Evidence of meeting #69 for Public Accounts in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was friedman.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
No, Mr. Friedman, I think you can. If you've nominated someone to the minister or recommended someone to the minister, you are at a parliamentary committee and you can speak to that.
Member of the Board of Directors and Principal Operating Officer, Canadian Race Relations Foundation
No, you misunderstand me. I've been a member of the board since April 5, 2012. I am not involved in the nomination process. It's the human resources committee that would be involved. Therefore, I'm not aware of anyone who has been recommended who has been refused. That's all I can say.
Liberal
Member of the Board of Directors and Principal Operating Officer, Canadian Race Relations Foundation
I'm a member of the board and I'm not aware of anyone who was recommended who was refused.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
Mr. Friedman, would you be able to provide to the committee, after going back to the organization, information in answer to that particular question?
Member of the Board of Directors and Principal Operating Officer, Canadian Race Relations Foundation
I can ask.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
If you receive an answer, would you commit to providing that information to the chair?
December 4th, 2012 / 11:45 a.m.
Member of the Board of Directors and Principal Operating Officer, Canadian Race Relations Foundation
The information that I can get, I will provide.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
What kind of timeframe would that be? Would you commit to providing that information within days or weeks of receiving it?
Member of the Board of Directors and Principal Operating Officer, Canadian Race Relations Foundation
As soon as we leave this room, I will contact the chair of the human resources committee and ask the question, and then we'll see.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
Mr. Chair, consistent with our policies or our initiatives to ensure that we don't produce a report until we have all the information available to us, could I get from you a commitment that this committee won't endeavour to report on this particular issue to Parliament until we actually receive this information one way or other?
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
It is whether or not the Canadian Race Relations Foundation has nominated or recommended to the minister specific individuals to fill their complement on their board of directors and whether or not those recommendations or nominations have been accepted by the minister.
NDP
Member of the Board of Directors and Principal Operating Officer, Canadian Race Relations Foundation
Yes.
I need a time period. The organization has existed for a long time, and most of the current board members were not there—
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
That's fair enough. We'll say since the governance, since the change in statutory provisions limiting the board from 20 to 12, since that period of time, if you could forward that information, that would be very helpful.
Member of the Board of Directors and Principal Operating Officer, Canadian Race Relations Foundation
I need a period of time. Thank you.
NDP
Member of the Board of Directors and Principal Operating Officer, Canadian Race Relations Foundation
I do not know the answer because it hasn't come up before. I can ask as soon as I leave the room. I can let you know right after that.
NDP
The Chair NDP David Christopherson
All right, go ahead. Continue with your question. I have some things to think about.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
Your particular foundation is very important to each and every one of us. We congratulate you and compliment you on your work. One of the things we do want is to ensure that you have independence, that you have the capacity to do what's right without interference.
What would you suggest, Mr. Friedman, is the most significant race relations issue in Canada today? You indicated the genesis of this organization was the injustices done to Japanese Canadians some time ago. What's the most significant and pertinent issue we should be aware of?
Member of the Board of Directors and Principal Operating Officer, Canadian Race Relations Foundation
I think there are two.
One issue is relations with our aboriginal peoples and first nations. That's a really significant and fundamental problem that's not going away. Aboriginal peoples and first nations often don't like to cast the question in terms of race relations. They see it more in terms of relations among peoples, but the non-resolution of that issue has a significant impact on race relations as well. I would say that's one of them.
The other has to do with what we call competing rights. How are we going to resolve different views on what is permissible in the public sphere with respect to religion? How are religions going to adapt to what is permissible in the public sphere? How are they going to adapt to each other?
Those are the two major issues we're facing right now. That doesn't diminish all the other issues we're facing, but you asked for the top two.
NDP
The Chair NDP David Christopherson
We're well over the time.
Just on the information, Mr. Friedman, normally something like 30 days would be a reasonable timeframe. Given the importance of the information we're requesting, given the season we're heading into, could I ask that you look at trying to meet a January 15 deadline, with the understanding that if for some reason that's not a reasonable deadline for you, perhaps you could advise us in writing as to why and how much extra time you would like? But I would like you to go away with the understanding that by perhaps June 30 you could have that information.
Member of the Board of Directors and Principal Operating Officer, Canadian Race Relations Foundation
June 30?