call this meeting to order. This is meeting number 41 of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
Because there are so many members who are in the room today, I'll just quickly go over our hybrid rules pursuant to the House order of January 25, 2021 for members attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application. Today's proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website, and the webcast will always show the person who is speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.
Given the ongoing pandemic situation and in light of the recommendations from health authorities as well as the directive of the Board of Internal Economy on January 28, 2021, [Technical difficulty—Editor] safe, all those attending the meeting in person are to remain two metres physically distanced, so please make sure you are doing that, and you must wear a non-medical mask when circulating in the room. It is highly recommended that the mask be worn at all times, including when seated. You must retain proper hand hygiene by using the provided hand sanitizer at the room entrance.
As the chair, I'll be enforcing these measures for the duration of the meeting, and I thank members in advance for their co-operation.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I will outline a few rules. Interpretation services for members are available for this meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen, with the globe icon, to select either English or French as the language you would like to listen to. You can speak in any language, and interpretation will follow suit. Just make sure that when you are speaking, you are speaking slowly and clearly so that interpretation is not an issue.
For members who are participating in person, proceed as you normally would with your microphone at your desk.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon and unmute yourself. For those in the room, your microphone will be controlled as normally by the proceedings and verification officer. When you are not speaking, your microphone should be on mute.
This is a reminder that all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair.
With respect to the speaking list, the clerk and I will do our best to maintain it, and I have time cards for members. I have a one-minute and a 30-second card to help you keep track of your time as our witnesses are making opening remarks and as members proceed with their questions.
Just before we get right into the weeds, I'll welcome Mr. MacGregor back to our committee meeting. He will be replacing Mr. Garrison today.
Welcome, Mr. MacGregor.
At this time I will invite the Right Honourable Kim Campbell and the Honourable David Lametti, who are both here to speak specifically about the nomination process of the Honourable Mahmud Jamal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
I'll just note for members that House of Commons Procedure and Practice, third edition, states on page 1,078, “There are no specific rules governing the nature of questions which may be put to witnesses appearing before committees, beyond the general requirement of relevance to the issue before the committee”, and that is the Supreme Court nomination.
With that, I welcome our first speaker of the day, the Honourable David Lametti.
Please go ahead. You will have seven and a half minutes to make your remarks.