Status of Women committee  We will certainly be very pleased to do that, Madam Chairman. But just by way of explanation, Mr. Weetman is a rotational foreign service officer. As with all of us, we change assignments every year or two or three. It's only as a member of the minister's office, during a very s

Status of Women committee  Madam Chair, if I might just--

Status of Women committee  It's like Angel, Madam Chairman, which is very difficult to live up to.

Status of Women committee  Madam Chair, just by way of--

Status of Women committee  Madam Chair, I cannot speak for Ms. Kutz, but the discussion that Mr. Weetman mentioned confirms, following my analysis regarding the United Nations and legal advice from my colleagues, that there is no difference between the terms. But Madam...

Status of Women committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. My colleague, Elissa, may want to amplify my remarks, as she has particular knowledge of Afghanistan. But with regard to Canada's activities at the United Nations, we remain in the forefront of countries engaged on human rights. We're not

Status of Women committee  Madam Chair, we have a parliamentary liaison unit that assists any member of the department who is coming to testify, to explain what the process is. That's the full extent of any briefing that I've experienced, other than discussion amongst ourselves.

Status of Women committee  There is often, Madam Chair, some role-playing, some anticipation of types of questions, but it was simply the usual preparation for any appearance before a parliamentary committee. Many of us, Madam Chair, don't have much experience in appearing before Parliament, so we have a u

Status of Women committee  Certainly, Madam Chairman.

Status of Women committee  If I may continue, Madam Chair, in the human rights policy and governance unit, certainly, the deployment of staff--in this case, three extremely able people working on issues relating to gender and to women--has absolutely no bearing on how language is used. As Elissa suggested,

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Madam Chairman. If I may just amplify the answer by Mr. Weetman, in the case of the question posed by the minister's office, while in this case the docket was sent to a particular part of the department, in fact there are different parts of the department that had rel

Status of Women committee  Madam Chair, I would like to add something to Ms. Golberg's answer on the terms “gender equality” or “equality between men and women”. According to our analysis, the two expressions mean exactly the same thing. In the United Nations discussions we participate in, they are used in

Status of Women committee  Madam Chairman, if you'll permit me to, perhaps I can lead in responding as the official responsible for human rights at the ministry. I just want to reassure the committee that no policies or changes to the practices on language use at the department have been imposed. We can r

Status of Women committee  If I may, Madam Chair, the language has not changed. We have read the proceedings of your meetings, and I know that some NGOs have made lists of the words used. For us, it is important to communicate to specific audiences. The words change according to the audiences. What we want

Status of Women committee  Madam Chair, there is dialogue on all aspects of Canada's foreign policy. What is important is the key phrase used by one of the committee members—that this is done on a case-by-case basis. The situation that Mr. Weetman was responding to stemmed from the fact that there were two