IWFA Committee Meeting
Notices of Meeting include information about the subject matter to be examined by the committee and date, time and place of the meeting, as well as a list of any witnesses scheduled to appear. The Evidence is the edited and revised transcript of what is said before a committee. The Minutes of Proceedings are the official record of the business conducted by the committee at a sitting.
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Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women
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EVIDENCE
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]
[English]
Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.
We can now proceed to the election of the chair.
Pursuant to the order of reference adopted by the House of Commons on February 26, the chair must be a member of the government party.
I am ready to receive motions to that effect.
Ms. Rempel.
It has been moved by Ms. Rempel that Ms. Ambler be elected as chair of the committee.
Are there any other motions?
Seeing that we were going to start in a non-partisan way, I think we had an agreement that I would nominate Stella Ambler. I think it would be a good beginning to this committee, maybe, if that would be possible.
It has been moved by Ms. Bennett that Ms. Ambler be elected chair of the committee.
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
The Clerk: I declare the motion carried and Ms. Ambler duly elected chair of the committee.
Some hon. members: Hear, hear!
The Clerk: Before inviting Ms. Ambler to take the chair, if the committee wishes we will now proceed to the election of the vice-chairs.
Pursuant to the order of reference adopted by the House on February 26, the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.
[Translation]
Are there any motions to that effect?
[English]
It has been moved by Ms. Crowder that Ms. Davies be elected as first vice-chair of the committee.
Are there any other motions? Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
The Clerk: I declare the motion carried and Ms. Davies duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.
Some hon. members: Hear, hear!
[Translation]
The Clerk: I am now ready to receive motions for the election of the second vice-chair.
[English]
Pursuant to the order of reference adopted by the House on February 26, the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.
Are there any motions?
Ms. Ambler.
It has been moved by Ms. Ambler that Ms. Bennett be elected as second vice-chair of the committee.
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
The Clerk: I declare Ms. Bennett duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.
Some hon. members: Hear, hear!
The Clerk: I now invite Ms. Ambler to take the chair.
Thank you, everyone, for your confidence, and welcome to the first meeting.
I believe the intention is for this to be fairly short. There's not a whole lot to be done here today, but I do believe there is some desire to set a time for the meetings.
Do I have any suggestions or motions for that?
Ms. Truppe.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and welcome.
I'd like to move that we have our meetings on Thursday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. when the House is sitting.
Right. The suggestion is for a meeting time of Thursday, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Is there discussion?
Ms. Crowder.
Yes. I understand that usually there are a couple of blocks of time when special committees normally meet, and that's not usually the timeframe for special committees. I think the other issue is this: is it the intention that the committee would only meet once a week rather than twice a week, like other committees?
I'm assuming that by Thursday, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., you mean once a week. The latter part of your comment is, I believe, correct.
As far as the first is concerned, is there any discussion on that? I don't know what the other times are. I only have the one proposed time. Is there another proposed time?
Ms. Ashton.
Yes. Maybe there's a misunderstanding. I'm wondering, in the motion for this committee it talked about creating a committee that mirrors other committees in Parliament, and mirroring would entail two meetings a week.
I think that this is unprecedented to pick Thursday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Many, two-thirds of members of Parliament have responsibilities in their constituencies on Fridays. This is not a traditional time for a committee hearing. I suggest that we strike a subcommittee to look at the possibilities.
Obviously we cannot meet when status of women is meeting or when aboriginal affairs is meeting. If it has to be an evening, I think Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday is possible in the evening, but I really think it would mean a great deal of substitutions, and we would not have the continuity that will be required for this committee for us to actually work together as a group.
I wonder if some of this detail could be left. Normally there's a subcommittee that looks at agenda and whatnot, and I wonder if we could defer that discussion until we get back.
I know there's no interest in delaying this committee getting on with it, but there are some challenges. A number of the committee members who are here are from very distant ridings. It doesn't impact on my travel, but I know it would impact on other people's travel.
I think we have to acknowledge that the committee has a great number of parliamentary secretaries who do have to be here on Fridays, but I would very much like to see a subcommittee struck, which would include the vice-chairs and probably you and a member of the government, to try to find a different time.
We're not at the discussion of the routine motions just yet, so we will have to vote on this motion.
Choosing a time for the meeting was not on the agenda either. I understood that we were only electing the chair tonight.
It needs to be withdrawn, because it's out of order compared to what we actually decided to do this evening.
It's not out of order as far as I'm concerned, so we have a motion on the floor.
I'll take a vote now. All in favour of Thursday, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.?
(Motion agreed to)
The Chair: In terms of the routine motions, I've heard that the vice-chair would like to be here for the discussion and determination of the routine motions.
Is that correct?
Sure. That's not a problem.
I don't believe there's any other business given that routine motions will be discussed at the first meeting when Ms. Davies is available.
Ms. Crowder.
Can we just deal with the analyst piece without the rest of it? I don't know procedurally whether we can do that.
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