Public Safety Committee on June 9th, 2021

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Brampton West, ON]

Mr. Chair, I briefly wanted to comment on Mr. Motz's comments and echo what both Joël and Pam said. I think it's important to recognize the role that this committee and its members play.

Government certainly has a job to do, and government has taken action on listing the terrorist groups, and is taking action but, as Pam said, what we saw yesterday was all parties coming together at the vigil and saying that we must work together. We already have a study before us where we were studying IMVE. We heard just the week before from witnesses about this climate of hate and the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Committees have a role to play in listening to these groups, as this is the most important threat right now to Canada, as we heard.

I think it's truly incumbent upon all of us to hear from these groups, give them the space that's needed, and make recommendations to the government before the House rises. I just don't understand, Mr. Chair, why we are even debating this. I really thought there would have been unanimous support on this motion. It's not a new study. It's something that we're already studying. I just hope that we can get it done.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Mr. Motz, go ahead.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Chair, I want to clarify a couple of things.

First, Joël, thanks for the amendment to the motion. That is something I certainly would support and do support.

I want to make it very, very clear that my statements at the front end were that this is a critically important study and a critically important issue that we have to deal with. It's increasing in this country, and it's completely unacceptable.

These groups who wish to come as witnesses want a voice. They deserve a voice, but what they need is action. That's what my point was. That's the point that I will stick to. This government can action things that this committee may not be able to in a timely way. That's my point. I'll stick to that. These groups want action.

Joël, you said it yourself, and, Kamal, you said it yourself: These groups need action. They have to have a voice. This committee is a vehicle for that but so is, directly, Public Safety Canada. The minister can meet with these groups and action some of these items immediately, faster than this committee can. That's what these groups need. Anything short of that is unacceptable in my books.

This sort of crime needs to stop, obviously, but a study here doesn't solve the problem immediately. That's my point. If it was misunderstood, I apologize for that, but action is what's required, not just words.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

We'll have Mr. Lightbound and then Mr. Harris.

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

I'll be brief. Just to answer Shannon, I think it's fundamental that this committee provide its perspective on the tragic death of Marylène Levesque; however, the amended motion would not impact whatsoever the number of meetings that we've planned to work on the Levesque report, just to be clear.

I would hope that the debate collapses soon. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Well, we're hoping that Mr. Harris has the last word here.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

First of all, I just want to say that from my point of view, this debate is not about whether we immediately hear from CIJA and the National Council of Canadian Muslims as well, which we should do as soon as possible for the length of time it takes.

I think it's been proposed that we do that for one meeting with a focus on concrete action that this committee can recommend to government that ought to be taken immediately to address, not only the concern, but also solutions that we hope will help. I think that has to happen, and that should happen right away.

I regret that we've ended up with a motion that ends up, I think, disturbing three other studies of this committee without an opportunity to talk about that other than to be accused of not being interested in dealing with the main question that's before us. It's made it impossible to have that debate. I guess we may as well go ahead and vote and let us get on with the CSC study, which seems to have been thrown out the window by this, and, unless we do something else next week, we don't have an opportunity to deal with the motions that deal with those three studies.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Okay, I want to call the question, but I want to make sure that everybody knows what the question is, so I'll ask the clerk to read the amendment.

[The Clerk]

May I trouble Mr. Lightbound to clarify his amendment to make sure I have it correct?

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Yes, I will read it:

That, pursuant to the motion adopted on May 5, 2021, the Committee continue its study on Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism; a meeting during the week of June 14, 2021 and, that the Committee invite the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs to appear as witnesses at that meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

People have heard the terms of the motion—or the amendment, at least.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Could we have a recorded vote, Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

We can have a recorded vote.

(Amendment agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0 )

That would then put the motion as amended to the committee.

Do we wish to have another recorded vote?

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Yes, please, Chair.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Chair, could you have that motion read as amended please? Is that the one that Joël just did?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

We just unanimously agreed to the amendment. That amends the main motion, so now we have to vote on the main motion as amended.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

We seem to have replaced the main motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I don't know if it replaces it. It's an amendment, not a replacement.

Mr. Clerk, please read the motion as amended.

[The Clerk]

The motion as amended reads:

That, pursuant to the motion adopted on May 5, 2021, the Committee continue its study on Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism; a meeting during the week of June 14, 2021 and, that the Committee invite the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs to appear as witnesses at that meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

There has been a request for a recorded vote.

(Motion as amended agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)

Thank you.

Clerk, could you advise me as to how much time we have left for this meeting?

[The Clerk]

We have about 55 minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Okay.

Mr. Harris, did you deal with your motion or...?

I know you wanted my attention, but I can't remember what it was for.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

A notice of motion had been given regarding the disclosure of documents made available to the committee on June 3. It relates to the business of this particular study and I'd like to move:

That the committee publicly release all documents that were made available to the committee on June 3, 2021, pursuant to the motion adopted by the committee on May 5, 2021 regarding Correctional Service Canada’s transition to Structured Intervention Units, and that all additional documents regarding the same motion be made public as they are provided to the committee.

That's been circulated in both languages, sir, and it has had 48 hours' notice. The documents that have been available are redacted in the sense of privacy considerations. No names are used. The names are protected. They're public information that would be available, in any event, on an ATIP, so I think we can go ahead and release them.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

The clerk is asking me, by public does that mean on the website?

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

It means on the website. That's what we've done on other committees such as this. We've put them on the website.