Veterans Affairs Committee on Dec. 14th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much.

Are there any objections to that motion? There being no objections, I declare the motion carried.

(Motion agreed to)

The next motion is on the headset requirement.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Be it resolved:

That House of Commons approved headsets be required for all witnesses appearing before the committee at the Chair’s discretion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much.

Are there any objections to that motion?

(Motion agreed to)

The routine motions are therefore all carried.

Let me take this opportunity to thank Sean Casey and congratulate him as well. As you can see, his French is excellent. I am aware of all the effort he has put into it. He came to Quebec during the summer to take courses.

That's very good, Mr. Casey. Keep up the good work.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Mr. Chair, I have a question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Mr. Desilets, you have the floor.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I would like to introduce two motions since we have a few hours to go, but I will just introduce them. Both motions are translated and we have hard copies for everyone.

Is that okay with you?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

We are at that stage. So this is the time to introduce motions for the studies we want to conduct during the session.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I will read them.

The first motion reads as follows:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Committee undertake a study on uneven service delivery for anglophone and francophone veterans as well as for male and female and members of LGBTQ+ by the Department of Veterans Affairs; that the Committee invite the Minister of Veterans Affairs, the Minister of National Defence and government officials to follow up on this issue, and that the Committee hold a minimum of three (3) meetings to do so; and that the Committee report its findings and recommendations to the House.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Shall I continue with the second motion, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

The floor is yours, Mr. Desilets.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

The second motion reads as follows:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Committee undertake a study on the benefits and services offered to veterans who were victims of sexual misconduct during their military service; that the Committee invite the Minister of Veterans Affairs and government officials to follow up on this issue, and that the Committee hold a minimum of three (3) meetings to do so; and that the Committee report its findings and recommendations to the House.

That is all, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much, Mr. Desilets.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

As Mr. Desilets said, he provided the notices of motion, so we don't need to debate them right away.

I also want to clarify that, since members of the committee are going to be participating virtually, I would ask the members, when they introduce motions, not only to distribute copies in both official languages, but also to send a copy to the clerk so that those participating virtually can also see the motions or notices of motion in both official languages.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

A copy has just been sent, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

That's great, thank you.

I see that Sean Casey raised his hand.

You have the floor, Mr. Casey.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Desilets, thank you for those notices of motion.

May I suggest, given that one of the routine motions that we just passed was the establishment of the subcommittee on agenda and procedure, that the notices of motion presented by Mr. Desilets and any other ideas that members have for future business be referred to that subcommittee for a discussion and recommendations back to the main committee in terms of priority and allocation of time for each?

My experience has been that the use of the subcommittee tends to make the work a bit more efficient. That's what I would suggest with these motions and with any others that might be forthcoming in terms of the early work of the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Sean.

Let's take a quick look at that subcommittee. In the routine motion they say that the subcommittee is supposed to have two vice-chairs, the chair....

Is that all? Is it three people?

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

It's five with the chair and one from each party.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

I have consulted with the clerk about the subcommittee, and I'm advised that, instead of the chair and vice‑chairs, the party whips will determine which other members will be on the subcommittee.

We have agreed to set up a subcommittee to receive the notices of motion or motions that we will eventually bring forward so that we can organize our future business without wasting time and so that the committee can function efficiently and smoothly.

Thank you, Mr. Casey.

Right now Ms. Blaney has the floor.

Go ahead.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you so much, Chair. Congratulations for being put in this important role. I really appreciate your leadership during this time and into the future.

I agree, of course, with Mr. Casey that the appropriate steps going forward are to have the subcommittee meet and have these discussions.

I would put forward—I know I have had conversations with some members around this table already—that I think all of us want to be getting straight to work when we're here in February, since I don't think we're meeting on January 31.

My thought is that maybe we could submit our notices of motion. I have several studies that I'm really eager to put on the table and have discussions about.

Perhaps what we could do, Mr. Chair, is to ask the minister and some of his officials to come and have a visit with us on the first day back. I know that the minister is incredibly busy, so if we get that request out soon, it might give us an opportunity to ask some questions. It will also give our subcommittee a little bit of time to meet to look at all the notices of motion and hopefully have some recommendations for the larger committee.

I would love to hear from other members, and I totally respect that Mr. Samson and I had a conversation about this earlier. I don't want to take any credit for conversations that we've already had.

I think that would be a great way for this committee to start. I would love to hear from others.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Ms. Blaney.

Go ahead, Mr. Samson, please.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

With respect to the information that my colleague just provided, we will also be moving motions, but not this evening. We do agree on the subcommittee and that the minister and his staff should come to the first meeting or two so that our work is off to a good start. Then, of course, the subcommittee can meet and we can get to work right away.

The only other thing I would add is a discussion around the table either tonight or another night. The next meeting is on the two reports that we worked on and received testimony on in the last Parliament. They are now not moving forward unless we put a motion that we would inherit the testimony and then move forward to report. I will leave that with the committee to take decisions around that discussion.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Samson.

Because we have a lot of new members on the committee, including me, I would like to mention those two studies that were completed in the last Parliament.

The first one was on a strategy for commemorations in the 21st century. The last meeting was on May 2021, and they had 21 witnesses over four meetings. The draft record could be ready for committee review. That's the first one. For the second one, it was service dogs for veterans. The last meeting was in June 2021, with 16 witnesses over four meetings. The draft report would be ready for the committee's consideration. These are the two studies you're talking about.

Are there any other suggestions or motions?

Mr. Samson and Ms. Blaney, you proposed a motion to invite the minister. What kind of discussion would you like him to have? Is it an update on what's going on?

Please, the floor is yours.