Environment committee  I can't speak to those two paragraphs specifically, but I think, at the minimum, there has to be a separation. I'm not sure what the direct translation of “supervision” is. I don't think any scientist wants to make a call about what society will do and how much they should pay to do it, but there has to be the clear separation so that nobody pretends they're doing something that they're not.

Environment committee  What does “conflict of interest” mean or...?

Environment committee  Obviously we all know what conflict of interest is, but specifically in regard to this situation, if you are sitting in a ministry that has many jobs to do, there may be a conflict of interest when you're asked to do something related to SARA if it may have an effect on some of your other responsibilities.

Environment committee  One of my colleagues might be able to speak to that. But you have to remember that it was 2002 and 2003 when the act came in, and there are these timelines, so these are some of the first ones that were coming through. I stand to be corrected if I'm wrong.

Environment committee  That is correct. That would be an improvement over existing oversight, yes.

Environment committee  I don't understand; you're either independent or you're not. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by “how independent”.

Environment committee  I see. I think you could look at COSEWIC as an example. It's not who you work for, it's who you represent, so a lot of the scientists can be DFO scientists or Environment Canada scientists or provincial scientists--it's what they're doing when they're there.

Environment committee  Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Arne Mooers and I work at Simon Fraser University. I am accompanied by my colleague Dr. Jeannette Whitton, who is with the Faculty of the University of British Columbia. I am speaking on behalf of the Scientific Committee on species at risk. This committee is composed of a dozen professors and scientists from across the country.